62- 



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3 



but there may have been some mistake here also. Nor has it been recorded from Greece; 

 but it is found in many parts of Southern Germany, and was first described from the Danube. 

 Dr. A. Fritsch says (J. f. O. 1871, p. 195) that, according to Palliardi, it has been observed in 

 Bohemia, but he himself never met with it or saw it in any collection. It appears, however, 

 either to have been overlooked, or it is gradually extending its range further westward ; for, 

 according to Mr. Arlt (J. f. O. 1870, p. 225), in 1867 it was unknown near Breslau; but in 1868 

 two or three pairs were seen, and in 1869 there were about ten pairs. It is found in Hungary, 

 and doubtless occurs on the Lower Danube ; but I have never received specimens in any collec- 

 tion from Turkey. Von Nordmann speaks of it as being rare in Southern Russia, and says he 

 heard it when travelling between Kherson and Aleschki; and Mr. Goebel thinks that it is found 

 in the Uman district. Dr. Kriiper writes that he has met with it in Asia Minor; and I possess 

 a specimen collected by him near Smyrna in May 1871. Canon Tristram also (/. c.) writes that 

 he several times met with a pair in Palestine evidently engaged in domestic duties, but he never 

 found a nest. In North-east Africa it appears to be extremely rare, and neither Von Heuglin 

 nor Captain Shelley ever met with it; and in North-western Africa it is equally scarce. Major 

 Loche speaks of it as being very rare, and says that it does not, he believes, ever remain in 

 Algeria to breed ; and few other ornithologists who have collected in that country appear to 

 have met with it. 



How far eastward the range of the present species extends I cannot with certainty say ; but 

 I have not been able to trace it beyond any of the localities above mentioned. 



In its habits the present species bears considerable affinity to both the Grasshopper-Warbler 

 and Savi's Warbler ; and like the former of these it does not always frequent marshy localities, 

 but is more frequently met with in wooded districts, and not so often in large reed-covered 

 marshes. Mr. E. Schauer has published (J. f. O. 1873, pp. 161-183) some excellent notes on 

 the present species and its two allies, the Grasshopper and Savi's Warblers, from which I extract 

 the following notes: — "The true home of the Paver-Warbler appears to be Galizia ; and it is 

 frequently met with in willow-growth and woodland meadows in the middle of the largest 

 conifer- woods, or where on the meadows and pastures the bushes are small and scattered, 

 rendering it too poor a cover for Sylvia nisoria. Especially uncultivated places are frequented 

 by it; and hence its true home appears to be the beech thickets, where in some localities it is so 

 numerous that several may be heard chirping at one time ; and were not their voices deadened 

 by the song of the Nightingales, more might be heard. In the beech-woods on the chalk 

 formation in Eastern Galizia, where amongst fallen timber, old and mouldering branches, the 

 vegetation is dense, consisting of high grass, weeds of various kinds, brambles, raspberry-bushes, 

 and especially the magnificent Epilobium angustifolium, where the vegetation is most luxuriant, 

 is the favourite home of the so-called Biver- Warbler ; for a River- Warbler it certainly is not, in 

 the true acceptation of the term. It arrives about the middle of May ; but it is hard to define 

 its time for departure, as it is silent during the latter part of its sojourn. Probably it leaves 

 somewhat earlier than the Grasshopper- Warbler. When it arrives it does not at once proceed 

 to its summer haunts, but rambles about in places where one would least expect to meet with it, 

 and is seen in the gardens amongst the gooseberry-bushes, even in the woven fences, such as are 

 made in Galizia and such places ; and Mr. Schauer shot twenty in a few days in his garden. In 



