116 
BIRD-LIFE. 
the Elbe, were placed at the usual elevation; in the early 
days of June the river overflowed its banks, and the 
water in the osier beds rose so high, that all nests not 
built above the usual distance from the ground were under 
water. The foresight displayed by these little Warblers 
struck me as the more singular, for the reason, that 
during the breeding-season, and, indeed, during the whole 
summer of the preceding year, the water was so unusually 
low as to allow of those birds breeding in the osier-beds 
whose custom is to build their nests close to the ground, 
and whose young were that year reared in safety.” In 
the spring of 1842 all the marsh and aquatic birds 
deserted a large swamp in the neighbourhood of Ahlsdorf. 
In the months of March and April there was a great deal 
of water in the fen, yet no waders, Ruffs and Reeves, 
Spotted Crakes, Moorhens, Coots, or Black Terns remained 
to breed; the birds either knew, or at least guessed, that 
the marsh would dry up before they could rear their young; 
and, so it came to pass, in the month of October, that 
my father put up a fox and a brace of hares in the place 
where generally thousands of Ducks were to be found. 
Naumann states that he saw a pair of Grey-lag Geese 
(Anser cinereus ) which, with their young, abandoned a 
large breeding-pond, full of water, and moved to a 
smaller one; the former dried up, while the latter 
remained well supplied with that element. In March, 
1848, the Peewit (Vanellus cristatus ) forsook the marshy 
meadows and borders of the low-lying ponds in our 
neighbourhood, and retired to the plateaus among the 
hills; it was well they did so, for in the month of May, 
their breeding season, the low lands were under water, 
owing to the extraordinary heavy rainfall, whereas the 
higher levels were just moist enough to render them 
