THE GBASSHOPPEE-WABBLEB. 61 



somewhere near. A few breed in thick hedges, and it was in one 

 of these that I found the only pair breeding away from water of 

 some kind that I have ever found. This was in 1897, when a 

 pair bred in a thick hedge next to a field of corn. They are 

 plentiful enough in this county— you might almost call them 

 common — but, on account of their shy and retiring habits, they 

 are little known and easily passed over. 



In the number of arrivals there is great variation — more, I 

 think, than with any of the other migrants ; and, if they are 

 plentiful one year, and the young are successfully reared, I have as 

 often as not found that they come in exceptionally few numbers 

 the next year. The year 1897 I remember well, as they visited us 

 in greater numbers than usual. In one osier-bed, about a quarter 

 of a mile long, I found six different pairs ; the next year, in the 

 same osier-bed, only one pair, although the conditions appeared 

 to be just the same. In order to see the Grrasshopper- Warbler 

 at its best you must watch it for the first few hours after 

 dawn — and indeed this may be said of all birds during the 

 summer months ; but at no time is Locustella ncevia so lively as 

 during the first two hours of daylight, and at no time of the year 

 is it so amusing as during the last week in April and the first 

 week in Ma}'. It is then that the females arrive, and they-^begin 

 to mate. It will repay anyone to sit still for an hour or two at 

 dawn to watch them. The female then walks along amongst the 

 undergrowth, threading her way in and out, sometimes pecking 

 or pretending to peck at something; the male follows a few feet 

 behind, at times picking up a dead leaf in his bill, and carrying it 

 for some distance while following the female, apparently with no 

 object, unless it is a gentle reminder to her that he wishes to 

 commence nesting operations. These operations are generally 

 disturbed by the appearance of another male on the scene, and 

 at once they set to and chase one another, now and then in their 

 excitement settling on a bush and singing for a few seconds; the 

 flight wlien this goes on is, as a rule, very rapid, and it is not 

 long before he returns to the female and again commences to walk 

 after her, varying the operation at times by crawling up to the 

 top of a bush and commencing to sing. 



Directly they are paired they commence nesting operations, 

 the male at this time singing a great deal in the mornings, some- 



