[Illustration: SEDGE WARBLER’S NEST WITH CUCKOO’S EGG IN IT.] [Illustration: (inset) SEDGE WARBLER ON NEST.] It is about four inches and three-quarters in length, greyish-brown on its upper parts, streaked with dusky brown; its chin and throat are white, and under parts pale buff. Over the eye is a conspicuous yellowish white streak, which, together with the dark stripes on its back, readily distinguish it from its relative, the Reed Warbler. This species breeds in suitable localities nearly all over the British Islands, with exception of the Shetlands. I have met with it in tiny clumps of willows growing by small stream-sides high up amongst the Westmorland Fells. Its home is amongst reeds, rushes, osiers, brambles, and all kinds of bushes near to lakes, swamps, rivers, ponds, and ditches, although it may occasionally be met with breeding at a considerable distance from water. The Sedge Warbler builds its nest in rushes, brambles, bushes, and almost any kind of thick, tangled herbage. It is generally lower down than that of the Reed Warbler, sometimes quite upon the ground. I have found it on several occasions upon young pollards a yard from the ground, and once in a hedgerow at an elevation of five or six feet. The structure is loosely built and composed of grass and moss outside, lined with willow down and horsehair. It is frequently adorned with a large white feather protruding over the outside edge or bending inwards in such a way as to hide the eggs. These number five or six, of a pale yellowish-brown clay colour, clouded and mottled with darker brown, and often streaked at the larger end with hair-like black lines. This bird is a persistent singer, with a harsh voice, an inordinate fancy for repetition, and a great faculty for mimicking the cries of other birds. It is willing to oblige anyone who will listen to its chattering, half-scolding, and always hurried song, night or day. A handful of gravel or mould thrown into any reeds or bushes wherein a male Sedge Warbler is roosting will nearly always induce the bird to pour forth a stream of melody. I have frequently heard members of this species singing nearly all night long on the Norfolk Broads, and many times when taking my photographic plates out of wash at two o’clock in the morning I have started a chorus around me by emptying the buckets of water with a splash over the stern of the little houseboat in which I was staying. The male has another peculiarity which is not often mentioned in books. In the early part of the season he is fond of taking little fluttering excursions in the air a few yards above the reeds whilst he bubbles forth his merry, hurried song. This is, no doubt, to attract the females during the pairing season.