262 SYLVIADF,. 



distinction. Tlic rounded form of the tail in all three, the 

 outer feathers being much shorter than those in the middle, 

 and the partiality of these birds to moist situations, particu- 

 larly conspicuous in the second and third species, the Sedge 

 and the Reed Warblers, appear to separate them from the 

 true Sylvan Warblers. I have therefore adopted the generic 

 name and characters proposed for them by Mr. Selby. 



The Grasshopper Warbler, so called from its very pecu- 

 liar and almost incessant cricket-like note, is a visiter from 

 the South which comes to this country for the summer, and is 

 first to be heard and occasionally seen about the middle of 

 April, and leaves us again in September. In its habits, it is 

 shy, vigilant, and restless, secreting itself in a hedge bottom, 

 and creeping along it for many yards in succession, more like 

 a mouse than a bird ; seldom to be seen far from a thicket, 

 a patch of furze, or covert of some sort, and returning to it 

 again on the least alarm. During the breeding season, when 

 bushes and shrubs are clothed with leaves, it is difficult to 

 obtain a sight of this bird; yet, when near its haunt, its note 

 rings on the ear constantly, and, like that of other Aquatic 

 Warblers, may be heard about sunset particularly, and some- 

 times even during the night. The food of the Grasshopper 

 Warbler is small snails, slugs, and insects. 



Unless the old birds are closely watched and seen carrying 

 materials for building or food to their young, the nest is 

 very difficult to find. One discovered by Mr. R. R. Win- 

 gate of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who " watched the bird to the 

 distant passage on the top of a whin-bush by which it en- 

 tered and left the nest, was built at the bottom of a deep 

 narrow furrow or ditch, overhung by the prickly branches of 

 the vidiin, and grown over with thick coarse grass, matted 

 together year after year, to the height of about two feet ; all 

 of which he was obliged to take away piecemeal before he 

 succeeded in gaining the prize. The nest was composed of 



