Page:The British Warblers A History with Problems of Their Lives - 6 of 9.djvu/53

 central parts of Russia eastwards to the Volga delta it is generally distributed, Poland being the northern breeding limit, where it is locally not uncommon in the provinces of Plock, Lublin and Warsaw. In Southern Russia the most favoured provinces are Volhynia, Podolia, Khiev and Kharkov, and specimens have been obtained on the River Don and in the Crimea. In the Volga district the bird is common, and there is a record of its occurrence in the province of Orenburg. In Turkestan it occurs in Sir Daria. In Palestine we find it a scarce summer visitor, but in Egypt a common breeding species, and we meet with it again in Tunis, Algeria and Morocco. The winter appears to be passed in the northern parts of Africa.

The few days I spent in studying this beautiful bird on the Valencze Lake in Hungary were sufficient to show that its habits are of unusual interest, and as a naturalist I cannot but regret the altered conditions, the necessary progress of civilisation, which have banished this bird from its old home in the Eastern Counties. It inhabits the dense masses of the common reed (Arundo phragmites), where the roots are sufficiently thick to afford protection for its nest, and such situations must have been plentiful before the fens were drained.

With regard to the date of arrival in different European countries I have no information, but on April 25th, 1904 many males had already arrived on the Valencze Lake, and as the females commenced to arrive on the following day, it is probable that the former had been there some little time. The question of breeding territory seems to be of importance to the males, but since I have had so few opportunities of studying the birds, and none of studying a male immediately upon arrival at its destination, I am unable to produce evidence of any struggle for possession; nevertheless from the