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R E E D WREN.
Salicaria arundinacea, Selby.
Le Bec-fin des Roseaux, ou Efarvatte.
T his sped®, which is by no means uncommon in the British Islands, is, notwithstanding, much more local
m its habits than its near ally the Sedge Warbler (Salicaria pArafmilis, Selby), from which it may at ail
times be distmgmshed by its larger site, and by the nniform tints which pervade the npper surface It hears
a stnkmg resemblance in most of its habits and manners to the species alluded to above, arriring in the
British Islands at the same period, which is generally in the third week in April, when it retires to thick
reed-beds, plantations of osiers, and the swampy borders of rivers. Its note, which is varied and pleasing is
not so harsh as that of the Sedge Warbler, but is delivered in the same kind of horried and rapid manner
It also offers a little difference m its nidification, constructing a deep upright nest of the seed-tops of'reeds
and long grass, lined with the finer parts of the former, and which is almost invariably attached to the stems
of several need, which are so intertwioed as to form a firm support. The eggs are four or five in number
ot a greenish white, spotted and blotched with brown and. dull green.
On the Continent it appears to be universally spread in all the temperate latitudes wherever extensive
lowlands covered with aquatic herbage afford it a shelter.
Its food consists of aquatic flies and their lame.
This species is ve^. abundant in Holland, and is also found in some parts of Fraoce and Germany but is
still more rare in the South of Europe.
The whole of the upper surface is of a dull green with a tinge of brown, the edges of the quills being
|* l:# i throat, breast, and belly yellowish white, of a deeper tint upon the breast and flanks; between the
mouth and the eyes a pale streak ; eyelids pale yellowish white, legs dusky brown ; bill pale brown
We have figured a male and female of the natural size.