32 
THE BIRDS OF HAMPSHIRE. 
He points out that the bird should not be classed, like 
the reed bunting, with the Passercs or finches, but with the 
slender-billed warblers. 
" It is no uncommon bird," he says, " haunting the sides 
of ponds and rivers, where there is covert, and the reeds 
and sedges of moors. The country people in some places 
call it the sedge bird. (It is still known in the county by 
this name.) It sings incessantly night and day during the 
breeding time, imitating the note of a sparrow, a swallow, 
a skylark, and has a strange hurrying manner in its song." 
He remarks gently that the bird is entirely omitted in 
the British Zoology, whereas he might have been a little 
sarcastic at the expense of a man who thought himself a 
great naturalist and lived in a count}- swarming with sedge 
warblers, without being aware of their existence. 
At the Needles Lighthouse it has been recorded on 
migration accompanying the common whitethroat both in 
spring and autumn. On May nth, 1902, at midnight, 
hundreds were flying round the light and fifteen were 
killed ; and on August 30th, 1902, at 10 p.m., two were 
caught, and others were seen flying round the light. 
Genus — Locustella. 
31. Locustella msvia. Grasshopper Warbler. 
A summer visitor. 
It is found in all parts of the county and Isle of Wight, 
though plentiful only in a few districts, and but sparingly 
distributed over the larger area. Its curious trilling song 
is first heard at the end of April, when it arrives, and 
it takes its departure in September. 
