56 THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



Sometimes you may find it in a low bush amongst 

 nettles or tall grass, and especially in a gorse. 

 This nest is of the flimsiest net-like construction, 

 made of dry, round grass stalks, and lined with 

 roots and horsehair. It is deep, and beautifully 

 round, and generally contains five eggs. These 

 are greenish white in ground colour, marbled and 

 spotted with greenish brown and gray, and some- 

 times a few darker hair-like streaks. Most of 

 the spots often form a zone round the larger end 

 of the egg. Only one brood is reared, and for 

 the remainder of their stay the birds lead a 

 solitary life. 



One other little Warbler may be found in the 

 hedges and lanes, between the months of April 

 widely yet and September, and this is the GRASSHOPPER 

 disS-iLted. WARBLER (Locustclla locustella\ easily identified 

 (when you are" fortunate enough to see him) by 

 his olive - brown upper plumage, spotted with 

 darker brown, and his pale buff under plumage, 

 nearly white on the throat and centre of the belly. 

 Of all the birds of the underwood it is the shyest, 

 the most skulking. I have a vivid remembrance 

 of my first acquaintance with this species when 

 a boy, five-and-twenty years ago. The never- 

 to-be forgotten trilling note attracted my attention 

 as I walked along an old lane which was used 

 as a cart-track to the fields and a foot-path 

 between Heeley and Norton a village famous 

 for being the birthplace of Chantrey. For an 

 hour or more I chased the little brown singer 

 up and down the cover, through and through 

 the dense masses and thickets of gorse and rose- 

 briars, amongst the long grass in the hedge 

 bottom, and under the briars; and yet I don't 



