THE ZOOLOGIST 



No. 785.— November. 1906. 



ACROCEPHALUS PALUSTRIS : A BEEEDING 

 EECOED OF FOUETEEN YEAES. 



By W. Warde Fowler, M.A. 



The following notes form a succinct record of my long expe- 

 rience of this species in an Oxfordshire parish. This year (1906), 

 for the first time since 1892, I have been unable to find it, and 

 it now seems advisable to put together the leading facts I have 

 learnt about its habits. I am also led to believe that my record 

 will serve to illustrate the conditions under which an unusual 

 and delicate species may fix itself in a breeding-place, flourish 

 there for some years, yet eventually find itself in adverse circum- 

 stances, and die out or abandon the position. I propose to give 

 the bare facts to begin with, and then to add a few notes on 

 salient points of interest. 



1892, June 5th. — I heard the song of the Marsh-Warbler, 

 already known to me on the Continent, in an osier-bed near 

 Chipping Norton Junction. This osier-bed had been planted 

 within my recollection, and, as I had never noticed the song 

 before, I am disposed to think that the birds were now visiting 

 it for the first time. It had not been cut in the winter, but was 

 overgrown, and full of dense vegetation. The bird was heard 

 and seen several times by my friends and myself, but we were 

 unable to find a nest (cf. ' Zoologist,' 1892, pp. 303-9). 

 Zool 4th ser. vol. X.. November, 1906. 2 i 



