I20 The Aquatic Warbler. 



Family— TURDID^F. Subfauiily—SYL J IIN.F. 



The Aquatic Warbler. 



Acroccplialiii aqnatiius, GmEL. 



ALTHOUGH this appears to be ouly a chance straggler to our shores, it is 

 by no means an uncommon bird in France, and it is quite likely that, but 

 for its close resemblance to the Sedge- Warbler, many more instances of its 

 occurrence in Great Britain would have been recorded. It is, therefore, important 

 that the present species should be admitted into the British list, so that all 

 observers may be on the look-out for it. Its geographical distribution, according 

 to Seebohm, is as follows :^ — "It has never been found north of the Baltic, and is 

 only known to pass through Spain on migration. It is a regular, though local, 

 summer migrant to France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and South Denmark. 

 South of the Danube it is only known to pass through on migration, a few 

 remaining during the winter in Greece and Asia I^Iinor. In South Russia, Goebel 

 found it rare in the valle}^ of the Dnieper ; and Nordmann once obtained it at 

 Odessa in spring. Bogdanow did not meet with it either on the Volga or in the 

 Caucasus ; but Meves found it abundant in the marshes of the Southern Ural, 

 which, so far as is known, is its eastern limit. It is said to winter in the Canary 

 Islands, and in various parts of North Africa ; but our information respecting its 

 winter quarters is ver}^ meagre. There is no doubt that a considerable number 

 remain to breed in Algeria and Tunis." 



In Great Britain the Aquatic Warbler has been shot at Dover ; at Hove, near 

 Brighton; and. at Loughborough, in Leicestershire; it was also represented in 

 " Hunt's British Ornithology," in 1822. 



The upper surface of the Aquatic Warbler is tawny-brown, the forehead 

 reddish-buff; a bufifish-white superciliary stripe from the base of the bill almost 

 to the nape ; the crown above this stripe blackish-brown, divided down the centre 

 by a stripe of buff; feathers of nape and back black-striped, and all the remaining 

 feathers excepting the quills black-centred ; lores and ear-coverts pale-brown ; 

 under surface of body buff, paler in summer ; the flanks (which are more 

 distinctly huff) the neck aud lower throat more or less striated. Bill dark-bi^own 



