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In its habits the present species is extremely shy, and is therefore considered far less 

 numerous than it really is in some localities. That it cannot be uncommon near Gateshead- 

 on-Tyne, in North England, may be inferred from the fact that my friend Mr. A. W. Johnson of 

 that town sent to me fifteen nests of eggs obtained in one season. It is, however, eminently an 

 unobtrusive and quiet bird, frequenting bush-covered localities, both in swampy as well as in dry 

 places ; and I have known it to occur amongst scrubby bush-growth on sandy, dry hillocks. It 

 may always be best recognized by its peculiar grasshopper-like note, from which its name is 

 derived. Macgillivray, speaking of its note and habits, says that he " had almost daily oppor- 

 tunities of hearing the singular note of this interesting bird, which is nowhere perhaps more 

 abundant than in the neighbourhood of Norwich, where I saw it alive for the first time. While 

 on my botanico-entomological ramblings, I was often surprised by a very remarkable cry which I 

 frequently heard, apparently coming from the hedges skirting the road, and went to the spot in 

 hopes of discovering some large species of grasshopper, or, may be, a mole-cricket or similar insect, 

 but without success. 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 Grass- 

 hopper 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. I cannot state the period of the 

 arrival of this bird in the eastern counties ; but I observed it as late as the end of September, up 

 to which period I regularly saw and heard my little friends in a lane through which I passed 

 every second day on my way to the bath-house at Heigham. Although it frequents hedges 

 alone, in so far as I have observed, I once heard two crying in the gardens attached to the 

 Bishop's palace at Norwich. It seldom perches on trees; but I have occasionally heard its 

 curious cry apparently emanating from the elms in the hedge-rows, and have more than once 

 seen it in the same situation. In all its actions, and in some measure in the choice of its abode, 

 it much resembles the Sedge-Warbler (Calamokerpe phragmitis) — so much so that to-day, 1st 

 June, on seeing some of that species skulking in a hedge near Edinburgh, I at first fancied that 

 I again saw my Norfolk friends, and almost regretted that the procuring of a specimen put an 

 end to the illusion. On Costessay Common, a few miles from Norwich, I never met with it, 

 although it is abundant in all the neighbouring hedges, so much so that on a fine evening, I 

 have at one time listened to at least a dozen, and have heard their cries even until the Goat- 

 sucker and the Bat flitting about on noiseless wings announced the close of day. A stone thrown 

 into the hedge causes its inhabitants to renew their cry ; for song it cannot be called. I have 

 never heard any other notes uttered by this bird than that single one which has procured for it 

 in the neighbourhood the name of Cricket bird, from its similarity to the sound produced by the 

 Mole Cricket (Gryllotalpa vulgaris), and indeed of many grasshoppers, although much louder. 

 It has been related that the Grasshopper Chirper possesses the power of ventriloquism, in 

 common with the Corncrake. This, however, I much doubt, as by merely lowering and raising 

 the voice, and at the same time turning the head in various directions, the alleged ventriloquism 

 might easily be produced. When on the ground (which, however, it seldom is, unless at the 

 root of a hedge or thicket, where it is sufficiently protected), it advances by a sort of shuffling 



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