This is a very variable bird in its colours, some being of a very pale colour, and others altogether as dark, and those that are pale one season frequently become dark the ensuing one. It is a curious little lively bird, known often by the name of reed wren. It generally makes its appearance with us the beginning of April, and leaves us in September. Its early or late departure seems to depend a good deal on the warmth or coolness of the seasons. It is a very merry bird, almost continually singing, and will sing by night as well as by day, sitting amongst the reeds, or in some bush or tree near the water, where it feeds on the gnats and other insects that infest moist situations. It is very fond of flies, spiders, small caterpillars, moths, grasshoppers, crickets, and many other insects, and will swallow a larger one than could be imagined for so small a bird. In confinement it will feed readily on the general food, and is also very fond of the yolk of an egg boiled hard, so that it may be crumbled on the top of the other food, or put in the cage in an empty egg-shell. It should also be supplied with a few insects occasionally, such as flies, spiders, small caterpillars, moths, or butterflies. Being an inhabitant of the sides of ditches and rivers, it is very partial to washing, which it must not be allowed to do in winter, or it will wash itself until it is so weak that it can never recover. THE SEDGE BIRD. Sylvia Phragmitis, BECHSTEIN; S. salicaria, LATHAM; Le Bec-fin Phragmite, TEMMINCK; Der Schilsänger, MEYER. The weight of this species is about three drachms; length five inches and a half; bill dusky above, whitish beneath; irides hazel; crown of the head and whole upper parts of a yellowish brown, plain on the back and sides of the neck, rump, and upper tail-coverts; tail like the quills a little cuneiform, which, when spread, gives it a rounded shape; legs dusky. MR. SWEET'S ACCOUNT OF THE SEDGE BIRD. In habit and manner the present species approaches to the former, but is a much handsomer bird; though not so rare, it frequents the sides of ditches, ponds, and rivers, like the last species, where it pours forth its variable diurnal and nocturnal song almost incessantly, on its first arrival in this country, which is generally the beginning of April, leaving us again about the middle of September. It builds its nest in a thicket of reeds, or other tall water-grass, on which it is fastened up with the webs of caterpillars, similar to that of the former, which is fastened to the branches of trees, so that no wind or storm can move it.