ACROCEPHALUS TURDOIDES.
Thrush Warbler.

Motacilla arundinacea, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 296.
Sylvia turdoides, Meyer, Vog. Liv- und Ksthl., p. 116.
Turdus arundinaceus, Briss. Orn., tom. ii. p. 219. no. 6, tab. xxii. fio. 1.
Acrocephalus lacustris, Naum. Vog., alte Ausg., Nachtr., p. 201. i
Salicaria turdina, Schleg. Rev. Crit. des Ois. a’Eur
Sylvia turdina, Gloger, Handb., p. 227. no. 14.-
Calamoherpe turdoides, Boie, Isis, 1822, POO
Turdus junco, Pall. Zoog. Rosso-Asiat., tom. i. p. 458.

Calamodyta arundinacea, G. R. Gray, Cat. of Brit. Birds in Coll. Brit. Mus., p. 45.
Acrocephalus turdoides, Cab. Mus. Hein., Theil i. p- 37. sp. 244.

+) P. XXVil.

 

Tuar individuals of this large species of Sedge-Warbler so common in Holland and the fluviatile parts of
France should have strayed over to England need not be a matter of surprise to any one; and that several
have been killed here there can, I think, be no doubt: but I very much question if they have occurred
so frequently as stated in the work of my old friend Yarrell; for I happen to know that specimens in
the flesh are often sent over to Leadenhall Market in the great crates of ducks from Rotterdam, and, I
suspect, are nearly as often sent into the country and palmed off upon local collectors as British-killed
examples. In 1868 a farmer, whose education and position in society should have taught him better,
purchased, in the above-mentioned market, a fine and tolerably fresh-killed Great Black Woodpecker
(Dryocopus martius), which had just arrived from Norway with the usual supply of Willow-Grouse and
Ptarmigan; this he pocketed the next morning when he went gun in hand round his fields, and on his
return home exhibited it, to an enthusiastic observer of nature living in his neighbourhood, as a curious bird
he had just shot. As a matter of course an account of the capture of such a rarity was duly forwarded to
the London journals, and it was only when too late that this practical joke, as it was termed, was fairly
acknowledged—a joke which, I suspect, has been often but more seriously played off with specimens of
other birds obtained in a similar manner. In this way splendid specimens of the Squacco Heron,
Spoonbill, and other birds now scarce with us are brought from the Continent and sold to unsuspecting
collectors as having been killed in Britain. Having said thus much to show the necessity of verifying the
reported capture of rare species, I now proceed to enumerate the recorded instances of the occurrence
of the present bird in Britain, and furnish such details respecting it in other countries as I can find.

For our knowledge of its first recognized appearance in this country we are indebted to Mr. John Hancock,
of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who made it known in the following communication to the ‘ Annals and Magazine
of Natural History’ for 1847, vol. xx. p. 185 :—

«A male specimen of this fine Warbler was shot three or four miles west of Newcastle, near the
village of Swalwell, by Mr. Thomas Robson of that place, on the 28th of last May.. The attention of
this gentleman, who is perfectly familiar with the song of all our summer visitants, was arrested by a
note which he had not before heard; and after some search he succeeded in getting a sight of the bird.
It was concealed in the thickest part of a garden-hedge close to an extensive mill-dam, which is bordered
with willows, reeds, and other aquatic plants. It would scarcely leave its retreat, and, when it did so,
never flew far, and always kept close to the herbage. Its habits resembled those of the Reed-Warbler,
being continually in motion, occasionally hanging with the body downwards, or clinging to the branches
and stretching forwards to take its prey. Its song was powerful, and resembled that of the Black Ousel,
but was occasionally interrupted with the harsh croaking note common to many of the Warblers, and at
intervals it uttered a single sbrill cry. j

«The specimen was very fat, and when opened contained small beetles and flies.

“From the nature of the locality and from the time of year when captured, there can be little doubt that

this bird was breeding in the neighbourhood ; and I have some renen for ee ae a ee 2
this species has occurred in another part of England. I have pod in my eee nearly yeal ‘
a friend of miue in Northamptonshire, which agrees in every respect ee pememea 6d oe ion
Fra figure of the egg of Sylvia turdordes ; and now, since the capture of the bird Se eee -
at these eves belong to that species. It would therefore appear that this de ightful songster,
ue es ie = nee - be a recular summer visitant to our island. Notwithstanding its large
ao. ae - it does in the low herbage and seldom exposing itself

egg taken by

size, it might easily pass unnoticed, skulking