262 CASSELL'S BOOK OK BIRDS. 



part of the body the plumage is olive grey or yellowish brown, decorated with oval brownish-black 

 spots ; the throat is white, the upper breast reddish yellow spotted with dark grey, the belly whitish 

 or yellowish white, somewhat deeper in hue at its sides ; the lower tail-covers white, with light brown 

 spots upon the shafts ; the quills are blackish brown, with narrow yellowish-grey edges, which increase 

 in breadth towards the roots ; the tail-feathers are of a deep greenish brown, striped with a darker 

 shade and surrounded by a light border ; the eye is greyish brown, the beak horn grey, and the foot 

 light red. After the moulting season the under side is yellower than before. In the young the breast 

 is unspotted. 



The Grasshopper Warbler is found throughout Central Europe and Central Asia. In England 

 it arrives about April and departs in September, and during the course of its migrations wanders 

 as far as China. Unlike most of its congeners, this bird does not confine itself to any particular 

 situation, but occupies fields and woodland districts as frequently as marshy tracts or brushwood. 

 Everywhere, however, it seeks the shelter of the densest foliage of the bushes, or creeps about close 

 to the ground beneath the overspreading leaves of plants growing by the water-side. In both 

 these situations it displays the utmost activity in evading pursuit ; if alarmed, the tail is brandished 

 aloft, and the drooping wings agitated from time to time ; upon the ground it runs with ease, keeping 

 the neck outstretched forward, and the hinder portion of the body constantly in motion. Its flight 

 is rapid, light, and very irregular. 



" Nothing can be more amusing," says Gilbert White, " than the whisper of this little bird, 

 which seems close by, though at a hundred yards' distance ; and when close to your ear is scarce 

 louder than when a great way off. Had I not been acquainted with insects, and known that the 

 grasshopper kind is not yet hatched, I should have hardly believed but that it had been a Locusta 

 whispering in the bushes. The country people laugh at you when you tell them that it is the note 

 of a bird. It is a most artful creature, skulking in the thickest part of a bush, and will sing at a 

 yard's distance, provided it be concealed. I was obliged to get a person to go on the other side of 

 a hedge where it haunted, and then it would run creeping like a mouse before us for a hundred 

 yards together, through the bottom of the thorns, yet it would not come into fair sight ; but in a 

 morning early, and when undisturbed, it sings on the top of a twig, gaping and shivering with its 

 wings." 



The food of this species varies somewhat with the situation it occupies, but is always of the 

 same description as that employed by the other members of the family. The nest, which is most 

 carefully concealed in a great diversity of situations, is neatly formed of green moss, or similar 

 materials, lined with fibres and horsehair. The eggs, from three to six in number, are of a dull 

 white or pale rose red, marked with reddish or brownish spots, strewn most thickly over the broad 

 end, and forming occasionally a slight wreath. It is probable that both parents assist ir the process 

 of incubation. In some seasons the Grasshopper Warbler produces two broods, the first at the 

 beginning of May and the second at the end of June. 



The BUSH WARBLERS {Drymoicoe) constitute a very extensive group, closely allied to those 

 above described. They are of small size, with short, rounded wings, comparatively slender and 

 more or less graduated tail, and moderately large and powerful feet. The beak is of medium length, 

 compressed at its sides, slightly ^curved along the culmen ; the plumage is usually of sombre 

 appearance. Various members of this group inhabit all parts of the world, and alike frequent low 

 brushwood, shrubs, reeds, long grass, or beds of rushes. In all these situations they display extra- 

 ordinary agility, but their powers of flight are, without exception, feeble and clumsy. In disposition 

 they are sprightly, and very noisy, although almost invariably without vocal talent. Beetles, worms, 



