50 CAGE AND SINGING BIRDS. 
miired to keep in confinement. Sweet captured an old bird 
of this species in a nig'htingale cage, in August, and kept it 
until the following February, but could not get it to sing. 
It thrived well on bread and hemp-seed, with yolk of egg 
and insects 5 but, being allowed to bathe as often as it liked, 
it so weakened itself that death ensued when the cold 
weather came on. These birds build their nests in high 
grass or sedge, and conceal them very artfully. The eggs are 
white, freckled with red. They have a curious shrill cry, 
resembling the chirp of a cricket; hence their common 
name. The young ones are not difficult to rear: their 
nest, when taken, should be placed in a little covered 
basket, nearly filled with dry moss or hay, and they 
should be fed frequently, with the same kind of food as is 
recommended for the old birds, care being- taken to keep 
them clean, and add to their food a few small gravel stones 
occasionally. 
THE SEDGE WARBLER. 
This is by no means an uncommon bird with us : its time 
of arrival in the country is the beginning of April, and it 
departs in September. It is a pert, lively-looking bird, with^ 
a tail rather long and slightly rounded. Brown, more or 
less shaded with black, is the general colour of its plumage ; 
the breast and belly are a yellowish white ; across each side 
of the head runs a streak of white, which takes in the eyes 
and gives the bird a particularly knowing appearance. 
Marshes and swampy grounds, where the reeds and rushes 
form a thick and close covert, are its favourite places of 
resort ; here it hunts for its insect food, and builds its some- 
what bulky nest, loosely constructed of grasses, and lined 
with finer materials of the same nature, and occasionally a 
little hair ; sometimes the nest is suspended between three 
or four tall reeds a foot or two above the water. It may 
also be found among willow trees and drooping birches when 
they grow in situations frequented by the bird; the eggs 
are of a greenish white colour, dotted and freckled with 
light brown and gray; they are generally five or six in 
number. 
The song of this bird consists of a variety of notes, some 
of which are surprisingly loud for such a tiny warbler. It 
