Genus MELIZOPHILUS, Leach.

Gen. Cuar. Head large; bill short, greatly arched from the base, compressed, with the tip

finely emarginated ; ¢omea of both mandibles inflected towards the middle ; gape slightly

bearded. Nostrils basal, lateral, longitudinally cleft. Wings short, rounded, the first
feather very small, the second shorter than the third, fourth, and fifth, which are equal
and longest. Yaz/ long and soft. Legs having the ¢arsi strong, and longer than the middle

toe, which is nearly equal in length to the hind one.

DARTFORD WARBLER.

Melizophilus provincialis, Leach.

Le Pitte-chou de Provence.

We adopt the present genus as constituted by Dr. Leach, in the formation of which we consider him borne
out by the striking difference this bird exhibits in its characters to all the other European Sy/eiade. Its form
closely allies it to the Superb Warblers (Aalurus, Vieill.) of New Holland, while its relationship to the
Common Whitethroat, Curruca cinerea, is strikingly apparent: its rounded wing and very graduated tail,
however, form just grounds of distinction. To the British Ornithologist, the Dartford Warbler is a bird of
peculiar interest. It is a permanent resident in this island, a fact which is proved by our having received it
in a recent state at all seasons of the year. It is nevertheless far from being universally distributed, being
principally, if not exclusively, confined to the southern and south-western districts, where it resorts to commons,
heaths, and moorlands, clothed with thick furze and heather, living in a state of complete seclusion, being
habitually addicted to threading the thickest portion of the brushwood, whence it is not easily driven. In the
spring, at the season of pairing and nidification, it is more lively and more frequently visible, rising on
quivering wing above the tops of the furze, and uttering a hurried babbling song, much after the manner of
the Whitethroat ; at these times it erects the feathers of its head into a crest, and distends the throat,
exhibiting various attitudes and gesticulations. The nest is composed of dry stalks and grass, intermingled
with wool and vegetable fibres : it is in general placed in the thickest part of a furzebush, at a short distance
from the ground. The eggs, according to Montagu, are very similar to those of the Whitethroat, being
speckled with brown and cinereous spots on a greenish white ground.

The Dartford Warbler is found tolerably abundant on all the heathy commons in the immediate vicinity of
London, as well as those of Bagshot, Chobham, &c., but it is more particularly abundant in Devonshire and
Cornwall. In no place, however, is it to be found more plentiful than in the neighbourhood of Oakingham in
Berkshire, whence specimens have been sent us by John Rogers Wheeler, Esq., whose fine and choice
collection contains the most beautiful examples. On the Continent it is more abundant throughout Spain,
Italy, and the South of France, than in Germany and Holland.

Its food consists of various species of insects and their larvae, to which are added, as the season affords,

berries and fruits of various kinds ; at least they feed on such substances in confinement where they become

tame and reconciled.

The head, the back of the neck, and the upper plum
brown, with a ferruginous tint ; throat mottled with white ;
outer feathers of the latter, which have white tips and exter
tip ; legs brown.

The female resembles the male, except that her plumage is duller,
aces of the white edging to the feathers so conspicuous in the male.

age deep grey ; the under plumage deep reddish
wings and tail brown, with the exception of the
ior edges ; bill yellow at the base, black at the

the back being dusky brownish, and the

throat merely exhibiting tr
We have figured a male and female of the natural size.