230 
allen’s naturalist’s library. 
THE REED-WARBLER. ACROCEPHALUS STRFPERUS. 
(Plate XXL . , Fig. 2.) 
Sylvia sirepera , Vieill., N. Diet. d’Hist. Nat., xi., p. 182 
(i 8i 7 )- 
Calamoherpe arundinacea , Macg., Br. B., ii., p. 395 (1839). 
Acrocephalus slrepmts, Newt. ed. Yarr., i., p. 369 (1873); 
Dresser, B. Eur., ii., p. 567, pi. 87 (1877) ; Seeb., Cat. B. 
Brit. Mus., v., p. 102 (1881); B. O. U. List Br. B., p. 18 
(1883) ; Lilford, Col. Fig., Br. B., pt. iii. (1886) ; Saunders, 
Man., p. 71 (1889). 
Acrocephalus arundmaceus, Seeb , Br. B., i., p. 367 (1883). 
Adult Male. — General colour rufescent olive-brown, the lower 
back, rump, and upper tail-coverts showing a slight inclination 
to ruddiness in the tint of the brown ; wing-coverts like the 
back, the bastard-wing, primary-coverts and quills dusky brown, 
edged with the same colour as the back ; tail-feathers 
brown, edged with lighter brown, and having a faint indication 
of a pale fringe at the tips ; crown slightly more dingy than the 
back, but like the mantle, lores, and ear-coverts dusky brown, 
with a faint streak of whitish above the eye ; cheeks, throat, 
and under-parts white, with a fulvescent tinge on the breast and 
sides of the body, the flanks browner ; under tail-coverts white, 
with a slight fulvous tinge, as also the under wing-coverts, 
axillaries, and quill-lining ; bill dark brown above, the under 
mandible paler ; feet and claws purplish-brown ; iris brown. 
Total length, 5-1 inches; culmen, o‘6 ; wing, 2-3 ; tail, 2-0; 
tarsus, o’9. 
Adult Female. — Similar to the male in colour. Total length, 
5-4 inches; wing, 2 ’5. 
Young. — More dingy and reddish-brown than the adults ; the 
under surface of the body fulvescent, and inclining to tawny- 
buff on the flanks ; the throat dingy fulvous ; and the abdo- 
men ashy white. 
Hangs in Great Britain. — Generally distributed over the 
southern and midland counties, becoming somewhat rarer 
in the south-west, but fairly common in Wales. To the 
north it becomes gradually rarer and more local, and authen- 
tic records from Scotland and Ireland are wanting. 
