AQUATIC WARBLER.
ACROCEPHALUS AQUATICUS (Gmel.).
Motacilla aquatica, Gmelin, S. N. i. p. 953 (1788).
Sylvia cariceti, Naum. iii. p. 668.
Sylvia aquatica, Naum. iii. p. 686.
Acroceplialus aquaticus, Yarr. ed. 4, i. p. 380; Dresser, ii.
p. 591.
Bec-fin aquatique, French; Seggen-Rohrsdnger, German;
Arandillo, Spanish.
This bird, which is a common summer visitor to
many of the marshy districts of the continent of Europe,
has only been hitherto recorded to have been obtained
thrice in England.
The only British specimen that I have seen is that
recorded by Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun. (‘Zoologist,’ 1871),
as having been shot near Dover by Mr. Charles Gordon,
the Curator of the museum of that town; as I notice
that the Editor of the 4th edition of Yarrell’s ‘ British
Birds’ mentions (vol. i. p. 381) that the date of this
occurrence was lost, I may say that Mr. Gordon showed
me the bird in the summer of 1853, and my strong
impression is that it had been very recently added to
the collection.
In general habits this bird appears to resemble the
well-known Sedge-Warbler; but, from my very limited
acquaintance with it, I am inclined to consider it as
more especially a reed haunter than that species.