le Ee ee 
Se ae ee ee: 
BRADYPTERUS GRACILIROSTRIS. 287 
ticket on specimen). Total length, 5-7 inches; culmen, 0°55 ; wing, 
2:25-; tail, 2°6; tarsus, 0°85. 
Adult female.—Similar to the male. Total length, 5:5 inches; 
culmen, 0°6; wing, 2:2; tail, 2°55; tarsus, 0°85. 
Fig. Le Vaillant, Ois. d’Afr. pl. 122. 
271. Brapyprervus Graciuirostris. White-breasted Reed-Warbler. 
Calamodyta gracilirostris, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 98. 
Mr. L. C. Layard procured several specimens of this shy and 
retiring bird in rushes on the banks of the “‘ Diep River,” near the 
Observatory, Cape Town. He informs us that he was attracted to 
them by their babblings, which he at once detected as new to him: 
their stomachs contained the remains of minute Coleoptera and 
other insects. When staying with Mr. Kotze at the Berg River we 
found the eggs of this species. they were dirty white, spotted or 
blotched, chiefly at the obtuse end, with light brown and purple 
blotches: axis, 9’’’; diam. 63}’”.. The nest was similar in form and 
position to that of Acrocephalus beticatus. At the Berg river it 
was called ‘River Ting-ting.’ In Natal, Mr. Ayres says that ‘‘ these 
birds are less plentiful than most of the Warblers, but are generally 
dispersed throughout the colony. They are always found amongst 
the reeds and rushes which border the streams, rivers, and lagoons. 
Their notes are loud, clear, and pleasant. They fly with greater 
ease and swiftness than most of the Drymecas. Their food consists 
of small insects.” 
We have also seen specimens from the neigh- 
bourhood of Potchefstroom, for which we were indebted to the 
kindness of Dr. H. Exton. The late Mr. Chapman obtained a single 
specimen near Lake N’gami, and two specimens, procured in Damara 
Land by Mr. Andersson, are in the British Museum: they were 
obtained at Omanbondé.* 
The distinguishing characters of this species are its large size, 
long and acrocephalus-like bill and white under surface: there are 
* Mr. Gurney inserts in the ‘“ Birds of Damara Land” Acrocephalus arun- 
dinaceus, the Great Sedge-Warbler of Europe (p. 99). Mr, Andersson’s MSS. 
contained a note on a “ Reed-Warbler” procured by him near Omanbondé, 
which he compared to the British species, but found it larger. I believe he 
intended the Reed-Wren (A. streperus) for the specimens from Omanbondé 
now in the British Museum (of which two were recently discovered in an old 
collection of Mr. Andersson’s) are Bradypterus gracilirostris, which is smaller 
than A. arundinaceus. 
