GRASSHOPPER-WARBLER. 385 



leaves, almost impossible to obtain a sight of this bird ; 

 yet, when near its haunt, its note rings on the ear con- 

 stantly, and, like that of other aquatic Warblers, may be 

 heard about sunset particularly, and often during the night. 

 The best time, however, for seeing the bird is when the first 

 beams of the rising sun light up the landscape : the cock 

 will then put off his skulking habits, and mounting to the 

 top of the tallest twig or blade of sedge in his thicket, will 

 for a while greet the friendly rays with his creaking strain. 

 John Macgillivray truly remarks that this bird's "notes, if 

 once heard, can never be afterwards mistaken for the sound 

 of a grasshopper or cricket, however striking the resem- 

 blance ; besides, the length of time for which it is con- 

 tinued, provided the bird be not disturbed, is much greater." 

 He adds that on one occasion he heard its trill emitted for 

 at least twenty minutes, during which time the bird ap- 

 peared to have been sitting on the same spot. In the more 

 marshy parts of England, where the chirping of grass- 

 hoppers and crickets is not a very common sound, this bird 

 has long been known as the "Heeler" from the resem- 

 blance of its song to the noise of the reel used, even at the 

 beginning of the present century, by the hand-spinners of 

 wool. But this kind of reel being now dumb, in such 

 districts the country-folks of the present day connect the 

 name with the reel used by fishermen, as being that most 

 familiar to them. The power of so-called "ventriloquism," 

 ascribed by some to this bird, has been in a measure 

 explained by Mr. Blyth, and subsequently by other writers, 

 to be the effect of the bird's turning its head while singing, 

 so as to change the direction in which the sound of its voice 

 is thrown ; but probably the high pitch of the note has also 

 much to do with the marvellous bewilderment it causes, for 

 there are few human ears that can at once discover the exact 

 spot from which a very shrill tone proceeds. The food of 

 the Grasshopper- Warbler is small snails, slugs and insects. 

 Naturalists owe the precise determination of the Grass- 

 hopper-Warbler or Grasshopper-Lark, as it was long called, 

 to the discernment of White of Selborne, who, writing to 



VOL. I. 3D 



