(Vol. viii., pp. 173. 450.)
Allow me to thank C. BROWN for the reply he has sent to my inquiries on
this subject. I shall certainly avail myself with pleasure of the
permission he has given me to communicate with him by letter; but before
doing so, I hope you will allow me to address him this note through the
medium of your pages. The existence of the Myrtle Bee as a distinct species
has been denied by ornithologists, and as I think the question is more
likely to be set at rest by public than by private correspondence, I trust
C. BROWN will not consider that I am presuming too much on his kindness if
I ask him to send me farther information on the following points: What was
the exact size of the bird in question which he had in his hand? What was
its size compared with the Golden-crested Wren? Was it generally known in
the neighbourhood he mentions, and by whom was it known? By the common
people as well as others? From what source did he originally obtain the
appellation "Myrtle Bee," as applied to this bird? It has been suggested to
me that the bird seen by C. Brown may have been the Dartford Warbler
(_Sylvia provincialis_, Gmel.), wings short, tail elongated (this, if the
Myrtle Bee is the Dartford Warbler, would account for its "miniature
pheasant-like appearance"); a bird which, as we are informed in Yarrell's
_Hist. of British Birds_, 1839, vol. i. p. 311. _et seq._, haunts and
builds among the furze on commons; flies with short jerks; is very shy;
conceals itself on the least alarm; and creeps about from bush to bush.
This description would suit the Myrtle Bee. Not so the colour, which is
chiefly greyish-black and brown; whereas the bird seen by your
correspondent was "dusky light blue." Nor again does the description of the
Dartford Warbler, "lighting for a moment on the very point of the sprigs"
of furze (vid. Yarrell _ut sup._), coincide with the account of the bird
seen by C. BROWN, who "never saw one sitting or light on a branch of the
myrtle, but invariably flying from the base of one plant to that of
another." In conclusion I would venture to ask whether your correspondent's
memory may not have been treacherous respecting the colour of a bird which
he has not seen for twenty-five years, and whether he has ever seen the
Dartford Warbler on Chobham or the adjacent commons?