GRASSHOPPER-WARBLER 89 



The grasshopper-warbler, like so many of the Warblers when woo- 

 ing the female, often carries about a bit of dry grass in his bill. The 

 reason of this habit does not seem to me at all mysterious. Other 

 species do the same thing especially magpies. It is quite evident 

 the males wish the females to know that the serious business of life 

 must commence. 



The nest, which both birds assist in building, is most carefully con- 

 cealed and very difficult to find, unless you happen to see the old birds 

 carrying material to and fro. It is placed wherever the tangle is 

 thickest and varies considerably in composition. I have before me two 

 nests which I took last year after the young had flown. One is 

 carefully made of dead sedge-blades, at one point most skilfully inter- 

 woven in a kind of chequer pattern more like that of Savi's warbler, 

 to be hereafter described, but slightly interspersed with bits of moss on 

 the outside, the deep two-inch cup being lined with dry grass. This was 

 taken from a somewhat wet marsh, the nest itself situated several 

 inches above ground. The second is a large loose structure of moss 

 and dry grass, broader, shallower, and twice as bulky as the first. In 

 fact 110 one at a glance would imagine these two nests had been 

 built by the same species. The brooding bird looks very tiny on the 

 nest and appears to be almost lost in its depths, only her beak and 

 the tip of her tail are visible above the rim unless something occurs 

 to startle her. 



Both birds assist in brooding and feeding the young, and are very 

 bold in their defence. Once I had to drop my cap on to the hen before 

 she would leave her nest. On rare occasions when disturbed the 

 grasshopper-warbler will fly straight from the nest, but always creeps 

 back again through the thick tangle, slips silently into her place, and 

 with a little shiver of the wings settles down once more. She also 

 has a way of ruffling up her body feathers till she looks like a fluffy 

 ball. Both male and female are in fact most fascinating birds to watch, 

 perhaps because so unexpectedly confiding when once their usual 

 reticence is broken through. 



VOL. II. M 



