SAVI'S WARBLER 



central parts of Russia eastwards to the Volga delta it is 

 generally distributed, Poland being the northern breeding 

 limit, where it is locally not uncommon in the provinces of 

 Plock, Lublin and Warsaw. In Southern Russia the most 

 favoured provinces are Volhynia, Podolia, Khiev and Kharkov, 

 and specimens have been obtained on the River Don and in the 

 Crimea. In the Volga district the bird is common, and there 

 is a record of its occurrence in the province of Orenburg. In 

 Turkestan it occurs in Sir Daria. In Palestine we find it a 

 scarce summer visitor, but in Egypt a common breeding- 

 species, and we meet with it again in Tunis, Algeria and 

 Morocco. The winter appears to be passed in the northern 

 parts of Africa. 



LIFE-HISTORY. 



The few days I spent in studying this beautiful bird 

 on the Valencze Lake in Hungary were sufficient to show 

 that its habits are of unusual interest, and as a naturalist 

 I cannot but regret the altered conditions, the necessary 

 progress of civilisation, which have banished this bird from 

 its old home in the Eastern Counties. It inhabits the dense 

 masses of the common reed (Arunclo phragmites), where the 

 roots are sufficiently thick to afford protection for its nest, 

 and such situations must have been plentiful before the fens 

 were drained. 



With regard to the date of arrival in different European 

 countries I have no information, but on April 25th, 1904 many 

 males had already arrived on the Valencze Lake, and as the 

 females commenced to arrive on the following day, it is prob- 

 able that the former had been there some little time. The 

 question of breeding territory seems to be of importance 

 to the males, but since I have had so few opportunities of 

 studying the birds, and none of studying a male immediately 

 upon arrival at its destination, I am unable to produce 

 evidence of any struggle for possession ; nevertheless from the 



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