ALONG THE LANES AND HEDGEROWS. 57 



think I saw him half-a-dozen times in all my 

 scrambling search. The long-drawn sibilant note 

 charmed me, rooted me to the spot, and made 

 me more and more determined to find out and 

 get a good view of the hidden singer. I can 

 only describe this curious trill as being like the 

 note of the grasshopper, only louder. For two 

 or three minutes together it sounded as I stood 

 listening, silent and astonished ; then the moment 

 I moved and tried to get a peep, the queer music 

 ceased, to begin again in another part of the 

 cover ; and this continued long after the gloom of 

 the summer evening had fallen and rendered all 

 chance of closer scrutiny impossible. Facilities 

 for identifying the birds of my rambles were few 

 in those days, and I am bound to confess that 

 it was months afterwards before I learned the 

 name of the bird that had baffled me. To this 

 day the lane is the haunt of the Grasshopper 

 Warbler. The food of this bird is very similar to 

 that of the Whitethroat. The nest is made in 

 May, and is artfully concealed among the grass 

 and weeds growing under the brambles and briars, 

 and in the bottom of the hedges, almost entirely 

 hidden by some overhanging mass of verdure. 

 It is made of dry grass, moss, withered leaves, 

 and lined with finer grasses and roots. The five 

 or six eggs are pinkish white, profusely spotted 

 and dusted with reddish brown and gray. Rarely 

 is the female seen to fly from her home, but when 

 alarmed she flits through the undergrowth more 

 like a mouse than a bird, silently and stealthily, 

 leaving you to discover her well-hidden nest if 

 you can. 



One of the most notable birds of the lanes and 



