DARTFORD WARBLER. 369 



the markings becoming more dense, and forming a zone at 

 the larger end." 



Young males brought up from the nest, Colonel Montagu 

 says, " begin to sing with the appearance of their first 

 mature feathers, and continue in song all the month of 

 October, sometimes with scarcely any intermission for 

 several hours together ; the notes are entirely native, con- 

 sisting of considerable variety, delivered in a hurried man- 

 ner, and in a much lower tone than I have ever heard the 

 old birds in their natural haunts. This song is different 

 from anything of the kind I ever heard ; but in part re- 

 sembles that of the Stonechat." 



Besides the localities already enumerated, the Dartford 

 "Warbler has been found in North Devon, and, though 

 rarely, in Cornwall, specimens having been obtained at 

 Truro, Falmouth, and Penzance ; it has also been taken 

 in Worcestershire ; but I have not heard that it has, as 

 yet, been observed in Ireland. In a letter containing notices 

 of the occurrence of rare birds in Leicestershire, with 

 which I have been very lately favoured by Henry Bickley, 

 Esq., of Melton Mowbray, I find that the Dartford 

 Warbler has occurred in that county within the last two 

 years ; but this is the most northern locality in which 

 it has been obtained. On the European continent this 

 bird does not go so high as Germany or Holland. It is 

 found in France; but is most plentiful in Provence, 

 Spain, and Italy. In Provence it is observed to frequent 

 cabbage gardens, whence, probably, its name Pitte-chou 

 or Pit-chou. In Genoa it remains only from April to 

 September. It has been observed in Sicily and Malta, 

 but is not common. 



The beak is slender, and nearly black, particularly 

 towards the point ; the edges of the upper mandible, and 

 the base of the lower mandible, reddish yellow; irides 



VOL. I. B B 



