me on the right track, as he wrote to me to say--"The Reed Warbler
builds in the Grand Mare. I have seen several of their curious hanging
nests brought from there." This put me on the right scent, and I went
to the place as soon as I could, and found parts of it a regular
paradise for Reed Warblers, and there were a considerable number there,
who seemed to enjoy the place thoroughly, climbing to the tops of the
long reeds and singing, then flying up after some passing insect, or
dropping like a stone to the bottom of the reed-bed if disturbed or
frightened. On my first visit to the Grand Mare I had not time to search
the reed-beds for nests. But on going there a second time, on June 17,
with Colonel l'Estrange, we had a good search for nests, and soon found
one with four eggs in it which were quite fresh. This nest was about
three feet from the ground, tied on to four reeds,[9] and, as usual,
having no support at the bottom, was made entirely of long dry bents of
rather coarse grass, and a little of the fluff of the cotton plant woven
amongst the bents outside, but none inside. We did not find any other
nests in the Grand Mare, though we saw a great many more birds; the
reeds, however, were very thick and tall, high over our heads, so that
when we were a few feet apart we could not see each other, and the place
was full of pitfalls with deep water in them, which were very difficult
to be seen and avoided. Many of the nests, I suspect, were amongst the
reeds which were growing out of the water. Subsequently, on July the
12th, I found another Reed Warbler's nest amongst some reeds growing by
Mr. De Putron's pond near the Vale Church; this nest, which was attached
to reeds of the same kind as those at the Grand Mare, growing out of
water about a foot deep: it was about the same height above the water
that the other was from the ground; it had five eggs in it hard sat.
There were one or two pairs more breeding amongst these reeds, though I
could not very well get at the place without a boat, but the birds were
very noisy and vociferous whenever I got near their nests, as were the