WHE ATE AR. -RUFOUS WARBLER. 63 



well acquainted with the variety, that these birds breed on 

 the South Downs at times in rabbit-burrows, after the 

 fashion of their smaller relatives. The eo-o-s are described 

 as being- slightly marked with rusty blotches or spots. This 

 information concerning their nesting I give for what it is 

 worth, my own opinion being that this form only passes 

 our islands on its way to the far North. . . . With regard 

 to the habits of the two forms, they may be described as 

 similar, with the exception of the far later date at which the 

 larger form reaches our shores, and its predilection for 

 perching on bushes or trees.'' 



RUFOUS WARBLER. 



Aedon galactodes. 



The first example of this species obtained in England was 

 shot by Mr. Swaysland, of Brighton, at Plumpton Bosthill, 

 about six miles from that town, on the 16th of September, 

 1854. I quote from his letter to me, which I have before 

 me : " When I first saw it I took it for a cream-coloured 

 Nightingale, but as I had no gun with me I had to go four 

 miles for one ; when I returned it was near 6 o'clock p.m. 

 I found the bird about twenty yards from where I first saw 

 it, in some furze. There were no trees within quarter of a 

 mile of the place. The bird wa;^ very shy, and I was quite 

 sure it was not a common Nightingale, as it had more of the 

 appearance and flight of the young of the Red-backed Shrike, 

 and when alighted in the furzebush it did not stop in till I 

 came near to it, but took a circle round, about sixteen yards 

 from the ground, back to the sarne place from whence I first 

 drove it. It Avas difficult to get within thirty yards of it." 



