distinction. The rounded form of the tail in all three, the
outer feathers being much shorter than those in the middle,
and the partiality of these birds to moist situations, particularly
conspicuous in the second and third species, the Sedge
and the Reed Warblers, appear to separate them from the
true Sylvan Warblers. I have therefore adopted the generic
name and characters proposed for them by Mr. Selby.
The Grasshopper Warbler, so called from its very peculiar
and almost incessant cricket-like note, is a visiter from
the South which comes to this country for the summer, and is
first to be heard and occasionally seen about the middle of
April, and leaves us again in September. In its habits, it is
shy, vigilant, and restless, secreting itself in a hedge bottom,
and creeping along it for many yards in succession, more like
a mouse than a bird ; seldom to be seen far from a thicket,
a patch of furze, or covert of some sort, and returning to it
again on the least alarm. During the breeding season, when
bushes and shrubs are clothed with leaves, it is difficult to
obtain a sight of this bird; yet, when near its haunt, its note
rings on the ear constantly, and, like that of other Aquatic
Warblers, may be heard about sunset particularly, and sometimes
even during the night. The food of the Grasshopper
Warbler is small snails, slugs, and insects.
Unless the old birds are closely watched and seen carrying
materials for building or food to their young, the nest is
very difficult to find. One discovered by Mr. R. R. Wingate
of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who “ watched the bird to the
distant passage on the top of a whin-bush by which it entered
and left the nest, was built at the bottom of a deep
narrow furrow or ditch, overhung by the prickly branches of
the whin, and grown over with thick coarse grass, matted
together year after year, to the height of about two feet; all
of which he was obliged to take away piecemeal before he
succeeded in gaining the prize. The nest was composed of
coarse dried grass, and contained five beautiful white eggs,
closely freckled with carnation spots.”
The Grasshopper Warbler is found within a few miles
north of London, and also in Surrey. A nest brought me in
May 1887, containing five eggs, was cup-shaped, about four
inches across over the top, formed externally of coarse grass,
and lined with finer bents within. This bird sometimes lays
as many as seven eggs, eight lines long by six lines in
breadth, of a pale reddish white colour, freckled all over with
specks of darker red. I have seen five or six sets of the eggs
of the Grasshopper Warbler which did not differ either in
colour or marks.
When the breeding season is over, these birds are more
frequently to be seen. A correspondent in the Magazine of
Natural History says, “ I observed several birds of this species
in the neighbourhood of Eastbourne, in July and August
1885. They did not appear peculiarly shy; on the contrary,
when disturbed, they frequently rose into the air, hovering
above my head, and at the same time repeating their cricked
like note. I might have shot a considerable number, as they
often perched, several together, on the tops of some bushes.
They were then in moult, but uttered them usual sibilant
cry : I often heard them in the afternoon. In the last week
of August I observed one cast on shore by the waves , this
had probably been overtaken in its attempt at migration by
a contrary wind which accompanied a thunder-storm, and,
unable to withstand the tempest, had yielded to its fury. I
did not hear these birds afterwards.”
Besides the counties immediately round London, the
Grasshopper Warbler has been observed to visit Hampshire,
Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, Devonshire, Cornwall, and W ales. It
was considered also as a visiter to Ireland by Montagu and the
late Mr. Templeton, but is not included in the Catalogue of
the Insessorial Birds of that country obligingly supplied me