THE REED-WAEBLER. 



339 



browner ground-colour and less blue, and markings smaller. Average 

 of 42 eggs, 21.4 x 15.5 mm. Breeding -season. — June. 



Food. — Probably very similar to that of the western race, but 

 little exact data available. Lynes found beetles in stomach. 



Distribution. — England.— One. Male at West St. Leonards-on 

 Sea (Sussex), Aug. 24, 1916 {lU supra). 



Distribution. — Abroad. — Breeds in south-east Siberia, west as 

 far as the Argun River, in the oases of Central Asian desert, north 

 and middle China to the Yang-tse-kiang and Fokien, in Corea and 

 Japan. Migrant, passing through China and wintering as far south 

 as the Philippine and Sunda Islands and even Celebes and the 

 Moluccas, west to the Malay Peninsula and Andamans. 



ACROCEPHALUS SCIRPACEUS 



143. Acrocephalus scirpaceus scirpaceus (Herm.) — THE 

 REED-WARBLER. 



TuRDPs SCIRPACEUS Hermann, Observ. Zool., p. 202 (1804 — Alsace). 

 Sylvia strepera Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., nov. ed., xi, p. 182 

 (1817— France). 



Acrocephalus arundinaceus (Brisson nee Newton), Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B., 

 I, p. 367 (erroneous). (See also Fleming, Selby, and others.) 

 Acrocephalus streperms (Vieillot), Yarrell, I, p. 369 ; Saunders, p. 79 

 Hand-List B.B., p. 63 (1912). 



Description. — Adult male and 

 female. Winter. — Whole upper- 

 parts warm brown, rather dark 

 with yellowish -rusty tinge, rump 

 and upper tail -coverts paler and 

 more yellowish-rusty ; narrow 

 and somewhat ill -defined stripe 

 from nostrils, over and slightly 

 behind eye whitish cream-colour ; 

 lores and ear-coverts pale brown ; 



chin, throat and centre of belly white ; breast, sides and under tail- 

 coverts very pale buff ; flanks dark buff ; axillaries and under 

 wing-coverts buffish-white ; tail dark brown with very narrow 

 whitish-cream-coloured tips and fringes to inner webs ; wing- 

 feathers darker brown with very narrow pale brown tips and narrow 

 pale brown fringes to outer webs and whitish fringes to inner webs ; 

 wing -co verts as mantle. This plumage is acquired by complete 

 moult June-Sept. Summer. — A complete moult (including wings 

 and tail) takes place Dec. -Jan. New plumage as winter. Abrasion 

 makes under-parts whiter and upper-parts slightly less tinged with 

 rust -colour. 



Nestling. — Down absent Mouth, inside orange-yellow two 



z 2 



Reed- Warbler (A. s. scirpaceus). 



