416 BRITISH BIRDS. 
a moment above the reeds, as if thrown up by a battledore ; but it dropped 
down again and disappeared as suddenly. I have very rarely seen so 
skulking a bird; once only it flew up from the reeds, and perched in 
a willow near a large patch of furze bushes. Like most other Warblers, 
this bird is very active, scarcely resting for a moment, except when 
warbling its hurried little song from the top of a furze-branch. In many 
of its habits it reminds one of Cetti’s Warbler. It flits up a furze bush, 
dodging in and out amongst the side branches in search of insects, perches 
for a moment on the topmost spray; but before you have had time to get 
your binocular onto it it has caught sight of your movement and drops 
down into the furze bush as if shot. i 
So far as is known, the Dartford Warbler is almost entirely insecti- 
vorous. Mr. Booth (Zool. 1877, p. 59) remarks that it “ generally feeds 
its young on the body of a large yellow moth. I have observed several 
pairs carrying a light substance in their mouths to the nest; and on 
shooting one bird from each of two nests I discovered that the food was 
the same in both cases. The wings of the moth were removed, and I was 
not entomologist enough to name the species; but I observed that the 
birds hunted for their prey among the lower part of the stems of the 
furze.” It can scarcely be doubted that this bird will also eat fruit in 
autumn. It would seem that it rears two broods in the year, the first 
clutches of eggs being laid in the last half of April and the second in 
the last half of June. The nest is described as generally concealed in — 
the thickest furze, amongst the dead branches, not many feet from the 
ground; but near Gibraltar it is said to nest in the heather. It is a very 
slender structure, built principally of the finest round grass-stalks and 
slender stems of various plants, a good deal of moss being used in the 
foundation, and small bits of wool being introduced into the lining. The 
nest is very small and deep; and though the sides are thick, the materials 
are so loosely put together that when held up to the light it is possible to 
see through them. Four or five is the usual number of eggs. In colour 
they much resemble those of the Whitethroat. The ground is white, 
sometimes of a greenish and sometimes of a buffish shade. The spots are 
darker and more numerous than those of typical eggs of the Whitethroat, 
and are dark brown, largest and most numerous towards the large end of 
the egg. ‘The underlying spots are, of course, paler, but in closely spotted 
eggs are not conspicuous. In size the eggs vary from ‘7 to ‘65 inch in 
leagth by *53 to ‘5 in breadth. 
In the adult male Dartford Warbler the general colour of the upper 
parts is very dark sooty brown, shading into very dark slate-grey on 
the head. The innermost secondaries, wing-coverts, and quills are dark 
brown, edged externally with pale brown. ‘The tail is very dark grey, with 
the outside web and the tip of the outside feathers white. The underparts 
de 
