DARTFORD WARBLER. 



405 



separation is allowable unless we are also prepared to break 

 up the other sections of the family, such as the Chats and 

 the aquatic Warblers. But somehow or other, though more 

 natural genera have been disregarded, the genus Melizo- 

 philus happens to have been recognized by most writers, 

 and, having been admitted in all the former Editions of this 

 work, is left to stand now, though the Editor has not found 

 its definition an easy task, and is persuaded that consistency 

 would require the similar recognition of such genera as 

 Pr&tincola, Locustella and Potamodus. 



Very nearly allied to the Dartford Warbler is the South- 

 European Sylvia sarda of La Marmora, and probably also 

 the Mclizopliilus striatus lately described from the Punjab 

 by Mr. Brooks. Intermediate between this group of 

 Warblers and the next is the Motacilla passerina of 

 J. F. Gmelin. 



By the exertions and perseverance of Mr. Larkham of 

 Roehampton, I am enabled to add an exact representation of 

 the nest of a Dartford Warbler, from a specimen taken on 

 Wimbledon Common in May, 1838, after watching the birds 

 for some hours every day for a fortnight. 



