GRASSHOPPER WARBLER. 223 



locustelle, Buff. Ois. 5. p. 42.— Ib. pi. Enl. 581. f. 3. under the title of Fauvette 



tachetee Bee-fin locustelle, Temm. Man. d'Orn. 1. p. 184. — Fleuschrechen- 



sanger, Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. 1. p. 230. — Bechst. Naturg. Deut. 3. p. 562. 



sp. 23 Grasshopper Warbler, Br. Zool. 1. No. 156.— Arct. Zool. 2. p. 419. 



—Lath. Syn. 4. 429. t. 20.— Ib. Supp. 2. p. 240.— TF/ute's Hist. Selb. p. 45 



Lewias Br Birds, 3. t. 98. — Mont. Orn. Diet, — lb. Supp — Bewick's Supp. to 

 Br. Birds. — Titlark that sings like a grasshopper, Will. (Angl.) p. 207. — Selby, 

 pi. 45. ** fig. 1. p. 166.* 



This species is less than the whitethroat ; length five inches and a 

 half ; weight about three drams and a quarter. The bill is dusky 

 above, whitish beneath ; irides light hazel. The whole upper parts of 

 the bird are olivaceous-brown ; the middle of each feather dusky, ex- 

 cept on the back of the neck, which gives it a pretty spotted appear- 

 ance ; eyelids, chin, throat, and belly, yellowish white ; breast, sides, 

 and thighs, inclining to brown, the two last faintly streaked with dusky ; 

 under tail coverts very pale brown, marked down the shafts with long 

 pointed streaks of a dusky colour ; quills and tail dusky brown, lighter 

 on their exterior edges, tinged with olive ; the tail is much cuneiform, 

 and the feathers somewhat pointed, which is a very marked and pecu- 

 liar character in this species ; the outer feather being full an inch 

 shorter than the middle ones, and nearly rounded at the tips, the wing 

 remarkably short, reaching very little beyond the base of the tail ; legs 

 very pale brown ; claws light horn-colour ; hind claw short and crooked. 



In shape the Grasshopper Warbler very much resembles the sedge 

 bird ; is rather inferior in size, and at once distinguished by its spotted 

 back. 



It is not a plentiful species, but probably appears less so by its habit 

 of concealing itself amongst furze and thick hedges, discovering their 

 place of concealment only by their singular cricket-like note, which is 

 so exactly like that of the mole cricket, as scarcely to be distinguished. 



As soon as the females arrive, which is in about ten days after, the 

 males no longer expose themselves, and are almost silent till about the 

 dusk of the evening, when they are incessantly crying; possibly to 

 decoy the larger species of grasshoppers, or mole cricket, which begin 

 their chirping with the setting sun. The female very much resembles 

 the other sex ; and is so shy as to be obtained with difficulty. On the 

 eighteenth May, we found the nest of this bird in a patch of thick 

 brambles and furze, with two eggs ; but as they had not been incubated, 

 probably more would have been laid. The nest is of a flimsy texture, 

 like that of the whitethroat, composed of dried stalks and goosegrass, 

 lined with fibrous roots. The eggs are of a spotless bluish white, four 

 or five in number, weighing about twenty-one grains. From the scarcity 



