SYLVIIN.E. 



THE GRASSHOPPER-WARBLER. 



LocusTELLA N.iviA (Boddacrt). 



This Warbler owes its trivial name to its rapid trilling song, which 

 resembles the chirping noise made by the grasshopper or the mole- 

 cricket ; but in many parts of England it is also known as the 

 ' Reeler,' from a fancied imitation of the noise of the old-fashioned 

 implement used by wool-spinners, or of the running out of the 

 line on a fisherman's reel. The bird arrives from the south about 

 the end of April ; departing in September. Between those months 

 it is of tolerably general distribution in suitable localities throughout 

 England and Wales ; but owing to its skulking habits, it is often 

 supposed to be rarer than is really the case. Fens and partially re- 

 claimed land are favourite situations, but heaths, commons, and 

 tangled hedge-rows are also frequented ; while the moist shoulders 

 or ' dips,' near the summits of some of our highest hills, such as the 

 Cheviots, are situations to which it seems to be partial ; Northum- 

 berland and Durham being two of the counties in which it is 

 especially abundant in summer. In Scotland, we trace it, in 

 diminishing numbers, to Arisaig, below the Sound of Sleat ; and, 

 across that water, to the Isle of Skye. In Ireland it is a somewhat 

 local summer-visitor, breeding in the eastern and southern districts, 

 especially in co. Waterford, and in co. Fermanagh. 



The Grasshopper-Warbler is only a rare visitor to Heligoland, 

 and is not known to cross the Baltic, but it is found in Russia as 

 far north as St. Petersburg. Over the greater part of Europe it 

 seems to be generally distributed, although seldom common ; but it 



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