MARSH-WARBLER. 375 



ACEOCEPHALUS PALUSTRIS. 

 MAESH-WARBLER. 



(Plate 10.) 



Sylvia palusti'is, Bechst. Orn. Taschenh. p. 186 (1802) ; et auctorum pluri- 

 morum — Temmlnck, Nuumaim, (Schlegel), (^Newton), (Dei/land 8( Gerhe), 

 (Locke), (Doderlein), (Salradori), (Gould), (Dresser), Sfc. 



Acrocephalus ^ulnstiis (Bechst.), Kaum. Nat. Land- u. Wass.-Viig. niirdl. Deutschl. 

 Nachtr. Heft iy. p. 202 (1811). 



Calamolierpe palustria (Bechst.), Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 552. 



Calamolierpe musica, Brehm, Vog. DrntsrhL p. 446 (1831). 



Salicaria palustria (Bechst.), Gould, B. Eur. ii. pi. 109 (18.37). 



Calaraodyta paliistris (Bechst.), Groji, Gen. B. i. p. 172 (1848). 



Sylvia (Calamolierpe) frutioola, Naum. Viiff. Deutschl. xiii. p, 453 (185-j). 



Calamoherpe pratensis, Jaui. Rev. et Mag. de Zoul. vii. p. Go (1855). 



Thanks to the researchies of liarting and others, the Marsh-Warbler 

 must now be admitted to be a regular though local summer visitor to the 

 south of England. Some English ornithologists, who have never made the 

 personal acquaintance of both species, have almost refused to admit their 

 distinctness. No doubt they are very closely allied ; but in their song, 

 habits, eggs, and geographical distribution they differ as much as a Black- 

 bird differs from a Thrush. 



In Harting's ' Handbook of British Birds ' six occurrences of the 

 Marsh-Warbler (three near Cambridge and three near Yarmouth) are 

 recorded. There does not seem to be any reason to doubt the correctness 

 of the identification in any of these instances. In the ' Zoologist ' for 

 1875, p. 4713, Mr. Cecil Smith satisfactorily proves not only the repeated 

 occurrence, but also the breeding of this species, near Taunton in Somerset- 

 shire. Last year, at least three nests of the Marsh-Warbler were taken 

 in the same locality. I saw the eggs of one of these nests before they 

 were blown ; and two of the nests are now in my collection. These nests 

 were attached to the stalks of the meadow-sweet, cow-parsnip, and nettle ; 

 and, in one instance at least, the superiority of the song to that of the 

 Reed- or Sedge-Warbler was noted. The eggs which I saw were un- 

 mistakable Marsh -Warbler's eggs ; and those in the other nests were 

 correctly described. Mr. Murray A. Mathew has recorded the first 

 occurrence in the 'Zoologist' for 1882, p. 265; and the others are 

 mentioned by Mr. F. Stansell in the same volume, p. 306. 



I am also indebted to my friend Mr. John Young for the following note 

 of the Marsh- Warbler breeding in England near Bath, and obligingly 

 contributed by Mr. C. Young of Llandaff: — "In the summer of 1880 



