70 OUR IRISH SONG BIRDS. 



The Grasshopper Warbler is a very rare bird in 

 Ireland. Mr. Watters says of it : " It has never passed 

 under my own observation, or that of Mr. Richard 

 Glennon, who has had some forty years' experience of 

 the distribution of our native and migratory species." 

 Mr. Thompson, however, examined two specimens, one 

 shot near Belfast, the other near Wexford by Mr. Poole, 

 who remarked that it frequented the thorn-bushes on a 

 fence, and would sing while he was close to it, adding 

 that " its peculiar rotatory song bears no greater resem- 

 blance to anything than to the running out of a slick 

 wheel." The late Dr. Ball, father of the astronomer, 

 often heard its curious voice in the neighbourhood of 

 Youghal. It is a regular summer visitor to the County 

 of Waterford. 



My friend, Miss Massy, however, was of opinion that 

 it visited the neighbourhood of Bray Head for a short 

 time every year. The fact that the bird is so seldom 

 seen, and that when heard its note is ascribed to the 

 common grasshopper, will probably account for its 

 existence as an Irish Song Bird being usually unsus- 

 pected. Mr. Thompson quotes McSkimmins' History 

 of Carrickfergus, in which it is remarked that this 

 Warbler " inhabits thickets and close hedges, and makes 

 a noise in the summer evenings resembling the winding 

 up of a clock, or the call of the common grasshopper." 

 To my ears it seems to savour somewhat of the "churr" 

 of the Nightjar, but fainter, and in a higher key. 



The Grasshopper Warbler often sings at night, and 

 occasionally on the wing. " Nothing," says Gilbert 

 White, " can be more amusing than the whisper of this 

 little bird, which seems to be close by, though at a 



