REED-WARBLER 
SJLICARIA STREPERA. 
For some years scientific naturalists w'ere of opinion that another Warbler, much resembling this species, 
occasionally made its appearance in certain parts of the British Islands. To this form the name of Marsh- 
Warbler {Salicaria palustris) has now been given, and the bird is considered by more than one writer to be of 
far from uncommon occurrence. This species has hitherto escaped my notice. 
Up to the present I have never observed our noisy and familiar summer visitor the Common Reed-Wren 
taking up its residence in any spot where the reed {Fhmgmites communis) was not to be found in larger or 
smaller quantities. Shortly after landing on our shores, and while passing over the country to or from their 
haunts, the birds may be detected settling for a time in any green cover, though such quarters are speedily 
deserted when rest or food have been obtained. It is only among the stems of the reeds that I have seen the 
nest ; the fact, however, that this species occasionally resorts for breeding-purposes to osier-beds, lilac bushes, 
and other similar situations has been frequently recorded by trustworthy authorities. 
The Reed- Wren is scarcely so early in making its appearance as the Sedge-Warbler, and is by no means so 
widely distributed over the country. I never identified a single specimen in Scotland, though one locality 
in the south-east, where the presence of the bird had been recorded, was most carefully watched. The 
neighbourhood of the larger broads in the eastern counties is probably the headquarters of this Warbler in 
Great Britain. In some of the more southern eounties there are several well-known haunts ; but from recent 
observations, I have come to the conclusion that the species is far less numerous than it was twenty years ago. 
Like their neighbours the Sedge-Warblers, these birds are remarkably noisy, though far from melodious 
songsters. During the day both speeies confine themselves for the most part to an occasional cackling note, 
evidently reserving their harmony for the evening concert, which usually commences as soon as the sun gets 
low. nickling Broad in the east of Norfolk is one of the spots where this may be heard to perfection any fine 
evening early in June. The din that is caused by several hundreds of these birds singing and chattering at the 
same time, together with the croaking of the frogs, the jarring of the Nighthawks, and the drumming of the 
Snipes, is perfeetly deafening, and would never be credited by those who have not heard it. By about 11 p.m. 
the greater number of the performers are quiet ; but the slightest sound, even the slushing of a large pike on 
the look-out for his supper, is enough to make them break out again in full chorus. 
During cold and stormy weather these birds remain remarkably silent, hardly a sound, except the 
occasional scream of a Coot or Moorhen, being heard through the swamps to break the monotony of the sighing 
of the wind through the reed-beds and the splash of the rain on the open water. 
The nest is usually attached to three or four stems of the reed ; and if rocking is a luxury to the young 
birds they must certainly during rough weather have a particularly happy time of it, as their cradle sways back- 
wards and forwards with every gust of wind. I have found this species breeding in the small straggling patches 
of reeds that fringe the edges of the marsh-dykes in various parts of Sussex. In Norfolk thousands resort to the 
