92 SAVI S WARBLER. 



where the bird used to arrive about the middle of April, and at its 

 first coming was not shy. There is some evidence that this species 

 was noticed in May 1897 in the Humber District (Cordeaux), as 

 well as near Olney, Bucks. 



In Holland, Savi's ^^'arbler has become rarer of late years, owing 

 to drainage ; so that at the present time it appears to be very local, 

 and almost restricted to the reed-beds of the Maas district. It is 

 also found in summer in similar localities in the Camargue, at the 

 mouth of the Rhone ; in some parts of Andalucia in Spain ; the 

 swamps of ]\Iassaciuccoli in Tuscany ; Austria-Hungary ; the Balkan 

 States ; Southern Russia as far as the Caspian ; and Western 

 Turkestan. It has been obtained in Cyprus, and once in Palestine ; 

 while it appears to pass the winter in Egypt, where Capt. Shelley 

 found it tolerably abundant and generally distributed, frequenting 

 the most luxuriant growth in the cornfields, as well as the reedy 

 marshes. Canon Tristram observed it in the oases of the Sahara 

 as far south as 32° N. lat. ; while northward, in Algeria, Mr. Salvin 

 met with it breeding in the marshes of Zana ; and it has occurred 

 in ^Morocco. In the islands of the Mediterranean it appears to be 

 rare, even on migration. 



The deep cup-shaped nest, placed in sedges and reed-beds, or in 

 tufts of spiky rushes which flourish in wet ground, is composed 

 of interwoven sedge-blades, and may be compared with that of a 

 Crake in miniature. The 4-6 eggs are white or pale buff in 

 ground-colour, thickly freckled, and generally girdled, with ashy- 

 brown and violet-grey spots : measurements "78 by '57 in. In 

 Andalucia nesting begins early in May, but in Galizia and Holland 

 not until the end of that month ; both sexes incubating. Count 

 Wodzicki says that in the breeding-season the male is excitable and 

 quarrelsome, displaying also much curiosity on the appearance of 

 an intruder ; he sings all day in calm clear weather, but seldom at 

 night, and generally at the top of some commanding reed. From its 

 monotonous note this ^^'arbler was formerly known to our fen-men 

 by the names of ' red craking reed-wren ' and ' reel-bird ' ; while in 

 Holland it is called Sivorr and in Germany Schirrvogel. The call- 

 note is a short krr. The food consists of insects and their larvae. 



In the adult the upper parts are reddish-brown ; the fan-shaped tail 

 (of 1 2 broad feathers) shows in certain lights some faint transverse 

 bars ; throat and centre of abdomen white ; upper breast, flanks, and 

 under tail-coverts buff; bill brown above, paler below; legs and feet 

 pale brown. Length 57 in. ; wing to the tip of the 2nd and longest 

 primary 2-6 in. The young are slightly paler on the under parts. 



