^28 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



eye, with a distinct white eyebrow, reaching from the nostrils 

 to a little beyond the eye ; eyelid also whitish ; cheeks, throat, 

 and under surface of body white, the breast and sides of the 

 body tawny-buff, as well as the thighs and under tail-coverts ; 

 under wing-coverts, axillaries, and quill-lining, rich tawny-buff; 

 bill dark brown, the lower mandible lighter and more yellow at 

 the base and at the gape; feet pale horn-colour; iris brown. 

 Total length, 7-8 inches; oilmen, o'S ; wing, 3-6 ; tail, 2*95 ; 

 tarsus, 1-3. 



Adult Female. Does not differ from the male in colour. 

 Total length, 7-5 inches; wing, 3-6. 



In Autumn and Winter Plumage the colours are a little more 

 fulvescent, especially on the eyebrow and on the under- 

 parts. 



Young Birds, after the autumn moult, are decidedly more 

 tawny than in summer, and have some indistinct streaks on the 

 lower throat and fore-neck. During the nesting season, the 

 plumage gets much abraded and worn, so that the throat and 

 breast become bleached white, and the narrow whitish tips to 

 the quills and tail-feathers wear off. 



Kange in Great Britain. A rare and occasional visitor, the 

 authentic instances of its appearance not exceeding half-a- 

 dozen, while many supposed records are unworthy of credence, 

 as is the case with all the statements of its breeding in this 

 country. Not that there is any reason why the species should 

 not do so, for it is common on the Continent in countries 

 almost within sight of England. 



Range outside the British Islands. The Great Reed- Warbler 

 nests throughout the greater part of Europe south of the 

 British Islands and the Baltic, and is only an accidental visitor 

 to the south of Sweden. On the western shores of the Baltic 

 Sea it occurs, according to Dr. Pleske, as far north as 59 30 

 W. lat., thence its range tends southward to 54 on the Volga, 

 and rises again in the Urals to 57, but the above-named author 

 believes that its frontier line in the Volga district may require 

 rectification in a northerly direction. It breeds as far east as 

 Turkestan, and through Persia, Asia Minor, and Palestine. To 

 the eastward it crosses the range of Acrocephalus stentoreus^ 



