60 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



THE GRASSHOPPER-WARBLER (LOCUSTELLA 

 NMVIA) IN NORTH WORCESTERSHIRE. 



By H. Eliot Howard. 



Very few birds interest me as much, I might almost say 

 none more, than the Grasshopper-Warbler, and the following 

 notes are the result of many years' observation in this county. 

 Probably, owing to the habits of birds varying so widely in 

 different districts, these notes will not be found to agree entirely 

 with the experiences of other naturalists who have studied this 

 Warbler in different parts of the British Islands to myself. 



The dates of arrival in this county for the last four years 

 (leaving out 1898, when I was absent) are as follows : 1896, 

 April 19th; 1897, April 2:3rd; 1899, April 20th; 1900, April 19ih. 

 It is certainly much more regular in its time of arrival than the 

 other summer migrants, the dates, as will be seen, varying very 

 little. No matter what the weather is when it first arrives, its 

 note is sure to be heard in the morning— cold, frost, or rain 

 seeming to have very little effect in preventing it singing. As 

 a rule, they will be found at once in the spot where they intend 

 to breed, but I have sometimes found them for the first few 

 mornings after they arrive in hedges by the side of a road. One 

 which I especially noticed last year was singing in a hedge which 

 was absolutely bare, and opposite to which was a farmyard ; but 

 they all pass on in a day or two to more suitable breeding 

 haunts. 



There are certain places where I can always be sure of finding 

 one or two pairs, and these are for the most part osier-beds which 

 have been cut down two or three j^ears previously. The osiers 

 are then about four feet high, intermingled with hazel, and with 

 very thick undergrowth. These sort of places they seem to 

 prefer for breeding purposes more than any other ; but I have 

 found them fairly plentiful in large woods, where the undergrowth 

 is very thick, but in almost every instance there has been water 



