496 PERCHING BIRDS. 



The barred warbler (8. nisoria) arrives in its summer quarters 

 Barred Warbler 



' in Europe somewhat later than the majority of migrants, and takes 



up its abode chiefly in gardens ; constructing a bulky nest, more compact than that 

 of most warblers, of roots and dry stems neatly lined with horsehair or fibres. 

 The nest is generally built in a thorn bush not far from the ground, and the eggs 

 are buffish white spotted with brown and ash-colour. The barred warbler is shy and 

 skulking in its habits, and even in confinement it retains this shyness, although 

 this does not extend to birds reared from the nest. The adult male has the upper- 

 parts brownish grey ; the under-parts being greyish white, finely barred with brown. 

 The Dartford warbler (S. undata) 1 is a resident but local bird 



Ds.rtfordVfjir'blGr 



in the temperate parts of Europe, breeding also in the mountains of 

 Algeria. It is a small, retiring species, fond of thick covert, and used to be tolerably 

 common even in the neighbourhood of London until exterminated by several severe 

 winters. Mr. Swaysland wrote to us in 1883 : " I have taken several hundreds of 

 eggs of the Dartford warbler within a few miles of Brighton, but the birds were 

 all exterminated in a recent severe winter. I have not heard of any since, though 

 formerly we could find a dozen pairs within a few miles. I have taken the eggs 

 of a single pair three or four times in a season. If the nest contained three eggs 

 when I first robbed it, the next clutch usually contained five eggs, but if it contained 

 four eggs the first time the second laying usually consisted of the same number." 

 The Dartford warbler builds a very slight nest, composed of dry stalks and lined 

 with finer stems added to a little wool. The nest is usually extremely difficult to 

 find, and can only be discovered by patient observation of the old birds. Mr. 

 Newman often observed the Dartford warbler in the neighbourhood of Godalming, 

 and has left the following sketch of its winter habits : — " When the leaves are off 

 the trees, and the chill winter winds have driven the summer birds to the olive- 

 gardens of Spain or across the straits, the furze-wren is in the height of its enjoy- 

 ment. I have seen them by dozens skipping about the furze, lighting for a moment 

 upon the very point of the sprigs and instantly diving out of sight again, singing 

 out their angry impatient ditty for ever the same. They prefer those places where 

 the furze is very thick, high, and difficult to get in." The egg of the Dartford 

 warbler is white or buff in ground-colour, suffused with olive or reddish brown. 

 The song of the male is lively, and often uttered upon the wing. The nestlings 

 which Montagu reared began to sing as soon as they assumed adult plumage. The 

 plumage of the adult male is very dark sooty brown, shading into slate-grey on 

 the head ; tail dark grey, the outside feathers tipped with white ; the under-parts 

 are chestnut-brown, shading into white on the centre of the belly, and having the 

 feathers of the chin and upper throat tipped with white ; the under tail-coverts 

 arc grey tipped with white. 



The wmow The yellow-browed warbler (Plvylloscopws superciliosus) figured 



Warblers, on p. 505, is an example of a genus differing from the preceding by the 

 supplemental bristles in front of those of the rictus of the gape being stronger and 

 more numerous, while the beak is short and stout. The genus includes the chiff- 

 chaff (P. collybita), wood-wren (P. sibilatrix), willow-wren (P. trochilus), etc. The 

 yellow-browed warbler passes the summer in North Siberia, where Mr. Seebohm 



1 Frequently separated generieally as Melizophilus. 



