100 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



EEED WARBLER. 



Acrocephalus streperus (Vieill.). 



A few years ago I drew attention to the rarity of the Reed 

 Warbler in Lakeland, stating that the only satisfactory proof of 

 its occasionally visiting us was supplied by the fact that Mr. 

 Graham took a nest and eggs of this species on the Eden in 

 1840, and that a single bird had once been shot at Bassen- 

 thwaite. Since then I have searched for it in the extreme south 

 of Lakeland with the same lack of success as elsewhere, although 

 quiet reedy nooks, such as the Reed Warbler loves, are by no 

 means rare. Mr. Hindson writes from Kirkby-Lonsdale : ' This 

 warbler I have never seen to be certain about, but I once found 

 a nest attached to four or five reeds at Terra Bank Tarn, about 

 15 inches above the ground.' 



SEDGE WARBLER. 



Acrocephalus phragmitis (Bechst. ). 



Though evincing a more marked predilection for nesting in 

 hedgerows at a distance from water than is common in the south 

 of England, the Sedge Warbler is pleasantly associated with the 

 willow beds and rushy pools of Lakeland, among which you can 

 hear its song any summer's day as the birds flit restlessly from 

 one branch to another, occasionally hopping across the bare 

 ground under a screen of furze or other close cover. 



Once, in Germany, I made the acquaintance of an eccentric 

 Sedge Warbler which sang steadily in the top of a tall tree, 

 exposed to anybody's view. Our Lakeland Sedge Warblers are 

 much more retiring birds. One day, last May [1891], a Sedge 

 Warbler took up his position on a bare spray of bramble close 

 to where I was crouching in the hedge. The little fellow had 

 not the least idea that he was being interviewed, and proceeded 

 to pour forth an earnest love-song, little thinking that every 

 vibration of his tiny throat was closely scanned through a pair 

 of binoculars. The lateness of the spring assisted this observa- 

 tion, for had the leaves been fully expanded, my little friend 

 would most assuredly have sung under cover. I have always 



