Page:The British Warblers A History with Problems of Their Lives - 6 of 9.djvu/50

 lower rather more whitish, the iris light brown, and the feet light brownish flesh.

The colouring of the female does not, as a rule, appear to be so intense.

The young bird after the first moult is richer on the upper parts, and the white on the under parts is less intense.

In former times this bird nested regularly in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Huntingdon, but since the draining of the Fens these districts have been deserted, and it is now many years since it was last recorded as a breeding species in Great Britain. There is, however, one recent record in this country, a specimen having been obtained on Fair Isle in the spring of 1908.

Formerly it must have been very plentiful in Holland, but, as in our Fen districts, recent drainage has affected its numbers and banished it from many localities. Yet it has by no means deserted the country, being still almost common in places. In Belgium it is very rare, but is said to be found near Antwerp. Heligoland possesses no record of it on passage, and from Denmark and North Germany it is absent. In Spain it is common in places, especially in parts of Andalucia. There are records of its occurrence in Portugal, and the south and south-western parts of France are visited, especially the Camargue and the country round Bordeaux. To Italy the bird is a local summer visitor, being found more especially in the Venetian bogs, the Po Valley and in Tuscany. From Sardinia there is only one record, but it occurs locally in Sicily and Malta. It is not found in Switzerland, but eastward becomes plentiful, more particularly in Austrian Galicia and in many parts of Hungary. Probably it occurs in all suitable localities on the lower Danube, but from Montenegro and Greece there are no records. In the southern and