Reed Warblers, it is true, have long ago adapted themselves to circumstances, and often build, not in reeds, but in bushes, — in privet, lilac, willow, etc.: using the pliable twigs exactly as they used to use the reeds, i.e. gathering them into the nest in order to secure it more strongly against wind and storm. There was no reason, then, why a Reed Warbler should not choose the privet hedge for an abode; but for so retiring a bird to select a spot within a few paces of a school was surely singular. And then the song, which was almost incessant, was also loud, vigorous, and delightful: if it were really the song of a Reed Warbler, the singer had a marvellous gift, far exceeding that of any individual of the species that I had ever yet heard. The Reed Warbler's song is unusually quiet and sedate, and even monotonous; but here was a bird of genius, who understood how to turn the ordinary song into a very brilliant and diversified performance. I saw the bird once or twice for a moment, and it appeared to me to be quite indistinguishable from the Reed Warbler; I doubt if it then occurred to me that it could be anything else. The next day it was gone.
Next year (1889), on 8th May, I again heard this wonderful outpouring of song in the same place; and by this time it had occurred to me that the singer might be the rarer Marsh Warbler, which has only of late years been fully recognised as an English
