a 
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Winter, will return the following Spring to build near the same 
spot where they were reared ; the destruction of a nest thus means 
the loss of the birds from the locality the following year. 
Certainly this is the case with the Nightingale. I have had them 
in successive years in my garden, building in the same Knecholm 
bush, and when once destroyed, may be two or three years pass 
without one in the garden. 
I will now enumerate some of the rarer birds, with notes 
relating to them; first, with regard to the Redstart (Ruticclla 
Phenicurus) which used to be called the Common Redstart. I find 
it now anything but common. ‘True, it may be met with in some 
localities in tolerable abund ance; in the more secluded parts, for 
instance, of the chalk districts, where hedgerows of Wild Dogwood 
and Guelder rose, entwined with Woodbine and Clematis, form its 
sheltering bower. But here, where I ofttimes met with the 
beautiful little bird, it is now found no more. And even in its 
favourite localities it is getting scarcer; while the Black Redstart 
(Ruticilla Titys) is more frequent than formerly; this is not 
merely my opinion, but is shared in by that accurate GhRENy am 
Mr. W. O. Hammond. 
The Dartford Warbler: as indeed its name implies, is more a 
West than East Kent bird, but in either case is a rare visitor; 
its habits incline it to choose heaths, downs, and furze commons. 
A specimen was met with at Guston, near Dover, March 16th, 1887. 
The Icterine Warbler—of some three or four specimens only, 
recorded in England, one was obtained from Eythorne, in Kent, 
by Mr. W. O. Hammond; and the still rarer bird, the Great Reed 
Warbler (Acrocephalus turdoides), was also obtained by the same 
gentleman from Wingham, in 1882; and is one of the great finds 
this enthusiastic and practical ornithologist has added to the record 
of East Kent birds; it is one of the gems of this gentleman’s 
collection. It is well termed turdoides, having somewhat the 
resemblance to the Song Thrush, and is nearly as large. 
Mr. Hammond shot this specimen in the Wingham Marshes, near 
Preston, while Snipe shooting in that locality. These Wingham 
Marshes deserve a a passing notice, they being resorted to by many 
rare birds. A small stream, having its rise at *Wingham- Well, runs 
just west of the village, and is joined by another stream from the 
south, their inosculation being marked by a belt of peaty bog land 
which has a remarkable flora, and contains in the Marsh some 
small groves of alders with reeds and marsh ferns, and is known 
as the ‘‘Isle of Rees.” This belt of marsh land skirts a high 
escarpment of sandy soil, with a wood on the summit, and flanked 
with furze bushes. Mr, Hammond’s practical eye observed the 
bird fly away from one of these marshes, and following it up, soon 
was rewarded with the prize. 
