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1899-1900.| The Birds of Bute and Arran. 85 
general appearance and plumage to that of the willow wren 
makes it a matter of considerable difficulty to distinguish 
between dead specimens of both. There is a difference, 
as the size of the chiffchaff is a trifle less, and its legs 
and feet are darker than those of the willow wren; but it 
appears to me that if a dozen dead bodies of each were 
mixed up, it would take an expert naturalist indeed to divide 
them properly. 
The last species to be notified, and, as already indicated, 
the most important, is the grasshopper warbler. I must at 
once confess that, beyond what was gleaned from standard 
ornithological works, the bird was hitherto quite unknown to 
me, and I hesitated at first to place its occurrence on record 
entirely on my own responsibility; but from subsequent in- 
quiries made, I think I am justified in saying that the bird 
was none other than Salicaria locustella. Passing one morning 
along the shore of Loch Fad near Rothesay, where it was 
skirted by a very thick young larch wood, my attention was 
attracted by a sound resembling that of a grasshopper. It 
struck me, considering the very cold weather and the early 
time of year, that it was rather peculiar to hear this noise ; 
so I waited a little in the hope that it might be repeated, and 
was soon rewarded. The note, although bearing a marked 
resemblance to the noise made by the insect, was louder; and 
occasionally there intervened a sharp note such as is emitted 
by some of the Sylviide, which made me conclude that I was 
listening for the first time to the cricket-bird, as it is called 
in some parts of England. Owing to its shy and skulking 
nature this species is at all times difficult to see, and in this 
particular instance the undergrowth was so dense that it was 
quite impossible to get a view of it. All I could trace was a 
slight movement of the herbage, showing that the bird was on 
the move. I returned on various occasions to the same neigh- 
bourhood, but never heard its note again—which was not to be 
wondered at, as there was such a stretch of wood that, unless 
one stumbled accidentally on the nesting spot, it would only 
be by the merest chance that it could be located. Many in- 
stances are quoted of this species being identified in different 
parts of Scotland, but I cannot find its presence marked in 
Bute in any natural history work consulted. As it has been 
