84 
SYLVIAD.E. 
describe it as it has been represented to us. We the more 
lament this circumstance, as "we sliould like to know, by 
personal observation, the colour of the eggs, which have been 
variously represented. Montagu, the first English author 
who describes the eggs, speaks of having found them of a 
spotless white. On the other hand, the egg figured by us 
in our quarto work on British Birds, and again in the present 
octavo edition, is deep flesh-colour, freckled minutely with 
red, grey, and pale brown, giving it altogether a reddish 
cast. For an opportunity of figuring this rare egg, we are 
indebted to Mr. Yarrell, whose authority on this subject 
can no more be disputed than that of Montagu. It there¬ 
fore appears that this egg is subject to variations in colour 
almost as great as are found to exist among the eggs of the 
meadow pipit. We are, therefore, not surprised to learn 
that others have found these eggs exactly resembling, in 
colour and markings, those of the reed warbler (fig. 63). 
The nest of this species is invariably placed in the thickest 
part of a thorn, or furze bush, &c., where tall grasses have 
matted and concealed the roots and lower branches; it is 
always found to be suspended in the manner of the reed 
and sedge warblers’ nest, and placed very near, although 
never upon, the ground. In form, the nest is deep, and 
somewhat pointed below : it is nearly three inches in depth 
within, and the rim, or binding at the top, is contracted, 
which is also the case with the nests of its congeners. It 
is composed of dry leaves and bents, intermixed with spider 
cots, and its inner lining consists of the very finest grasses. 
The young birds, when fully fledged, resemble very nearly 
the adult; and between the male and female there exists 
no marked difference. 
The Grasshopper Warbler is universally believed to have 
no song, unless its ringing sibilant note can be so consider¬ 
ed ; its title of “Warbler” must, therefore, be under- 
