84 SAVl'S WARBLER. 



from the Eastern Counties, where the bird used to arrive about the 

 middle of April, and at its first coming was not shy. 



In Holland, Savi's Warbler 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 Massaciuccoli in Tuscany ; Austrian Galizia ; Poland ; 

 Southern Russia as far as the Caspian ; and Western Turkestan. It 

 has been obtained once in Palestine ; and appears to pass the winter 

 in Egypt, where Capt. Shelley found it tolerably abundant and 

 generally distributed, frequenting the most luxuriant growth of 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 

 a tuft of the spiky rush which flourishes in wet ground, is composed 

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

 in miniature. The eggs, 4-6, are white or pale buff in ground-colour, 

 thickly freckled, and generally girdled with ashy-brown and violet- 

 grey spots: average 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 taking part in the duties of incubation. 

 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 Warbler was formerly known to our fen-men 

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

 Holland it is called Sworr and in Germany Schirr-i'ogel. 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 12 broad feathers) shows in certain lights some faint transverse 

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

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

 pale brown. Length 5 "5 in. ; wing to the tip of the 2nd and 

 longest primary 2-5 in. The young are said to be paler on the 

 under parts. Mr. Seebohm states that the few examples v/hich he 

 has been able to examine from the drier regions east of the Black Sea 

 are of a more pinky earth-brown than western examples. 



