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3 
358 BRITISH BIRDS. 
was shot by himself in the neighbourhood, although the date of its capture 
could not be traced. It is no subject for surprise to find this bird occa- 
sionally wandering across the English Channel, when we know it breeds 
pretty commonly on the opposite coasts of France and Holland. As it is 
also apt to be confused with allied species, it may easily escape notice. 
The Aquatic Warbler has not a very extensive range. It has never been 
found north of the Baltic, and is only known to pass through Spain on 
migration. It is a regular, though local, summer migrant to France, 
Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and South Denmark. South of the 
Danube it is only known to pass through on migration, a few remaining 
during the winter in Greece and Asia Minor. In South Russia Goebel 
found it rare in the valley of the Dnieper; and Nordmann once obtained 
it at Odessa in spring. Bogdanow did not meet with it either on the 
Volga or in the Caucasus ; but Meves found it abundant in the marshes of 
the Southern Ural, which, so far as is known, is its eastern limit. It is 
said to winter in the Canary Islands and in various parts of North Africa ; 
but our information respecting its winter quarters is very meagre. There 
is no doubt that a considerable number remain to breed in Algeria and 
Tunis. 
The only occasion on which I have met with the Aquatic Warbler 
was on the island of Heligoland. Mr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, Mr. Frank 
Nicholson, and I arrived on the island on the 23rd of September. We 
devoted the 24th to Gatke and his wonderful collection ; but on the 25th 
we turned out early in the morning before breakfast, and were delighted to 
find that there had been a considerable migration of birds during the 
night, and that, out of the crowds that must have passed over, many tired 
or hungry birds had been left behind, and were to be found feeding on the 
edges of the cliff, or skulking among the potatoes. It was very curious to 
see what a mixture of birds we had on our breakfast table after about three 
hours’ desultory wandering on this bare little earth-covered rock out of 
sight of land. To say nothing of common birds, such as Wheatears, Sky- 
larks, Woodlarks, Meadow-Pipits, Redstarts, &e., we had shot a Starling, 
a Peewit, a Snow-Bunting, a Jack-Snipe, a Corncrake, a couple of Grey- 
headed Yellow Wagtails, and an Aquatic Warbler, and had seen Kestrels, 
Song-Thrushes, and Ring-Ouzels. The Aquatic Warbler was skulking 
amongst the potatoes; and a few days afterwards we picked up a second 
example. 
The Aquatic Warbler is said to arrive at its breeding-haunts in North 
Germany during the last half of April; so that it belongs neither to the 
earliest nor to the latest group of migrants. As its name implies, this 
bird is only found in swamps, but is said to neglect the large reed-beds, 
and choose the ditches, ponds, and banks of lakes and rivers, which abound 
in coarse aquatic vegetation, being especially partial to sedges, in which it 
