64 BIRDS BROWN ABOVE AND WHITE BELOW. 



Because of its mottled upper parts, the Grasshopper- 

 Warbler might possibly be confounded with the Sedge- 

 Warbler ; but the mottling of the latter is more 

 sharply defined, whilst that of the Grassliopper- Warbler 

 is soft and cloudy. The Grasshopper- Warbler, how- 

 ever, is far less likely to be seen than heard, for 

 although it is a habitual skulker, it ijives a liberal 

 measure of its strange song. It nests on the ground 

 in grass or weeds, sometimes in a hedge-bottom, 

 besides affecting reed-beds and low bush growth. 

 Here it worms its way about more like some creeping 

 thing than a bird ; or, secreted in the tangle, it gives 

 utterance to that remarkable song which finds its 

 nearest parallel among bird-notes in the reel of the 

 Nightjar. In form this song consists of a continuous 

 series of uniform pulsations of sound like the clicking 

 of fine cogs in winding a clock ; but the sound itself 

 is not purely mechanical, having in it that metallic 

 ring to be heard in the notes of grasshoppers, locusts, 

 or cicadas. Like the reel of the Nightjar, the finer 

 reel of the Grassliopper- Warbler is often uttered in the 

 twilight, or even in the dark, for an indefinite time ; 

 but the sound, because of its tenuity, is usually ascribed 

 by those who hear it to some insect rather than to a 

 bird. When the Grasshopper- Warbler flies, the gradu- 

 ated, and consequently much rounded, tail is spread. 

 SEDGE -WARBLER — 5 inches; upper parts sharply 

 mottled with light and dark brown ; heavy yellowish- 

 white eye-stripe ; under parts bnHish-white. Song long- 

 sustained, hut varied, not uniform as in the Grasshopper- 

 Warbler. 

 REED-WARBLER — 5 inches ; upper plumage plain brown ; 

 wing and tail feathers dark brown, witli light edgings ; 

 faint eye-streak ; under parts buffish-white. Song long- 

 sustained, but not uniform as in the Grasshopper- Warbler. 



