120 ACROCEPHALUS 



Its flight is jerky and feeble, and it is very shy and averse to 

 take wing. Its call-note is a harsh tschak or tack and a deep 

 tscharr, and its song though loud and not unmelodious is not of 

 a high order, and is generally uttered from a high reed or some 

 exposed position. It feeds chiefly on insects and in autumn to 

 some extent on berries. Its nest is like that of the Reed- 

 Warbler, but larger, and is attached to several stems of rushes, 

 or reeds near the water. The eggs which are deposited in May 

 or June, usually 4 or 5 in number, are pale blue green marked 

 with purplish grey shell-blotches, and dark brown surface- spots, 

 and average 0'9 by 0*75 in size. 



171. EASTERN GREAT REED- WARBLER. 

 ACROCEPHALUS ORIENTALIS. 



Acrocephalus orientalis, (Temm. and Schleg.) Faun. Jap. Aves. p. 50. pi. 

 XXB. (1847) : Pleske, Orn. Ross. ii. p. 493 : (Gates), F. Brit. Ind. 

 Birds, i. p. 357 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 97. 



3 ad. (China). Differs from A. arundinaceus in being smaller, in 

 .having the legs slate-grey, and in having the second quill intermediate 

 between the 3rd and 4th or between the 4th and 5th. Culmen 0'9, wing 

 3-2, tail 2-9, tarsus I'O inch. 



Hob. Siberia, as far west as the Argun river, Northern and 

 Central China, and Japan, wintering in Burma, Tenasserim, the 

 Andamans, and Philippines nearly as far south as Australia. 



In habits and song it resembles the preceding species, and 

 its nest and eggs are similar, but the latter are, as a rule, 

 somewhat smaller. 



172. CLAMOROUS REED- WARBLER. 

 ACROCEPHALUS STENTOREUS. 



Acrocephalus stentoreus, (Hempr. and Ehr.) Symb. Phys. Aves. fol. b.b. 

 (1828) ; Stafford Allen, Ibis. 1864, p. 97, pi. i ; Dresser, ii. p. 

 585 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 98 ; (Gates), F. Brit. Ind. 

 Birds, i. p. 356 ; A. brunnescens, (Jerdon), Madr. Journ. x. p. 

 269 (1839) ; Hume and Henderson, Lahore to Yaik. p. 214, pl.xvi. 



g ad. (India). Differs from A . arundinacevs in having the wing 

 shorter, the bill longer, and not so stout, the second primary about equal 

 to the 5th and shorter than the 3rd and 4th ; upper mandible dark horn, 

 under mandible flesh colour with a dusky tip ; legs and feet greenish 

 plumbeous ; iris brownish yellow. Culmen 0'9, wing 3*45, tail 3'3, 

 tarsus 1*15 inch. 



