plumage, and nest of this species, which, he found, frequented
the reeds of the river Coin from Harefield Moor to Iver, a
distance of about five miles. This bird did not appear in
Pennant’s Zoology till the edition of 1812.
The Reed Warbler comes to this country in April, and
departs again in September; and is in its habits and manners,
as well as in the localities it frequents, so similar to the
Sedge Warbler, that wherever one species is found, the other
is almost certain to be within a short distance ; and the birds
themselves, from a certain resemblance in appearance, have
been frequently confounded : the Reed Warbler, however, is
not so abundant as a species, and the distinctions by which it
may be always known will be particularly referred to hereafter.
Like both its aquatic congeners already figured, the
Reed Warbler takes care to secrete itself under cover of the
bed of reeds or willows it may chance to inhabit: it sings
repeatedly in the day, and sometimes also occasionally during
the night. Mr. Selby says its song is varied and pleasing,
with fewer of the harsh notes that prevail in that of the Sedge
Warbler, but is delivered in the same hurried manner. Mr.
Sweet, well known for his skill and success in keeping the
British Warblers in confinement, says he had a male bird of
this species that sung occasionally all winter. The song was
very loud and variable, consisting of a great number of
notes, and sung with many changes of voice, so diversified as
to resemble the song of several different birds. The food of
this species in a wild state is very similar to that of the
Sedge Warbler,—namely, worms, slugs, various aquatic insects,
and the smaller species of dragon-flies. Libellula.
The nest of this bird is very singularly constructed and
sustained. That from which the vignette at the end of this
subject was drawn, was supported between four reed stems,
and was taken from a bed of reeds on the side of the Thames,
the surface soil of which was covered by water every tide, or
twice in each twenty-four hours. The nest is formed of the
seed-branches of the reeds and very long grass, wound horizontally
round and round, including the four upright reeds in
the substance; thus forming, with a little wool, the sides of
the nest, which frequently measures five inches in depth on
the outside, three inches in breadth across the top, and
very frequently three inches deep inside; the lining is
formed of very fine grass and long hairs. The nest is made
so deep that the eggs do not roll out when the supporting
reeds are waved by the wind ; and Montagu observes, that
he has seen the bird sitting on her nest when every gust
forced it almost to the surface of the water.
Among the various nests sent me by Mr. J. D. Salmon,
was a very beautifully constructed one of this bird, as described
to have been found amongst the reeds adjoining
the river near Euston Bridge; which nest contained four eggs
on the 30th of June 1834. This bird sometimes lays five
eggs, which are of a greenish white colour, spotted and
freckled with ash-green and light brown; the length nine
lines, by six lines and a half in breadth. The young are
hatched in July, and quit the nest very soon, hanging and
climbing with perfect security among the reeds by their very
sharp claws.
The Reed Warbler is found in Essex, Surrey, and Kent,
within a few miles of London; it is found also in Suffolk,
about Sudbury. In Norfolk, one locality has been mentioned
; and the large fresh waters called the Broads, near
Yarmouth, with their numerous islands, reeds, and rank
aquatic herbage, are very likely situations to harbour it. Mr.
Selby mentions that he had not observed this bird north of
Northamptonshire : it has now been observed in Staffordshire,
Derbyshire, and Lincolnshire ; but not beyond, that I am
aware of.
Montagu says it was numerous in the southern parts of