THE GRASSHOPPER WARBLER 



LOCUSTELLA N.EFU 



LOCAL names in surrounding counties : 



STATUS IN BRITISH AVIFAUNA : A local and capricious 

 summer visitor, generally distributed over England and 

 Wales, the south of Scotland, and Ireland. 



RADIAL DISTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 

 PAUL'S : The Grasshopper Warbler is found in various 

 parts of the Metropolitan area, but from its excessively 

 skulking habits it is very often overlooked. It is local 

 certainly, but is a regular summer visitor to the gorse- 

 covered commons and heaths at no very great distance 

 from the City. Perhaps its nearest haunts are at Wim- 

 bledon ; and Coombe Wood is said to be another. Then 

 it is recorded as a summer visitor to suitable spots in the 

 Hendon, Kingsbury, Harrow, and Hampstead districts ; 

 Wembley, Osterley, and Croydon neighbourhoods are 

 others. It frequents suitable areas in the Kentish Grays, 

 and across the river is a regular visitor to Epping, and is 

 said to haunt Dagenham Lake, near Ilford. Doubtless 

 there are many tangled bits of cover where the Grasshopper 

 Warbler skulks through the summer undetected. There 

 are many such rural spots within London's limits where 

 the bird's song might be mistaken for the sibilant sound 

 of the grasshopper, as even in districts where this Warbler 

 is absolutely common it only shows itself exceptionally 

 and for fleeting moments. 



There are few other British birds so difficuit of observa- 

 tion as the Grasshopper W T arbler, and the ordinary bird- 

 lover may well be excused if he fails to meet with it in 

 spots it is absolutely known to frequent. Its favourite 

 haunts are dense thickets and mazes of brushwood in 

 small woods or on commons or by the roadside, as well 

 as tangled hed^e-bottoms, ditches, and the luxuriant 



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