SAV’?S WARBLER. 349 
be watched without leaving it. If frightened off, they soon return. During 
the breeding-season Savi’s Warbler is rarely seen on the wing ; but early in 
spring it sometimes flies up from the reeds and dives down into them again 
with wings laid back. It is said not to sing on the wing. When it does 
take wing its flight is said not to be undulating, but with continuous beats 
of the wing, like the flight of a Wren or a hawk moth. It is not known 
that Savi’s Warbler feeds upon any thing but insects and their larvee. 
The eggs vary in number from four to six. They are French white or 
pale buff in ground-colour, thickly sprinkled over the entire surface with 
ashy-brown spots, most numerous at the larger end of the egg, where they 
usually form an obscure zone. The pale violet-grey underlying markings 
are numerous; and on some eggs there are a few very dark, irregular, hair- 
like streaks. In many specimens the indistinct zone of colour is largely 
composed of underlying spots, giving the eggs a scarcely perceptible pink 
appearance in this part. The eggs of Savi’s Warbler somewhat closely 
approach those of the Grasshopper Warbler, but are always browner. 
From certain varieties of the eggs of the allied Z. fluviatilis they are 
absolutely undistinguishable. They vary in length from °8 to *75 inch 
(Professor Newton gives a measurement of 84), and from °6 to°55 inch in 
breadth. 
Savi’s Warbler has the general colour of the upper parts uniform russet- 
brown, slightly duskier on the quills, and somewhat paler on the outside web 
of the second primary. The underparts are pale buffish brown, shading 
into nearly white on the throat and the centre of the belly; the under 
tail-coverts are pale chestnut, with obscure paler tips. Bill dark brown 
above, pale horn-colour below; legs, feet, and claws pale brown; irides 
hazel. It is not known that the sexes differ in plumage, or that the 
autumn moult produces any change of colour. Birds of the year are said 
to be less rufous on the upper parts and paler underneath. 
Savi’s Warbler may be distinguished from its near ally L. fluviatilis by 
its russet-brown upper parts (which in that species are olive-brown), and by 
the absence of the striations on the breast so conspicuous in the latter 
species. 
| — SHOE 
SACI ei —— 
