358 BRITISH BIRDS. 



was shot by himself in the neighbourhood, although the date of its capture 

 could not be traced. It is no subject for surprise to find this bird occa- 

 sionally wandering across the English Channel, when we know it breeds 

 pretty commonly on the opposite coasts of France and Holland. As it is 

 also apt to be confused with allied species, it may easily escape notice. 



The Aquatic Warbler has not a very extensive range. 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 Nordrnann 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. 



The only occasion on which I have met with the Aquatic Warbler 

 was on the island of Heligoland. Mr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, Mr. Frank 

 Nicholson, and I arrived on the island on the 23rd of September. We 

 devoted the 24th to Gatke and his wonderful collection ; but on the 25th 

 we turned out early in the morning before breakfast, and were delighted to 

 find that there had been a considerable migration of birds during the 

 night, and that, out of the crowds that must have passed over, many tired 

 or hungry birds had been left behind, and were to be found feeding on the 

 edges of the cliff, or skulking among the potatoes. It was very curious to 

 see what a mixture of birds we had on our breakfast table after about three 

 hours' desultory wandering on this bare little earth-covered rock out of 

 sight of land. To say nothing of common birds, such as W r heatears, Sky- 

 larks, Woodlarks, Meadow-Pipits, Redstarts, &c., we had shot a Starling, 

 a Peewit, a Snow-Bunting, a Jack-Snipe, a Corncrake, a couple of Grey- 

 headed Yellow Wagtails, and an Aquatic Warbler, and had seen Kestrels, 

 Song-Thrushes, and Ring-Ouzels. The Aquatic Warbler was skulking 

 amongst the potatoes; and a few days afterwards we picked up a second 

 example. 



The Aquatic Warbler is said to arrive at its breeding-haunts in North 

 Germany during the last half of April ; so that it belongs neither to the 

 earliest nor to the latest group of migrants. As its name implies, this 

 bird is only found in swamps, but is said to neglect the large reed-beds, 

 and choose the ditches, ponds, and banks of lakes and rivers, which abound 

 in coarse aquatic vegetation, being especially partial to sedges, in which it 



