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“The head quarters of the Rufous Sedge Warbler seem situated in the Salt-Lake ee ee i ae
it abundantly through the months of May and June. It lows ne eas ina aie oa ae ee e
requisite to its haunts ; for I observed it not unfrequently m the aa district o oe os ee q a
map this lake looks like a magnificent sheet of water, bat s in pe vine most a the p a sim a a
down are, viz. a wide expanse of sand covered with saline ee L which only in peculiarly wet seasons
is flooded with water. Near Ain Djendeli I frequently noticed the bird Se the trees that overhung the
dry stony watercourses running from the hills into the plea CS W au el oe a nest, no ever, In
one of the above-mentioned places ; and it would seem the bird prefers a el soil for its breeding-haunts,
such as is afforded by the low lands near Lake Djendeli, where the Tamarisk-trees grow on the banks of the

. fame HR Sm GTI: aced conspicuously in the fork or on a
Chemora and the small Ain or spring. The nest was usually placed cons; y

branch of one of these trees, and apparently without any attempt at concealment.
In one instance I found a nest among the roots of

The heights at which it
was placed varied from one to six feet from the ground. pe
a tree in a bank-side, in a place where one would have expected in Bingtend to have Homind! the ast a a
Robin. The materials employed are the dead shoots of the Tamarisk, which os the ee the inside
and lining being usually Coot’s or Duck’s feathers, mingled with wool or camel’s hair ; and in a cases out
of ten a small piece of serpent’s skin is loosely placed in the bottom of the nest; the eggs, which vary from
three to five in number, are laid about the third week in May. I may here remark that they are not to be
distinguished from those of Authus rufescens, a bird equally or perhaps more common in the same districts
of the Atlas; so that eggs ascribed to this species from that country, without undeniable proof that they are
what they profess to be, can only be received with great doubt, and are, in fact, valueless to a collection.
Among the Arabs of Djendeli this bird is known as ‘El Hamara’ (the Red Bird). In its habits it is shy,
and is careful to elude observation. When it alights on a twig, it expands its tail, and shows the peculiar
markings which terminate each feather, and while holding it thus extended raises it once or twice.”

“‘ The most conspicuous and attractive of all the Warblers of Palestine,” says Mr. Tristram, in ¢ The Ibis’
for 1867, “is Aedon galactodes ; and it is perhaps the most abundant in summer ; but it returns very late. On
the 14th of April it appeared in great numbers, and overspread every part of the country, wet or dry, where
there were bushes or reeds. The return was simultaneous ; and from that time its bright chestnut plumage,
with its black- and white-tipped tail expanded like a fan, enlivened every thicket and thornbush. In no way
whatever does it resemble the Marsh-Warblers in action or note. Its song is low, soft, and mellifluous.
The bird is constantly seen, and, instead of skulking in thickets, hops here and there, perching on the top-
most bough of a bush or on the stem of a tall cane, expanding and jerking its tail like a Wren. It is
curious that a bird which remains all the winter in the Sahara should be so late a inigrant in the warm
regions of the Holy Land. The nest of 4édon is very easy to find; for the tamarisk is its favourite tree, and
it piles its large nest in a low fork. As in Algeria, so here we found the serpent’s skin an invariable ingre-
dient in the lining of the nest, and the green lizards our provoking rivals in ege-collecting. The Palestine
eggs are much more delicately and sparsely spotted than those of Africa, and, arranged together with them,
would at first sight be pronounced to be distinct. Lindermayer gives April the 27th as the date of the bird’s
return to Greece. I found it breeding in cane-brakes, by the shores of the Dead Sea, the last day of April,
and in June on Lebanon, at a height of 7000 feet.”

Lord Lilford twice met with this species in the Ionian Islands, once in Corfu, on which occasion a friend of
his killed a fine specimen ; and a few weeks afterwards at Katait, in Epirus, where he watched a pair for
some time, but refrained from shooting them. He observed them to be “ common in some parts of Spain,
notably in Andalucia, in May, 1869 ; frequents the hedges of prickly pear, vineyards, &c. Has a habit of -
constantly lifting and spreading its tail, from which it derives its Andalucian name ‘ Alzannabo,’ 2. e. tail-
lifter.”

The Rufous Sedge-Warbler is said to be a very frequent visitor to Portugal. In Malta, according
to Mr. Wright, it is rare and does not occur annually ; when it does occur, it is mostly seen in September.
Lastly, my friend Mr. J. Clarke Hawkshaw met with this species at the upper Cataracts of the Nile,
whence he brought some fine specimens, now before me.

There is but little difference in the size and colouring of the sexes; but the female appears to be the
smallest of the two, and to have the markings of the tail less strongly defined.

The figures are of the natural size. The plant is the Cichorium entybus.