Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/360

334 mounted specimens which have been any time dry. The habits, song, nest and eggs of the two birds are widely different, and the observation of these furnishes the best test for discovering the presence of the hitherto reputed scarcer bird. I was sanguine that, if the bird still visited the country near Taunton, I should be able to discover it, as I was able to secure the services of Coates, the birdstuffer, who, some twenty years ago, accompanied Dr. Woodforde when his birds with their nest were taken. Coates was well acquainted with the peculiar song of the male Marsh Warbler, which is very sweet and of considerable power, and also with the bird's more lively habits and more generous display of itself, in comparison with the Reed Warbler, which keeps itself for the most part concealed among rank herbage, where it creeps about like a mouse.

This spring Coates was told to keep a keen watch for the bird, and I am now able to describe the success of his search, which has resulted in the detection of four nests and the capture of one fine adult male Marsh Warbler. The first nest discovered was less than a quarter of a mile distant from the field where Dr. Woodforde's examples had been obtained, and the song of the male bird led to its detection. Accompanied by Coates, Mr. John Marshall, of Belmont, Taunton, went to view this nest in situ on the 22nd June last. The place chosen by the birds was a small withy-bed adjoining the turnpike-road connecting Taunton and Milverton, by the side of a small trout-stream, and almost opposite a roadside public-house. The nest was composed externally of dry bents, into which were woven one or two poultry feathers, doubtless obtained from the fowls belonging to the aforesaid hostelry, and very neatly lined with an abundance of horse-hair, gray and brown. It was very compact, of a cup-shape, and was dexterously attached to three stems of Spiræa (meadow-sweet), which the birds had drawn together with grass bents, and was about a foot and a hall from the ground. It contained four eggs, very different in character from the eggs of the Reed Wren, with a number of which they were compared. These Marsh Warbler's eggs were larger; their ground colour was a creamy white, slightly tinged with green; a few olive blotches were scattered over them, chiefly at the larger ends, where in some of the eggs they formed a dark zone; the pointed ends of the eggs were spotless. An attempt was made, after taking the