FRONTISPIECE 



to the first volume. 



THE DARTFORD WARBLER, 



Is a very rare species in England. The bird, in 

 excellent preservation, was lent me to take a drawing 

 of, by my good Friend, John Latham, Esq., of Dart- 

 ford, in Kent ; in whose neighbourhood it was taken, 

 and whose description is as follows. 



" This is scarce bigger than a Wren, but as the tail 

 " is about half the length, measures about five inches. 

 " The Bill is black with a white base, and the upper 

 " mandible a little curved at the tip. Irides, red ; eye- 

 " lids, deep crimson. The upper part of the head, 

 " neck, and body, a dusky reddish brown. Breast 

 " and belly, deep ferrugenius ; the middle of the belly, 

 " white. Quills, dusky, edged with white ; bastard 

 " wing, white ; the exterior web of the outmost tail 

 " feathers, white ; the rest dusky, and half the length 

 " of the bird. 



" A pair of these birds was brought to me, killed 

 " by a friend on Boxley-heath, near Dartford, sitting 

 "on a furze bush. They feed on flies, springing from 

 " the bush on spying one within reach, and returning 

 " again to the same place repeatedly. 



See " Latham's General Synopsis of Birds ;" 

 volume 4,^. 435, No. 27. 



