42 THE WARBLERS 



the 10th April 1773, by a friend of Latham's, but it was not until 

 1806 that the nest was first discovered in England, when Montagu 

 found it in Devonshire. With regard to Kent, Dr. Ticehurst says 

 " We must now consider that, as far as our county is concerned, the 

 Dartford-warbler is extinct, disappearing as a breeding bird in 1891. 

 So little migratory is it that it can only occur now as the merest 

 straggler, and it is significant that since it disappeared as a breeding 

 bird, not a single specimen has been recorded." 1 



This comparatively little-known warbler is resident all the year 

 round, but extremely local in its habitat. It has been known to breed 

 in all the southern counties, but for some reason or other has a 

 decided preference for Hampshire ; so extremely local is it that Lieu- 

 tenant-Colonel Mockler Ferryman to whom I am indebted for notes 

 on the breeding habits of this bird in that county says " The area in 

 which Dartford-warblers were located covers, roughly, three square 

 miles ; the birds, however, were not found everywhere, but seemed to 

 favour certain localities, especially during the breeding season. It 

 would be natural to suppose that the birds would be found on some 

 of the other large gorse commons in the neighbourhood, but though I 

 have visited many, I have never come across Dartford-warblers in any 

 of them." 



It is an extremely shy bird out of the breeding season, skulking 

 in and out of the high gorse bushes it loves to frequent. In general 

 appearance it resembles a very dark wren with an abnormally long 

 tail, and somehow this very length of tail gives to the Dartford- 

 warbler just that touch of dignity and grace which the delightfully 

 fussy little wren lacks. During the nesting period these birds are not 

 so shy ; then, when disturbed, they will perch on some point of gorse 

 and remonstrate boldly with the ill-bred person who is so rash as to 

 intrude upon their domestic affairs. The angry, uplifted crest, orange- 

 coloured iris, and slender, rapier-like bill, together with an air of 

 offended dignity, mark this otherwise tiny and inconspicuous warbler 



1 Birds oj Kent, p. 43. 



