Page:The British Warblers A History with Problems of Their Lives - 1 of 9.djvu/18



Arriving in this country about April 25th, these birds choose many varied spots for their home; osier-beds, where the various species of sedge grow in abundance, they favour most, although at times they will choose a thick and tangled hedgerow, and again, and this very frequently, they may be found amongst the dense masses of the Arando phragmitis, but in the drier portions. The arrival of the males, and perhaps of the females also, is rather irregular; that is to say, a few will appear one morning, then there will be a pause, and a few days later another batch will arrive, and so on until the migration of the males ceases, about a fortnight after the arrival of the first individual.

Their arrival can soon be detected by their babbling song, an energetic but unmusical strain, and where first heard there they will probably be found to breed, for they are by nature most home-loving individuals.

Water or swampy ground seems to be a necessity for them, for they are rarely to be found breeding in dry places. I have occasionally come across them in small dry coppices, but never very far away from water of some description. They inhabit more particularly wet osier-beds, where the different sedges, the Carex ovalis, Carex acuta and Carex riparia grow abundantly, but they seem to prefer them when rather drier, that is to say, where the willows are young and thick, and where the Juncus effusus, Spiræa ulmaria (meadow sweet) and different species of Epilobium (willow herb) grow in tangled masses. Along the banks of rivers and streams they are often common, and are abundant on pools and lakes, where aquatic plants, such as Scirpus lacustris Typha latifolia (bullrush) and the tall reeds (Arundo phragmitis) grow. Where these reeds grow to a great height, as they do in Holland and Hungary, and where the bottom is a dry mass of roots raised above the water, there I have found them exceedingly common.