THE GRASSHOPPER WARBLERS. 235 



and lined with horsehair ; in some nests a little moss or dry 

 leaves are occasionally found. 



Eggs. — From five to seven in number. Many of the eggs 

 referred to this species, and said to resemble those of the Reed- 

 Warbler are undoubtedly nothing but light varieties of the 

 eggs of the latter bird. The eggs of the Marsh-Warbler are 

 in fact unmistakable, being of a china-white or greenish-white 

 ground, with the underlying markings of violet-grey or pur- 

 plish-grey, very strongly developed, and quite as prominent as 

 the overlying spots. These consist of greenish-brown blotches, 

 sometimes light brown, and with purplish-black spots in strong 

 contrast. Axis, o*7-o'8 inch j diam., o'5-o'$$. 



THE GRASSHOPPER WARBLERS. GENUS LOCUSTELLA. 



Locus tel/ciy Kaup, Natiirl. Syst., p. 115 (1829). 



Type, L. ncevia (Bodd.). 



The species of Locustella, of which some eight different kinds 

 are known, are all inhabitants of the Palsearctic Region, breed- 

 ing in the northern parts, and wintering in Africa, India, and 

 the Burmese countries, and even as far to the south-east as the 

 Molucca Islands. 



They very much resemble the Reed-Warblers in structure 

 and general appearance, but they have a more rounded tail, 

 the outer feathers being very much shorter than the centre 

 ones, and the under tail-coverts are very long. The bill is 

 slender and not flattened ; the rictal bristles are weak and 

 scarcely perceptible. The first primary is very small, and does 

 not reach to the end of the primary-coverts, and the second 

 primary-quill is the longest 



I. THE GRASSHOPPER WARBLER. LOCUSTELLA N7EVIA. 



Motacilla ncevia, Bodd., Tabl. PI. enl., p. 35 (1783). 

 Sylvia locustella, Lath., Ind. Orn., ii., p. 515 (1790). 

 Sibilatrix locustella, Macg., Br. B., ii., p. 399 (1839). 

 Acrocephalus ncevius, Newt. ed. Yarr., i., p. 384 (1874); 



Dresser, B. Eur., ii., p. 611, pi. 91 (1874). 

 Locustella locustella, Seeb., Cat. Brit. B. Brit. Mus., v., p. 115 



(1881); id. Br. B., L, p. 340 (1883). 



