32 CETTFS WARBLER. 



the first alarm, and though we watch some time in the neighbourhood 

 she does not return. I take the nest, with its precious contents of 

 four brilliant red eggs, so strangely different from those of every other 

 Warbler. In colour they are unique among eggs, and show no 

 affinity with any allied species. They form a singular exception to 

 the rule that a connexion may be traced in all genera between the 

 eggs of the different species. There is one constant type for all the 

 other aquatic Warblers. The Saxicolce, Turdince, Motacillce , Alaudince, 

 TijrannidcB, and others, however widely the extremes may vary, still 

 bear some resemblance to the normal type. Not so with S. Cetti. 

 Its affinity seems to be rather with Prinia sonitans, ('Ibis,' ii., p. 50,) 

 and may indicate a closer alliance with that genus than has hitherto 

 been admitted. The nest is very loose in its construction, placed in 

 rushes or coarse herbage, its depth more than double its diameter, 

 composed entirely of coarse grass outside and finer stems within, but 

 with no lining of hair or feathers. I afterwards frequently saw the 

 bird, but only for an instant at a time, as it invariably dips among 

 the rushes, and will not take flight when disturbed. I never succeeded 

 in noting its song, if it have one." 



In the "Ibis," for July, 1873, Mr. A. B. Brooke, in a most inte- 

 resting paper on the ornithology of Sardinia, remarks about this 

 bird: — "This is without exception the most difficult Warbler I ever 

 came across, either to see or obtain, although in suitable localities its 

 loud bold song may be constantly heard. They love to secrete them- 

 selves in the very middle of the densest and most tangled mass of 

 briars and creepers, and are very shy. On hearing any slight noise 

 they often begin their short rich song, but on the approach of 

 danger steal off rapidly and silently, bursting forth again thirty or 

 forty yards further on, while one is still peering into the bush they 

 were last heard in. They are extremely common in Sardinia, going 

 generally singly or in pairs; and every bush that is thick enough 

 along the river banks, or round the shores of the stagnos, is sure 

 to hold a pair. They prefer wet marshy places; in fact I have never 

 seen them except in the vicinity of water. Round Oristano they are 

 particularly numerous." 



Doderlein says of this bird: — "This graceful Sylvia is common in 

 Sicily in all marshy places, particularly in the neighbourhood of 

 Syracuse, Catania, and Mazzara, not less than in the humid parts of 

 Lentini and Terra Nova, and in other small lakes and estuaries of 

 the southern parts of the island. The very active Mina came upon 

 it very frequently in the rivulets near Castel Buono, and along the 

 shores of Madonie. Benoit found it in the neighbourhood of Messina, 



