90 
NATURE NOTES 
the stream ; on several occasions they came within a few feet 
of us and unconcernedly nibbled the grass and flags on the 
bank. 
We were uncharitable enought to hurl imprecations on the 
head of a sedge warbler which at intervals of a few minutes 
persisted in singing through the whole night ; at one time I was 
sufficiently energetic to seize a paddle and invade the willow 
from which the song proceeded ; the sedge warbler, however, 
annoyed at my intrusion, poured forth such a storm of abuse 
that I returned to my bed baffled. 
About 1.30 quite half-a-dozen others of the same species 
were singing one against the other, and before 2 o’clock a cuckoo 
was enlivening the scene with his notes ; a thrush also had 
perched on the top of a willow-branch and was pouring forth a 
song to greet the coming dawn. Before it was sufficiently light 
to see we could hear a moorhen croaking in the reeds, a green- 
finch in the trees overhead, a chaffinch, a wren and a few 
others. 
At 2 we decided that sleep was out of the question owing 
to a thick mist which was slowly being drawn towards the moon, 
then shining brightly overhead, and to the consequent dampness 
of our clothes. We then lit our spirit lamp and made some 
Bovril, and at 2.30 continued our journey. As the sun began to 
rise the chorus of birds was perfectly bewildering — from every 
quarter came the jubilant strains of sedge warblers, wrens, 
chaffinches, doves, cuckoos, pigeons, &c. ; at no other time of 
the day have I ever heard such a bird concert. 
On our journey up stream we roused numerous ring and 
turtle doves and rooks from the roosting places in the willow 
trees which fringed each side of the river for many miles; these 
trees are greatly patronised by birds owing to the many suitable 
holes for their nests, and I have no hesitation in saying that on 
an average there is at least one nest in every tree, so that the 
number of young birds — tree sparrows, doves, pigeons, tits, fly- 
catchers, wrens, and such like — reared along this river must be 
incalculable. 
At 2.30 we found to our dismay that the boat had con- 
tracted a leak, which made it necessary for us to empty her 
every half-hour ; this fact, coupled with the discomforts of the 
previous few hours, made us gloomy and in doubtful humour. 
When rounding a bend of the stream, while the mist was 
still partially shrouding the water, we came quite close to a 
wild drake with a dozen “ flappers,” about whose welfare he 
was much concerned ; he soon took to flight, followed by several 
of the brood, but settled again on the water ahead of us. Mean- 
while the remainder were every moment appearing on the 
surface a few feet in front of the boat and diving again, only to 
reappear a few yards farther on ; we soon, however, left these 
behind, but the drake rose up several times in front of us and 
finally took refuge with his few followers in a thick reed-bed. 
