MARSH WARBLER 



withy bed, at one end of which the common reed was growing 

 in profusion. The reeds were not infrequently entered by the 

 male who owned that part of the plantation, and by the female 

 also, but, as far as it was possible to judge, solely for the 

 purpose of finding food. The situation chosen for reproduc- 

 tion is clearly not confined to any particular locality, nor is 

 any special tree or vegetation a necessity. We may look for 

 and expect to find the birds in wooded banks, in damp or wet 

 osier beds, in hedgerows or along the banks of a river. The 

 choice of a breeding territory seems therefore to be in a 

 condition of instability similar to that which prevails in the 

 date of arrival in different countries. 



As is the custom amongst other migrants, males arrive 

 before females. This does not imply a strict division in the 

 times of arrival of the sexes ; the first arrivals are males, but 

 in the latter part of the migratory period the sexes seem to 

 accompany one another. How long after the first males the 

 first females commence to arrive, I am unable to say. Since 

 the species is the latest of the migrants, and it is therefore 

 important that reproduction should be commenced as early 

 as possible after the territories have been appropriated, the 

 period during which the sexes are separated is probably not 

 very great. Mr. Warde Fowler is of the opinion that males 

 arrive in Oxfordshire a few days only before the females, and 

 this agrees with my own experience in Worcestershire, which 

 nevertheless is somewhat limited on this particular point. 



Each male upon arrival takes up a certain position in the 

 osier bed, plantation, or overgrown bank in which it has 

 settled; and this position constitutes a breeding territory 

 which is adhered to, and more or less defended from intrusion 

 so long as the young require the care of their parents. One 

 instance only has come under my notice of a male occupying 

 a territory, singing there regularly, but ultimately deserting 

 the locality, and I am inclined to think that the cause of 

 desertion in this particular case was the fact that the position 

 chosen was not altogether suitable to the needs of the bird. 



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