Page:The British Warblers A History with Problems of Their Lives - 1 of 9.djvu/46

 Commencing with Morocco and Algeria, probably its most southern breeding range, we find it sparingly distributed. In Spain we find it occurring in Granada, Malaga, Murcia, Valencia, and common in the marshes of Santander, also wintering in the more southern provinces. The records from Portugal are very scarce, and the bird apparently only visits the country occasionally: it has been seen near Coimbra.

Crossing the Pyrenees, we find it more generally distributed and in parts of France common, for instance, in the provinces of Finistère, Cotes-du-Nord and Morbihan, also along the banks of the River Var and in Savoie.

Belgium is only rarely visited; it has been found in the province of Namur. The same applies to Holland to some extent, but here, perhaps, it is rather more frequent in its visits and breeds near Haarlem and Cromvoirt: I found no trace of it in Texel.

Continuing northwards, we find it occurring on migration in Heligoland. The records, however, become very scanty as we still continue north. In Holstein it is common, but rare in Schleswig. It has been obtained on the Island of Alsen. In Denmark it has apparently only been found during the autumn migration, specimens having been killed at a lighthouse on the coast of North-west Jutland, at a lightship in the North Kattegat and on the Island of Anholt. In Sweden it has not hitherto been found, but reappears as a breeding species, though rarely, in the southern parts of Norway, confining itself principally to the Jäderen, Christiania and Dröbak districts.

In Germany it is generally distributed. Working from west to east, we find it rare in Hanover, occurring on the River Marke, and not rare in Baden. The districts near the Elbe and its tributaries are apparently the most frequented, especially in Anhalt, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, near Rostock and Parchim, and Altenburg. We find it again in Hessen, and as might be expected, it is partial to the Danube and its tributaries near Augsburg, Lauingen and Munich, and is not uncommon in Silesia.