308 THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 



western Ural, and during the last decade the birds, together with 

 nests and eggs, have come into the market from the Kirgiz Steppes. 



The plumage of the example shot here and preserved in my 

 collection is, as one might expect from the time of the year in 

 \vhi(:;h it was taken, much worn and faded. All the upper parts are 

 (lull greyish brown, with a scarcely perceptible tinge of rust-colour 

 on the rump. The lower parts and the faintly marked eye-streak 

 are dull whitish, with hardly any admixture of rust-colour. The 

 flight-feathers and rectrices are of a somewhat darker greyish brown 

 than the back, in which the rust-colour of the earlier plumage 

 remains most perceptible. 



In the colour of its fresh plumage this bird almost exactly 

 resembles S. arundinacea, except that the crown of the head is con- 

 siderably darker than the back, and the eye-streak lighter and more 

 sharpl}^ accentuated : on the upper jsarts as well as on the sides of 

 the breast and on the flanks, the dominant colour is a bright 

 ferruginous, while there is nowhere even an approach to an oliva- 

 ceous tint. 



The measurements of the example shot here are as follows : — 

 Total length, 4-72 ins. (120 mm.); length of the wing, 2-04 ins. 

 (52 mm.); length of tail, 2 ins. (51 mm.); length of tail uncovered 

 by wings, 1-38 in. (35 inm.). The beak measures -39 in. (10 mm.) 

 the tarsus '82 in. (21 mm.). 



In the wing the second flight-feather is somewhat shorter than 

 the sixth, the third and fourth are of equal length and form the 

 point of the wing, the flfth receding by about 1 mm. The tail is 

 very pointed, the outer pair of rectrices being in my specimen 

 ■35 in. (9 Tnm.) and the next pair '16 in. (4 mm.) shorter than the 

 central pair. 



The breeding range of this small Reed Warbler extends, accord- 

 ing to Seebohm, from the Lower Volga through Turkestan and 

 Kashmir, probably as far as China. An egg in my possession 

 obtained from Schliiter, in Halle, and stated to have come from the 

 Volga, measures '67 in. (17 mm.) in length, and '51 in. (13 mm.) 

 in breadth, being of rather rounded shape. In colour and mark- 

 ing it entirely conforms to the characters of the unspotted Reed 

 Warblers already described. The ground colour is a light yellowish 

 green, somewhat fresher than in S. arundinacea, with roundish 

 sharply defined olive-grey blotches, and for the most part roimded 

 and sharply detincd spots, varying in the depth of the colouring as 

 well as in size. The markings are not very crowded, but every- 

 where allow the ground colour to be distinctly seen. 



