344 SYLVIAD.E. 



ground; 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 continued in song all the month of Oc- 

 tober, sometimes with scarcely any intermission for several 

 hours together ; the notes are entirely native, consisting of 

 considerable variety, delivered in a hurried manner, 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 resembles that of the 

 Stonechat." 1 



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, Fal- 

 mouth, and Penzance ; it has also been taken in Worcester- 

 shire ; 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-cJiou. 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 reddish ; head, 



