132 OUR RARER BRITISH BREEDING BIRDS. 



have met with it most numerously on the Norfolk 

 Broads, where its peculiar reeling notes may he 

 heard to the greatest perfection in the dusk of 

 a still summer's evening. Although hearing a 

 strong resemblance to the chirruping of a grass- 

 hopper, there is something, apart from their greater 

 duration, much more solid and machine -like, and 

 once heard, the merest tyro is not likely to mis- 

 take them for the sounds produced by any orthop- 

 terous insect. Like many other unseen birds, its 

 precise position is difficult to locate by the sound 

 of its notes, because of the ventriloquial effect 

 caused by the movements of its head whilst in 

 the act of emitting them. 



The Grasshopper Warbler breeds in most suit- 

 able parts of England and Wales, some portions 

 of Scotland, and in Ireland, where our illustration 

 was secured, not far from Lismore. I have met 

 with it breeding close to London, and although 

 nowhere very common, it is still fairly numerous, 



Its nest is built on or near the ground, 

 amongst thick coarse grass, under furze and 

 similar small bushes, on the sides of hedgebanks, 

 in fens, woods, commons, and thickets, where 

 there is an abundance of under - cover in which 

 it can hide or slip off and away without being 

 observed. It is made of dead grass and moss, 

 with an inner lining of fine dry stalks, and is 

 deep, and difficult to find. 



The eggs number from four to seven, of a pale 

 rosy- white ground 4 colour, and are very liberally 

 speckled and spotted with reddish-brown. These 

 markings are most profuse at the larger end, 

 where occasionally a few fine streaks may be 

 found. Although it is hard to get a sight of 

 the parent birds, the eggs present little difficulty 



