DARTFORD WARBLER, 401 



hanging down as if broken. Mr. Ellman states (Zool. p. 3277) 

 that on three different occasions he has easily run the bird 

 down, and he is certainly right in saying that it seldom flies 

 more than fifty yards without resting.* 



Up to the year 1806 nothing was known of the nidification 

 of this species, but Mr. Stackhouse having assured Montagu 

 that it certainly bred in Cornwall, the information redoubled 

 the latter's ardour to discover its nest, and after much 

 patience he was successful, as his communication to the 

 Linnean Society in May, 1807 (Trans. Linn. Soc. ix. p. 191), 

 afterwards reprinted in the ' Supplement to the Ornitho- 

 logical Dictionary,' shews. After premising that on the 

 16th of July, 1806, he had discovered three pairs of Dart- 

 ford Warblers on a large furze-common near Kingsbridge, 

 in Devonshire, two pairs of which, from their extreme clamour, 

 and frequently appearing with food in their bills, evidently 

 had young, he goes on : 



" On the 17th, my researches were renewed, and after 

 three hours watching the motions of another pair, I dis- 

 covered the nest with three young : it was placed among 

 the dead branches of the thickest furze, about two feet from 

 the ground, slightly fastened between the main stems, not 

 in a fork. 



"On the same day a pair were observed to be busied, 

 carrying materials 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, the nest appeared to be finished; but it pos- 

 sessed only one egg on the 21st, and on the 26th it con- 

 tained four, when the nest and eggs were secured. 



" The nest is composed of dry vegetable stalks, particu- 



* The habits of the Dartford Warbler, as observed near Grodalming in autumn, 

 have been described with much humour by an anonymous writer in the ' Magazine 

 of Natural History' (vi. p. 112), and the account has been reprinted in a volume 

 called 'The Letters of Rusticus' (p. 27). Should the veil which hides this mys- 

 terious personage from an admiring public ever be dropped, his statements will no 

 doubt be willingly quoted by naturalists ; but, so long as he remains behind it, 

 he must be content to have them passed over by those who believe that assertions 

 as to fact can only be established by the publication of the writer's name. 

 VOL. I. 3 F 



