ACBOCEPHALUS PALUSTBIS. 409 



bed I have been speaking of. Others making hay soon after 

 sunrise have also expressed to me their admiration. It begins 

 very early in the morning, and is at its best till ten or eleven a.m.* 

 when it usually ceases for a time. The power the bird possesses 

 of mimicking other songs has been less obvious to me of late 

 years, perhaps because I have grown to be so familiar with the 

 song ; but there is no question about it. The alarm-note, not to 

 be heard till the eggs are laid, is much like that of the Sedge- 

 Warbler, but higher in pitch and less grating — a kind of musical 

 crake ; I learnt to distinguish the two without much difficulty. 

 When much excited the birds, or possibly the male only, would 

 utter a musical and pleasing chirrup in the middle of the usual 

 crake, and once or twice I have known the bird almost break into 

 song, as the Sedge-Warbler sometimes does when angry. 



6. Coloration of the Adult Bird. — Skins are not safe guides in 

 this matter, and, as I have frequently had the Marsh-Warbler 

 under observation at distances of from two to ten feet, I may say, 

 in conclusion, that the general colour is a, pale earth-brown in the 

 breeding season, uniform all over the back. The head is slightly 

 darker ; the legs are pale or dull flesh-colour ; the eye-stripe is, 

 as a rule, only visible when the bird is quite close to you — never 

 nearly so clear as in the Sedge-Warbler. Those unacquainted 

 with this species may easily distinguish it from the Sedge-Warbler 

 by the faintness of this eye-stripe, and from the Keed- Warbler by 

 the absence of any rufous tint in the plumage. 



