THE YOUNG NATURALIST 



83 



educated, there is no doubt that he would 

 have made much more progress in the 

 scientific world. But Poverty often crushes 

 genius ! It meets the aspiring youth and 

 crushes him down, perhaps never to rise 

 again ; or if he does, it may only be to be 

 again crushed by the same cruel foe. 



The first dawn of that tenderness of feel- 

 ing, which is an essential quality of a true 

 naturalist, a love for the humbler creatures, 

 exhibited itself in him when quite a 

 child. One Sunday morning when he and 

 his brothers were going to Sunday school 

 their walk lay along the side of the river 

 Colne, and being summer time, gnats and 

 other flies were very numerous along the 

 water-side. One of his brothers cruelly 

 amused himself by catching flies and pulling 

 their wings off. This seems to have troubled 

 James a good deal, for on arriving at home 

 again, the first thing he did was to com- 

 plain to his mother of his brother's cruel 

 conduct. 



The love of a gun seems to have been 

 born with him. His father was a noted 

 shot round the whole neighbourhood, and 

 when he pointed at a bird he very rarely 

 missed his aim. His mother, too, was not 

 a bad sportswoman, if we may judge from 

 the only instance of which we have any 

 record. One day three partridges had 

 settled in the field next to Varley's house. 

 Rachel perceived them, and her husband 

 not being in at the time, she at once brought 

 down the gun, opened the window and 

 banged off, killing two of the birds. This 

 old gun was an heirloom in the family, John 

 Varley's father left it to him when he died, 

 with the wish that should he ever have to 

 sell any of his things through want, that 

 this gun should be the last thing he 

 would sell. When John died he gave it to 

 his son James, and he made good use of it 

 until such times as he afford to buy a better, 

 then he gave it to his eldest brother William, 

 in whose possesion it still remains. 



(To he continued.) 



BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR 

 NESTS AND EGGS. 



By S. L. MosLEY. 



38. SEDGE WARBLER. 

 Sylvia schcenobcenus. 



ScHOSNOBCENUs. — From two Greek words, 

 meaning being found among rushes. 



Size. — Length, about 4|in.; expanse, 

 7i in. 



Plumage. — ^The bill is dark horn col- 

 our ; eyes brown ; the upper parts are olive 

 brown, darker on the crown of the head, 

 and on the centre of each feather on the 

 back ; a light streak extends over the eye ; 

 the wings, which are short, and the tail, are 

 blackish brown, each feather margined with 

 paler colour; under parts greyish white, 

 tinged with yellow brown at the sides and 

 vent; legs brown or nearly black. The 

 sexes are similar in plumage. 



The Young birds are similar to the adults, 

 but duller in colour. 



Varieties. — A variety is recorded (Zool., 

 3632), killed in Essex, "of an uniform light 

 canary colour all over, except on the top of 

 the head there were spots or small streaks 

 of pale olive." Mr. Bond has a white one 

 in his collection. 



Note.-*- The song of this noisy bird is 

 loud and varied, and is chattered in a 

 hurried manner. The bird generally selects 

 the centre of some bush as the most suitable 

 place for its concerts, and if a stone be 

 thrown so as not to alarm it too much it 

 will generally sing with renewed vigour. It 

 frequently sings during the night, and is 

 thus often mistaken for the nightingale by 

 persons who have never heard the latter 

 bird, but the songs of the two birds are so 

 different that one cannot be mistaken for 

 the other by anyone who has heard both. 



