'-16 WARBLER. 



weighs about two drachms and a half. Bill black, with a white base, 

 and the upper mandible a trifle curved at the tip ; iridesred; eyelids 

 deep crimson ; the upper parts of the head, neck, and body dusky 

 reddish brown; breast and belly deep ferruginous; the middle of 

 the belly white ; quills dusky, edged with white; the bastard wing 

 white ; exterior web of the outer tail feather white, and shorter than 

 the others ; the rest dusky. 



The female does not materially differ, but seems to incline more 

 to rufous than brown. 



We have reason to believe, that this bird is more common in 

 England than was formerly imagined : it first came under our notice 

 from a pair being killed on Bexley Heath, not far from Dartford, 

 on the 10th of April, 1773 ; these were sitting on a furze bush, and 

 had the manners of the Flycatcher, springing from the bush, on seeing 

 a fly passing within reach, and returning to the spot repeatedly : after 

 this, the bird was detected on Wandsworth Common, from which 

 place more than one Cabinet was furnished with specimens, but we 

 owe to the researches of Colonel Montagu the continuance of their 

 history and manners. From this Gentleman we learn, that they are 

 in plenty both in Devonshire and Cornwall, having seen them there 

 in the winter season, two being shot on the 8th of September, 1802, 

 and proved to be male and female ; in the gizzards of these were 

 found the elytra of some minute species of beetle, and some dark- 

 coloured seeds; they were seen occasionally in the same places till 

 the end of the year. The Colonel, continuing his assiduity, has 

 further proved, that the Dartford Warbler not only is a winter but a 

 constant resident, and that it breeds here : he was fortunate enough 

 to find two pair of old birds on the 16th of July, supposed, by their 

 clamour, to have young ones ; next day a nest was discovered, with 

 three young, placed among the dead branches of the thickest furze, 

 slightly fastened between the upright and main stems, but not in a 

 fork ; it was about four feet from the ground, but so hidden from 

 common observation, as not to be found without great difficulty; the 



