224 
grasshoppj:r warbler. 
of the bird, and the artful manner in which it conceals its nest, it is 
rarely found ; nor has any author noticed it. 
We have found it in Hampshire, in South Wales, and in Ireland, but 
no where so plentiful as on Malmsbury Common, in Wiltshire, to which 
place the males come about the second week in April. At this time 
only they expose themselves upon the top branches of the furze, and 
are continually making- their singular chirping notes, their only song. 
In this situation we have killed several. 
* Some confusion has arisen respecting this bird, from an idea that it 
is a lark, and not a Warbler. It is, however, in every respect dis- 
similar in character and habits. It has no long claw behind, resides in 
thickets, and is incapable of running on the ground like a lark, but 
moves by hopping, so that the confusion can only arise from ignorance 
of the bird’s habits. 
Montagu was not able to trace this species far north, nor in the south- 
eastern counties, the borders of Gloucestershire and Hampshire being 
its utmost range, and from thence probably in all the western counties, 
as he found it in Ireland. During the whole course of a tour from 
Bath to London, and thence through the eastern counties, and again 
from Lincolnshire to Somersetshire, undertaken during the spring, the 
well-known note of this bird never once assailed his 'ears, although the 
other migrative species of the same genus, were heard in various 
parts. In the same year, several species were observed about Kings- 
bridge, one of which was shot by Mr. Vaughan, and placed in his col- 
lection. 
“ It is very rare,” says Mr. Sweet,” in the neighbourhood of London, 
and I have never seen more than a single living one, which I caught in 
a trap about the middle of August, 1823, in the Five Fields, near 
Grosvenor Place. I kept it till the February following, when it died 
from cold caught by washing* itself. It never attempted to sing.”‘ I 
have frequently met with it in Scotland, in the haugh at Musselburgh, 
and in Ayrshire, where its singular note has been strangely mistaken 
for the sound of the Rattle Snake ; and Selby informs us that he has 
found it in several parts of Northumberland, where it was found to 
haunt low and damp situations, overgrown with furze, bramble, and 
underwood. Besides its natural grinding note, this bird has been said 
to utter a very agreeable warble, and the male to entertain his mate 
with a nocturnal song. On the contrary, we believe it has no other 
* Sweet’s Brit. Warblers, p. 12. 
