surrounding birds. In warm summer it sings all night through, and so charmingly tn the St. Iness of the
“ d scene that we are tempted to compare it with the Nightingale. Its call-note is s.mdar to that of
other Reed Warhlers, bnt is not often heard. Its nest is never placed over water, nor even
ground, but is found in shrubs and bashes from one to three feet above the ground B the M M —
■ of other Reed Warblers' nests, and formed of delicate grass blades, straws nettle fibres, and sp de. s
webs, lined with very fine straws and a quantity of horsehair. It lays four or five eggs, winch are
white sparingly spotted with delicate grey dots and olive-brown and ash-grey spots.
Brelun in Badeker's work on European eggs, remarks that j the nest has a hmse substructure, and is by
this and its half-globular form, s u s p e n d e d on dry ground between the branches of the bushes or nettles,
easily distinguished from the strongly formed nest of C. arundinacea, which is, moreover, b u iltove r water.
The groundcolour of the eggs too is clear and veiy different from the mnddy tmt of those of the
B t i “ r'mentioning that the f l | I H l H W M 1 H H H
s a y s D u r i n g their stey with us they frequent thickets bordering swamps and pieces of water, smal
willows and clumps of poplars, together with fields of hemp, maize, and rye m the neighbourhood,
have frequently met with it in the more humid parts of the Alps, notably at Mont Cems, at the base o f Rivers
8— 1 b o rd erso f.b e lakes which dominate it
it is also met with in all similar situations in most of the alpes.ral regions of the T a r a n t o e I , arnves
in Savoy about the middle of April, and may be found in the meadows vmeyarlk, t e . till
October. The male is a great chatterer, from the month of May till towards the 20th of July, in plains
and in the Alps; during the month of August he scarcely ceases to warble during the morning am. evening.
While thus engaged he may sometimes be seen at the end of a branc or on e p p ,
more often concealed in the thickest of the bushes, occasionally in the centre at the base, or in a tuft of
leaves. His song is very variable, and he readily imitates the voices of other b ird s; he mimics sometimes the
notes of CaUmoherpe arandinacea so well that he might be mistaken for it, some phrases
mhjgktta, the call-cr, of the Poraam maruetta during the breed,ng-season, that of Lanw* »..»or and
W B M collurio; and in the Alps he tries to counterfeit those o f PkCraphmee H | | H H |
and Saaicola atnaa'he. In the plains it begins «0 build its nest in the middle or end o f May, nd m the
Alps in June It is of a spherical form, and is generally placed in the midst of a thick bush or small
shrub „ear the ground, or among the roots of willows and poplars near water, sometimes in tnfts of grass
in damp situations; it is externally composed of fine straw, stems of dried grass and fibrous H
with horse- and other hairs and fine grasses, or the down of the Tustdago thistles, or the cot on of the
willows, according to situation. The eggs are five or six in number, of a light grey or ash-colour, with
spots of greenish brown mingled with others of an ashy blue or ash-colour a tr.fie deeper than the groundcolour.
The Marsh Warbler feeds on caterpillars, small winged insects, also lame and worms. At the
end of summer it becomes very fet, acquires a particular flavour, and is excellent eating.
Mr Howard Saunders shot one of a pair which evidently intended to nest m the marshy bottoms of the
Tagus, near Araniuez, in May 1870; and he informs me that light JlethrColour of the legs was very
noticeable; the note was also different from that of the Reed Warbler, which likewise occurs and breeds in
Spain The Rev. H. B. Tristram noticed it among other Warblers in Palestine.
After what has been said respecting the slight difference between this species and its near ally, a minute
description would be superfluous. I have given the correct colouring of its legs on the opposite P la te ;
but inadvertently the legs of C. arundinacea have been represented much lighter than they really are, in
some of the copies issued to my subscribers; but this defect may be easily remedied by the addition of a
wash of a dark tint over the tarsi and toes till they accord with the description m the letterpress; if there
be any difficulty in the matter I shall be happy to make the correction in any copies scut to me for the
purpose. Dr. Bree describes the legs of C. p almtm as light; but in his figure of the bird they are
represented as of a darker hue even than those of our Reed Warbler.
The figures are of the natural size. The plant is the Purple Loosestripe (Lytkrum Sahcana).