Marsh warbler in Oxfordshire. 303 



conscious that no wild creature has been the worse for our visit, and 

 that the boys have behaved admirably, neither disturbing nor 

 taking any eggs, although exposed to much temptation. 



THE MARSH WARBLER, ACROCEPHALUS PALUSTRIS, 

 IN OXFORDSHIRE. 



By Rev. W. Warde Fowlee, M.A. 



I have long been looking out for this little bird in the 

 neighbourhood of Oxford, where the Reed Warbler and Sedge 

 Warbler are abundant, and where the conditions of life would 

 seem to suit equally well the third species of Acrocephalus which 

 undoubtedly visits us yearly. The discovery of a nest and eggs 

 (now in the Nat. Hist. Museum, South Kensington) at South 

 Newington, near Banbury, in 1886, served to quicken my ear for 

 the voices of this group of birds, but it was not for another two 

 years that 1 heard any song that could not be referred without 

 hesitation to either of the common species. In May, 1888, 1 was 

 attracted by a song of the type of the Reed Warbler's, but much 

 stronger and more brilliant, in a privet-bush close to the Botanic 

 Garden at Oxford ; and I spent a long time, on two successive 

 days, in watching and listening to the singer. I could not, 

 however, distinguish it in any satisfactory way from the Reed 

 Warbler, except by the wonderful vivacity of its song, which had 

 even attracted the attention of the gardeners ; and when it dis- 

 appeared from the garden a day or two later, 1 was no wiser 

 than before as to the song and habits of the real A . palustris. 



Next year the same bird came to the same bush on May 8th, 

 and astonished me again. I noted in my diary, after devoting 

 half-an-hour to him : — " Wonderful out-pouring of song. Legs 

 apparently flesh-coloured; upper parts lightish brown; under 

 parts whitish-grey ; throat quite white. Catches flies, and then 

 bursts into song. Often perches on a twig, erect and vigorous ; 

 not so creepy as Reed W'arbler." But the song was so close in 

 character to the Reed Warbler's, in spite of its force and 

 brilliancy, that without hearing for myself an undoubted A. 

 palustris, I could not venture to call this bird a Marsh Warbler. 

 It disappeared again, and left me in the same state of uncertainty 



