285 



while a fourth is closely mottled with violet grey, umber brown and 

 perhaps a blackish spot or so and has the greyish ground almost obscured. 

 There is a fair amount of gloss. 



Eggs may be found in Russia from about the second week of June breeding 



®® •' . . Season. 



to the end of the mouth, but earlier in the Himalayas. 



Average of 52 eggs (28 by the writer and 24 by Pleske), 17.6 x 13.7, Measure- 



nients. 



Max. 19.5 X 15, Min. 16.2 X 13.2 and 17.5 X 12.75. 



134. Paddy-field Warbler, Acrocephalus agricola Jerd. 



Plate 22, fig. 30 (Turkestan). 



Eggs: Dresser, pi. — , fig. 1 — 3. 

 Acrocephalus agricola Jerd. Dresser, B. of Europe, II, p. 559 and 

 Man. Pal. Birds, p. 115. A. agricola agricola Jerd. Hartert, Vog. Pal. 

 Fauna, p. 564. 



Breeding Range: S. E. Russia. [Also from Transcaspia S. to 

 E. Persia, E. to Nepal and the Altai range. Replaced in China by 

 A. agricola concinens (Swin.)] 



Like the preceding species this bird is only known to breed in ^°°- 

 Europe within the boundaries of Russia, but has a different range, being Europe, 

 chiefly confined to the S. and S. E. Pleske states that it breeds in the 

 Crimea, the Kirghis steppes and the Astrakhan district, Orenburg and 

 Perm. It may possibly also be found breeding in the Dobrudscha, as a 

 specimen was obtained there on April 18. [In Asia its range extends 

 from Transcaspia, Turkestan, and the Altai range to Tsaidam, Tibet, and 

 the Himalaya range, while southward it has been found breding at Seistan 

 in E. Persia.] 



Generally built in marshes among reeds and other water plants, Nest. 

 and attached to them like the nests of the Reed Warblers, which they 

 much resemble. Davidson describes nests found in Kashmir as solid 

 cups, from 1 to 3 ft. above the water, built of rough grass, with an 

 intermixture of reed fibre and catkins, lined with finer grasses and some- 

 times a feather or two. This agrees with descriptions of nests from the 

 Kirghis steppes, about 5 in. high, inner diameter 11 in., depth 2? in., 

 but differs widely from Brooks' account of an empty nest in a rose bush. 



In Kashmir generally 4, but 5 have been recorded from other Eggs, 

 districts. Some eggs are said to resemble those of the Reed Warbler, 

 and are blotched and spotted all over with greenish brown and pale 

 grey and a few very dark specks, on a greenish grey ground. Kashmir 

 eggs on the other hand show much more of the white or bluish white 

 ground, and are only sparingly marked, chiefly at the big end, with olive 

 brown and underlying grey. They show hardly any gloss. 



