124 The Grasshopper Warbler. 



dropping from its percli into the undergrowth, through which it rapidly glides 

 away. In Mr. A. W. Johnson's notes, quoted by Seebohm, we read : — " The sitting 

 bird usually flies off the nest verj'^ quietl}' when flushed, and drops into the under- 

 wood at once. One instance, however, came under mv notice, where the bird flew 

 up and over some tall trees ; and if the eggs are hard sat, or the nest contains 

 j^oung, the bird comes stealing back in and out amongst the grass like a mouse, 

 and will approach within a few yards." 



Mr. Howard Saunders says that neither Air. A. H. Evans nor he have noticed 

 the mouse-like action of this bird when flushed from the nest; but I was specially 

 struck with it on the one occasion when I ought to have found the nest, and once 

 again in a wood in the Stockbury ^'alley, in Kent, when I burst suddenly into a 

 clearing, almost stepping on the male bird, which was uttering its creaky song in 

 a bush just ahead of me ; I wasted much time then searching all around for a 

 nest, which I never found. 



The nest is a deep compact cup formed of moss, dry grass, and a few dead 

 leaves, with an inner lining of finer grass : the eggs, which number from four to 

 seven, are pinky-white, speckled with blood-reddish brown, and with gre3-er shell 

 spots; sometimes the spots are enlarged, so as to form a zone towards the larger 

 end, occasionally they are interspersed with short Bunting-like hair lines of dark 

 brown ; and, very rarel}', they are diffused and merged, so as to form a uniform 

 pale brownish tint over the whole egg. 



The alarm-note of the Grasshopper Warbler is said to be //V, /ic, or //r, fie, iac; 

 more probably tzic, tzic : but — Is it the alarm-note ? Surely, when a bird is flushed 

 from its nest, it must feel frightened ; but I believe most, if not all, observers 

 who have disturbed the Grasshopper Warbler when sitting, could echo Seebohm's 

 words — " We never heard her utter a note." I am certain that the greatest 

 confusion exists respecting the call and alarm-notes of wild birds in the accounts 

 given by even the best observers, and when a good man mistakes the intention 

 and meaning of a note, ever}'- subsequent writer follow^s his lead.* 



The food consists chiefly of insects, their larvre, and spiders, but it is possible 

 that in the autumn it may also eat soft berries and small fruits. 



Sometimes the Grasshopper Warbler is double-brooded, the first nest being 

 usually completed about the second week of May, and if a second is built it is 

 generally read}^ for eggs towards the end of Jul}-. Nests have frequently been 



• I rt'inember IjeiiiR amused one day, wh<-n looking IhroiiKh a work by an eminent Ornithologist, and 

 reading his account of I.iothrix liitens, to couie across the statement that "its call-note is a harsh chattering;" 

 the fact being Unit the chattering indulged in by both sexes is simply scolding; the call-note of the male 

 being a short and very musical song, of from seven to nine notes, and that of the female a single clear 

 resonant whistle rejjcated four times. 



