her on the nest and next to shoot her as she flew off, were equally
futile, her movements being as rapid and erratic as forked lightning.
And here let me give a word of advice to my brother ornithologists:
Never attempt to shoot a _wary little bird in the act of leaving its
nest_, as you only run the risk, and mortification I may add, of
wounding perhaps an unknown bird, in which case she will never again
return to her nest; but _lie in ambush_ for her with, outlying scants,
_and make certain of her as she is returning to her nest_. She will
first alight on a neighbouring tree, then on one closer, coming nearer
and nearer each time; finally, she will perch on the very tree or bush
in which the nest is built, and while taking a look round to see that
all is well before making a final ascent, you have yourself to blame
if you fail to bag her. All this sounds very cruel; but if a bird must
be shot for scientific purposes, it is surely preferable to kill it
outright than to let it die a lingering death. Thus it was that I
eventually succeeded, even at the expense of being devoured alive by
midges and mosquitoes; but then had I not the satisfaction of
knowing that to become the happy possessor of _authentic_ eggs of
_Acrocephalus dumetorum_ was in itself sufficient to repay me for my
hill excursion!

"I cannot, however, pretend to lay claim to originality in the
discovery of the breeding-habits of this bird, for Hutton's
description of the nest and eggs taken by him so fully accords with my
own experience, that it is but fair to conclude he was correct in his
identification. I would add, however, with reference to his remarks,
that the nest above alluded to was _more elliptical_ than _spherical_,
being about the size and shape of an Ostrich's egg, that it was
constructed throughout of the _largest_ and _coarsest_ blades
of various kinds of dry grass, the egg-cavity being lined with
grass-bents of a finer quality, and that it was domed over, having a
lateral entrance about the middle of the nest. The whole structure
was so loosely put together as to fall to pieces immediately it was
removed.

"The eggs, four in number, are pure while, beautifully glossed, and
well covered with rufous or reddish-brown specks, most numerous at the
obtuse end. Owing to its similarity to a number of eggs, particularly
to those of the Titmouse group, it is just one of those that I would
never feel comfortable in accepting on trust.

"It was