THE REED-WARBLERS. 223 



may very easily have been overlooked and mistaken for the 

 Sedge- Warbler. Three authentic instances of its occurrence 

 have been recorded, the first specimen having been identified 

 by Professor Newton in Mr. Borrer's collection. This bird was 

 shot near Hove, in October, 1853. Mr. Harting received a 

 second example from Leicestershire, obtained in the summer 

 of 1S64, and there is a third specimen, killed near Dover, in the 

 Museum of the iatter town. 



Range outside the British Islands. — The Aquatic Warbler breeds 

 in most portions of Central Europe, as far as the south of Den- 

 mark and the Baltic Provinces, but is of rare occurrence in 

 Holland and Belgium, and only visits Northern France on 

 migration. It also occurs in Heligoland occasionally. In 

 Italy, as well as in Sicily and Sardinia, it breeds, but is recorded 

 by Mr. Howard Saunders as an autumn migrant only in 

 Spain. In Poland and South Russia it also occurs, reaching 

 to the Ural Mountains as high as 56 N. lat. The winter home 

 is probably North Africa. 



Habits. — Arrives at its nesting quarters towards the end of 

 April, a week or two before the Sedge-Warbler, and breeds a 

 little earlier than that bird. Lord Lilford has found it to be 

 less of a reed-loving species than the Sedge- Warbler, and Mr. 

 Seebohm says that its home is more in the swamps, neglecting 

 the large reed-beds, and choosing the ditches, ponds, and banks 

 of lakes and rivers, which abound in coarse aquatic vegetation, 

 and being especially partial to sedges, in which it delights to 

 hide. "Tangled masses of wild-roses, brambles, and thorn- 

 bushes are also places where it is often found. Like all its 

 congeners it is an active and restless bird, and is remarkably 

 cautious and sly, concealing itself on the least approach of dan- 

 ger. It is said never to hop, but on a branch or on the ground 

 to run almost like a Mouse. The song is described as like that 

 of the Sedge-Warbler, but is not so long, and lacks the clear 

 flute-like notes of the latter bird." (Seebohm, I.e.) 



Nest. — Placed near the ground, sometimes at a height of a 

 foot or so, but never actually upon it, never suspended in reeds, 

 but built in a bunch of sedge or water-plants, or in a thorn- or 

 willow-bush overgrown with rank herbage. It is suspended 

 between the stalks of the adjacent plants, which are woven into 



