THE DARTFORD WARBLER. 417 



of neck and sides reddish brown ; abdomen white ; tail long 

 and graduated; bill brownish black, with the base of the 

 lower mandible orange; tarsi and toes light reddish brown; 

 claws dark. Female similar, but with the tints lighter, and 

 the throat streaked with white. 



This bird is a permanent resident with us, although very 

 locally distributed. Dr. LATHAM first described it as a British 

 species, from specimens obtained at Bexley Heath, near Dart- 

 ford, in 1773. The generic name, Melizophilus, was applied 

 to it by Dr. LEACH, in his Systematic Catalogue of the Spe- 

 cimens of the Indigenous Mammalia and Birds preserved in 

 the British Museum, date 1816. Other naturalists have to a 

 considerable extent admitted this generic distinction, as a re- 

 ference to SELBY, JENYNS, &c., will show. 



GOULD mentions having obtained specimens of this bird at 

 all seasons of the year, and KENNIE has observed it suspended 

 over a furze, and singing as early as the end of February. 



SWEET'S ACCOUNT. " One of the rarest of the British species 

 of this tribe, but mentioned by MONTAGUE as not uncommon 

 about Kingsbridge, Devon, and in the neighbourhood of Truro, 

 Cornwall ; it is also occasionally met with on Bexley Heath, 

 near Dartford, Kent ; also on Blackheath, and on Wandsworth 

 and Wimbledon Commons, where it is said to build in the furze 

 bushes, and feed on grasshoppers, moths, butterflies, caterpillars, 

 ants, and various other insects. I have never been able to 

 procure a living bird of this species, although there is no doubt 

 but it might be readily caught in a Nightingale-trap, baited with a 

 caterpillar, or some other living insect ; or young ones might 

 be easilv bred up from the nest, in the same manner as mentioned 

 under the other species. Should any of my subscnDers be able 

 to procure me one of them, or a nest with young ones, I should 

 feel much obliged, and would be willing to purchase it, or ex- 

 change any other sort that I have to spare in return. 



" In confinement these birds should be managed exactly the 

 same as the other species, and will, without doubt, take to feed 

 readily on the bruised hemp seed and bread, with some bits of 

 raw meat cut small, and mixed with it ; to bring them to eat it 

 'immediately when first caught, it will be requisite to stick it full 

 jf flies or caterpillars, or other small insects ; some of the yolk 

 of an egg boiled hard, should also be given them occasionally, 

 for a change, and as many insects as can be procured, which will 

 be the means of keeping them, and all the birds of this tribe, in 



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