601 
1921 .] Winter Avifauna of the Camargue. 
There is no difficulty in distinguishing it in life from the 
Sedge-Warbler, with which I am familiar. The broad buffy 
stripe down the centre of the crown, bounded on both sides 
by an even broader blackish one, is a very diagnostic field- 
character. The back and rump are more conspicuously 
streaked, and all the birds I saw had some narrow streaks on 
the sides. 
The Aquatic Warbler was found only in what I should 
call a tussock-marsh, where the water was comparatively 
fresh and the vegetation not more than a foot high. I saw 
none in bushy places along ditches or in the reed-beds. 
While very secretive in habits, it could not be called exactly 
shy. A tussock is a rather restricted environment, and the 
bird is forced to fly to reach the next one, and in this way its 
presence can be discovered. It dives hastily into the base 
of the tussock, and the slight wobbling of the vegetation is 
the only sign of its presence. About once every two minutes 
the performance is repeated. It will not flush unless the 
tussock in which it is hiding is actually kicked. By taking- 
advantage of this habit, and the fact that when unalarmed it 
tends to travel in a straight line, a satisfactory observation 
can finally be made. Mark the tussock in which the bird has 
taken refuge, and make a detour, and seat yourself on 
another tussock directly in the probable line of progress. 
After about a minute’s perfect quiet the moving of the 
vegetation will prove that the danger is supposed to be over, 
and as likely as not the bird will fly in your direction. Your 
presence arouses more curiosity than anything else if perfect 
silence and quiet is maintained, and a little head and bright 
eye will emerge for a few seconds from the grass to inspect 
you. Apparently the ear is more easily offended than the 
eye. On one occasion a bird mounted to the summit of a 
tussock and sat quietly for several minutes, while I was 
sitting perfectly still about twenty-five feet away. 
There seems to be considerable question as to the status of 
this species in the Camargue. Crespon states emphatically 
that it is a resident, and mentions having killed several in 
winter. ‘ Les Richesses’ gives it as a common migrant in 
