surrounding’ birds. In warm summer it sings all night through, and so charmingly in the stillness of the 
time and scene that we are tempted to compare it with the Nightingale. Its call-note is similar to that of 
other Reed Warblers, but is not often heard. Its nest is never j)laced over water, nor even over marshy 
ground, but is found in shrubs and hushes from one to three feet above the ground ; the inside is deep like 
that of other Reed Warblers’ nests, and formed of delicate grass blades, straws, nettle fibres, and spideis’ 
webs, lined with very fine straws and a quantity of horsehair. It lays four or five eggs, which are bluish 
white, sparingly spotted with delicate grey dots and olive-brown and ash-grey spots.” 
Brehm, in Badeker’s work on European eggs, remarks that “ the nest has a loose substructure, and is by 
this and its half-globular form, suspended on dry ground between the branches of the bushes or nettles, 
easily distinguished from the strongly formed nest of C. arundinacea, which is, moreover, built over water. 
The ground-colour of the eggs too is clear and very different from the muddy tint of those of the 
Reed Warbler.” 
Bailly, after mentioning that the Calamoherpe palustris is nearly as abundant in Savoy as C. arundinacea, 
says : — “ During their stay with us they frequent thickets bordering swamps and pieces of water, small 
willows, and clumps of poplars, together with fields of hemp, maize, and rye, in the neighbourhood. I 
have frequently met with it in the more humid parts of the Alps, notably at Mont Cenis, at the base of Rivers 
and upon the wooded borders of the lakes which dominate it (1900 or 2000 metres above the sea-level); 
it is also met with in all similar situations in most of the alpestral regions of the Tarantaise. It arrives 
in Savoy about the middle of April, and may be found in the meadows, Auneyards, &c. till the 10th of 
October. The male is a great chatterer, from the month of May till towards the 20th of July, in the plains 
and in the Alps ; during the month of August he scarcely ceases to warble during the morning and evening. 
While thus engaged he may sometimes be seen at the end of a branch or on the top of a plant, but is 
more often concealed in the thickest of the bushes, occasionally in the centre, at the base, or in a tuft of 
leaA^es. His song is very variable, and he readily imitates the voices of other birds ; he mimics sometimes the 
notes of Calamoherpe anmdinacea so well that he might be mistaken for it, some phrases of the Phyllopneuste 
polyglotta, the call-cry of the Porzana maruetta during the breeding-season, that of Lanins minor and 
Enneoctonus eollurio ; and in the Alps he tries to counterfeit those of Plectrophanes nivalis, of Accentor alpiniis, 
and Saooieola cenanthe. In the plains it begins to build its nest in the middle or end of May, and in the 
Alps in June. It is of a spherical form, and is generally placed in the midst of a thick bush or small 
shrub near the ground, or among the roots of willows and poplars near water, sometimes in tufts of grass 
in damp situations ; it is externally composed of fine straw, stems of dried grass, and fibrous roots, lined 
with horse- and other hairs and fine grasses, or the down of the Tussilago thistles, or the cotton of the 
willows, according to situation. The eggs are five or six in number, of a light grey or ash-colour, with 
spots of greenish brown mingled with others of an ashy blue or ash-colour a trifle deeper than the ground- 
colour. The Marsh Warbler feeds on caterpillars, small winged insects, also larvae and worms. At the 
end of summer it becomes very fat, acquires a particular flavour, and is excellent eating.” 
Mr. Howard Saunders shot one of a pair which evidently intended to nest In the marshy bottoms of the 
Tagus, near Aranjuez, in May 1870; and he informs me that the light Jlesh-colour of the legs was very 
noticeable ; the note was also different from that of the Reed Warbler, which likewise occurs and breeds in 
Spain. The Rev. H. B. Tristram noticed it among other Warblers in Palestine. 
After what has been said respecting the slight difference between this species and its near ally, a minute 
description aa^ouM he superfluous. I have given the correct colouring of its legs on the opposite Plate ; 
but inadvertently the legs of C. arundinaeea have been represented much lighter than they really are, in 
some of the copies issued to my subscribers ; hut this defect may he easily remedied by the addition of a 
Avash of a dark tint over the tarsi and toes till they accord with the description in the letterpress ; if there 
he any difficulty in the matter I shall he happy to make the correction in any copies sent to me for the 
purpose. Dr. Bree describes the legs of C. palustris as light; but in his figure of the bird they are 
represented as of a darker hue even than those of our Reed Warbler. 
The figures are of the natural size. The plant is the Purple Loosestripe (Lythrum Salicaria'). 
