Letters, Announcements, S^c. 397 



Tjabuk must be in Europe. It must be a little-known place ; 

 for none of the maps that I have seen show it. In Mr. 

 Dresser's ' Birds of Europe/ part 38^ and under the head of 

 Hypolais caligata, I find the place referred to as being in the 

 South-eastern Ural. 



I think the species ought to be added to the European list. 



An addition may be also made to the Asiatic list ; for I 

 have seen an example of Acrocephalus turdoides obtained by 

 Capt. Henry St. John, R.N., in China. 



The length of its wing is 3'65. The wing of A. orientalis 

 is generally about 3'25 inches long. 



The form of the wing of the Chinese example above re- 

 ferred to agrees perfectly with that of an Astracan example 

 I have, the second primary being almost as long as the third 

 (which is the longest) and much longer than the fourth. In 

 the allied Eastern species A. stentorius {A. brunnescens) , 

 the second primary is about the same length as the fifth, and 

 is often between the fifth and sixth. 



It would be impossible to separate undersized examples of 

 A. turdoides from large ones of A. orientalis by appearance 

 only. There may be differences of voice, song, nest, and eggs ; 

 but of these I have not any knowledge. 



The nest of -^. stentorius is a deep cup, substantially built of 

 grass and long leaves of water-plants, and is firmly attached 

 to a few reeds, like the nest of A. streperus. It is generally 

 placed about eighteen inches above the surface of the water. 

 The eggs are very similar to those of its European ally. It 

 breeds plentifully around the lakes of Cashmere, where I found 

 several nests. I did not see any other Reed-Warbler about 

 these lakes. 



Yours &c., 



W. Edwin Brooks. 



29 May, 1877. 



Sirs, — Having recently had an opportunity of inspecting, 

 in the Gardens of the Zoological Society, the interesting Fal- 

 con taken ofi" Socotra (mentioned anteh, p. 149) I trouble you 

 with the following remarks respecting it. 



SEE. IV. VOL. I. 2 b 



