The Grasshopper Warbler. 125 



When disturbed, either from the nest or from cover, this shy bird is only 

 seen for a moment, it disappears like a mouse ; or, in some cases, like a stone ; 

 dropping from its perch into the undergrowth, through which it rapidly glides 

 away. In Mr. A. W. Johnson's notes, quoted by Seebohm, we read : — " The sitting 

 bird usually flies off the nest very quietly when flushed, > and drops into the under- 

 wood at once. One instance, however, came under my notice, where the bird flew 

 up and over some tall trees ; and if the eggs are hard sat, or the nest contains 

 young, the bird comes stealing back in and out amongst the grass like a mouse, 

 and will approach within a few yards." 



Mr. Howard Saunders says that neither Mr. A. H. Bvans nor he have noticed 

 the mouse-like action of this bird when flushed from the nest ; but I was specially 

 struck with it on the one occasion when I ought to have found the nest, and once 

 again in a wood in the Stockbury Valley, in Kent, when I burst suddenly into a 

 clearing, almost stepping on the male bird, which was uttering its creaky song in 

 a bush just ahead of me : I wasted much time then searching all around for a 

 nest, which I never found. 



The nest is a deep compact cup formed of moss, dry grass, and a few dead 

 leaves, with an inner lining of finer grass : the eggs which number from four to 

 seven are pinky-white, speckled with blood-reddish brown, and with greyer shell 

 spots ; sometimes the spots are enlarged, so as to form a zone towards the larger 

 end, occasionally they are interspersed with short Bunting-like hair lines of dark- 

 brown ; and, very rarely, they are diffused and merged, so as to form a uniform 

 pale brownish tint over the whole egg. 



The alarm-note of the Grasshopper Warbler is said to be fie, tic, or tic, tic, tac ; 

 more probably tzic, tzic : but — Is it the alarm-note ? Surely, when a bird is flushed 

 from its nest, it must feel frightened ; but I believe most, if not all, observers 

 who have disturbed the Grasshopper Warbler when sitting, could echo Seebohm' s 

 words — "We never heard her utter a note." I am certain that the greatest 

 confusion exists respecting the call and alarm-notes of wild birds in the accounts 

 given by even the best observers, and when a good man mistakes the intention 

 and meaning of a note, every subsequent writer follows his lead.* 



The food consists chiefly of insects, their larvae, and spiders, but it is possible 

 that in the autumn it may also eat soft berries and small fruits. 



Sometimes the Grasshopper Warbler is double-brooded, the first nest being 



* I remember being amused one day, when looking through a work b5' an eminent Ornithologist, and 

 reading his account oi Liothrix luieus, to come across the statement that "its call-note is a harsh chattering;" 

 the fact being that the chattering indulged in by both sexes is simply scolding; the call-note of the male beino- 

 a short and very musical song, of from seven to nine notes, and that of the female a single clear resonant 

 whistle repeated four times. 



