490 SEDGE REEDLING. 



yet so well hidden that it was only at intervals that a glimpse 

 could be got of the tiny creature, which I would now and then 

 observe on the opposite side of the hedge. Almost the only 

 time that I saw it fairly on wing was under the following cir- 

 cumstances : — In one of the beautiful lanes near Costessay, 

 a large Dragonfly (Libellula depressa) had alighted on a 

 hedge, when, as I was stealing up to capture it, a Grasshopper 

 Chirper flew from the opposite hedge, about twelve feet dis- 

 tant, and pounced upon the insect, which, however, managed 

 to escape, although only to be presently caught by its other 

 pursuer. It could not have been for the purpose of destroying 

 so large an insect for food that the bird made this attack ; and 

 yet I have seen on the Braid Hills a still larger Dragonfly 

 ( Jilstina grandis) pursued in like manner by a Pipit, Anthus 

 pratensis, which made several pounces at it, but without eftect." 

 The above notice is written by my son. 



Sedge Reedling. Calamoherpe phragmitis. 



Two males shot by the same person, by a hedge, in Gorgie 

 Meadows, near Edinburgh, on the 1st of June 1889, present 

 the following measurements : 



Length to end of tail, S/g, 5|-j ; extent of wings, 7i§, 7i§ ; 

 bill along the ridge, i^^, ^% ; gape-line, |t' i^ ' ^^ing from 

 flexure, 2|^, 2|| ; tail, 2^%, 2^^ ; tarsus, f|, |% ; hind toe, 

 A> 1% ; its claw, ^1, 1^ ; middle toe, |^^-, j% ; its claw, ||, /^. 



Tongue four and a half-twelfths long, sagittate and papillate 

 at the base, with two of the papillae very large ; narrow, horny, 

 and thin-edged, the tip with two bristle points ; oesophagus 

 one inch and eight-twelfths long ; stomach roundish, one inch 

 and four and a half-twelfths long, four and a half-twelfths broad, 

 the lateral muscles rather thick, the left much larger ; epi- 

 thelium very thin, with broad rugae ; intestine nine and a quar- 

 ter inches long, its greatest width one and a half twelfth ; coeca 

 one and a half twelfth long, nine-twelfths from the extremity. 



