THE GRASSHOPPER WARBLERS. 239 



Adult Male. General colour above, uniform russet-brown, the 

 wing-coverts like the back ; quills sepia-brown, externally 

 russet-brown, like the back ; the outer edge of the bastard- 

 wing feathers and the first long primary (/>., second quill) 

 ashy ; tail dark brown, slightly paler on the margins, and 

 ribbed with dusky cross-bars under certain lights ; head like 

 the back ; sides of face lighter brown than the head ; eyelid 

 and a faint eyebrow whitish ; cheeks, throat, and centre of 

 breast and abdomen dull white; lower throat and chest, as 

 well as the sides of the body and under tail-coverts, pale 

 fulvous-brown, deepening on the flanks and under tail-coverts ; 

 under wing-coverts and axillaries light fulvous-brown, like the 

 breast ; quills dusky-brown below, ashy along the inner webs ; 

 bill dark brown, the lower mandible paler and light horn-brown ; 

 feet clear horn-colour, yellowish-brown in skin; iris yellowish 

 brown. Total length, 5*8 inches; culmen, 0*55; wing, 2*5; 

 tail, 2'2 ; tarsus, 0*9. 



Adult Female. Somewhat darker and more rufous-brown than 

 the male, especially on the under surface of the body. Total 

 length, 57 inches, wing, 27. 



NOTE. Although it is not very probable that a specimen of Savi's 

 Warbler will again be captured in England, a few notes as to its distinctive 

 characters may be useful. Although it agrees with the Grasshopper 

 Warbler in having the rictal bristles nearly obsolete and in the graduated 

 tail, it is always recognisable from that species by its uniform plumage and 

 generally more russet colour. In the uniformity of the upper surface it 

 approaches, therefore, the Reed-Warblers (Acrocephalus), but, in addition 

 to the different structure of the tail, Savi's Warbler may always be dis- 

 tinguished by the vinous buff or reddish colour of the lower flanks and 

 under tail-coverts, while it is of a much darker brown above than any of 

 the true Reed- Warblers* 



Range in Great Britain. Formerly a regular visitor to the Fen 

 districts of England, but no longer to be found there, owing to 

 the drainage and reclamation of the meres, which it inhabited. 

 It appears never to have been an abundant species, and British- 

 killed examples exist in very few collections. Its breeding 

 places were confined to the counties of Norfolk, Cambridge- 

 shire, and Huntingdonshire, and the last recorded instance of 

 its occurrence in England was in Norfolk in June, 1856. 



Range outside the British Islands^ Locally distributed through 



