60 



According to Pleske (Orn. Ross. p. 108) the types of Menetries's Warbler obtained at 

 Saljany are the specimens procured furthest west in Russia. Radde (Orn. Cauc. p. 243) 

 obtained four at Lenkoran, and remarks that its range only commences in the south-west 

 corner of the Caspian. Menetries, who remarks that it somewhat resembles S. subalpina, met 

 with it in pairs only at Saliane and on the banks of the Kour, and says that it frequented the 

 low bushes, was very restless and difficult to catch sight of, and uttered a low whistle. According 

 to Zarudny (Bull. Soc. Mosc. iii. p. 774), " it is without doubt the commonest of all the Warblers 

 in Transcaspia. It usually frequents the vicinity of small rivers, the banks of which are over- 

 grown with bushes, the plains of the Atek, and the lower spurs of the neighbouring mountains. 

 It is also numerous in the bushes of the valley of Tedgend, and the central portion of the 

 Murghab, where it is scattered over a district of several versts in extent, amongst the tamarisks 

 and saxauls that cover the neighbouring sand-plains. It is rare in summer in the oases of 

 Merv and Pinde, but common amongst the tamarisks along the Alikhanow canal. In the latter 

 part of April and early in May I observed a considerable number on migration in the plains of 

 the oases of Atek and Ahal. The autumn migration begins late in July. Although it ascends 

 into the mountains and breeds in the juniper zone, still its favourite summer-haunts are in the 

 bushes bordering the rivers, and the brooks which run through the low hot plains, and on the 

 ramifications of the mountain-ranges." Dr. Radde also writes (Vog. Transcasp. p. 53) that " this 

 is the commonest of all the Warblers, and is distributed throughout the whole region. We first 

 met with it at Askabad in 1886 on the 22nd March — they arrived in 1887 at the same time on 

 the Amu-Darja, and on the 27th March they were numerous on passage between Merv and tbe 

 Amu-Darja in the sand-district of TJtsch-Adshi, and on the 29th March they were very common 

 at old Merv." 



Mr. Blanford remarks (E. Persia, ii. p. 178) that he " only obtained this bird in gardens in the 

 southern and central Persian highlands, where it evidently breeds, for he found young birds both 

 at Shiraz and Ispahan." It occurs in Turkestan ; and Mr. Pleske says that he knows of but two 

 specimens from the valley of the Amu-Darja — one, a young bird, obtained by Dr. Severtzoff at 

 Kukuss, and a second from Petro-Alexandrovsk, presented to the St. Petersburg Museum by 

 Mr. Savenkoff. In Turkestan, according to Dr. Severtzoff, it inhabits the lowlands of the 

 Karatau, the western Tjan-schan, the valleys of the Syr-Darja and Sarafschan rivers, as also the 

 steppe between the Sarafschan, the Syr-Darja, and the desert of Kisylkum. 



According to Mr. Scully (B. of N. Afghanistan, p. 81) one was obtained at Herat, and 

 another by Captain C. E. Yate at Maimanah, this being the most eastern locality from whence 

 this Warbler has been recorded. There is, I may add, a specimen from Fao, in the Persian Gulf, 

 in the British Museum. 



In habits this bird does not appear to differ from its allies. Mr. Blanford remarks that he 

 noted nothing in its habits different from those of its allies ; but Mr. Zarudny states that it flits 

 more nimbly than the other Warblers through the dense foliage, and when on the wing carries 

 its tail very high in the air. It is most frequently found in the tamarisk-thickets and in bush- 

 covered localities. 



Zarudny was the first to discover the nest and eggs of this Warbler. He obtained three 

 nests, all containing eggs. The nests were placed on bushes close to the ground, and were 



