612 



cum abdoruine albis : capitis lateribus pallide brunneis : pectore et hypochondriis pallide brunneis vix 

 rufescente tinctis : subcaudalibus elongatis centraliter saturate brunneo notatis : rostro brunneo : 

 pedibus pallide brmmeis : iride brunnea. 



2 haud a mare distinguenda. 



Juv. adulto similis, sed maculis in corpore supra magis uotatis et gutture cum pectore maculis minutis punctatis. 



Adult Male (Saxony, May). Upper parts olive-brown, spotted with blackish brown, almost each feather 

 having a dark blackish brown centre; quills and wing-coverts dark brown with light olive-brown 

 margins ; tail dark olive-brown, much rouuded ; chin white, gradually darkening on the throat into 

 pale brown ; sides of the head pale olive-brown ; breast and flanks pale olive-brown with a rufous tinge 

 on the breast ; abdomen white ; under tail-coverts very long, pale brown, with dark brown central 

 streaks; bill dark brown; legs light brown; iris brown. Total length about 5o inches, culmen 0"55, 

 wing 2-45, tail 225, tarsus - 8, first primary very short, about equal to the wing-coverts, second and 

 fourth equal, the third being a trifle longer. 



Female. Undistinguishable from the male. 



Young (Gateshead-on-Tyne, 10th June). Resembles the adult, but has the dark markings on the upper 

 parts much more strongly developed, and the throat and upper part of the breast are marked with 

 small dark brown spots. 



Nestling (Gateshead, 12th June). Upper parts rich olive-brown, with a rufous tinge, almost unspotted; 

 underparts dull sulphur-yellow, darkening to brown on the flanks. 



The Grasshopper Warbler inhabits Central Europe, not ranging into Scandinavia, but occurring 

 as far north as Scotland in the summer season, and found eastward probably into Asia ; but how 

 far it is met with there is at present doubtful. 



In Great Britain it is, though local in its distribution, and owing to its shy habits difficult 

 to discover, by no means very rare, and breeds in almost every county in England. In Scotland, 

 according to Mr. Eobert Gray (B. of W. of Scotl. p. 89), it is " apparently more local in its 

 distribution, with the exception, perhaps, of the Lesser Whitethroat, than any other of the 

 Scottish Warblers. It has been traced from the Solway Firth to the Firth of Forth on the east 

 side as a regular visitor, and from Wigtownshire to Loch Lomond on the west. It is also found 

 in some of the midland counties ; but I have not been able to trace the migration of the species 

 to a more northern limit than Bonaw, near Oban, Argyllshire. In the Loch-Lomond district it 

 is not uncommon above Tarbet, in a plantation of young larch trees, at an elevation of five or 

 six hundred feet above the level of the loch." In Ireland, according to Thompson (B. of Irel. i. 

 p. 179), it "is probably a regular summer visitant to suitable localities from south to north. 

 Montagu states that he has found this bird in Ireland (Orn. Diet.) ; and Templeton remarks 

 that it is ' not very uncommon during spring and summer,' which observation is meant to apply 

 to the neighbourhood of Belfast. In M'Skimmin's ' History of Carrickfergus ' it is remarked that 

 this Warbler ' inhabits thickets and close hedges, and makes a noise in the summer evenings 

 resembling the winding up of a clock, or call of the common grasshopper.' For many years 

 birds considered, from their very peculiar note, to be of this species were occasionally heard and 



