394 SYLVIIDJ:. 



the 'Zoologist' (p. 1307), and placed by Mr. Bond in the 

 British Museum, has been lately examined by Mr. Carruthers, 

 who kindly informs the Editor that, except a single leaf of 

 Cladiiim, the whole fabric consists of Glyceria aquatica.* 

 Mr. John Baker, of Cambridge, who has perhaps seen more 

 of the breeding-habits of this bird than any one else having 

 in the course of four visits to Holland taken no fewer than 

 eighteen of its nests, tells the Editor that they were all pre- 

 cisely alike, and two of them submitted to Prof. C. C. Babing- 

 ton, were pronounced by him to be built of the blades of 

 Glyceria fluitans or G. plicata. The account furnished to 

 Thienemann by Herr Lobbecke of the nests found by him in 

 the same country states that the nests were formed of Pha- 

 laris arundinacea. Count Casimir Wodzicki, who appears 

 to have enjoyed excellent opportunities of observing this 

 species in Galizia, likens its nest (Journ. fiir Orn. 1853, Extra- 

 heft p. 50) to that of a Moor-hen in miniature. He gives 

 also a graphic account of its habits : how that it is never for 

 a moment still, now on the ground, now on a reed; how that 

 in spring it will flutter in the air like a Whitethroat and creep 

 along a reed- stem from below to the tip ; how that it is pas- 

 sionate and pugnacious, in the breeding-time following its 

 mate or its rival to the very feet of the observer ; and how 

 that both sexes take part in incubation and sit so closely on 

 the nest that they may be well studied. 



The eggs, from four to six in number, measure from -84 

 to *76 by from '58 to *56 in., and are of a french-white, 

 closely freckled with specks or spots of a warm neutral tint : 

 the markings being occasionally gathered in a zone, and 

 nearly always most frequent at the larger end. Some exam- 

 ples have a decided likeness to eggs of the Wood-Lark, others 

 have been compared to those of the House- Sparrow or the 

 Water- Wagtail, but the tried eye will hardly fail to catch 

 the difference. Specimens of the eggs of the Grasshopper- 

 Warbler, chosen for their dull colouring, are sometimes 

 passed off on the tiro as those of the rarer bird. 



* It was, however, described (Zool. p. 1212) as being formed of the common 

 reed (A rundo pJirat/mUes). 



