414 BRITISH BIRDS. 
SYLVIA PROVINCIALIS*. 
DARTFORD WARBLER. 
(Prater 10.) 
Motacilla undata, Bodd. Table Pl. Enl. p. 40 (1783). 
Sylvia dartfordiensis, Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 287 (1787). 
Motacilla provincialis, Gel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 958 (1788); et auctorum plurimo- 
rum—(Zemminck), (Meyer), (Montagu), (Crespon), (Keyserling), (Blasius), 
(Lindermayer), (Dubois), (dZeuglin), (Bote), (Fleming), (Kaup), (Selby), (Jenyns), 
(Gould), (Bonaparte), ( Cabanis), (Degland), (Gerbe), (Loche), (Doderlein), (Sal- 
vadori), (Shelley), (Fritsch), Se. 
Melizophilus dartfordiensis (Lath.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. §c. Brit. Mus, p. 25 
1816). 
Ban ferruginea, Viell. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. xi. p. 209 (1817). 
Sylvia provincialis (Gmel.), Temm. Man. d Orn. i. p. 211 (1820). 
Curruca provincialis (Gmel.), Bove, Isis, 1822, p. 553. 
Thamnodus provincialis (Gmel.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 109 (1829). 
Melizophilus provincialis (G'mel.), Selby, Brit. Orn. i. p. 219 (1833). 
Ficedula ulicicola, Blyth, Rennie’s Field Nat. i. p. 310 (1833). 
Malurus provincialis (G'mel.), Selby, Cat. Gen. B. p. 10 (1840). 
Sylvia undata (Bodd.), Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 174 (1848). 
Pyrophthalma provincialis (G'mel.), Jaub. et Barth.-Lapomm. Rich. Orn. p. 249 
(1859). 
Melizophilus undatus (Bodd.), Newt. ed. Yarr. Br. B. i. p. 898 (1878). 
The Dartford Warbler possesses a special interest for British orni- 
thologists from the fact that it was first discovered in our islands, though 
it is possible that fig. 2 on plate cceclxxxxi. of Gerini’s ‘ Ornithologia 
Methodice Digesta’ may have been intended to represent this species. 
In the spring of 1773 a pair were shot on Bexley Heath, near Dartford, 
and sent to Latham, who communicated the discovery to Pennant, by 
whom the new bird was described and figured in 1776, in his ‘ British 
Zoology, under the name of Dartford Warbler. Two years later Buffon 
* According to the Stricklandian code—that is to say, according to /aw--Boddaert’s 
name should be adopted for the Dartford Warbler, as he was undoubtedly the first person 
to publish a Latin name for this bird, though it is probable that he never saw it. 
According to equity there can be no doubt that Latham’s name should have the 
preference, as he appears to have been the first discoverer of this species. But according 
to custom there can be no question that Gmelin’s name has received the sanction of 
auctorum plurimorum; although there is every reason to believe that Gmelin was little 
more than a book-maker, who compiled his works from the writings of others. The 
Stricklandian code was published in 1842; and six years afterwards Gray adopted 
Boddaert’s name for this bird in obedience to its rules. Since 1848 the only writers 
of importance who haye followed Gray have been Harting, Newton, Dresser, and Irby. 
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