THE YOUNG 



NATURA.LIST. 



61 



Eggs. — Five eggs, sometimes six are 

 laid, about the middle of May, They are 

 very pale blue with a slight tint of green, 

 much paler, however, than either the Whin- 

 chat, Hedge-sparrow, or Redstart. 



Varieties are recorded pure white and 

 others more or less spotted with rust red, 

 I have many thus marked. — F.B. 



37. GRASSHOPPER WARBLER. 



Sylvia locustella. 

 LocusTELLA. — From its note resembling 

 that of the grasshopper. 



Size. — Length, 5^ in, ; expanse of wings, 

 in. 



Plumage. — Bill horn colour, darker on 

 the upper edge ; eyes brown. Ihe whole of 

 the upper surface is olive brown, each 

 feather on the back having a dark centre. 

 An obscure light streak extends over the 

 eye, and the under parts are ligher. The 

 male has a few obscure spots upon the 

 throat and breast. Legs horn colour. 



The Female is similar, but without the 

 spots on the breast. 



The Young are similar to the female, 

 but duller in colour and more spotted. 



Varieties. — I have never seen a variety 

 of this bird. 



Note. — The note or song of this bird is 

 singularly like the stridulation of the grass- 

 hopper insect itself ; indeed it is so nearly 

 similar that it is quite possible for a natural- 

 ist even to mistake the one for the other. The 

 bird also is capable of prolonging its note 

 to an incredible extent, without pause or 

 intermission. When singing the bird is 

 generally in the centre of some bush, or 

 other place where it is well concealed, very 

 rarely it perches on the top of a bush to 

 sing. It commences soon after its arrival 

 in this country and continues up to the end 

 July. It also sings during the night, and at 

 Wicken Fen, in Cambridgeshire, I have 

 heard them singing in chorus up to two 

 o'clock in the morning. 



Flight. — This bird is very mouse-like 



in its habits, running among the herbage 

 and bushes, and very seldom taking wing, 

 except when forced to do so, or when per- 

 form its migratory flights. 



Migration. — a summer visitor to these 

 Islands, arriving in England about the 

 middle of April, and in Scotland rather 

 later. It returns again to the south at the 

 end of August. 



Food.— The food consists of all kinds 

 of small insects, small snails, slugs and 

 worms. 



Habitat. — The Grasshopper Warbler 

 is found in most parts of England, Scotland' 

 and Ireland, but cannot be called common. 

 In the neighbourhood ot Huddersfield it is 

 a regular summer visitor to some of the 

 woods, and is met with in several other 

 Yorkshire localities. At Wicken Fen it is 

 fairly common, but always shy and very 

 difficult to see. 



Abroad it is found in central Europe, 

 rare in Algeria, Tangiers, and Morocco; but 

 the geographical range does not seem to be 

 well known. 



Nest — Unfortunately, I have not been 

 able to obtain the nest of this species, to 

 figure in the present edition of this work, 

 although I have used every endeavour, in 

 this neighbourhood and at Wicken, where 

 also my friend, Mr, G, T. Porritt. F,L.S., 

 repeatedly tried to find a nest in June, but 

 wtthout success. It is usually placed at the 

 bottom of a bush or large tuft of grass, and 

 is composed of grass and moss, lined with 

 finer grass. The following interesting ac- 

 count by the Rev, W, Turner, is taken from 

 " The Zoologist," page 941, and shows the 

 true habits of the birds :— " Out of a tuft of 

 grass, overarched by a bramble and con- 

 taining a small plant of whitethorn, I ob- 

 served something hop, as it were, and im- 

 mediately drop into the herbage. I ex- 



