92 THE WARBLERS 



their retreat, in a very few seconds faint squeaks may be heard 

 on all sides of the nest, so that we might almost credit the young 

 with ventriloquial powers, as well as their parents. 



The hen bird is said to do all the feeding of the young after 

 they leave the nest, while the males "lead a lazy life singing 

 and playing with one another." * Amongst the reed-beds and swamps 

 of the fen country, however, where insect life teems in overwhelming 

 millions, young grasshopper-warblers are soon able to fend for them- 

 selves ; in which case it is not to be wondered at that the males are soon 

 singing and amusing themselves day and night after the comparatively 

 short period of family cares. Perhaps, too, the plentiful supply of 

 food in the marshes may account for the fact that in the Broads 

 district these birds are probably double - brooded. As autumn 

 approaches they become increasingly difficult to observe, and their 

 skulking habits are more pronounced ; but by the end of September 

 few if any are left in the country. 



Savi's warbler, which belongs to the same genus (Locustella) as the 

 grasshopper-warbler, is now apparently extinct as a British species ; 

 but a short account of it, even though it prove to have only an 

 historical interest, will not be out of place. 2 



This warbler derives its name from the Italian naturalist Savi, 

 who in 1824 first recognised it as a distinct species. 



Formerly the birds were regular visitors to our eastern counties, 

 but the draining of the fens drove them from their favourite haunts. 

 A specimen shot in 1856 seems to have been the last one obtained 

 in this country, although its presence has been recorded as late as 

 1872. 



Yarrell describes Savi's warbler as closely resembling the grass- 

 hopper-warbler in its habits, generally skulking in the thickest herbage 

 and reluctant to take wing ; but, unlike the latter bird, it never seems 



1 E. Howard, British Warblers, Part I. p. 22. 



2 The description and distribution of the species will appear in the supplementary chapter 

 on "Rare Birds." 



