GRASSHOPPER WARBLER. 
85 
stood as appertaining rather to the class than to the indi¬ 
vidual. 
The food of this species consists of gnats, flies, maggots, 
small grasshoppers, and water-beetles, besides all the non¬ 
descript insects that are to be found among the stems and 
roots of reeds and other water-plants. 
The entire length of the Grasshopper Warbler is five 
inches and a half. The wing measures, from the carpus 
to the tip, two inches and a quarter; the tail extends about 
an inch and a half beyond the closed wings. The side 
feathers of the tail are from six to seven lines shorter than 
the middle ones. The beak is four lines and a half from 
the forehead to the tip, and the tarsus measures eight and 
a half lines. The tail-feathers are very soft and broad. The 
first quill-feather of the wing is very short, the second and 
third are equal, and the longest in the wing. The beak is 
thin and delicate, and much compressed from the middle 
to the tip : the upper mandible is slightly notched; it is 
flesh-colour at the base, with the upper ridge and point of 
the lower mandible dark horn. The tongue and corners of 
the mouth are reddish yellow. The iris is pale sienna yellow. 
The tarsi are covered with three soft frontal plates; the claws 
are thin and narrow. The legs are, in spring, flesh-colour, 
in autumn yellowish: the claws the same, with dusky tips. 
In colour, the upper parts of this bird are cinereous olive. 
The chin, throat, breast, and belly, are white, tinged with 
rust yellow ; the sides of the breast, the flanks and vent, 
are yellowish-olive; the feathers upon the two latter parts 
are streaked along the shaft with a dusky line, which forms 
a constant and distinguishing character of the species. The 
quills are dusky, edged with olive grey, and have a rusty 
tinge towards the roots. The shafts of the quill-feathers 
on the under surface are white and glossy. 
The egg marked 61 is that of the Grasshopper Warbler. 
