GRASSHOPPER WARBLER. 123 



grass, especially in a tangled hedge-bottom, or on the 

 ground in a tuft of grass in a plantation. Sometimes it 

 is placed under a gorse bush. The nest is somewhat 

 compact and deep, made externally of dry grass, moss, 

 and dead leaves, and lined with finer round dry grass- 

 stalks. If the first nest is taken, another, and even a 

 third will be made, this accounting for the late nests of 

 this species which some writers have interpreted as 

 proof of a second brood. The sitting bird glides very 

 quietly off the nest, and threading its way through the 

 herbage and branches is seldom seen, except for a 

 fleeting moment. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 

 The eggs of the Grasshopper Warbler are from four to 

 six or even seven in number. They are white, with a 

 pinkish tinge in ground colour, profusely spotted and 

 sprinkled with reddish-brown, and with similar under- 

 lying markings of violet-gray. The markings are 

 usually most numerous on the larger end of the ^^^, 

 and more bold and decided in character. Occasionally 

 a few hair-like streaks of dark brown occur. In some 

 eggs the markings are dark in tint, and are mostly dis- 

 tributed in an irregular zone ; others are uniform pale 

 brown. Average measurement, 7 inch in length, by 

 ■53 inch in breadth. Incubation, performed mostly by 

 the female, lasts fourteen or fifteen days. 



Diagnostic characters: The general pink ap- 

 pearance and finely-dusted markings seem to distinguish 

 the eggs of the Grasshopper Warbler from those of all 

 other species breeding in the British Islands. 



Although formerly a rare but regular summer 

 migrant to the British Islands, Savi's V^a.rh\eY {Loaistella 

 liiscinioidcs) is now only too probably extinct as a 

 breeding species. The extensive drainage of the fens 



