22 THE BIRDS OF BERKS AND BUCKS. 



but many pass onwards and do not remain here to 

 breed. I have occasionally found the nest in the long 

 grass which grows on the banks of the South Western 

 Railway near Datchet. Varieties of this species occur 

 every now and then, which have more or less white 

 intermingled with their plumage. 



This bird is observed at Cookham, as Mr. Sharpe 

 writes me word ; it is also thinly distributed around 

 Wantage, and a correspondent from Aylesbury re- 

 marks that it is not uncommon in that neighbourhood. 



DARTFORD WARBLER (MelizophilusDartfordiensis). 

 A very local species. It is resident throughout the 

 year with us, but is nowhere numerous. 



The only locality* in the two counties in which 

 this species is at all numerous is a common in the 

 vicinity of Sunninghill, where it is found breeding 

 every summer, and from whence a person in the 

 neighbourhood obtains specimens at all times of 

 the year with which to" supply the London bird- 

 stuffers. The Dartford Warbler is a bird which is 

 very liable to be overlooked, and I have no doubt but 

 that it occurs on many furze-clad wastes and open 

 commons in both counties, but Sunninghill is the 

 only place where I have hitherto been enabled to 

 authenticate its appearance. Colonel Montagu states 

 of this species that young males begin to sing with 



* Since writing the above, I heard of a pair of Dartford Warblers 

 which were shot in the summer of 1 866, near Frogmore, where the nest 

 and eggs were at the same time taken. 



