BRITISH BIRDS OF THE ROBIN KIND. 4&O 



Genus Phragmites ; Aquatic warbler. 



The reed warbler . . . v. . s> . Phr. arundinacea 



The sedge warbler . . . * .' . Phr. salicaria 



The grasshopper warbler . . Phr. locustella 



Genus Sylvia; Pettychaps. 



The shivering pettychaps or wood wren . S. sibilalrix 



The garden pettychaps, or willow wren . S. melodia 



The loquacious pettychaps, or chiff-chaff . S. loquax 



and one or two other species which will be mentioned in the sequel. 



All these various birds together with the wrens, the wagtails, the 

 accentors, and a host of others, were included in the immense genus 

 Molacilla of Linnaeus and his immediate followers ; and, with the 

 exception of the wagtails, in the genus Sylvia of Dr. Latham and 

 M. Temminck. The gold-crests (Reguhis) and I believe also the 

 accentors, are still generally classed amongst the Sylvianee, but they 

 can hardly be said to range naturally with those birds ; further obser- 

 vation, I have no doubt, will assimilate them more closely than has 

 been done hitherto, and assign for each of these two genera a better 

 and more appropriate situation. 



The general systematic arrangement and nomenclature of birds, 

 are yet, I consider, quite in their infancy ; we require a vast deal of 

 information on the habits and general economy of various foreign groups 

 before any attempt can be successful towards forming a good and 

 natural general arrangement. I am far, however, from supposing this 

 to be an impossibility ; time, and a few more such volumes as those 

 of Wilson, and Le Vaillant, and Audubon, are necessary to effect it- 

 The works of these worthies alone have done more towards advancing 

 our knowledge of the feathered creation than all the systematic cata- 

 logues that ever were written, and these authors' names will stand high, 

 and be quoted as authorities, when the mass of compilers and mere 

 museum naturalists will have sunk into oblivion. There is no great 

 difficulty in arranging animals when once their general economy and 

 habits are well understood, but without a competent and thorough 

 knowledge of these various particulars, it is of little use attempting to 

 form them into anything like a natural systematic arrangement. Very 

 little is known, at present, respecting the manners and the habits of 

 the feathered inhabitants of various portions of the globe. These have 

 yet to be scrutinised, and studied in their native haunts with the same 

 patience, and diligence, and persevering assiduity which mark the 

 naturalists whose names I have mentioned, and which still distinguish 



