86 THE BIRDS OF ESSEX.
difficult to distinguish it from the Chiffchaff, but its note, nest, and
eggs are entirely different.
Mr. Grubb says (39), it is " usually the first of our summer migrants heard "
at Sudbury : elsewhere, however, the Chiffchaff usually precedes it.
Wood-Warbler: Phylloscopus sibilatrix.
A summer visitor, though very local, and not common. In
Essex I only know of its occurrence at Epping and Saffron
Walden. It seldom arrives
before the middle of April
and departs in September.
In the Saffron Walden Mu-
seum are specimens from Epping
and Walden, the former pre-
sented by Hy. Doubleday. One
was shot in Whitley Wood,
Birdbrook, in 1830 (19. 9). Mr.
Clarke, writing about 1845, de-
wood-warbler, over 1/3. scribed it (24) as " not uncom-
mon in summer " round Saffron
Walden, and Mr. Travis assures me that many years ago he took a nest near
the aviary at Audley End. Henry Doubleday writes (23. 356) :—
" The three species * * * are all common [at Epping], and I have had
abundant opportunities of observing their habits. The Wood Wren arrives the
latest—generally in the third week in April—and always frequents woods, gener-
ally where there are tall trees, but is only locally distributed, as there are many
parts of our woods and forests where they are never seen. They seem particularly
attached to certain spots, and seldom move far away, and are very rarely seen in
the open country."
Mr. Buxton says (47. 90) that in Epping Forest it is still " local, rather than
rare, generally frequenting tall trees." He adds that it usually arrives in the
Forest about April 15th, and that it breeds there. Yarrell says (14, i. 300) it is
" not uncommon in the metropolitan counties."
Reed Warbler: Acrocephalus streperus. Locally, "Reed-
chat " (Orsett),
A regular summer visitor, though rather uncommon except on
our coast, and decidedly local. It inhabits the reed-beds beside the
Stour at Sudbury, and in the marshes near the coast, but I have
never m et with it in the central parts of our county.
In the summer of 1831, Mr. Grubb procured some specimens of this bird and
its nest at Sudbury, where, he says (12. v. 310) " it abounds in the reeds on the
banks of the Stour, and in the ditches communicating with the river." He adds
that he discovered two nests. Dr. Maclean, writing to T. C. Heysham, about
1838, speaks (16) as though it were then not uncommon round Sudbury. W. D.
King, also writing at Sudbury in 1838, says (20) : " This interesting bird
abounds on the reedy banks of our river. Its simple nest is elegantly and ingeni-
ously suspended between three reeds or rather interwoven round their stalks.
The figure of this bird and its nest given in Loudon's Magazine of Natural