344 INSECTIVOR.E. 



culms of the small hard grasses which grow on the dry 

 wastes ; but it is rather loose and rude. Indeed, the care 

 with which it is concealed and sheltered, renders the struc- 

 ture of the nest a matter of minor importance. The eggs 

 are four in number, of a greenish colour, marked with olive 

 brown spots. The nests have been observed only late in the 

 season (July), but it is possible that these may have been 

 second broods. 



The male often hovers about the bushes, uttering his 

 chirping song, which is rather feeble and hurried for being 

 called a genuine warble. The height at which that is done is 

 inconsiderable ; and from the thickness of the head and neck 

 the long tail, and the short and rounded wings, the bird 

 bears then some resemblance to a large dragon-fly. The 

 glass must be used in observing it ; for if one venture near, 

 he instantly drops into the bush, where it is vain to search 

 for him ; and the alarm-note which he then utters, is not 

 very unlike the cry of some of the field mice. The well- 

 feathered body, the short wings, and the long tail, of these 

 birds, enable them to thread their way among the close 

 bushes with great celerity, whether the sinuosities be vertical 

 or lateral. Grasshoppers, flies, and the smaller moths, are 

 understood to be their chief summer food, to which, perhaps? 

 the seeds of the furze, after they have been softened by lying 

 for some time on the ground, may be added in the winter, as 

 the birds do not appear to quit their haunts ; at least, they 

 have been seen on the furze-clad places as late as Christmas ; 

 and, though they vanish during very heavy falls of snow, it is 

 probably only by retiring into the thick bushes, where the seeds 

 alluded to may supply them with food. At all events, their 

 structure is not well adapted for long migrations ; and they 

 do not resort to the neighbourhood of houses during severe 

 weather. 



The Dartford warbler is one of those birds of which the 



