THE DOWNS. 53 
itself is much smaller than I originally supposed, though it might no doubt 
support a bachelor Harrier on short commons, if the keepers would leave 
him to himself. 
The other species referred to is one dear to all British ornithologists— 
the Dartford Warbler, that fascinating little oddity—part Wren, part ‘Tit, 
part Warbler, which braves, but alas! not always successfully, the utmost 
rigour of our English cold. What a difficult bird it is to discover ! 
What a difficult bird to secure when found! No wonder that all 
collectors are so eager to possess a specimen of this odd-voiced, odd- 
shaped denizen of our southern heaths. Ere I found it at last in 
Dorsetshire, I had traversed miles of furze-brakes on the Hampshire and 
Sussex downs, but, convinced at length that its true home was on the 
sandy soil, where furze and heather combine, I took the train into the 
above-mentioned county, examined the scenery as I went along, got out 
when it seemed most like my ideal Dartford country, and cast around 
for a likely spot. Half a mile along the road I struck a promising piece 
of heath, entered it, and put up two Dartfords within two minutes of 
my arrival. Then began the fun. Not having seriously expected to find 
the birds, I had only the smallest sized walking-stick gun with me, and 
that in such foul condition that its shooting powers were almost. nil. 
However, with this weapon I started in pursuit, and the Dartfords 
responding gallantly, I chivvied them about for the space of one hour, 
during which I actually got in one ineffectual shot. They never kept 
still for a moment, but flitted continuously from bush to bush, and one could 
never quite spot them in the furze until just as they took wing for the 
next patch. 
At length the sun went in, a cold wind sprang up, the Dartfords got 
into a large patch of furze, and there they remained triumphant, masters 
of the situation for that day, at all events. As far as I could see, there 
were four on the heath. I can’t say they struck me as being much like 
Long-tailed Wrens. Their flight, to my mind, was more like that of a Long- 
tailed Tit, at all events at the start; it developed into the dart of a Warbler as 
they neared the next bush. It was, in fact, very difficult to keep them in view 
against the dark background of the furze, and when they got the wind 
behind them they were often blown along like shuttlecocks. So long as 
the sun was out they showed no inclination to skulk, but when they did 
begin their persistency was disconcerting in the extreme; there was 
absolutely no getting them out, and I can quite believe that one might 
overlook half a dozen on a dull day. 
