408 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



There is no need for me to describe the beautiful eggs of this 

 species, which are now well known. The best figure I have seen 

 is of one from our osier-bed in Messrs. Collett and Parker's 

 recently published volume on British inland birds. In all un- 

 doubted Marsh-Warbler nests which I have seen myself both in 

 England and abroad, the eggs have been recognizable at once by 

 their clear bluish-white ground colour and dull violet or brownish 

 markings ; one clutch, however, may differ considerably from 

 another, chiefly in the strength of the colour of these markings. 

 Whether they ever approach to the type of the Eeed- Warbler's 

 eggs I cannot certainly say ; it is more likely, I think, that 

 Keed-Warbler's eggs occasionally approach the type of the Marsh- 

 Warbler. Such an egg was found by Mr. A. Holte Macpherson 

 and myself near Abbeville in 1898. 



4. The Young Birds. — Incubation has within my experience 

 lasted fourteen or fifteen days. In 1897, when I had unusual 

 opportunities of observation, I made the following note (cf. 

 ' Zoologist ' for that year, p. 288) : — " The first contour feathers 

 were almost black ; on the tongue were two barb-shaped spots, 

 or rather processes, with the narrow end towards the bill fixed, 

 while the broad one towards the throat was loose, and was raised 

 when the nestlings opened their bills wide. Two days later 

 brown feathers on the back began to appear, the brown being 

 decidedly darker and more rufous than that of the parents. The 

 iris was very dark brown ; the legs and feet light flesh-colour. 

 The throat was buffish white, and the breast dull buff." When 

 the young birds had left the nest it was easy to distinguish them 

 from the parents by their darker brown backs, their yellow bills, 

 and the duller white of throat and breast. I found them using 

 as a call-note the same sibilant cry which their parents used as an 

 alarm-note, but it was shorter and fainter, and almost more like 

 a hiss than a croak. 



5. Song and Alarm-notes. — The delightful song of this species 

 has often been described by myself as well as others, and all I 

 need say about it here is that it is more silvery, high-pitched, 

 sweet, and varied than that of any other species of Warbler with 

 which I am acquainted, and is carried on with extraordinary 

 vivacity when the bird is in full song — so much so as to attract 

 the attention of men working on the railway adjoining the osier- 



