10 MARSH WARBLER. 



■with light brown. The flanks darker brown. The under tail coverts 

 are of a dirty yellow white. The feathers on the carpal joint are 

 of a purer yellowish white; under wing lining and thighs are grey 

 brown. The tarsi and feet vary in colour with age, though always 

 resembling that of arundinacea. They are generally yellow, more or 

 less tinted with brown, and there is a slight greenish tint upon the 

 toes. The beak is dark brown above and yellowish below. The 

 colour of A. arundinacea is altogether lighter: all the upper parts 

 are of a greyish brown tinted with red, besides the colour of the 

 under parts is less dull and more of a reddish hue. The iris is 

 generally greyish brown in palustris, whilst in arundinacea it is more 

 frequently more of a reddish brown. 



"Here then are two closely allied species, but nevertheless easy to 

 distinguish by certain characteristics in their proportions and colouring, 

 as well as by their song, their nidiflcation, and their different habitats." 



The male and female in breeding plumage are greenish olive grey, 

 the rump somewhat paler green; inferior parts of a white russet, 

 lightest on the chin and throat, having a yellow tint on the sides 

 of the neck and belly; the lores, and a line above the eyes, reddish 

 white. Wings brown, bordered with ash; tail same, bordered with 

 greyish; first primary very short, second a little shorter than the 

 third, which is the longest, and which is twenty millemetres longer 

 than the longest secondary, that of the Reed Warbler being only 

 sixteen. Beak above, black brown, lower mandible yellow flesh-colour; 

 length five lines and a half, and two lines at the base, being shorter 

 and broader than that of the Reed Warbler; the gape, which is 

 orange yellow, is garnished with three or four strong black hairs; 

 iris dark brown; feet yellow flesh-colour; claws darker. 



The young birds are above clear olive grey, and underneath slightly 

 inclining to a rusty yellow. 



My figure of this bird is from a specimen sent me by M. E. 

 Verreaux. The egg is from my own collection; it was taken at 

 Anhalt, and sent to me by M. Moeschler. The eggs vary from the 

 one figured up to the markings of that of S. arundinacea. I have a 

 large series taken in South Russia by Her Glitsch. 



It is figured also by Naumann, in his Naturgeschicte der Vogel 

 Deutschlands, taf. 81, fig. S, (male;) and by Gould, B. of E. The 

 egg is also figured in Badeker's work. 



