ACROCEPHALUS LUSCINIOIDES. 95 
I only found it in one locality in Andalucia^ where once 
(in winter), when snipe-snooting, I noticed some old nests in 
the sedges, which apparently belonged to this species, and 
made up my mind to try the next spring for them. How- 
ever, for two years I was unable to do so ; but in 1874 I 
went to this place in May with two friends, Mr. Stark being 
one, and we succeeded in finding thirteen nests, nine of 
which fell to my share. The first nest was found by Mr. 
Denison, on the 4th of May, and contained four fresh eggs ; 
the others as follows : — on the 6th, one nest with four fresh 
eggs ; on the 7th, three nests — one empty (deserted), two with 
four eggs each, one lot fresh, the other hard sat-on ; on the 
8th, one nest procured with three eggs slightly sat-on, and 
one nest with five fresh eggs ; on the 9th, two nests with four 
eggs each, all hard sat-on, and one nest with three young 
fully fledged; on the 11th, one nest with five fresh eggs; 
and on the 13th, one nest with two fresh eggs. 
By this it will be seen that the time of their breeding is 
rather variable. I do not like to give the name of the exact 
locality where these birds nest, as (owing to the detestable 
system of amateur dealing and making money out of the 
eggs and skins of scarce birds) I am afraid Savins Warbler 
would sufi'er heavily. 
The precise time of their arrival I could not ascertain ; but 
it is after the 6th of March ; and they are all gone by Sep- 
tember. The nests, sometimes very near to one another, 
are most difiicult to find, and were, without exception, built 
in places where the mud and water varied in depth from two 
or three inches to perhaps two feet. All but one were in 
sedges, so well concealed as only to be found by accident. I 
spent sometimes the whole day in these marshes, looking in 
vain, with my gun in one hand and a sickle in the other, 
which I used to open the sedges with, as it cut one's fingers 
severely to try and move them with the hand. What with 
the hot sun and the stink of the mud, I used to despair 
utterly after hours of fruitless search, but generally found a 
nest in the evening. The whole marsh was trodden down by 
us as if a herd of cattle had been in it ; but perhaps the next 
