HEED WAHBl-KH. 373 



same brown as the upper parts ; tail rather long, the outer 

 pair of feathers a quarter of an inch shorter than the middle 

 pair : chin, throat and helly white ; breast, flanks and 

 under tail-coverts, a very pale buff, darkest on the flanks. 

 Legs, in the type-example described by Lightfoot, light 

 olive, soles of the feet bright yellow, with a tinge of green 

 which soon fades ; but in examples especially procured by the 

 Editor for the use of this work, the legs were of a purplish- 

 brown, and the soles dusky. 



The length of the male bird five inches and a half. From 

 the carpal joint to the end of the wing, two inches and 

 five-eighths : the second, third and fourth primaries nearly 

 equal in length, the third the longest. 



The female resembles the male, but is rather less in size. 



The Marsh-Warbler, Acrocephalus jxdustris (Bechstein), 

 is said to have occurred several times in England*, and 

 some of the examples on which the statements rest have 

 been kindly submitted by their owners, Mr. Bond, Mr. 

 Harting and Mr. Sharpe, to the Editor. It is confessedly 

 hard to distinguish between prepared specimens of two 

 species so much alike as A. strepeims and .4. i)aliistris, and 

 it is with some diffidence that, after a careful examination, 

 he has come to the conclusion it is at present premature to 

 admit the latter as a British bird. In thus resolving, he, 

 however, throws no doubt on these examples having been 

 obtained in this country; but what does seem uncertain, 

 after a diligent investigation of the alleged distinctive 

 characters of each species put forth by various writers, is 

 whether these two species, except in life and shortly after 

 death, can be surely distinguished, and consequently 

 whether the slight peculiarities of the British specimens 

 attributed to A. palustr'is prove that they have been rightly 

 so assigned. 



Mr. Harting, who has taken great pains with the question, 

 and is satisfied that A. ■palustr'is not only occurs in England, 

 but is probably an annual summer-migrant to our shores, 



* Mr. Harting, in his new ;incl useful ' Handbook of British Birds ' 

 (p. 104), refers to six sucli iustances. 



