200 On the Occurrence of some of the Barer Species of Birds 



meadow-birds, and may be put up from almost every patch of rushes 

 by the river-ride as you walk along. It can without difficulty be 

 distinguished from the following species by the more mottled 

 character of its plumage, as well as by the more decided mark that 

 runs above the eye. I have found the nest of this species placed in 

 very different situations, e.g., in patches of rushes by the water's 

 edge, or just inside the wattled hedges that commonly border some 

 of our smaller streams, and very frequently in the thick stunted 

 thorn bushes that line their banks. On one occasion I found a nest 

 of this bird, fastened on to a wild rose-stock, covered with brambles, 

 at least ten feet from the ground, a position not very usual with 

 them, and which puzzled me not a little, ere I took it, as to what 

 species of bird the nest could belong. 



Salicaria Arundinacea. " The Reed Warbler/'' This little bird, 

 in our own immediate district, is nearly, if not quite, as abundant as 

 the last-named species ; a fact which will appear, when I mention that 

 in May, 1876, I found from between sixteen to twenty nests in one 

 field of nineteen acres bordering the river, just behind the vicarage. 

 The nests, built on their three or four reeds, vary but little ; but 

 their eggs vary considerably, and I have some in my collection so 

 much larger and so entirely different in their marking from the 

 others, that I could not help fancying at the time that they might 

 be the eggs of Aerocephalns Palustris> although the position of the 

 nest on the reeds would, I suppose, forbid the idea. From these 

 nests I took no less than four Cuckoo's eggs, this being, in our 

 neighbourhood, one of the most favourite nests for the Cuckoo's 

 parasitical habits. Last year, also, two boy friends of mine, wishing 

 for some Reed Warblers' eggs to add to their collection, asked me 

 if I could find them some, and I accordingly took them down to a 

 favourite reed bed, where I knew their want was pretty sure to be 

 supplied, and I then said, " if we are lucky you may possibly find a 

 Cuckoo's egg as well." On arriving at the spot, however, I found 

 that somebody had evidently been there just before us; but on 

 searching carefully we at last found one of their prettily-constructed 

 nests, and on looking into it, one of the boys cried out in ecstacy, 



A Cuckoo, a Cuckoo ; " and sure enough the nest contained three 



