414 BRITISH BIRDS. 



SYLVIA PROVINCIALIS *. 

 DARTFORD WARBLER. 



(PLATE 10.) 



Motacilla iindata, Bodd. Table PI. Enl. p. 40 (1783). 



Sylvia dartfordieusis, Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 287 (1787). 



Motacilla provincialis, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 958 (] 788) ; et auctorum plurimo- 

 rum (Temminck), (Meyer), (Montagu}, (Crespon), (Keyserliny), (Blasius), 

 (Lmdermayer), (Dubois), (Heuglin), (Boie), (Fleming), (Kaup), (Selby), (Jenyns), 

 (Gould), (Bonaparte), (Cabanis), (Degland), (Gerbe), (Loche), (Doderlcin), (Sal- 

 vadori), (Shelley), (Fritsch), fyc. 



Melizopbilus dartfordiensis (Lath.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. S>-c. Brit. Mtts. p. 25 

 (1816). 



Sylvia ferruginea, Vieill. N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xi. p. 209 (1817). 



Sylvia provincialis (Gmel), Temm. Man. cTOrn. i. p. 211 (1820). 



Curruca provincialis (Gmel), Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 553. 



Thamnodus provincialis (Gmel.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 109 (1829). 



Melizopbilus provincialis (Gmel.), Selby, Brit. Orn. i. p. 219 (1833). 



Ficedula ulicicola, Blyth, Eennie's Field Nat. i. p. 310 (1833). 



Malurus provincialis (Gmel.), Selby, Cat. Gen. B. p. 10 (1840). 



Sylvia undata (Bodd), Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 174 (1848). 



Pyrophthalma provincialis (Gmel.), Jaub. et Barih.-Lapomm. Sick. Orn. p. 249 

 (1859). 



Melizophilus undatus (Bodd.), Neivt. ed. Yarr. Br. B. i. p. 398 (1873). 



The Dartford Warbler possesses a special interest for British orni- 

 thologists from the fact that it was first discovered in our islands, though 

 it is possible that fig. 2 on plate ccclxxxxi. of Germi's ' Ornithologia 

 Methodice Digesta' may have been intended to represent this species. 

 In the spring of 1773 a pair were shot on Bexley Heath, near Dartford, 

 and sent to Latham, who communicated the discovery to Pennant, by 

 whom the new bird was described and figured in 1776, in his ' British 

 Zoology/ under the name of Dartford Warbler. Two years later Buffon 



* According to the Stricklandian code that is to say, according to law Boddaert's 

 name should be adopted for the Dartford Warbler, as be was undoubtedly the first person 

 to publish a Latin name for this bird, though it is probable that he never saw it. 

 According to equity there can be no doubt that Latham's name should have the 

 preference, as he appears to have been the first discoverer of this species. But according 

 to custom there can be no question that Gmeliu's name has received the sanction of 

 auctorum plurimonnn ; although there is every reason to believe that Gmeliu was little 

 more than a book-maker, who compiled his works from, the writings of others. The 

 Stricklandian code was published in 1842; and six years afterwards Gray adopted 

 Boddaert's name for this bird in obedience to its rules. Since 1848 the only writers 

 of importance who ha^e followed Gray have been Harting, Newton, Dresser, and Irby. 



