DARTFORD WARBLERS 7 



Further on a hundred yards, perhaps a pair 

 of ' ' Dartfords ' ' scurry from one low gorse-bush 

 into another. They literally dive in : for although 

 there is no actual rising into the air for a headlong- 

 perpendicular or slanting plunge, the birds inva- 

 riably disappear instantaneously into the heart 

 of the selected hiding-place. Perceptible pause 

 there is none, apparently not even the most trifling 

 of stops. So mysteriously withal do the tiny 

 creatures vanish from sight that they appear to 

 have cleft a passage in the gorse by touching some 

 secret, self -replacing spring, or else there is sug- 

 gested a magic parting of the furze to give the 

 visitors immediate entrance. This sudden " Jack- 

 in-the-box " trick is a unique accomplishment of 

 the Dartford Warbler : no other species I know 

 seeks seclusion in quite the same way. In fact, 

 it is a wonder that the ' Dartford/' from the 

 rapidity of its ingress, does not sometime impale 

 itself upon a spike. 



Should the birds have repaired to an isolated 

 bush, you may, perhaps, by repeated beating flush 

 them. If, however, the patch is thick, better 

 give it up, the chances then are all against success. 

 Supposing, nevertheless, you do succeed in driving 

 one from its shelter, the timorous bird will 

 straightway make for any convenient bush from 

 twenty to forty yards distant whence, often 

 alighting momentarily only on the topmost spray, it 

 journeys off to another bush, and so forth, flying 



