122 ACROCEPHALUS 



songster and its song is loud and agreeable though somewhat 

 hurried. It commences nidification in June and builds 

 amongst grass or dense undergrowth, and its nest which is 

 placed usually one or two feet above the ground is strongly 

 constructed of plant-cotton, grass and plant-stems, and the cup, 

 which is deep, is lined with finer bents and horsehair. The 

 eggs, 4 to 6 in number, resemble those of A. scliwnobcenus, but are 

 much browner and darker, and measure only O63 by 0'51. 



174. AQUATIC WARBLER. 

 ACROCEPHALUS AQUATICUS. 



Acrocephalus aquaticus, (Gmel.) Syst. Nat. i. p. 953 (1788) ; (Temm.) 

 Man. d'Orn. p. 131 (1815) ; (Gould), B. of E. ii. pi. 3. fig. 2 ; (id.) 

 B. of Gt. Brit, ii. pi. 76 ; (Naumann), iii. p. 686, Taf. 82. figs. 2, 3 r 

 4, 5 ; Newton, i. p. 380 ; Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 89 ; 

 Dresser, ii. p. 591, pi. 89 ; Saunders, p. 87 ; Lilford, iii. p. 42, pi, 

 21 ; S. cariceti, Xaumann, Isis, p. 785, 1821. 



Becfin aquatique, French ; Arandillo, Span. ; Pagliarolo, Ital. ; 

 Binsen-Rohrsangcr , German ; Vandsanger, Dan. 



< ad. (France). Crown blackish brown, forehead reddish buff; 

 superciliary and median stripes broad buffy white ; upper parts greyish 

 buff tinged with ochreous, each feather with a dark brown median patch ; 

 rump and upper tail-coverts washed with warm ochreous ; wings and tail 

 brown with light margins, inner secondaries darker and edged with buffy 

 white ; under parts white tinged with buff ; sides of head and neck and 

 hind-neck buffy grey with dark striations ; lower throat and flanks striated 

 with brown ; bill brown, base of lower mandible yellowish ; legs pale 

 yellowish brown ; iris dark brown. Culmen 0'4, wing 2 '4, tail T95, tarsus 

 0'8 inch. The female resembles the male but the young have the upper 

 parts washed with warm rufescent ochreous, and the underparts except the 

 chin and the middle of the abdomen warm yellowish buff. 



Hob. Inhabits central and southern Europe and North Africa, 

 north as far as Denmark, and about 56 N. Lat. in Russia, east 

 to the Ural, west to the Atlantic, straying rarely to Great 

 Britain, and wintering in Africa. 



The Aquatic Warbler frequents damp and marshy localities 

 where the vegetation is rank and high, where patches of 

 grass and flags are surrounded by water and morass, and 

 small willow thickets are scattered round. It is active, rest- 

 less, and very shy, and creeps through the dense vegetation 

 with the greatest ease. It feeds chiefly on insects. Its call- 

 note and song resemble those of the Sedge- Warbler, but the 



