GRASSHOPPER CHIRPER. 489 



at Heigham. Although it frequents hedges alone, in so far as 

 I have observed, I once heard two crying in the gardens at- 

 tached to the Bishop's palace at Norwich. It seldom perches 

 on trees, but I have occasionally heard its curious cry appa- 

 rently emanating from the elms in the hedge-rows, and have 

 more than once seen it in the same situation. In all its ac- 

 tions, and in some measure in the choice of its abode, it much 

 resembles the Sedge \Varbler, Calamoherpe phragmitis ; so 

 much so that to-day, 1st June, on seeing some of that species 

 skulking in a hedge near Edinburgh, I at first fancied that I 

 again saw my Norfolk friends, and almost regretted that the 

 procuring of a specimen put an end to the illusion. On Cos- 

 tessay Common, a few miles from Norwich, I never met with 

 it, although it is abundant in all the neighbouring hedges, so 

 much so that on a fine evening, I have at one time listened to 

 at least a dozen, and have heard their cries even until the Goat- 

 sucker and the Eat flitting about on noiseless wings announced 

 the close of day. A stone thrown into the hedge causes its in- 

 habitants to renew their cry, for song it cannot be called. I 

 have never heard any other notes uttered by this bird than that 

 single one which has procured for it in the neighbourhood the 

 name of Cricket-bird, from its similarity to the sound produced 

 by the Mole-cricket, Gryllotalpa vulgaris, and indeed of many 

 grasshoppers, although much louder. It has been stated that the 

 Grasshopper Chirper possesses the power of ventriloquism, in 

 common with the Corn Crake. This, however, I much doubt, 

 as by merely lowering and raising the voice, and at the same 

 time turning the head in various directions, the alleged ven- 

 triloquism might easily be produced. When on the ground, 

 which, however, it seldom is, unless at the root of a hedge or 

 thicket, where it is sufiiciently protected, it advances by a sort 

 of shuffling movement, somewhat like that of the Hedge 

 Chanter, Accentor modularis, although in activity it far sur- 

 passes that bird. In fact, it is continually in motion, and so 

 much does it trust to its powers of concealment for protection, 

 that I have several times in walking slowly along a narrow 

 lane driven the bird along for some distance, all the while 

 emitting its note, and keeping only a few yards in advance, 



