166



On the Grasshopper Warbler.



it walks in a proud manner after the style of a game bantam cock,

picking its feet up well and putting them down carefully, and has

occasionally a peculiar habit of stepping backwards a couple of steps

or so, and with its tail often spread out fan-shaped. When reeling,

the tail is generally dropped and is then closed and pointed.


Some years ago I was anxious to have some young of this

species and I had a clutch of fresh eggs sent me by post, six in

number. The difficulty was to find a suitable wild bird’s nest with

eggs freshly laid in which to exchange the eggs. It would have

been useless to place the eggs in an open nest on account of the

difference in the colour of these eggs, which are a beautiful pink tint,

and the fine spots on them look as if the eggs had been sprinkled

with cayenne pepper. I found a Chiffchaffs nest, built a foot off

the ground, and being an oval nest with hole at side, the Grass¬

hopper Warbler’s eggs were in shadow as it were and the Chiffchaffs

would take no notice of the exchanged eggs. The birds incubated

them straight away and hatched five, the other egg being addled.

As soon as the young Grasshoppers began feathering I found

one missing from the nest, and the next day another was gone,

leaving only three; vermin had found them out, probably mice,

and the other three would have been destroyed, the same thing

would have occurred to her own young if she had not had the eggs

exchanged. Finding that vermin were certain to destroy the re¬

maining three, I took these and the pair of Chiffchaffs and placed

them in a large cage fitted up with ivy and boughs. I provided the

old birds with smooth green caterpillars, various other insects and

fresh live ants’ eggs ; the result was that they fed themselves and

reared the young without the slightest trouble from the moment

they were placed in their cage.


I fancy the young were two cocks and one hen, but it is

difficult to tell for certain except by the size, as the young males do

not assume their necklace of tiny black Thrush-like spots on the

throat until after their second moult.



