572 



their rich mocking notes, taken up again and again by others ; and still, far away in the distance, 

 the same strain comes back upon the breeze, till one is lost in wonder at their numbers, so 

 startling to the ears of a stranger, so impossible to be estimated at all during the day. About 

 the first week in June, should the weather be fine and still, is the best time to hear these 

 nocturnal warblers ; the sedge-birds, however, as earlier breeders, have by this time almost 

 ceased to sing during the night, their young being already hatched." 



The eggs of the Reed-Warbler are French white in ground-colour with a faint greenish 

 tinge, blotched and blurred all over the surface with greenish brown surface-spots and greenish 

 grey underlying shell-markings. All the markings are blurry and ill defined ; and some speci- 

 mens in my collection are very closely marked. In size they average about f § by f-g- inch. 



Like the other aquatic Warblers the present species feeds on water-insects and their larvae, 

 caterpillars, spiders, and flies of various kinds, which it either picks off the leaves and stems of 

 the aquatic plants or occasionally from the marshy ground. In the autumn, Naumann says, it 

 will eat berries of various kinds, such as elderberries and currants ; and he adds that his father 

 has known it to eat the berries of Cornus sanguinea with avidity. It is not an easy bird to keep 

 in confinement, as it is difficult to tame, and by no means hardy ; but it can be fed on the same 

 food as the Nightingale. It is a constant and industrious songster ; and its song may be heard 

 from early in the morning till late in the evening, and also during the night. Its song, how- 

 ever, is not so good as that of most of its allies, and most nearly resembles that of Acrocephalus 

 arv/ndinaceus. Naumann describes the song as follows : — " Its notes are like the syllables tiri, 

 tiri, tiri, tier, tier, tier, zdck zdck zdck zdck zerr, zerr, zerr, tiri, tiri, scherJc, scherk, scherk, 

 held, laid, heid, tret, tret, tret, without any great variation; and the entire song is rather a 

 babbling or chattering melody than a song ; and when several males are singing at once, which is 

 often the case, it is a peculiar confused sound." 



The specimen figured, on the same Plate with Acrocephalus palustris, is the bird above 

 described, and is in my collection. 



Tn the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens : — 



E Mus. H. E. Dresser. 



a, b. Twickcriham-on-thc-Thames (R. B. Sharpe). c. Cambridge, May 1862 (Harvey). d,6- Piedmont,. 

 May 10th, 1870 (Salvadori). e, 6. Bampur, Baluchistan, April 7th, 1872 (TV. T. Blanford). 



E Mus. II. U. Tristram. 



a, b. Cambridge, c. Off Malaga, May 28th, 1858 (H. B. T.). d. Algiers, May 17th, 1856 (H. B. T.). e, d\ 

 Bcthsaida, April 2nd, 1864. /, 6. Mount Tabor, April 5th, 1864 (H. B. T.). 



E Mus. Howard Saunders. 



a. Ourkcrk, Holland, b. Holland (Baker), c. Cambridge, June (Bond), d, 2, e, <5,f, 2 . Malaga, Spam, 

 May 18th, 19th, and 25th (Rlos). g, h. Malaga, September, i, k, d 2 ■ Malaga, August (Rios). 



