194 EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



closely freckled with reddish-brown and greyish-brown shell- 

 markings. They are from five to seven in number, and vary 

 from 0'07 to 0'06 inch in length, and from 0'54 to 0'5 inch in 

 breadth. 



THE GRASSHOPPER WARBLER. 

 {Locustella locustella.)* 



Plate 52, Fig. 1. 



This is a somewhat local bird in the British Islands ; but there 

 is probably no county in England, Wales, Ireland, or Scotland 

 south of the Firth of Forth where it does not breed. On the 

 Continent it is probably confined to Western Europe. 



A nest I found in Sussex was round, compact and rather deep, 

 the outside woven principally of green moss, mixed with a few 

 dead leaves and a little dry grass. The lining was of entirely 

 dry, slender, round grass stalks. 



The ground-colour of the eggs is a pale, pinkish-white, generally 

 profusely spotted all over with small rufous-brown spots or dots 

 interspersed with paler and greyer underlying spots of the same 

 character. In most eggs the spots are slightly larger towards 

 the large end of the egg, and sometimes very decidedly so. 

 Occasionally the overlying spots are sparsely distributed, and in 

 some instances they are almost absent altogether. Not unfre- 

 quently irregular short and thin hair-lines of very dark rufous- 

 brown are observable. The eggs vary in length from 0'75 to 0'7 

 inch, and in breadth from 0'55 to 0'5 inch. The number ranges 

 from four to seven. 



SAVI'S WARBLER. 



(Locustella luscinioides.) 



Plate 52, Fig. -i. 



Savi's Warbler is in all probability extinct as a breeding-bird 

 in our islands, as the marshes where it formerly bred have been 

 to a great extent drained. On the Continent the distribution of 

 this species is also somewhat restricted, though in many localities 

 it is a common bird. 



* Locustella ncevia (Bodd.)— Saunders, Manual, p. 81; Sharpe, Handb., I., p. 236. 



