Page:The British Warblers A History with Problems of Their Lives - 7 of 9.djvu/71

 commonly think. What it really loves best, and rarely finds in England except in some parts of Somersetshire and Cambridgeshire, where it first attracted notice, is a large space of flat alluvial ground, with convenient bits of cover, such as thick bunches of tall plants scattered here and there." My experience does not altogether bear out the foregoing statement, for it shows that the species not only can but does adapt itself to a variety of situations. Perpendicular shoots of osiers or indeed of any plant are not a necessity. In Texel the bird is plentiful enough in the well grown plantations, and in this country it often nests in similar situations. Instead of being confined in a great measure to reed beds, like the Reed Warbler, it is capable of inhabiting varied situations, such as are afforded in abundance by many counties in England. No reason for its comparative scarcity can therefore be assigned to any lack of power of adaptation. For reasons which I shall presently give, the actual dimensions of the nest and the methods employed in securing it to the supports require detailed description. The nest is circular in shape, tapering downwards almost to a point. The full diameter varies from 3" to 4¼" in one case up to from 4" to 5" in another; the interior diameter is less variable, being approximately 2". The outside depth again varies considerably, for whereas one example will measure 3¼ another will be fully 4¾". The same is true of the depth of the interior, which varies from 1½" to 1⅞" in one case up to 2" or 2½" in another. The walls of the nest may be from ½" to 1" full in thickness. The nest is composed of dead grasses of various thickness, and various descriptions, and there may or may not be a lining of hair, fine roots, or even an admixture of both. Unlike that of the Reed Warbler, its appearance is untidy, an untidiness due no doubt to the material used, for the Reed Warbler makes use of the seed heads of the common reed, which cannot fail to give the nest a neater appearance. In the case of both species the quality of the workmanship is on the whole very similar, as is also the method adopted