MOUSTACHED WARBLER.

Salicaria melanopogon.

La Bec-fin 4 moustaches noires.

Tuis little warbler, now so common in European collections, appears to have been unknown to M. Temminck
when he published the second edition of his ‘Manuel’ in 1820: subsequently, however, he gave a figure of
the adult male in the ‘ Planches Coloriées’, 245. fiz. 2. and has given a description in the third part of his
‘Manuel’, which appeared in April 1835.

From the little information acquired respecting this bird, it would appear to be principally an inhabitant of
the Roman States, where M. Cantraine informs us it is abundant in the marshes among the Arundo Specvosa :
“J have killed it in November near Rumbla, in the circle of Ragusa, at Ostia, and near the lake of Castiglione,
where it is very common ; it is always in the marshes, and in the thickets that border them, clinging to the
rushes and uttering a very loud cry; it descends to the surface of the water and walks upon the aquatic plants.”
From this account of M. Cantraine we gather sufficient information to satisfy us that in its general habits and
economy the Moustached Warbler strictly resembles those members of the genus Sz/icaria that inhabit our
island.

Of its nidification nothing is known.

Its food consists of small coleopterous insects.

The sexes offer no perceptible difference in the markings of their plumage.

The top of the head and all the upper surface is of a dark brown, with a slight tinge of reddish brown,
particularly on the margins of the wing-feathers, and a black mark down the centre of each of the feathers
on the back; a greyish white stripe passes from the bill over the eye and extends to the posterior part of the
head, below this is a conspicuous band of dark brown, which passes through the eye and over the ear-coverts ;
throat and under-surface greyish-white, becoming brown on the flanks and sides of the chest ; bill black at the
tip and yellow at the base; legs and feet brown; irides yellow.

The upper figure in our Plate represents an adult male of the natural size.

 

AQUATIC WARBLER.

Salicaria aquatica.

La Bec-fin aquatique.

Ivary and the eastern portions of the Continent appear to be the true habitat of this species, which, although
differing considerably in its markings and colour from the Moustached Warbler, resembles it in many
particulars ; like that it is also a marsh bird and dwells among the thick reed-beds that border the sides of
rivers. It is very abundant in Italy and Piedmont; it sometimes extends its visits to France and Germany,
and, but very rarely, to Holland.

The nest is artfully constructed among the stems of aquatic plants, and the eggs are four or five in
number, of a yellowish ash colour marked with very fine spots of greyish olive.

The sexes are alike in plumage.

A band of yellowish white passes over each eye and a stripe of the same colour down the centre of the head ;
the intermediate spaces dark brown ; sides of the neck, scapularies, and all the upper surface yellowish brown
with large, longitudinal dark brown spots; wings and tail dark brown, each feather in the former strongly
edged with yellowish brown; ear-coverts brown; throat and all the under surface of a light fawn colour, which
is somewhat darker on the flanks ; feet and legs pale brown; bill dark brown at the tip, yellowish at the base.

The lower figure represents this bird of the natural size.