58 BRITISH BIRDS, THFIR EGGS 



the Stone-chat. It perches on the stone walls as one 

 xfoproaches it, and flirts its tail and chacks, and then diviner below 

 the wall on the far side, re-appears again ten or twelve yards lower, 

 and acts as before ; and so on for a hundred yards or more. The 

 stone walls in our district, and the large heaps of stones, removed 

 in reclaiming parts of the moor and Hung promiscuously together 

 any where to be out of the way, afford them capital breeding 

 -;]*ices. In other countries old walls, or holes in the sides of pits 

 'or excavations, serve their purpose. The nest is not very artistic 

 or well-finished, and formed of many different materials, bents, 

 feathers, dry roots, fur, in short any waste matters which may 

 have come in the way of the builders. The Eggs are five or six 

 in number, and of a pale-blue colour not so dark as those of the 

 Hedge-sparrow. It is said that people accustomed to the habits 

 of the Wheat-ear are able to find its nest without difficulty, 

 from the occurrence of certain noticeable signs in its neigh- 

 bourhood. Fig. 1, plate III. 



55. GRASSHOPPER WARBLER. (Salicaria locustella). 



A summer visitor, of shy and retired habits, and very vigilant. 

 /ts note, very shrill and constantly repeated, reminding one of 

 the Cricket or Grasshopper's note, gains it its name. The 

 nest is hard to find, and unless the bird be very closely 

 watched, it may baffle a good observer. It is placed in spots 

 matted and overhung with growth of grass or other herbage and 

 bushes ; is cup-shaped, made of coarse dry grass, with liner 

 within; and contains sometimes as many as seven eggs, of a 

 pale pinky -white colour, freckled with spots of a darker shade 

 of red. Fig. 2, plate III. 



56. SEDGE WARBLER. (Sahcana phragmitis). 

 This everlasting little songster is more common than the bird 

 ast named, and almost every boy knows its peculiar chiding note. 

 Many a lad, too, knows that by shying a stone in near its haunt, 

 its notes may be elicited almost any hour in the night or day. 

 I think I have heard it singing on all through the night, and 

 notwithstanding the absence of any pretence at daylight. Its 

 nest is usually placed near the ground, in the vicinity of more or 

 less water, and is supported, as well as concealed, by the coarse 

 herbage. Made of coarse grass stalks externally, and lined with 

 finer ones and hair, sometimes with a foundation of moss, five 

 or six eggs are deposited in its cup-shaped hollow, of a pale brown 

 oolour, a little mottled with darker brown. Fig. 3, plate II L 



57. SAYI'S WARBLER. (Salicaria Luscinoides). 

 Not of sufficiently common occurrence to demand notice here. 



