562 



his description was taken ; and since then I do not find that it has been obtained in that particular 

 locality. Mr. Meves when travelling over the same ground in 1869 did not obtain this species; 

 but he says that when travelling on the canal between Novaja Ladoga and Sermaks he heard 

 what he is sure was this bird singing on several occasions. " Our boat," he writes, " stopped for 

 several hours at the Waronoff station, about forty versts from Novaja Ladoga, on the evening of 

 the 11th June. The birds were in an inaccessible marshy place, covered with willow bushes, close 

 to the canal; and in spite of every attempt I could not get near enough to see and secure a 

 specimen. The song, which is said to be finer than that of the Northern Nightingale, was rich 

 and somewhat peculiar, but reminded me more of that of Acrocephalus palustris and Hijpolais 

 icterina, than the song of the Nightingale." When in St. Petersburg he found four examples in 

 the Museum of that city. One, a male, was from near St. Petersburg, obtained by Dr. Heffher 

 in 1852 ; and on the label was written in Eussian, " This bird frequented the gardens, and had a 

 richer song than the Nightingale." The second specimen was shot at Spask, in the Ural, on the 

 23rd June, 1842, by Dr. Eversmann, and was labelled by him "Sylvia arundinacea ;" the third 

 was labelled as having been obtained at Semipaltansk, in April 1843; and the fourth was pur- 

 chased in the St.-Petersburg market. On a second journey through a portion of Russia Mr. 

 Meves met with the present species near Moscow, and commonly in the Ural, whence he brought 

 back many specimens ; but he has not published any notes on its habits, nor did he succeed in 

 finding its nest. Beyond the above I find no information on record respecting its occurrence in 

 Europe; but I agree with Mr. Meves in thinking it probable that it may range as far north as 

 Archangel. Mr. Sabanaeff met with the present species in Turkestan, but gives no particulars 

 of its range : doubtless it passes there during migration to and from its breeding-haunts ; or it 

 may possibly remain in some parts of that country to breed. In India, according to Dr. Jerdon 

 (B. of India, ii. p. 15G), it is "found in bushy and grassy ground on the Neilgherries and west 

 coast, also more rarely in the Carnatic, in Central India, and in Bengal to Nepal and Assam. 

 Blyth says that it is not met with in the wilder marshy district about Calcutta, but chiefly in 

 gardens. It is migratory in the plains, but breeds in some parts of the Himalayas." Captain 

 E. A. Butler writes (Stray Feathers, iii. p. 479) as follows : — " It is not uncommon at Mount 

 Aboo, but I have not met with it in the plains. It frequents tall trees (willow principally) 

 overhanging water, or wet or dry nullahs, though by no means strictly aquatic in its habits, as I 

 have often met with it in high trees, at a considerable distance from any water. I have shot 

 specimens near Deesa in low bush jungle. It arrives about the 10th or 12th of September, and 

 is not uncommon." To this Mr. Hume adds that it has not as yet been met with in Sindh, 

 Cutch, or Jodhpoor, except on the extreme east at Sambhur ; but Captain Hayes Lloyd found it 

 very common during the cold season at Kattiawar. To the southward this species has also been 

 observed as far as Ceylon. 



In its general appearance the present species reminds one of some of the Hypolais group 

 us well as of Acrocephalus ; and, curiously enough, its eggs approach in appearance more those 

 of the former than the eggs of the latter group : indeed it seems to me that it constitutes a link 

 between Hypolais and Acrocephalus, being most nearly allied to Acrocephalus palustris in the 

 latter, and to Hypolais rama in the former group. But in the construction of its nest it 



