84 OUR SUMMER MIGRANTS. 



I have sometimes heard persons express 

 their inability to distinguish these two species 

 apart ; but there ought to be no difficulty in the 

 matter. The Sedge Warbler has a variegated 

 back, with a conspicuous light streak over the 

 eye ; the Reed Warbler has a uniform pale- 

 brown back, and the superciliary streak very 

 faint. The actions of the two birds are not 

 unlike, but their nesting habits are very dif- 

 ferent. S . phi'agmitis builds on the ground or 

 very near it, making a nest of moss and grass, 

 lined with horsehair, and laying five or six eggs 

 of a yellowish-brown colour, with a few scattered 

 spots or lines of a darker colour at the larger 

 end. iS*. strepera suspends its nest between reed 

 stems or twigs, round which a great portion of 

 the nest is woven, and the entire structure is 

 much larger, deeper, and more cup-shaped. The 

 materials are long grasses, flowering reed-heads, 

 and wool, the lining being composed of fine 

 grass and hair. The eggs, five or six in number, 

 are greenish-white speckled with ash-green and 

 pale-brown. The habit which the Reed War- 



