Od 
PL A Tie i 
marle, have founded this colony in England. This may have been 
the cafe in refpect to thofe of Erith, being on the borders of the 
Thames, but will not fo well account for their being elfewhere; and 
Iam inclined to think that they are indigenous to us, and have 
been (0. ab origine; and that it is merely owing to their ‘frequenting 
fuch places only where the recds grow, that they have been {o little 
known ; for as thofe birds never go farther than a few yards from the 
beds *, they have ftood a greater chance, which has really happened, 
of not being earlier obferved.” 
Kramer fays the neft is built among the willows, and is of the 
fhape of a purfe, made of foft downy materials, fuch as the down of 
the Greater Cat’s-Tail +, or that of the 4/p tf, hanging the neft ona 
branch. 
What new light Mr. Latham could throw on this fubje@t, is given 
in the Supplement publifhed in the year 1787. 
“ T have never yet been able myfelf to afcertain the neft and eggs. 
In Sepp’s || plate the neft is placed on the ground among the /edges. 
It is of a very loofe texture, compofed of the tops of dry grafs, mixed 
with the feed-heads of rujves and reeds, with narrow leaves inter- 
mixed. The eggs four in number, of a reddifh white, marked with 
{mall brown fpots.” 
* «¢ The reed-beds frequently cover many acres of ground ; thefe grow 
in the water, fo as to be overflowed at every tide ; and few perfons ever go 
ear them, except in the time of cutting, which they do in boats, as, except 
at very low tides, one can {carce fet a footftep within their boundaries,” 
+ Typha latifolia. Lin, t Populus tremula. Line 
{| Seppe 
Vog. pl. in p. 83. 
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