‘THE BIRDS OF DEVON.’ 9 
set; if the young were hatched, &c.; and a Wood-Wren happening to . 
utter a note or two close at hand, he at once said that it had its nest 
finished, but that there were no eggs in it yet; and, on searching, we 
discovered the nest, which proved to be empty, as he had said it 
would be. 
Reed-Warbler (p. 27). 
A regular summer migrant to Slapton and the other Leys on the S.W. 
coast of the county. Mr. W. V. Toll has repeatedly found its nest and 
eggs upon his Ley at Strete, and has known of the occurrence of the bird 
in numbers for many years past. In the second week of May in the 
present year (1895) the Authors visited Slapton Ley for the express 
purpose of making acquaintance with this charming little bird. ‘They 
found the reeds unusually backward in growth, and only just beginning 
to shoot above the water. All the furze and bramble bushes, and all the 
hedges adjoining the Ley, were tenanted by numbers of Reed-Warblers 
that were singing away all day and all night as if their very lives depended 
on their saying all they had to say in the quickest possible time. Some 
of them were too impatient to wait until the reeds, their accustomed 
cover, had fully grown, as a pair were watched building in a bramble-bush 
by the corner of the bridge, only a short distance from the Sands Hotel, 
and were seen breaking off pieces of dead fern which they brought to the 
nest quite regardless of the presence of the bystanders a few yards from 
the spot. It appeared as if the Reed-Warblers were more numerous 
than any other of the small birds frequenting the neighbourhood of the 
Ley, although Sedge-Warblers were also plentiful. The Reed-Warbler is 
also stated to frequent the Dart quite near Totnes, or rather “the island 
of reeds between the Hemnpstone Brook and the Dart” (Zool. 18y2, 
p- 408). But we have not met with it in the reed-beds of the Exe, 
where Mr. Toll states that it occurs, nor have any of the Exeter 
ornithologists seen it there. 
In Somerset the Reed-Warbler is now generally dispersed in all suitable 
localities, according to information we have recently acquired. We found 
it to be not uncommon near Taunton, at the time when we were on the 
watch for the Marsh-Warbler, and obtained specimens with nest and 
eggs. We hear from correspondents that it is common on the peat-moor 
country near Glastonbury ; other localities ure Brislington, near Bristol, 
where Dr. Woodforde met with it; Shepton Mallet, where Mr. Farbrother 
returns it in his list; and the neighbourhood of Frome, where it has 
occurred to ourselves (M. A. M.). 
We believe that the Reed-Warbler affords another instance of a species 
that has of recent years extended itself towards the south-west, in this 
case, perhaps, owing to extensive drainage of its old habitats, and 
destruction of reed-beds, compelling fresh quarters to be sought after. 
Col. Montagu was very well acquainted with the Reed-Warbler, and had 
studied it and its habits in the S.E. counties, so that if it had been 
