THE DARTFORD WARBLER 237 



interest, and with a feeling of keen sympathy for 

 the writer in his disappointment ; for it is the 

 case that I, too, all this time, have been in chase 

 of a small British songster — a rare elusive bird, 

 hard to find at any time as it is to hear a 

 nightingale pour out its full song in the last 

 week in June. In these years I have, at every 

 opportunity, in spring, summer, and autumn, 

 sought for the bird in the southern half of 

 England, chiefly in the south and south-western 

 counties. In the Midlands, and in Devonshire, 

 where he was formerly well-known, but where 

 the authorities say he is now extinct, I failed 

 to find him. I found him altogether in four 

 counties, in a few widely -separated localities; 

 in every case in such small numbers that I was 

 reluctantly forced to give up a long -cherished 

 hope that this species might yet recover from 

 the low state, with regard to numbers, in which 

 it lingers, and be permanently preserved as a 

 member of the British avifauna. 



It would indeed hardly be reasonable to 

 entertain such a hope, when we consider that 

 the furze wren, or Dartford warbler, as it is 

 named in books, is a small, fraU, insectivorous 



