362 BRITISH BIRDS. 



of the Birds of Northumberland and Durham/ He writes^ " A male 

 specimen of this rare casual visitant was shot by Thomas Robson near 

 Swalwellj four miles west of Newcastle^ May 28thj 1847. It was skulking 

 in the low herbage by the side of a mill-dam. A notice of this capture 

 is recorded in Annals and Mag. Nat. Hist., August 1847, Vol. xx. p. 135. 

 The specimen is in the possession of Mr. Thomas Thompson, of Win- 

 laton; and was, I believe, the first recorded occurrence of this large 

 Warbler in the British Islands." 



On one of my visits to Constantinople I spent a day at Ortakoi, on the 

 Bosphorous, with the above-mentioned Mr. Robson, and listened with 

 great interest to the account of his capture of this rare visitant to our 

 shores. I found Mr. Robson an excellent field-naturalist, well acquainted 

 with the songs of all our common birds. He told me that whilst he was 

 a Avorking mechanic at Newcastle he used to devote much of his leisure 

 time to the study of field-ornithology. One morning his attention was 

 suddenly arrested by the song of a bird differing entirely from any thing 

 he had ever heard before. It was so skulking in its habits that he had 

 some difiiculty in procuring it. Other occurrences are recorded from 

 Kent, Essex, &c. ; but I cannot learn that in any case the facts of the 

 examples having been killed in this country and having been correctly 

 identified are placed beyond doubt. 



The Great Reed- Warbler is a western Palsearctic species, breeding in 

 Central and Southern Europe, and ranging eastwards into Northern Persia 

 and Turkestan. It also breeds in some parts of North Africa, and winters 

 in South Africa. It is abundant in suitable localities in summer in 

 Portugal, Spain, and all the countries of Europe south of the British 

 Channel and the Baltic. In South Sweden, as in the British Islands, it 

 appears to be only an accidental visitor. Its most northerly recorded 

 locality is the islands at the entrance of the Gulf of Riga. In Russia it 

 has not been found north of the valley of the Volga. In Africa it breeds 

 iu Morocco and Algeria ; and it is a regular summer visitor to Palestine and 

 Asia Minor. It winters on both the east and west of South Africa, having 

 been obtained in Lower Guinea, Damara Laud, Natal, and the Transvaal. 

 From the latter country I have examples in full moult obtained in March 

 and April. 



The Great Reed- Warbler is the Reed-Warbler par excellence, being 

 absolutely confined during the breeding-season to districts where the 

 common reed {Arundo phraginitis) abounds. Hence its distribution is 

 somewhat local. It is, however, very abundant in suitable localities, and 

 frequents the reed-beds on the banks of rivers, in lakes, and even in small 

 ponds. It is somewhat remarkable that this bird is not found amongst 

 the reed-beds of the Norfolk broads. Although ^it breeds as far west as 

 Portugal, and its northern range extends almost to the Gulf of Finland, 



