LOCUSTELLA 131 



LOCUSTELLA, Kaup. 1829. 

 186. GRASSHOPPER- WARBLER. 

 LOCUSTELLA N-ffiVIA. 



Locustella nceeia, (Bodd.) Tabl. PI. Enl. p. 35, No. 581 (1783) ; Newton, 

 i. p. 384 ; Dresser, ii. p. 611, pi. 91 ; Saunders, p. 89 ; Lilford, iii. 

 p. 44, pi. 22 ; L. locustella, (Lath.) Lid. Orn. ii. p. 515 (1790) ; 

 Seebohm, Cat. B. Br. Mus. v. p. 115 ; (Naumann), iii. p. 701, Taf. 

 83, figs. 2, 3 ; (Hewitson), i. p. 112, pi. xxxi. fig. 1 ; " L. avicula Ray," 

 Gould, B of E. pi. 103 ; id. B. of Gt. Brit. ii. pi. 78. 



Becfin locustelle, French ; Heuschrecken - Stinger German ; 

 :Sprinkhaan rietzanger, Dutch ; Buskrorsmutte, Dan.; Forepaglie 

 macchiettato, Ital. ; Svertschok, Buss. 



$ ad. (England). Upper parts olive-brown spotted with blackish 

 brown ; quills ancl wing-coverts margined with light olive-brown ; tail 

 dark olive-brown, much rounded ; sides of head pale olive-brown ; chin 

 and abdomen white ; throat, breast, and flanks pale olive-brown the 

 former tinged with rufous ; tail-coverts very long, pale brown with dark 

 brown central stripes ; bill dark ; legs pale brown ; iris brown. Culmen 

 0'55, wing 2'45, tail 2*25, tarsus 0'8 inch ; first primary about equal to the 

 coverts, second and fourth equal, third a trifle longer. Sexes alike. The 

 young has the upper parts more boldly spotted, and the throat and upper 

 breast are finely spotted with dark brown. 



Hab. Central and southern Europe, north to Denmark, and, 

 as a straggler to southern Norway and Karelen in Finland, east 

 to Russia, and west to Spain ; breeds in Great Britain 

 and Ireland; winters in north Africa, and to some extent in 

 south Europe. 



Frequents bush -covered localities both in dry and swampy 

 places, and has been found in bush-scrub on sandy, dry hillocks. 

 Extremely shy and unobtrusive, it is not often seen, but is best 

 recognised by its peculiar grasshopper-like note which it utters 

 continually. It feeds on insects of various kinds which it 

 captures either on the wing or amongst the foliage of bushes. 

 Its nest, placed on the ground and carefully concealed amongst 

 the herbage or in tangled brushwood, is cup-shaped, neatly 

 constructed of grass-bents, moss, and a few leaves, and lined 

 with finer bents ; the eggs 5 or 6, rarely 7 in number, are 

 deposited in May, and are rosy white minutely spotted with 

 reddish brown, which in some is generally distributed over the 

 surface of the egg, and in others collected round the larger end ; 

 measure about 075 by 0'55. A second brood is generally raised 

 in the season. 



K 2 



