69t> GRASSHOPPER WARBLER. 



at the tip, the intermediate ones decreasing in 

 sharpness as they approach the sides : legs pale 

 brown : claws light horn-colour ; the hind claw 

 short and crooked. 



This species receives its name from its note, 

 which greatly resembles that of the Mole Cricket*, 

 or Field Cricket t, and which is generally uttered 

 about dusk ; further than that it is destitute of a 

 song : it is a very local species, principally con- 

 fined to the south-western counties of England, 

 the south of Wales and Ireland; by Colonel Mon- 

 tagu its eastern range is fixed in Hampshire, but 

 many specimens have been taken at Coombe 

 Wood, near London. The males generally arive 

 first, appearing about the second week in April, 

 when they settle upon the highest sprigs of bushes 

 and furze, and utter their singular note : the fe- 

 males arrive about ten days after, when the males 

 cease singing in the daytime: the nest is built 

 in thick brambles or furze ; it is like that of the 

 White-throat, composed of dried stalks and goose- 

 grass, lined with fibrous roots, and of a flimsy con- 

 struction : the eggs are blueish white, and are not 

 spotted : they weigh twenty-one grains. 



* Gryllotalpa vulgaris. Latreille. 

 f Acheta campestris, Fabricius. 



