on the Grasshopper Warbler.



165



These birds soon find their way to a common of furze and

heather, or to a reed or sedge bed by the river ; these seem to be the

favourite haunts of this species.


I have seen it stated in books, when writing' of the Grass¬

hopper Warbler, that this bird is so shy that it is impossible to get

a glimpse of it, and that it will even run out to the end 6f a bough,

deliver its song and return to its cover at once; all I can say is

that the habits of these birds have wonderfully altered since these

books were written. If one knows the habits of the bird and is

careful to step quietly, one can come right up to within a few

yards of it and watch it, but anything like snapping of sticks or

brushwood under the feet and the bird will turn and run down a

stick to the undergrowth below the bush just like a mouse, and

after a short time, if all is quiet, will work its way up to the same

place and almost on to the same twig and commence reeling again.

I have had these birds run almost over my feet. I once stood on a

common about sunset, quite close to where the bird was, and two

of them came running after each other round and round me, my

foot was not more than three inches off the rabbit run which these

birds were using and I bent down and watched them pass my foot,

round they would go behind me and then run past my foot again and

again, taking not the slightest notice of me and reeling loudly all

the time and carrying their wings up over their back, after the

fashion of a Plover when first alighting on the ground. They were

evidently two male birds.


From the time this species arrives, and up to about the end

of the first week in May, it can be heard at intervals throughout

the day, but after this time not a sound can be heard all day until

after sunset, and often not until nearly nine o’clock at night and

again just at sunrise.


The note is very difficult to imitate ; the noise made by a

new free wheel of a bicycle does not quite do it, the nearest approach

to it is to pull out evenly and continually the fishing line attached

to a check reel on a fishing rod.


The Grasshopper Warbler in captivity soon becomes very

tame. The gait of this bird is unlike any other small insectivorous

bird, it can run fairly fast, seldom hops, and when walking slowly,



