SYLVIINA. 83 
THE GREAT REED-WARBLER. 
ACROCEPHALUS TURDOIDES (Meyer). 
The Great Reed-Warbler is another migratory species which, like 
the Icterine Warbler, is so common on the Continent that it is 
a marvel its visits to our shores are so few and far between. It is 
not a bird likely to escape notice: on the contrary, its powerful 
chattering song and large size would at any time attract attention ; 
yet the fact remains that it has been very rarely obtained in 
England. The first on record was obtained near Newcastle on May 
28th 1847 by Thos. Robson (afterwards well known as a collector 
at Ortakci, near Constantinople); three are stated—though on the 
authority of a dealer whose traffic with Holland was notorious—to 
have been obtained in Essex and Kent about 1853 ; Mr. Goodchild 
informs me that an example shot near Sittingbourne is in the 
collection of Mr. G. Thomas; Mr. W. O. Hammond shot one near 
Wingham, Kent, on September 14th 1881; and one was obtained 
near Ringwood, Hampshire, on June 3rd 1884. Statements as to 
the finding of eggs supposed to belong to the bird are not wanting, 
but none of them are authenticated. In Yarrell’s ‘British Birds,’ 
until the 4th Edition, this species was called the Thrush-like 
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