THE DARTFORD WARBLER 
SYLVIA PROVINCIALIS 
Loca names in surrounding counties : 
Status IN British Avirauna: An extremely local resi- 
dent in the southern, eastern, and central counties of 
England; extinct in certain localities where it was once 
common. 
Rap1AL DisTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 
Paut’s: ‘The Dartford Warbler is a species in which I have 
always taken exceptional interest. Nearly thirty years 
ago I obtained its nest in the most northerly recorded 
locality in England Gn the Rivelin Valley, on the out- 
skirts of Sheffield). ‘The fact has been ignored by some 
recent writers, and doubted by others (including Mr. 
Saunders, for reasons best known to himself), but the 
nest and eggs were in my collection for years, and at 
the time I took them I stood for several minutes examin- 
ing the mother bird as she brooded on the nest within reach 
of my hand. I thought little of the occurrence at the 
time, and it was not recorded till several years after- 
wards in the History of British Birds. A special interest 
also attaches to this species, because it was actually first 
discovered and made known to science from specimens 
obtained on Bexley Heath, near Dartford, some fifteen 
miles from St. Paul’s. It is certainly a very local bird in 
the Metropolitan area, and may nest only in suitable 
spots in Surrey and Kent at the extreme limits of the 
radius. It has been recorded from Wimbledon, as 
having bred at Hampstead, as frequenting Stanmore 
Common and Harrow Weald Common, and as having 
been obtained at Old Oak Common and Wormwood 
Scrubbs, both in the Willesden area. There are many 
gorse coverts within the Metropolitan radius where this 
skulking bird might find a suitable haunt, and it is 
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