THE AQUATIC WARBLER. 121 



Fam ily TURDID&. Subfamily S YL VHN^E. 



THE AQUATIC WARBLER. 



Acrocephalus aquaticus, 



A L/THOUGH this appears to be only a chance straggler to onr shores, it is 

 2~\ 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 occur- 

 rence 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 Minor. In South Russia Goebel found it 

 rare in the valley 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 very 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 buffish- 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 buff) 

 the neck and lower throat more or less striated. Bill dark-brown above, paler 



VOL. I. V 



