194 SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE. 



districts which would appear well suited to its 

 habits. I have explored many acres of furze and 

 extensive commons in the weald, without being 

 able to detect its presence by sound or sight. It 

 is very rare in the neighbourhood of Brighton and 

 Hastings, but has frequently been obtained near 

 Chichester. I know one heathy common about a 

 mile from Petworth, interspersed with patches of 

 thorn and gorse, where several pairs of these birds 

 may be heard every summer ; but although my 

 patience has often been rewarded by occasional 

 glimpses of the little feathered chirpers as they 

 crept, mouse-like, among the stalks of the furze 

 and fern, I never succeeded in discovering their 

 nest or eggs. 



SEDGE WARBLER, Salicaria phragmitis. Com- 

 mon where low drains with sedgy banks, or 

 brooks bordered with thick bushes occur, or 

 wherever moist and damp situations encourage a 

 profusion of aquatic herbage. 



REED WARBLER, Salicaria arundinacea. Par- 

 tially distributed, and everywhere less numerous 

 than the last-named species. Was formerly of 

 frequent occurrence on Pevensey Levels, but since 

 the clearing out of many of the reed beds, has 

 almost disappeared from that neighbourhood. 

 The same cause has reduced its numbers at Am- 

 berley, and in most of its favourite haunts. These 



