MARSH-WARBLER. 375 
ACROCEPHALUS PALUSTRIS. 
MARSH-WARBLER. 
(Pate 10.) 
Sylvia palustris, Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. p. 186 (1802); et auctorum pluri- 
morum — Temminck, Naumann, (Schlegel), (Newton), (Degland § Gerbe), 
(Loche), (Doderlein), (Salvadori), (Gould), (Dresser), 8:c. 
Acrocephalus palustris (Bechst.), Nawm. Nat. Land- u. Wass.-Vog. nirdl. Deutschl. 
Nachtr. Heft iv. p. 202 (1811). 
Calamoherpe palustris (Bechst.), Bote, Isis, 1822, p. 552. 
Calamoherpe musica, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 446 (1831). 
Salicaria palustris (Bechst.), Gould, B. Eur. ii. pl. 109 (1837). 
Calamodyta palustris (Bechst.), Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 172 (1848). 
Sylvia (Calamoherpe) fruticola, Nawm. Vog. Deutschi. xiii. p. 453 (1853). 
Calamoherpe pratensis, Jaub. Rev. et Mag. de Zool. vii. p. 65 (1855). 
Thanks to the researches of Harting and others, the Marsh-Warbler 
must now be admitted to be a regular though local summer visitor to the 
south of England. Some English ornithologists, who have never made the 
personal acquaintance of both species, have almost refused to admit their 
distinctness. No doubt they are very closely allied; but in their song, 
habits, eggs, and geographical distribution they differ as much as a Black- 
bird differs from a Thrush. 
In Harting’s ‘Handbook of British Birds’ six occurrences of the 
Marsh-Warbler (three near Cambridge and three near Yarmouth) are 
recorded. There does not seem to be any reason to doubt the correctness 
of the identification in any of these instances. In the ‘ Zoologist’ for 
1875, p. 4713, Mr. Cecil Smith satisfactorily proves not only the repeated 
occurrence, but also the breeding of this species, near Taunton in Somerset- 
shire. Last year, at least three nests of the Marsh-Warbler were taken 
in the same locality. I saw the eggs of one of these nests before they 
were blown; and two of the nests are now in my collection. These nests 
were attached to the stalks of the meadow-sweet, cow-parsnip, and nettle ; 
and, in one instance at least, the superiority of the song to that of the 
Reed- or Sedge-Warbler was noted. The eggs which I saw were un- 
mistakable Marsh-Warbler’s eggs; and those in the other nests were 
correctly described. Mr. Murray A. Mathew has recorded the first 
occurrence in the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1882, p. 265; and the others are 
mentioned by Mr. F. Stansell in the same volume, p. 306. 
I am also indebted to my friend Mr. John Young for the following note 
of the Marsh-Warbler breeding in England near Bath, and obligingly 
contributed by Mr. C. Young of Llandaff:—“ In the summer of 1880 
