30 The Oologists' Record, Jiaie i, 192 1. 



majority of fresh eggs are found during the last week of June. 

 The last clutch found was one of three eggs on the ist August, but 

 I knew this pair of birds had lost at least two sets of eggs, besides 

 being worried by other interruptions. 



I would describe this bird as common, locally, in the coastal 

 plain wherever there is damp marsh land — while nests, being 

 difficult to find, are much rarer than the bird itself. One brood 

 only is normally brought up in the season. I have so far taken 

 no measurements of the eggs in my possession. This bird is a 

 summer visitor at any rate in its breeding localities, and I have not 

 noticed it in Palestine during the winter, though I shot a specimen 

 (probably on passage) in the middle of March in the Jordan Valley 

 just south of the Sea of GaUlee. 



Acrocephalus streperits. 



This species is chiefly noted for the fact that it is one of the 

 latest breeders of all the Palestine birds, and I have found fresh 

 eggs at the end of July. With regard to this species, thereby 

 hangs somewhat of a tale, and if I had only had a little more time 

 at my disposal, and realised earlier that these birds were breeding, 

 I might have obtained a very handsome series of eggs. 



On the 4th July, 1918, while encamped near the sources of 



the Jaffa Auja, a small perennial stream which has a total length 



of barely 10 miles, some of my Indian soldiers, who were doing 



anti-malarial work near the river, brought me a nest containing 



three fresh and well-marked eggs which I felt certain were Reed 



Warblers, but I was told that the Reed Warbler did not breed there, 



and that the eggs probably belonged to Sylvia rueppelli in spite 



of the fact that the nest was of the typical Reed Warbler type, 



and taken from a reed bed by the water's edge. Consequently, 



wheji I found myself again in Palestine for a breeding season in 



1920, I did not really bother myself about Reed Warblers. I 



had plenty of work, besides numerous other desiderata, which I 



knew for certain could be found if I only had sufficient time to spare 



at the psychological moment, so AcrocepJialus was completely 



forgotten. 



On the 13th June I thought I would search Lome thick cover 

 which grew for a length of about 200 yards over a small stream, 

 and to my intense disgust found several old Reed Warbler's nests, 

 a nest containing an egg on the point of hatching out and two newly 



