BIRDS in his Birds of Ra'inham (p. 25), but it is a reed-warbler and fails to correspond with typical examples of A. palustr'is with which I have compared the example.] 27. Great Reed-Warbler. Acrocephalus tur- do'tdes (Meyer) This bird is an extremely rare visitor ; only two specimens have been obtained in Kent. On 4 May 1853 ^" individual was shot by the side of a pond near Sittingbourne by Mr. G. Thomas of that place. The other was ob- tained in the Wingham marshes on 14 Sep- tember 1 88 1, by Mr. Oxenden Hammond, who writes of the occurrence as follows : 'While snipe shooting, on September 14th, I came across a warbler of some kind, which I failed to identify satisfactorily. I had marked a snipe down, as I believed, in a water-cress covered stream, which flowed between an alder bed on one bank and a bank of very high reeds on the other. I had not gone far up the windings of this channel, when the bird in question rose out of the coarse herbage and instantly entered the reed-bed opposite. I was struck by its appearance and sent my retriever into the reeds. The bird moved through the reeds at once before the dog, and my keeper seeing it, forced it out by a thrust or two of my marsh-jumping pole. It flew along the watercourse very low, just topping the cresses with a weak fluttering flight, and some dust shot then struck it down. I found no difficulty in identifying the bird as the great reed warbler.' 28. Sedge- Warbler. Acrocephalus phragmitis (Bechstein) In Kent the sedge-warbler arrives at the end of April and frequents ditches which are overrun with brambles and places where there is rough herbage. The vicinity of water is not essential to this bird, the nest being often found on the ground in thick grass by the roadside. During the migration in September small parties may be seen in the dykes of our marsh-land near the sea. 29. Aquatic Warbler. Acrocephalus aquaticus (J. F. Gmelin) Has occurred once in the county, an example being obtained near Dover by the late Mr. C. Gordon. The specimen remained in Dr. Plomley's collection in the museum of that town for some time unidentified till February 1871, when Mr. J. H. Gurney found it to be a genuine example of this rare warbler. In Borrer's Birds of Sussex there is a fine coloured plate of the aquatic warbler by Mr. Keulemans. 30. Grasshopper-Warbler. Locustella navia (Boddaert) This warbler, locally known as 'cricket- bird,' comes to us near the end of April, taking up its abode in thickets, close as a rule to running water where there is plenty of ' bottom ' in the form of coarse grass. It is by no means common and of very local dis- tribution. Its retiring and skulking habits make observation difficult, the bird being more often heard than seen, its peculiar scis- sor-grinding song breaking the silence of evening. According to Mr. Walter Prentis this bird, formerly plentiful, has disappeared from the Rainham district. In his collec- tion there is a peculiar variety obtained on 5 June 1869; back greenish-brown with darker markings, breast greenish-yellow without spots. In the Cranbrook neighbourhood a few pairs breed annually in the woods around Sissing- hurst. It is found near Maidstone, a nest and two eggs with the female bird being in the museum of that town, and taken near HoUingbourne in May 1882. Nests have also been found near Ashford, while in the Stourmouth district the bird is scarce (Dowker). About Dover it breeds sparingly (Gray), and it has also been observed at Pembury near Tunbridge Wells {Zool. 1857, p. 5685). 3 1 . Hedge-Sparrow. Accentor nodularis (Linn.) A well distributed resident in the county, its numbers remaining constant throughout the year. Although one of the earliest of British breeding birds it is often among the latest. In the Cranbrook neighbourhood a brood was still in the nest on 23 August 1890. 32. Dipper. Cinclus aquaticus, Bechstein. The dipper or water-ouzel is a rare bird in Kent, where only a few individuals on mi- gration have been obtained. The county is unsuitable to the habits of this species, as shal- low rivers studded with stones and running streams are not to be found in Kent, so the dipper as a resident is absent. I have the following records : Two in the Dover Museum, one being in the Plomley collec- tion, and therefore probably obtained in the neighbourhood of Lydd ; the other shot on the river at Dover in 1870 (Charles Gordon). One in the local collection of the Maidstone Museum (G. Simmons). Lastly, in Decem- ber 1890, a dipper was shot on the rocks at Margate (J. H. Gurney, Zool. 1 89 1, p. 274). To "these records I shall also place the observation of one near Cranbrook. The dip- per is such a remarkable looking bird that it can hardly be mistaken for any other. On 275
