THE GRASSHOPPER WARBLERS. 
235 
and lined with horsehair ; in some nests a little moss or dry 
leaves are occasionally found. 
Eggs. — From five to seven in number. Many of the eggs 
referred to this species, and said to resemble those of the Reed- 
Warbler are undoubtedly nothing but light varieties of the 
ego-s of the latter bird. The eggs of the Marsh-Warbler are 
in fact unmistakable, being of a china-white or greenish-white 
ground, with the underlying markings of violet-grey or pur- 
plish-grey, very strongly developed, and quite as prominent as 
the overlying spots. These consist of greenish-brown blotches, 
sometimes light brown, and with purplish-black spots in strong 
contrast. Axis, o'7-o - 8 inch; diarn., o - 5-o'55. 
THE GRASSHOPPER WARBLERS. GENUS LOCUSTELLA. 
Locustella , Kaup, Natiirl. Syst., p. 115 (1829). 
Type, Z. titzvia (Bodd.). 
The species of Locustella, of which some eight different kinds 
are known, are all inhabitants of the Palsearctic Region, breed- 
ing in the ’northern parts, and wintering in Africa, India, and 
the Burmese countries, and even as far to the south-east as the 
Molucca Islands. 
They very much resemble the Reed AVarblers in structure 
and general appearance, but they have a more rounded tail, 
the outer feathers being very much shorter than the centre 
ones, and the under tail-coverts are very long. The bill is 
slender and not flattened ; the rictal bristles are weak and 
scarcely perceptible. The first primary is very small, and does 
not reach to the end of the primary-coverts, and the second 
primary-quill is the longest. 
THF, GRASSHOPPER WARBLER. LOCUSTELLA NACVIA. 
Motacilla ncevia, Bodd., Tabl. PI. enl., p. 35 (1783). 
Sylvia locustella , Lath., Ind. Orn., ii., p. 515 (i 79 0 )- 
Sibilatrix locustella , Macg., Br. B., ii., p. 399 (1839). 
Acrocephalus ncevms, Newt. ed. Yarr., i., p. 384 (1874) ; 
Dresser, B. Eur., ii., p. 61 1, pi. 91 (1874). 
Locustella locustella, Seeb., Cat. Brit. B. Brit. Mus., v., p. 115 
(1881); id. Br. B., i., p. 340 (1S83). 
