238 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



ing, when it ascends to the top of a reed or bush to utter its 

 monotonous song, which is often to be heard in the twilight, 

 and even after darkness has set in. It by no means affects 

 entirely marshy or even swampy places, though the fens of 

 Cambridgeshire are still one of the strongholds of the species in 

 England \ but it is often found in shady plantations or frequent- 

 ing hedgerows. The flight is uncertain and dipping, the bird 

 carrying its tail spread and depressed, and dropping suddenly 

 into the densest herbage, where it creeps away like a Mouse. 



Nest. On the ground or close to it, and occasionally ap- 

 proached by a kind of "run," or "creep," as Lord Lilford calls 

 it, but it is as often situated in a clump of grass, or at the 

 bottom of a hedgerow, and is by no means invariably well- 

 concealed, though, as a rule, it is very difficult to find, unless 

 its site is betrayed by the flight of the hen-bird from the nest. In 

 Somersetshire, the nest, so Mr. Robert Read tells us, is found 

 amongst clover and vetches, and one nest in his collection was 

 built in a large stalk of cow-parsnip. He has also found it in 

 hawthorn- or blackthorn-bushes in a site similar to that of the 

 Common Whitethroat. 



Eggs. From four to seven. Pinkish in general appearance, 

 sprinkled all over with dots of reddish-brown, and varying in 

 shape from round to long ovals. The grey underlying mark- 

 ings consist of dots which are sprinkled in exactly the same 

 manner as the overlying ones. Occasionally the effect is very 

 dark, the eggs appearing nearly uniform pinkish-brown, while 

 others are very light, showing the white ground very distinctly, 

 and having the spots collected round the larger end so as to 

 form a ring. Axis, 0-65-0-8 inch ; diam. 0-5-0-6. 



II. SAVI'S WARBLER, LOCUSTELLA LUSCINIOIDES. 



Svlvia luscinioideS) Savi, Nuovo Giorn. de Letterati, vii., p. 341, 

 (1824). 



Acrocephalus lusdnioides^ Newt. ed. Yarr., i., p. 389 (1874). 



Locustella lusdnioides^ Dresser, B. Eur. ii., p. 627, pi. 93 

 (1875); Seeb., Cat. B. Brit. Mus., v., p. 112 (1881), id 

 Br. B. i., p. 346 (1883); B. O. U. List Br. B., p. 21 

 (1883) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B., pt. ii. (1886); Saunders, 

 Man,, p. 83 (1889). 



