59cS 



Juv. corpore supra magis rufescente et magis conspicue notato : corpore subtiis pallide rufescenti-cervino, guhi 

 nigro-fusco guttata. 



Adult Male (Asia Minor, 27th April) . Crown blackish brown streaked with tawny brown ; over the eyes 

 and ear-coverts a yellowish white streak passes from the base of the bill ; lores and ear-coverts brown ; 

 nape, hind neck, back, and wing-coverts dull reddish brown clouded with dark brown ; rump and upper 

 tail-coverts rufesceut tawny ; tail dark brown with slightly lighter margins ; quills blackish brown with 

 light-brown margins, these margins being broader on the inner secondaries and the larger wing-coverts ; 

 chin, throat, and centre of the abdomen white; breast and rest of the underparts pale buff, the flanks 

 and under tail-coverts being rather deeper and rufous in tinge ; bill dark brown, the base of the under 

 mandible yellow ; iris brown ; legs pale brown. Total length about 475 inches, culmen - 55, wing 2 - 65, 

 tail 2 - l, tarsus - 82, first primary very small and narrow, shorter than the wing-coverts, second rather 

 longer than the fourth, third (mill the longest. 



Female. Resembles the male ; but the underparts generally are darker, and the under tail-coverts less 

 rufous. 



Young (Reading). Resembles the adult; but the upper parts are more rufous and more clearly marked 

 with blackish brown : the underparts are warm rufescent buff, and the throat is spotted with blackish 

 brown. 



THROUGHOUT the whole of Europe, from about 70° N. lat., the Sedge- Warbler is pretty generally 

 distributed ; and during the winter season it visits North Africa, where, however, it does not 

 range very far south. 



In Great Britain it is certainly the commonest of the Aquatic Warblers, and breeds in every 

 county, arriving in April and leaving in September ; but in exceptional cases it has been known 

 to remain with us over the winter, though, so far as I can gather, there are but few instances of 

 this having occurred. Mr. Cordeaux says that it leaves the Humber district late in September 

 or early in October, and that he has known a few to remain until the third week in this latter 

 month. Mr. Metcalfe informs me that it is very common on Brigsteer Moss, near Kendal ; and 

 Mr. Robert Gray writes that the present species is "a very common species in many parts 

 of Scotland, but especially abundant in the western counties, extending from the south of 

 Wigtown to the north of Argyle. It is by no means uncommon even in western Inverness and 

 Sutherland. It frequents the island of Mull in limited numbers, and will perhaps be found in 

 Skye, especially on the eastern side, where there is but a short separation from the mainland of 

 Inverness; and it is also found sparingly in Islay." 



According to Thompson it is a regular summer visitant to Ireland, and occurs throughout 

 the island in suitable localities from north to south. In Scandinavia it is common, but not in all 

 parts of the country ; for Mr. Collett informs me that, curiously enough, it only breeds in the 

 north of Norway, and is of extremely rare occurrence in the southern districts of that country. 

 This species, he writes to me, " breeds sporadically in the more northern districts, and was met 

 with on Tjbtto. in Nordland, in June 1870, by Mr. Landmark, Inspector of Fisheries, at Bodd 

 by Mr. Godman ; and it has been observed in almost all suitable localities along the Lofoten 

 Islands and the interior of Finmark, and is most numerous probably on Tromso. It does not 

 occur in the northern portions of Finmark, as there are no localities suitable for it; but I met 



