56 MONTAGU'S DESCRIPTION. 



has been found on furzey commons in other parts of Kent, 

 and in Cornwall, Devonshire, Hampshire, Middlesex, and 

 Surrey. Montagu was the first to discover the nest of this 

 bird, upon a large furze common near Kingsbridge, Devon- 

 shire ; it was placed upon the thick branches of the thickest 

 furze, about two feet from the ground; this was on the 

 17th of July, and the nest contained three young ones. 



* On the same day,' lie says, ' a pair was observed carrying mate- 

 rials for building, and by concealing myself in the bushes, I soon 

 discovered the place of nidification ; and, upon examination, found 

 the nest was just begun. As early as the 19th it appeared to be 

 finished; but it possessed only one egg on the 21st, and on the 

 26th it contained four. 



* The nest is composed of dry vegetable stalks, particularly gorse 

 grass, mixed with the tender dead branches of furze, not sufficiently 

 hardened to become prickly ; these are put together in a very loose 

 manner, and intermixed very thoroughly with wool. In one of the 

 nests was a single partridge's feather. The lining is equally spar- 

 ing, for it consists of a few dry stalks of carex, without a single leaf 

 of the plant, and only two or three of the panicles. The eggs are 

 described as greenish white, freckled all over with olive brown 

 and ash colour, the markings becoming more dense, and forming 

 a zone at the larger end. 



1 Nothing can excel the activity of these little creatures ; they are 

 in perpetual motion the whole day, throwing themselves into various 

 attitudes and gesticulations, erecting the crest and tail at intervals, 

 accompanied by a double or triple cry, which seems to express the 

 words cha, cha, cha. They frequently take their food with their 

 heads downwards, and (in confinement) not unfrequently turn over 

 backwards on the perch. The song is different from anything of 

 the kind I ever heard, but in part resembles that of the Stonechat.' 



Eusticus, of Godalming, who describes the habits of the 

 Dartford Warbler in * London's Magazine,' says : ' They 

 are very like those of the little Wren ; and when the leaves 

 are off the trees, and the chill winter winds have driven the 

 summer birds to the olive gardens of Spain, or across the 

 Straits, the Furze Wren, as it is there called, is in the 

 height of its enjoyment. I have seen them by dozens 

 skipping about the furze, lighting for a moment on the 

 very point of the sprigs, and instantly diving out of sight 

 again, singing out their angry impatient ditty, for ever 

 the same. They prefer those places where the furze is very 

 thick, high, and difficult to get at,' 



