GRASSHOPPER WARBLER 



CRICKET BIRD. 



PLATE CXIV. FIGURE II. 



Locustella navia, BODDAERT. 



Sylvia locustella, NAUMANN. 



Curruca locustella, FLEMING. 



Salicaria locustella, SELBY. 



pHE nest, of a cup shape, is formed in a rather firm 

 1 manner of reeds or grass, with sometimes a little moss, 

 lined with finer portions of the same. It is difficult to find, 

 owing to the careful habits of the bird, and is placed on the 

 ground, and has been met with at the foot of a small bush 

 by the roadside ; it is completely hidden in the middle of 

 some large tuft of fen grass, through which there is no 

 apparent entrance but such as the bird threads for herself, 

 creeping along like a mouse to and into it. 



The eggs are from five or six to seven in number, of a 

 pale-reddish white colour, freckled all over with specks of 

 darker red ; they seldom vary much. 



Two broods are sometimes reared in the year. 



75 



