THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



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long and graduated, and the outer feathers 

 edged with white. Throat chesnut, with 

 transverse white streaks. The whole of 

 the under parts chesnut red, with a tint of 

 purple, darkest at the sides. Belly white. 

 Legs and feet brown. 



The Female resembles the male, but is 

 riot so bright in colour. 



The Young are similar to the female, 

 but duller in colour. 



Varieties of this species are not recorded. 



Note. — The note or song, if it may be 

 so called, of this bird is weak, but lively, of 

 little variety, but continuous. Edward New- 

 man says, {Letters of Rusticus), " If you have 

 ever watched a common wren (a Kitty wren 

 we call her), you must have observed that 

 she cocked her tail bolt upright, strained 

 her little beak at right angles, and her 

 throat in the same fashion, to make the 

 most of her fizgig of a song, and kept on 

 jumping and jerking and frisking about, for 

 all the world as though she was worked by 

 steam : well, that's more the character of 

 the Dartford Warbler, or as we call, the 

 Furze-wren." It has also a call note. Like 

 the Sedge Warbler it will often break out 

 into a lively song if a stone be thrown near 

 where it is lurking. 



Flight. — The flight is performed by 

 Short jerks, and rarely for long distances. 

 For the most part it is confined to the furze 

 bushes, which the bird frequents. Newman 

 says, " When the leaves are off the trees, 

 and the chill winter winds have driven the 

 summer birds to the olive gardens of Spain, 

 or across the Straits, the Furze-wren is in 

 the height of his enjoyment. I have seen them 

 by dozens skipping about the furze, lighting 

 for a moment upon the very point of the 

 sprigs, and instantly diving out of sight 

 again, singing out their angry impatient 

 ditty, for ever the same." Mr. Bond says 

 they fly a great deal like the Long-tailed 



Tit, but not so far at once, only just topping 

 the furze bushes. 



Migration. — This bird remains in 

 England throughout the year. 



Food. — Its food consists of insects. It 



is said to capture flies upon the wing, and 

 to pursue them from the top of a bush, re- 

 turning, after the capture, to the same twig, 

 after the manner of Flycatchers. 



In Confinement they may be fed like 

 other insectivorous birds, with the addition 

 of fruit. 



Habitat. — This bird was first noticed 

 in the neighbourhood of Dartford, in Kent, 

 but it has since been found in the furze 

 districts of most of the southern counties of 

 England, although very local. In the 

 neighbourhood of Godalming it was common 

 at the time that the " Letters of Rusticus" 

 was written (1849). They inhabit downs 

 and commons where the furze is thick, and 

 are very shy, lively, and difficult to approach. 

 It is not known in Scotland, Wales, or 

 Ireland. 



Abroad. — They occur in many parts of 

 south and central Europe where there is 

 suitable ground. Also in Palestine, Egypt, 

 Algiers, and Morocco. 



Nest. — The following description is by 

 Col, Montagu:— The nest is composed of 

 dry vegetable stalks, particularly goosegrass, 

 mixed with tender dead branches of furze, 

 not sufficiently hardened to become prickly : 

 these are put together in a very loose 

 manner, and intermixed very sparingly 

 with wool. In one of the nest's was a single 

 Partridge's feather, The lining is equally 

 sparing, for it consists only of a few dry 

 stalks of some species of cavex, without a 

 single leaf of the plant, and only two or 

 three of the panicles. This thin, flinsy, 

 structure, which the eye pervades in all 

 parts, much resembles the nest of the 

 White Throat." Mr. Bond says that his 



