THE DARTFORD WARBLER. 55 



DARTFORD WARBLER. 



THE DARTFORD WARBLER (Melizopliilus Dartfordiensis). 

 This little bird has been placed by some naturalists in a 

 distinct genus, although it is scarcely distinguished from 

 several birds which constitute the genera Phyllopneuste and 

 Sylvice. In form and manners it closely resembles the 

 Whitethroat. It is about the size of the Chiff- chaff, but has 

 a longer tail, and the plumage generally is of a more dusky 

 hue. 



Although a permanent resident, this is a rare bird with 

 us. It is confined to the southern counties of England, 

 and to districts where there is plenty of thick cover, such 

 as furze and gorse, amid which it keeps pretty closely con- 

 cealed, gliding through the bushes with great activity. It 

 flies in short jerks like the Chats, and feeds on small insects, 

 which it frequently seizes on the wing. It has a weak, 

 shrill song, often repeated and emitted when the bird is 

 hovering over a bush or thicket, like the Whitethroat. It 

 is extremely shy, and if any one approaches its haunts, 

 conceals itself among the shrubs, creeping like the Hedge 

 Sparrow in a quiet and hiding manner. 



The Province Furzeling, as it is sometimes called, was 

 first identified as a British species in 1773, some specimens 

 having been killed on Bexley Heath, near Dartford, in 

 Kent, on the 10th of April in that year. Sometimes it 



