THE DOWNS. 53 



itself is much smaller than I originally supposed, though it might no doubt 

 support a bachelor Harrier on short commons, if the keepers would leave 

 him to himself. 



The other species referred to is one dear to all British ornithologists 

 the Dartford Warbler, that fascinating little oddity part Wren, part Tit, 

 part Warbler, which braves, but alas ! not always successfully, the utmost 

 rigour of our English cold. What a difficult bird it is to discover ! 

 What a difficult bird to secure when found ! No wonder that all 

 collectors are so eager to possess a specimen of this odd-voiced, odd- 

 shaped denizen of our southern heaths. Ere I found it at last in 

 Dorsetshire, I had traversed miles of furze-brakes on the Hampshire and 

 Sussex downs, but, convinced at length that its true home was on the 

 sandy soil, where furze and heather combine, I took the train into the 

 above-mentioned county, examined the scenery as I went along, got out 

 when it seemed most like my ideal Dartford country, and cast around 

 for a likely spot. Half a mile along the road I struck a promising piece 

 of heath, entered it, and put up two Dartfords within two minutes of 

 my arrival. Then began the fun. Not having seriously expected to find 

 the birds, I had only the smallest sized walking-stick gun with me, and 

 that in such foul condition that its shooting powers were almost nil. 

 However, with this weapon I started in pursuit, and the Dartfords 

 responding gallantly, I chivvied them about for the space of one hour, 

 during which I actually got in one ineffectual shot. They never kept 

 still for a moment, but flitted continuously from bush to bush, and one could 

 never quite spot them in the furze until just as they took wing for the 

 next patch. 



At length the sun went in, a cold wind sprang up, the Dartfords got 

 into a large patch of furze, and there they remained triumphant, masters 

 of the situation for that day, at all events. As far as I could see, there 

 were four on the heath. I can't say they struck me as being much like 

 Long-tailed Wrens. Their flight, to my mind, was more like that of a Long- 

 tailed Tit, at all events at the start; it developed into the dart of a Warbler as 

 they neared the next bush. It was, in fact, very difficult to keep them in view 

 against the dark background of the furze, and when they got the wind 

 behind them they were often blown along like shuttlecocks. So long as 

 the sun was out they showed no inclination to skulk, but when they did 

 begin their persistency was disconcerting in the extreme ; there was 

 absolutely no getting them out, and I can quite believe that one might 

 overlook half a dozen on a dull day. 



