44 BIRDS OP MIDDLESEX. 



been obtained on Hampstead Heath, and I have 

 frequently observed it at Willesden, Hendon, and 

 Kingsbury. It is more often heard than seen, 

 being a very shy and restless bird, as Yarrell very 

 truly describes, " secreting itself in a hedge-bottom 

 and creeping along it for many yards in succession, 

 more like a mouse than a bird, seldom going far 

 from a thicket, a patch of furze, or covert of some 

 sort, and returning to it again on the least alarm." 

 By lying down at full length, and keeping perfectly 

 still for some time, I have occasionally been able to 

 get a good view of this bird, and to watch it for 

 some minutes. But it was not often I could do this, 

 owing to its restless motion, small figure, and the 

 usually dark background of bank or underwood 

 against which it moved. I have more frequently 

 heard this bird in the evening than at any other 

 time ; fo*, unlike other Warblers, it seems unusually 

 silent in the daytime. I have on more than one 

 occasion heard a Grasshopper Warbler singing as 

 late as eleven o'clock at night. Its song, or rather 

 trill, is most musical ; quite unlike that of any other 

 Warbler, somewhat resembling the tinkling of a 

 little silver bell. 



In the spring of 1861 a nest of this species, con- 

 taining six eggs, was taken near Harrow by the 

 Hon. F. C. Bridgeman, and I have known other 

 nests to have been obtained at Hampstead. 



SEDGE WARBLER, Sylvia phragmitis. A summer 



