342 IXSECTIVOR/E. 



and the size of the birds is a shade larger. The manners and 

 habits of the two are so nearly the same, that in discriminat- 

 ing them it is necessary to pay particular attention to the 

 tints of the crests, and especially to the stripes above the 

 eye. The two last-mentioned species are the pets among 

 our resident forest-birds ; and it will be a pleasing office to 

 settle the boundaries between them, and find out the por- 

 tion of the country which the newly-discovered ones can 

 claim as their rightful heritage ; and if the observations 

 necessary for that purpose are properly carried on, fresh dis- 

 coveries may be confidently expected, as the birds in ques- 

 tion are so minute, that where they are found no others are 

 likely to be passed over. 



THE DARTFOKD WARBLER (Sylvia provincialis). 



The Dartford warbler might perhaps more accurately be 

 called "the brake warbler;" as it is not quite correct to 

 name after one place in England, and that not the place 

 where it is most frequently seen, a bird which is more abun- 

 dant in Spain, .Provence, and Italy, than in England. 

 Though generally classed with the warblers, and resembling 

 them in some of its characters, it differs in others ; and the 

 points of difference are certainly more numerous, and at least 

 not less striking, than those of agreement. 



This bird has been observed only in the southern counties 

 of England those that lie southward of the Thames and the 

 Bristol channel ; but as it has been observed at points widely 

 distant from each other, and as its immediate haunts and its 

 habits both tend to concealment, it is probable that the 

 actual numbers are very great in proportion to those that 

 have been seen. The birds have been seen only on dry 

 places, in the neighbourhood of bSshes, more especially close 

 furze bushes, under which they nestle, and through which 

 they glide, with apparently as much facility, and not much 



