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362 BRITISH BIRDS. 
of the Birds of Northumberland and Durham.’ He writes, ‘‘A male 
specimen of this rare casual visitant was shot by Thomas Robson near 
Swalwell, four miles west of Newcastle, May 28th, 1847. It was skulking 
in the low herbage by the side of a mill-dam, A notice of this capture 
is recorded in Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist., August 1847, Vol. xx. p. 135. 
The specimen is in the possession of Mr. Thomas Thompson, of Win- 
laton; and was, I believe, the first recorded occurrence of this large 
Warbler in the British Islands.” 
On one of my visits to Constantinople I spent a day at Ortakoi, on the 
Bosphorous, with the above-mentioned Mr. Robson, and listened with 
great interest to the account of his capture of this rare visitant to our 
shores. I found Mr. Robson an excellent field-naturalist, well acquainted 
with the songs of all our common birds. He told me that whilst he was 
a working mechanic at Newcastle he used to devote much of his leisure 
time to the study of field-ornithology. One morning his attention was 
suddenly arrested by the song of a bird differing entirely from any thing 
he had ever heard before. It was so skulking in its habits that he had 
some difficulty in procuring it. Other occurrences are recorded from 
Kent, Essex, &c.; but I cannot learn that in any case the facts of the 
examples having been killed in this country and having been correctly 
identified are placed beyond doubt. 
The Great Reed-Warbler is a western Palearctic species, breeding in 
Central and Southern Europe, and ranging eastwards into Northern Persia 
and Turkestan. It also breeds in some parts of North Africa, and winters 
in South Africa. It is abundant in suitable localities in summer in 
Portugal, Spain, and all the countries of Europe south of the British 
Channel and the Baltic. In South Sweden, as in the British Islands, it 
appears to be only an accidental visitor. Its most northerly recorded 
locality is the islands at the entrance of the Gulf of Riga. In Russia it 
has not been found north of the valley of the Volga. In Africa it breeds 
in Morocco and Algeria; and it is a regular summer visitor to Palestine and 
Asia Minor. It winters on both the east and west of South Africa, having 
been obtained in Lower Guinea, Damara Land, Natal, and the Transvaal. 
rom the latter country I have examples in full moult obtained in March 
and April. 
The Great Reed-Warbler is the Reed-Warbler par excellence, being 
absolutely confined during the breeding-season to districts where the 
common reed (Arundo phragmitis) abounds. Hence its distribution is 
somewhat local. It is, however, very abundant in suitable localities, and 
frequents the reed-beds on the banks of rivers, in lakes, and even in small 
ponds, It is somewhat remarkable that this bird is not found amongst 
the reed-beds of the Norfolk broads. Although it breeds as far west as 
Portugal, and its northern range extends almost to the Gulf of Finland, 
