mid -some ether British Birds, 327 



they all assemble, repeating the same plaintive cry. In this 

 interesting scene, as warmth is the object of all, a consider- 

 able bustle is observed, in order to obtain an inward birth, 

 those on the outside perching upon the others, and forcing 

 in between them: during this confusion, which sometimes 

 continues for a few minutes, the cuddling note is continually 

 emitted, and in an instant all is quiet. 



Nothing can exceed the activity of these little creatures ; 

 they are in perpetual motion the whole day, throwing them- 

 selves into various attitudes and gesticulations, erecting the 

 crest and tail at intervals, accompanied by a double or triple 

 cry, which seems to express the words cha, cha, cha. They 

 frequently take their food suspended by the wires, with their 

 head downwards, and not unusually turn over backwards on 

 the perch. The males, of which there were three out of the 

 four, began to sing with the appearance of their first mature 

 feathers, and continued in song all the month of October, 

 frequently with scarce any intermission for several hours to- 

 gether: the notes are entirely native, consisting of consi- 

 derable variety, delivered in a hurried manner,, but in a much 

 lower tone than I have heard the old birds in their natural 

 haunts. This song is different from any thing of the kind I 

 ever heard, but in part resembles most that of the stone-chat. 



The Dartford Warbler, like the whitethroat, will some- 

 times suspend itself on wing over the furze, singing the 

 whole time : but is more frequently observed on an upper- 

 most spray, in vocal strain for half an hour together. 



Buffon, who appears to have been the first and perhaps the 

 only person on the continent who knew any thinsr, of the 

 £)artford Warbler as a naturalist, seems to have known very 

 little more than the bird itself, and that it had been found 

 in Provence, (as his name evinces,) but nothing of its habits. 

 If he had not figured it in PL enl. 655. f. 1, it would 

 scarcely be conceived that the history given by that author 

 could be intended for this species. We must therefore con- 

 clude that he, like other great men, was deceived in that 

 part of its natural history related by JVI. Guys of Marseilles, 

 from whom he seems to have collected, that this bird not 

 only feeds amongst cabbages on the smaller lepidopterous 



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