Birds. 4095 



Correction of an Error in a Note on the Grasshopper Warbler. — Permit me to rec- 

 tify an error which has crept into my "Note on the Grasshopper Warbler'' (Zool. 

 4072). Instead of" they visit this country in fax greater numbers than either the reed 

 or sedge warblers," it should read " in far less numbers." — H. Stevenson ; Norwich, 

 October 6, 1853. 



Note on the Nesting of the Reed-wren, (Salicaria arundinacea). — Perhaps the fol- 

 lowing account of the nesting of the reed-wren may be of interest, as showing the re- 

 markable indifference of the parent bird to the handling of, and the rude substitution 

 of other matters for, her eggs. When an Eton boy I had a certain love for Ornitho- 

 logy ; and as every spring came round, I indulged my passion for birds' -nesting by 

 rambling over all the adjacent country in search of hidden treasures. Now, as the 

 school numbered between 700 and 800 boys, it may readily be supposed that mine 

 were by no means the only eyes which were prying into every bush, hedge-bank and 

 copse ; accordingly, no sooner was an egg laid but it was pretty certain of discovery, 

 and I have since often wondered how any birds ever reared their young within three 

 or four miles of Eton. So inevitable seemed the discovery of every nest, than when 

 we found a newly finished nest containing but one egg, it was never deemed prudent 

 to leave that egg, in hopes of a larger number another day ; the solitary egg was im- 

 mediately seized, on the principle that " a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." 

 Now all down the river were certain aits, covered with osiers, and alders, and other 

 bushes and low trees, and flanked with many a goodly bed of rushes and reeds ; in 

 these the reed-wrens loved to make their nests. There was also a small coppice ad- 

 joining one of the back streams of old father Thames, within a mile of the College, 

 every bush of which I seem now as distinctly to recollect as at that time, when I was 

 a daily visitant there: here I would find four or five nests of the reed-wren, close to- 

 gether, — long purse-like nests ; and these were the first nests of that species which I 

 had ever seen, accordingly to me they were a very great treasure. And when taking 

 from one nest one egg, from another two, from another three, and from a fourth a sin- 

 gle one again, I was not a little sorrowful to think, that could these four nests be left 

 unmolested for a few days, my prize would be much greater than now : however, pru- 

 dence overcame greediness 1 , and the eggs were taken. As a forlorn hope, however, and 

 without much idea of the plan succeeding, I picked up seven or eight little gravel- 

 stones, of about the size of the eggs, and for every egg that I had taken, deposited a 

 stone at the bottom of the nest. What was my delight, when, returning to the same 

 spot the next morning, I found another egg laid in every nest ! These were withdrawn, 

 and other stones substituted for them : and now, every morning, as soon as our doors 

 were unlocked, I might be seen bending my steps to my favourite coppice, quite alone, 

 lest another should forestall me of my treasure, and, with small round stones in my 

 pocket enough to have filled the nests of fifty reed-wrens, did so many unhappy birds 

 choose that unlucky locality for their nursery. This plan of substituting a stone for 

 an egg answered so completely, in the case of the reed-wren, that I never knew it to 

 fail, or found the nest deserted before the full complement of eggs was laid ; and yet, 

 in some cases, from a lack of appropriate stones to be found in those muddy river- 

 banks, I have been obliged to deposit stones of neither the shape, the size, nor the co- 

 lour of the original egg. It may be supposed, that under the above circumstances, 

 such signal success with the reed-wren made me try the same plan with other birds, 

 but here I as invariably failed : wherefore I conclude that the singularly deep nest of 

 the reed-wren prevented the parent bird from seeing the deception that had been prac- 



