VERTEBRATE ANIMALS OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 417 
Mr. Macaulay writes:—‘‘ Rare. In 1879 it was seen in Gumley 
Wood by the Rev. A. Matthews, whose intimate acquaintance with 
birds, both in this county, and for many years previously in 
Oxfordshire, is a sufficient guarantee for the correctness of the 
note.” 
Acrocephalus streperus (Vieillot). Reed Warbler.—Summer 
migrant. Locally distributed, and breeding in some situations. 
Harley met with a nest fixed to three stalks of the nettle, some 
four feet from the ground. It was composed of fibrous roots, fine 
grass, and cleavers (Galiwm aparine, L.). This bird abounds on 
the banks of the Soar, haunting most osier-beds and willow-holts 
skirting that dull running stream. It is “met with also in the 
reed-beds on the banks of Groby Pool, at Dishley Reservoir, at 
Garendon, and elsewhere in the county.” Macaulay, though 
living near Saddington Reservoir (where it undoubtedly breeds 
in small numbers every year) had no knowledge of its existence, 
save on the authority of the Rev. A. Matthews (who said that it 
occurred in the northern division of the county), until I came to 
Leicester, when in September, 1880, I took a few short walks for 
purposes of observation, and during one of them came to a spot 
close to Leicester, in which one would expect to find nesting the 
Sedge and possibly the Reed Warbler, and where the following 
May and June I found both. In fact, so abundant were both 
species that, had we been so minded, we might have taken twenty 
or more nests. This year (1885) I visited the same locality, 
which (being a reed-bed just under the Castle — actually in 
Leicester itself) will soon be swept away by projected improve- 
ments, and there found the nests and eggs of this bird in numbers, 
‘several being secured for the Museum. Most of them were 
difficult of approach, but one was built in an elder-bush. Another 
which I chanced on at Aylestone, containing eggs, was built— 
like a Whitethroat’s—in a blackthorn bush in a hedge fringing 
the river; another one, also at Aylestone, was built in a privet- 
bush in a garden close to the water. In addition to the localities 
mentioned, I find it nests also at Bosworth and at Thornton. 
This bird and the Sedge Warbler, singing at all hours of the 
night, are often mistaken for the Nightingale. . 
Acrocephalus aquaticus (Bechstein). Aquatic Warbler.—This 
bird is noted as occurring in Leicestershire on the authority of 
Mr. Harting, who received a single specimen from the neigh- 
ZOOLOGIST.— NOV. 1885. 9k 
