The Dartford warbler (Curruca undata) is a Sylviid warbler from the warmer parts of western Europe and northwestern Africa. It is a small warbler with a long thin tail and a thin pointed bill. The adult male has grey-brown upperparts and is dull reddish-brown below except for the centre of the belly which has a dirty white patch. It has light speckles on the throat and a red eye-ring. The sexes are similar but the adult female is usually less grey above and paler below.
Its breeding range lies west of a line from southern England to the heel of Italy (southern Apulia). The Dartford warbler is usually resident all year in its breeding range, but there is some limited migration. The Dartford warbler was first described in 1776 by the Welsh naturalist, Thomas Pennant. He introduced the English name and based his description on two specimens that had been obtained by the ornithologist John Latham from Bexley Heath, near Dartford in Kent. In 1783 Latham included the warbler in his A General Synopsis of Birds but did not coin the binomial name, Sylvia dartfordiensis, until the supplement to his work was published in 1787. However, in 1783, before the publication...
