114 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



Yarmouth. It is also most probable that although so 

 rarely recognised in this county, others may have been 

 shot, and mistaken as the first was, by M. Temminck, 

 for varieties of the reed warbler, since the two species 

 at first sight are very similar, but Savi's is not only a 

 larger bird, but in the reddish tints of the upper parts 

 more resembles the nightingale. My own specimen, a 

 male, like males of the grasshopper warbler, exhibits 

 the small black spots on the throat. The following 

 remarks upon the habits of this rare species, as observed 

 by Mr. Osbert Salvin, in the Eastern Atlas,* will pro- 

 bably be read with interest, from the perfect confirma- 

 tion they afford, of the accuracy of the above descrip- 

 tions : (( I found this bird abundant in the marsh of 

 Zana. On approaching the margin of the reeds, its 

 peculiar rattling note might be heard in every direction. 

 The bird, when uttering this cry, climbs to the very top 

 of a reed, often choosing the tallest, where it sits, if not 

 disturbed, for several minutes, without changing its 

 position. When singing, the head is moved slowly from 

 side to side, by which means it may be that the ven- 

 triloquism ascribed to the grasshopper warbler is pro- 

 duced, the apparent change of position of the bird 

 being, in fact, a change in the direction in which the 

 sound of its voice is thrown. On taking alarm, the 

 songster drops instantly into the thickest sedge, when 

 pursuit is hopeless, as it carefully eludes observation, 

 never showing itself in open flight ; sometimes, however, 

 its course may be traced by the shaking of the reeds as 

 it springs from one to another. The peculiar nest of 

 this species, a beautifully compact structure, composed 

 entirely of dead flag, is artfully concealed in the thickest 

 parts, and at Zana it can only be found by wading in 



* "Five Months' Birds' -nesting in the Eastern Atlas," by 

 Osbert Salvin. "Ibis," 1859, p. 304. 



