CAGE AND SINGING BIRDS. 
49 
as perhaps not one good songster may be obtained out of 
half-a-dozen. Bechstein says, that only a very determined 
amateur would be at the pains of training a wheatear, taken 
when full grown; with plenty of meal-worms and ants' eggs, 
and great attention, it may be kept alive two years. The 
best diet for it is nightingale's food, with all sorts of insects, 
but no worms. Crickets and cockroaches the bird appears 
to be particularly fond of, and these can generally be pr(> 
cured from a near-at-hand bakehouse. The winter song 
of the wheatear is decidedly the best, and most varied; S 
is a very sprightly playful bird. Diarrhoea seems to be its 
most fatal disorder. 
THE DARTFORD WARBLER. 
A pretty little lively bird this, about the habits of which, 
either wild or in a state of confinement, scarcely anything 
seems to be known. Bechstein does not mention it, and 
Sweet's directions for its management are only conjectm-al, 
as he confesses that he never had one. Scarcelj^ bigger than 
a wren, of elegant shape, with a long graduated tail, and 
j)lumage which, although mostly sober gray and brown, is at 
once rich and harmonious. The Dartford warbler, so called 
because first found in the neighbourhood of the town of that 
name, in Kent, may sometimes be seen suspended, with 
quivering wings, over the furze bushes, in the thickest of 
which its nest is placed, or darting, quick as light, on its 
insect prey, in those localities of this country which it is 
known to frequent. The bird is believed to be a permanent 
resident with us, and there seems no reason why an attempt 
should not be made to introduce it into the aviary, where its 
sprightly motions, and sweet song (which, though weak and 
hurried in the wild state of the bird, could no doubt be much 
improved by culture), would form an agreeable variety. 
■ The best mode of Management would be that recom- 
mended for the chats, to which the furze wren, or furzeling, 
as it is sometimes called, is nearly allied. 
THE GRASSHOPPER WARBLER. 
This bird may sometimes be obtained of the dealers, under 
the name of the grasshopper lark ; it is, however, a rare 
species, and scarcely worth the trouble and attention re- 
