MARSH WARBLER. 



Salicaria palusfris, Keyserling and Blasius; DieWirbelt, 1840. 



" " Schlegel ; Revue, 1844. 



Riverain Verderolle, Of the French. 



Sumpf-Rohrsanger, Of the Germans. 



Specific Characters. — Upper parts of the plumage shaded with greenish or 

 olive grey; a white streak over the eyes, and the under parts of the body 

 also white, with an ochreous tint. Tail coverts yellowish, edged with olive 

 grey; both the outer tail quills pale whitish at the end; the longest wing 

 primary longer than the longest secondary. Length of an adult male sent 

 me by M. E. Verreaux, five inches and a half; carpus to tip two inches 

 and a quarter; tail two inches and a quarter; tarsus nine tenths of an inch. 



We have now arrived at the interesting and large group of Reed 

 Warblers. The Sedge and Reed Warblers of our own island are so 

 well known that it is hardly necessary to say anything about the 

 habits of the family, which are very similar in all the species. They 

 may, however, be distinguished by the following characters. The 

 forehead is nai'row and flat, the feet are strong, and the claws lono- 

 and slender; wings short, and the tail round or cuneiform. The 

 distinctions of sex are not strongly marked, and there is generally a 

 bright whitish or cream-coloured stripe extending over the eyes. The 

 young moult in the spring for the first time. They are found prin- 

 cipally in northern climates, and generally near water or marshes, 

 and are not found among high trees, or in mountainous districts. 

 They arrive late and migrate early, and there is a great similarity in 

 their song. They are insectivorous, and build in reeds or bushes, 

 having always a stalk or branch passing through the nest, which is 

 so formed and fixed, that although swayed about by the wind so as 

 nearly to touch the water, the eggs do not fall out. 



The Marsh Warbler, the first which I am called upon to notice, 

 is very similar in external form and colour to our Reed Warbler, 

 but differs considerably from it in its song and nidification. It has 

 a wide range in Europe, being found in Russia, Germany, Holland, 

 Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, and France. It does not seem to go farther 

 north than Denmark. Count Muhle states that it occurs in the 

 whole of North and South Africa, and in the south-west of Asia. 

 I cannot, however, find it in either Hodgson's Catalogue, or that of 

 Dr. A. Leith Adams, of the birds of India, published in the "Zoological 

 Transactions" for November, 1858, and May, 1859 — two exceedingly 

 interesting and valuable contributions to Indian ornithology; neither 



