DARTF0RD WARBLER 



ashy brown, the throat uniform rusty buff and the remainder 

 of the under parts the same colour, only slightly more greyish 

 on the upper breast, more rusty buff on the flanks, and more 

 whitish on the abdomen. The under side of the tail and 

 wings is brownish lavender and the smaller under wing- 

 coverts lavender buff. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



In England this species is resident. It is found in Hamp- 

 shire extending to the Isle of Wight, Dorsetshire and possibly 

 Wiltshire, Surrey, Berkshire, Sussex, and in smaller numbers 

 in Cornwall, Essex, east Suffolk, Shropshire, and probably 

 Oxfordshire. It is also found in the Channel Islands, but 

 from Ireland there is only one record, a specimen having 

 been obtained at the Tuskar Lighthouse. The bird is 

 principally an inhabitant of south-western Europe. In 

 Spain and Portugal it is locally common, but it is absent 

 from north-eastern and central France, though found in the 

 north-west, south, and at the base of the Pyrenees. Its eastern 

 range in Europe does not seem to extend beyond Italy, where 

 it occurs in the central and southern provinces, as well as in 

 Corsica and Sardinia. There are records of its occurrence 

 in Malta, and on migration Gatke reported it in Heligoland. 

 In Morocco, Algeria, and Tunis it is common in places. 



LIFE HISTORY. 



I am not in a position to interpret the intricacies of this 

 bird's behaviour with any approach to scientific accuracy. 

 I can only give the impressions left upon my mind after 

 spending a comparatively short time in their midst at an 

 early stage in their sexual process. Of the later stages in 

 that process — that is to say, of the behaviour leading up to 

 the actual discharge of the sexual function, of the building of 

 the nest, and of the rearing of the young — I know nothing ; 



3 



