The Grasshopper Warbler. 123 



In Great Britain it is pretty generally distributed throughout England and 

 Wales ; in Ireland it is somewhat local, breeding chiefly in the eastern and 

 southern counties ; in Scotland, south of the Firth of Forth, it breeds in varying 

 numbers. 



The colouring of this species above is olivaceous-brown, each feather with a 

 dark centre, least conspicuous on the sides of the neck and the longest upper 

 tail-coverts; quills and tail-feathers brown, with their outer webs olivaceous 

 towards the edge ; the tail faintly barred ; under surface pale buffish-brown ; the 

 chin, centre of abdomen and under tail-coverts almost white ; the neck and breast- 

 feathers with darker centres, and the under tail-coverts with brown shaft-streaks ; 

 bill dark brown above, paler below ; feet pale brown ; iris hazel. The female 

 closely resembles the male ; but young birds are more tinged with buff on the 

 under surface than adults. 



Every writer on British Birds informs us that this bird owes its name to the 

 resemblance which its song bears to the chirrup of the grasshopper; but Macgil- 

 livray correctly says: — "The note, if once heard, can never be afterwards mistaken 

 for the sound of a grasshopper or cricket, however striking the resemblance ; 

 besides the length of time for which it is continued, provided the bird be not 

 disturbed, is much greater. Thus, on one occasion, while watching some pike 

 lines by the margin of a deep pool, I heard the trill of the grasshopper chirper 

 emitted from a neighbouring hedge for at least twenty minutes, during which 

 time the bird appeared to have been sitting on the same spot." 



As Seebohm observes, the song " is a rapid trill, absolutely monotonous, and 

 is continued from a quarter of a minute sometimes to a couple of minutes without 

 cessation " : this is not characteristic of the tizzik, tizzik, tizzik of a grasshopper ; 

 indeed the note of the bird merely suggests that of the insect, it does not greatly 

 resemble it. 



The Grasshopper Warbler haunts copses and plantations where there is dense 

 and rank undergrowth, untrimmed hedgerows, and ditches overgrown with coarse 

 grass, nettles, &c.; also gorse-clad commons, heathery moors, and bushes in marshy 

 land, but rarely reeds. The nest is usually concealed in a thick tuft of rank 

 grass, and so deep down that, on the only occasion when I flushed the bird 

 (which was early in my birds'-nesting days) I failed to discover it : consequently 

 I am indebted to the Rev. W. Bree, of Coventry, for an &%% of this species, 

 and to the late Jenner Weir for a nest containing eggs. Sometimes the nest is 

 placed in the bottom of a grassy ditch, on railway banks, or under whin-bushes. 



When disturbed, either from the nest or from cover, this shy bird is only 

 seen for a moment, it disappears like a mouse ; or, in some cases, like a stone ; 



H2 



