122 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



than it really is. Indeed, in soiue localities where the species is known 

 to be abundant one may often search long and diligently before 

 meeting with the bird, and even then, perhaps, only catch a glimpse 

 of one as it flits from one clump of reeds to another, diving imme- 

 diately into the thickest part in order to hide itself. I remember on 

 one occasion, when wishing to obtain a specimen of this Warbler on 

 the banks of the Eiver Anapus near Syracuse, experiencing the greatest 

 difficulty in achieving my object, although I knew for a fact that there 

 were several of the birds there. The magnificent Papyrus clumps 

 growing on each side of this small but celebrated river are favourite 

 resorts of Cetti's Warbler in winter, and no doubt throughout the 

 year, as the species is a sedentary one. 



The Anapus, or more properly the Cyane (the modern Pisma), a 

 smaller stream flowing into the Anapus, appears now to be the only 

 home, in Europe at any rate, of the Papyrus (Cyperus papyrus) in its 

 wild state. In Egypt, from whence this plant is said to have been 

 originally introduced into Sicily, the Papyrus is apparently now no 

 longer to be found. In Palestine, however, it flourishes, or did 

 flourish some years ago, by the shores of the Lake of Galilee, where 

 Canon Tristram found it in 18G4, growing luxuriantly close to the 

 Ain-el-Tin, on the north of the Plain of Gennesaret (Linn. Soc. 

 Journ. Botany, vol. ix.). 



The song of this Warbler, although clear and powerful, is rather 

 abrupt and somewhat metallic. Some of its notes are considered to 

 resemble those of the Nightingale, but, taken as a whole, its song 

 cannot be compared with that of our sweetest of songsters. This 

 resemblance in some of its notes, and the fact of the bird singing 

 sometimes by night as well as by day, as also, no doubt, its somewhat 

 similar plumage-colouring, have given rise to the species' Italian 

 name of Water or Marsh Nightingale. The Arabs of Marocco also 

 apparently confound the two species together. 



The food of this Warbler consists chiefly, if not entirely, of insects 

 and their larvse. 



The nest of Cetti's Warbler, according to Colonel Irby (Orn. 

 Strs. Gib. p. 93), is either placed in a bush, at a height of two or 

 three feet from the ground, or attached to reeds, like that of the 

 Eeed-Warbler. In the former case it is composed chiefly of grass 

 and willow-cotton and entirely lined with hair, in the latter it is 

 built of bits of small sedges, intermingled with willow-cotton, coated 



