SEDGE-WAKBLEll. 
SALIC ARIA PIIIU GMITIS. 
Like the rest of the family, tl.is lively little Warbler is a migrant to the British Islands, “"""S 
and taking its departure from our shores early in the autumn. During the journey torvards 1 . , 
and also on its return in the autumn, this species may frequently be noticed m gar ens ant p a . 
also at times in considerable numbers in any standing crops in the fields that offer a su icien amoun 
cover. While resorting to shelter of this description, the birds will be seen silently threading their way throng i 
the loaves or coarse grass, apparently desirous of escaping observation, their actions differing groa y lom 
the noisy and ostentatious manner in which they proclaim their presence when once their accustomed quai ois 
Tom torth to south the Sedge-Warbler m ay be found, if searched for, in almost every locality adapted to its 
habits and requirements. I have repeatedly met with tins species nesting m Sussev u it iin a ew mi 
the coast, and also round the edges of the rush-grown lochs in the north of Caithness. The bird seems 
as clamorous and as much at homo in the solitude that reigns supreme round the remotest Iligi ant 
lochs as when observed in close proximity to the constant traffic of steamboats, uhcrries, an yac i s on 
the rivers and broads of Norfolk and Suffolk. ... 
The attractive cackling note of this species may be heard at almost all hours o le mg i . si en 
for a time, should their haunts be invaded and the birds disturbed, they will at once commence “ noismg 
on all sides. Though the song of the lleed-Wren (according to my own experience) is for the most part utteied 
among the stems of the reeds, the Sedge-bird occasionally deserts its usual quarters and may be noticed 
assiduously pouring forth its cheerful though somewhat monotonous ditty while perched on the twigs o 
a thick bush or even on the branches of an oak, an alder, or any greenwood tree growing near the 
water-side. These birds not unfrequently rise from the cover of the reeds or sedge and, flying or rather 
floating through the air, continue their song on wing. At times, while so engaged, they alight high in 
the foliage of some dense tree, from which the descent is effected with the same curious wavering flight to 
their accustomed lowly haunts. AVhen viewed at a short distance, their downward course much resembles 
the drop of the Titlark as, with quivering and expanded wings, it makes its way towards the ground. 
The nest is generally placed at no great distance from water, either among the roots of the sedge on a 
rough bank, or against the stump of a tree. The egg of S. jihrogmitis differs considerably from that of 
S. strepera. To describe them briefly, it may be said that the eggs of this species are of a dull brownish- 
yellow tint, thickly speckled with a darker brown, and occasionally scrawled here and there with a lew fine 
black lines, while those of the Reed-Warbler have a pale greenish-blue ground with dull grey and brown 
blotches and spots. The juveniles of this species and also the Reed-Warbler, while in their first feathers, 
* “ Noising ” is the term given by the Norfolk marshmen to the notes of several species of birds freijuenting their native swamps. They 
apply it particularly to the song of the Nightjar, and of the Grasshopper, Heed, and Sedge -Warblers. 
