Our Summer Migrants: An Account of the Migratory Birds Which Pass the Summer in the British Islands.Harting, James Edmund
Science
Our Summer Migrants: An Account of the Migratory Birds Which Pass the Summer in the British Islands.
Harting, James Edmund
Birds -- Great Britain
In Badeker’s work on the eggs of European birds, it is stated that the
Marsh Warbler “builds in bushes, in meadows, and on the banks of
ditches, rivers, ponds, and lakes. The nest is made of dry grass and
straws, with panicles, and interwoven with strips of inner bark and
horsehair outside. The rim is only very slightly drawn in. It has a
loose substructure, and is by this and its half globular form, suspended
on dry ground between the branches of the bushes or nettles, easily
distinguished from the strongly formed nest of _S. strepera_, which is
moreover built over water.[31] It lays five or six eggs the beginning of
June, which have a bluish-white ground, with pale-violet and clear brown
spots in the texture of the shell, and delicate dark brown spots on the
surface, mingled with which are a number of black dots. The ground
colour also in many fresh eggs is green, but clear, and very different
from the muddy tint of the egg of the Reed Warbler. The female sits
daily for some hours; but the male takes his turn. Incubation lasts
thirteen days.”
It would be extremely satisfactory to establish the fact of the regular
migration to this country in spring of the Marsh Warbler; and it is to
be hoped that ornithologists in all parts of the kingdom will not omit
to investigate the subject, and record their observations.
THE GREAT REED WARBLER.
(_Salicaria arundinacea._)
Not only has this fine species visited England on several occasions, but
in a few instances it has been found nesting here. It has, therefore, a
good claim to be introduced into the present sketch. Specimens of the
bird have been obtained, once in Northumberland, and three or four times
in Kent,[32] and the eggs have been taken in Hertfordshire and
Northamptonshire.[33] The reader has only to picture to himself a bird
like the Reed Wren, but twice its size, and he will have an idea of the
appearance of the Great Reed Warbler. Nor does the resemblance end here.
It makes a nest just like the Reed Wren, but much larger, and lays eggs
similarly coloured, but larger. It is a fine species, and its loud and
varied notes, when once heard, can never be forgotten. Those who have
had opportunities, such as I have enjoyed, on the opposite shores of
Holland, of listening to this bird will regret with me that its visits
to England are not more frequent. It is possible, as suggested by Mr.
Hancock in the earliest notice of its occurrence here,[34] that it may
be a regular summer visitant to our island; but its song is so loud and
so remarkable, that I cannot think it could escape the notice of any
naturalist. The species is tolerably well dispersed throughout Europe,
and according to Mr. Yarrell has been found as far eastward as Bengal,
Japan, and Borneo. The Eastern bird, however, would appear to be the
_Salicaria turdoides orientalis_ of the “Fauna Japonica,” and distinct
from the European species. See Captain Blakiston on the Ornithology of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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