Lost British Birds. 
19 
it as a distinct species in 1821. In Norfolk and Lincoln¬ 
shire, where it bred regularly, it was well known to the 
marshmen as the “ red craking reed-wren,” and the “ red 
night-reeler,” or “ reel-bird,” from its peculiar song, which 
resembles the whirring of the reel used by wool-spinners. 
It inhabits reed beds, sings much by night, and makes a 
cup-shaped nest of closely interlaced sedge-blades. 
It is curious to find this small obscure warbler figuring 
among the extinct British birds; and when we consider that 
the largest, most beautiful, or conspicuous species are almost 
invariably first singled out for destruction by man, one is 
disinclined to blame him for the disappearance of the night- 
reeler. That its extinction was caused by a system of 
drainage is scarcely credible. At the best of times it was 
a rather rare bird, and about forty years ago, when 
collectors became aware at the same time both of its 
existence, and rarity, the usual lively scramble for examples 
of the bird and its eggs took place, but not many specimens 
were secured. Its extinction may be said to date back to 
about the year 1849. 
c 2 
