^24 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 



rare ; but in Spain, onlj' in the summer ; it is believed to winter in Morocco and 

 Algeria. 



In Great Britain it is pretty generally distributed throughout England and 

 Wales ; in Ireland it is somewhat local, breeding chiefly in the eastern and 

 southern counties ; in Scotland south of the Firth of Forth it breeds in varying 

 numbers. 



The colouring of this species above is olivaceous-brown, each feather with a 

 dark centre, least conspicuous on the sides of the neck and the longest upper 

 tail- coverts ; quills and tail feathers broAvn, with their outer webs olivaceous towards 

 the edge ; the tail faintl}- barred ; under surface pale buffish-brown ; the chin, centre 

 of abdomen and under tail-coverts almost white ; the neck and breast-feathers with 

 darker centres, and the under tail-coverts with brown shaft-streaks : bill dark brown 

 above, paler below ; feet pale bro-mi ; iris hazel. The female closely resembles the 

 male ; but young birds are more tinged with buff on the under surface than 

 adults. 



'Every writer on British Birds informs us that this bird owes its name to the 

 resemblance which its song bears to the chirrup of the grasshopper ; but Macgil- 

 livray correctly says: — "The note, if once heard, can never be afterwards mistaken 

 for the sound of a grasshopper or cricket, however striking the resemblance ; 

 besides, the length of time for which it is continued, provided the bird be not 

 disturbed, is much greater. Thus, on one occasion, while watching some pike 

 lines by the margin of a deep pool, I heard the trill of the grasshopper chirper 

 emitted from a neighbouring hedge for at least twenty minutes, during which time 

 the bird appeared to have been sitting on the same spot." 



As Seebohm obser\'es, the song " is a rapid trill, absoluteh' monotonous, and 

 is continued from a quarter of a minute sometimes to a couple of minutes without 

 cessation " : this is not characteristic of the ^izzi/c, tizzik, tizzik of a grasshopper ; 

 indeed the note of the bird merelj- suggests that of the insect, it does not 

 greatly resemble it. 



The Grasshopper Warbler haunts copses and plantations where there is dense 

 and rank undergrowth, untrimmed hedgerows, and ditches overgrown with coarse 

 grass, nettles, &c. ; also gorse-clad commons, heathery moors, and bushes in marsh}' 

 land, but rarely reeds. The nest is usually concealed in a thick tuft of rank grass, 

 and so deep down that, on the only occasion when I flushed the bird (which was 

 earl}' in vox birdsnesting da}'s) I failed to discover it : consequently I am indebted 

 to the Rev. W. Bree, of Coventry, for the e^g of this species. Sometimes the 

 nest is placed in the bottom of a grassy ditch, on railway banks, or under whin- 

 bushes. 



