570 



from Southern and South-eastern Persia from A. streperus. This Reed-Warbler was found in the 

 same localities as A. stentoreus, and appeared to be very common. I found it abundantly in 

 Banipiir ; but I never met with it farther east in Baluchistan, and it does not as yet appear to 

 have been observed in India. It may possibly occur in Sind ; but Mr. Hume did not obtain it in 

 that country. Specimens shot at Bampiir in the winter months are generally much more rufous, 

 both above and below, than those killed on the Persian highlands in summer. This difference, I 

 have no doubt, is due to the season of the year, the birds when newly moulted in winter being a 

 much redder brown than in spring. Two specimens from the highlands, however, one shot at 

 Shiraz in June, the other at Kohnid in July, are equally rufous, perhaps because of their being 

 young birds of the year. This bird doubtless breeds on the Persian highlands." 



The Reed-Warbler 'inhabits marshy and swampy localities like those frequented by the 

 Thrush-like Warbler, and is only found in bush-covered places when the ground is swampy or 

 when marsh is in the immediate vicinity, but is usually to be met with in the dense forests of 

 reed and sedge where it can find close shelter; and here it is to be found almost exclusively 

 during the breeding-season. Unlike the Marsh- Warbler it is seldom seen amongst bushes, and 

 never in trees ; but it climbs about amongst the aquatic herbage, seldom going on to the 

 ground. In its movements and general habits it closely assimilates to the other aquatic 

 Warblers, and, like those, creeps through the dense forests of reeds with the greatest ease, 

 climbing about amongst the stems with grace and facility, the body being held rather depressed, 

 and the head rather extended forwards. As a rule, it is not shy, though it is averse to coming 

 out in open places, and, with a little caution, may be approached very closely. On the wing it 

 is active and tolerably swift, but usually flies close to the surface of the water, the tail being 

 expanded and slightly depressed. 



The nest of the Reed- Warbler is an artistic structure of dried grasses and bents, usually 

 suspended between the reeds, with which it is closely interwoven ; and it is generally very deep, 

 so that as it swings to and fro, when the reeds are agitated by the wind, the eggs cannot be 

 thrown out. Colonel Irby says that, at Casa Vieja, in Spain, " it keeps among the sallow bushes, 

 but builds its beautiful nest suspended on the dead stems of the Epilobium, or willow herb, which 

 grows in luxuriant tufts in the swampy jungle. These nests are constructed externally of strips 

 of the rind or peel of the dead Epilobium-stexns interwoven with sallow-cotton, the interior being 

 composed of fine grass lined with the same material." 



Mr. Stevenson, who has had unusually good opportunities of observing this bird in Norfolk, 

 gives (B. of Norf. i. p. 115) some excellent notes on its nidification and habits, which I trans- 

 scribe as follows : — " The beautiful little nests of this species, so carefully and curiously suspended 

 on the stems of the reeds, are, with the exception perhaps of that of the Long-tailed Titmouse, the 

 most interesting in construction of any of our British birds. They are formed externally of dried 

 grasses, stalks of plants, and the feathery tops of the reed, the latter generally forming the only 

 lining, with occasionally a bit of wool or a stray feather or two on the edge of the structure. 

 The materials are, however, occasionally much more diversified, especially when, as I shall pre- 

 sently show, the nests are constructed in bushes and garden shrubs. One of these, now before 

 me, is composed externally of dried grasses, studded over with little patches of wool ; the interior 

 consisting of a layer of moss, lined with a flax-like substance, procured from the willow (Salixfy 



