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Genus ACROCEPHALUS. 



Turdus apud Brisson, Orn. ii. p. 219 (1760). 



Ficedula apud Brisson, Orn. iii. p. 379 (1760). 



Turdus apud Linmeus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 296 (1766). 



Motacilla apud Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 329 (1766). 



Sylvia apud Scopoli, Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 158 (1769). 



Acrocephalus, J. A. Naumann, Naturg. Land- u. Wass.-Vog. Nachtr. Heft iv. p. 201 (1811). 



Muscipeta apud Koch, Baier. Zool. i. p. 166.(1816). 



Calamoherpe apud Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 502. 



Ccdamodyta apud Meyer, Taschenb. deutsch. Vogelk. Zus. u. Bericht. p. 253 (1822). 



Calamodus apud Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 117 (1829). 



Curruca apud Ehrenberg, Symb. Phys. fol. bb (1829). 



Arundinaceus apud Lesson, Traite d'Orn. p. 419 (1831). 



Agrobates apud Jerdon, Madr. Journ. x. p. 269 (1839). 



Malacocercus apud Hodgson, in Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 83 (1844). 



Salicaria apud Selby, Brit. Orn. i. p. 201 (1833). 



Caricicola apud C. L. Brehm, Vogelfang, p. 236 (1855). 



The present group of Warblers, commonly called Aquatic Warblers, differ from the allied genera 

 chiefly in their aquatic habits ; and, as a rule, they appear to have a longer tarsus, more concave 

 wings, and larger claws than most of the other Warblers. The range of this genus is tolerably 

 wide, as the species belonging to it are found throughout the Palsearctic, Ethiopian, and Oriental 

 Regions. In the Western Paleearctic Region eight species are found, all of which are regular 

 summer residents, some being met with within this region throughout the year. They are 

 assiduous and good songsters; and their song may be heard late into the night. They feed 

 almost entirely on insects of various kinds, which they obtain amongst the aquatic herbage. 

 They frequent damp and moist localities, usually marshes or sheets of water overgrown with 

 dense reeds or rushes. Their flight is somewhat feeble ; and they propel themselves with short 

 jerky flaps of the wings. 



They build a deep cup-shaped nest, either on the ground or above the water, interwoven 

 and firmly attached to the stems of aquatic plants, or else on a bush near the water ; and they 

 deposit from four to six eggs, which, on a greyish or greenish-grey ground, are more or less 

 richly blotched and marked with dark colour. 



Acrocephalus arundinaceus, the type of the present species, has the beak rather broad at 

 the base, the culmen elevated, slightly notched at the tip ; nostrils basal, oblique, oval, exposed ; 

 gape furnished with tolerably large bristles ; wings rather short, first quill rather abortive, second 

 and third longest, and about equal ; tail rounded, and rather long ; legs long ; feet large and 

 strong, tarsi covered in front with five plates and three inferior scutellce ; tail rather long and 

 rounded, under tail-coverts rather short. 



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