GRASSHOPPER-WARBLER 87 



fisherman's reel, as the modern countryman will tell you ; but rather 

 because of its resemblance to the noise of the reel used by the hand- 

 spinners of wool in olden days. 



This curious reeling song of the male bird is best heard late in 

 the evening or early in the morning, though he sings at any hour of 

 the day and night. As the long marshland twilight merges into the 

 short summer night this low persistent song of the grasshopper- 

 warbler is one of the mystic sounds which seems only to emphasise 

 the silence which for a short time broods over the great, lonely, 

 wind-swept marshes ; where the skies are spangled all over with 

 diamond dust, and the wraiths of departed vikings come sweeping 

 up from the sea, silently wrestling with each other till the sun rises 

 and scatters them. Then, just before dawn, the grasshopper- warbler 

 can most easily be watched, for at that hour he is less shy ; and by 

 stealing carefully through the rough undergrowth up to the bush 

 wherein he is skulking, and remaining motionless, you may watch this 

 shy artist and see how he produces his song. By and by he will 

 creep up to the top of the bush and reel, puffing out his throat and 

 moving his head rapidly from side to side all the while. This turn- 

 ing of the head while singing, and consequent throwing of the voice 

 in all directions, bewilders the listener when he is trying to locate 

 the sound, and leads him to credit the grasshopper-warbler with 

 ventriloquial powers, which to a certain extent he may be said to 

 possess ; because though the singer is stationary, yet the voice seems to 

 come from various points at the same time. 



This reel is usually maintained for about twenty seconds, more or 

 less, but I once timed a bird in Barton Broad and found he kept up 

 his sustained trill for three-and-three-quarter minutes. Macgillivray 

 says that on one occasion he heard a bird which reeled for twenty 

 minutes. Any movement on your part will at once drive the bird 

 down into the depths of the bush, from which it is very difficult to 

 dislodge him. You may beat about with a stick, but he will either 

 remain in hiding, or, creeping through the tangle, fly a little way, 



