The nest is a most beautiful structure, carefully supported on four or five growing reeds which pass right through its walls and thus hold it secure. For the size of the bird it is extremely deep, a wise provision to prevent the eggs from being rolled out when the reeds are bent with the wind. The materials used are dry grass, bents, and moss, with a lining of finer materials. The eggs, four in number, are pale green, thickly freckled and mottled with a darker tone of the same colour. When the young are hatched the inside of their mouths is of a deep red colour with two very conspicuous black spots towards the hinder end of the tongue; at this time the song of the parent ceases and we hear and see but little more of this species. With the autumn gales he leaves us for the marshes of Spain or the deadly swamps of Africa, where the small flies and insects on which he feeds may be found in abundance at all seasons. The upper parts are of a uniform warm brown, slightly brighter on the rump, and there is a pale buff stripe over the eye. The under parts are white, the flanks and under tail coverts buffish. Length 5·25 in.; wing 2·5 in. It is unknown in Scotland and Ireland. THE MARSH WARBLER Acrocephalus palustris (Bechstein) This species resembles the preceding one so closely that even when examined in the hand, they are hard to distinguish. The general hue is, however, more greenish and less rufous than the Reed Warbler, and the legs are lighter in colour, being brownish flesh instead of yellowish brown. Alike as they are in appearance, their life history is very different. The Marsh Warbler is by no means confined to reeds, but may be found in osier beds, cornfields or coppices, being content, like the Sedge Warbler, with a very small extent of water. It sings its song, which is much sweeter and more melodious than that of the Reed Warbler, from the topmost sprays of its home, and the nests are never suspended in reeds but placed low down in some osier or small bush. The eggs are pale greenish white, blotched and marked with dark green, and are so characteristic that they cannot well be mistaken for those of any other species. It has a wide range in Europe, becoming scarcer towards the west, but in this country it is very local, and restricted as a breeding species to a few places in the south. Very difficult to distinguish from the Reed Warbler, but the general hue is much greener, and the difference in the colour of the legs has already been noticed. Length 5·25 in.; wing 2·7 in. THE GREAT REED WARBLER Acrocephalus turdoides (Meyer)