THE REED WARBLER. 
{Salicaria arundinacea, L.) 
Unlike the robin, this member of the large family of the Warblers 
is a migratory bird, coming to us late in April and leaving in 
September. White of Selborne does not seem to have known it. 
though he makes many observations on the Sedge Warbler, which, 
however, is quite a different and a smaller bird. Yarrell says that 
the late Mr. Lightfoot was the first who, in the year 1783, clearly 
discriminated our bird from its congeners, and described its nest, 
plumage, and habits. “ Like many others of our summer migrants, 
it is more common on the eastern than on the western side of 
England ; and it seems not to breed in Devon or Cornwall. In the 
last county, indeed, it is only known with certainty to have occurred 
as a straggler, and that but once, in the autumn of 1849, when 
several were taken in Scilly ” (Newton’s Yarrell, I., p. 370). It 
does not appear to extend farther towards the north-west than 
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