PLATE CL. 



There is an cxpreflion of the late Dr. Johnfon that applies, if wc 

 miftake not, with peculiar aptitude to the difcuffions which have 

 taken place among Ornithologifts, refpeding the warbler before us : 

 they have literally tended to *' elucidate" the fpecies " into ob- 

 fcurity." We can fcarccly hefitate in admitting this, while we trace 

 the confufion that prevails among authors upon the fubjedl of the 

 greater and the lelTer Pettychaps, the Linnasan Motacilla hortenfis, 

 and the Fauvette of BufFon, all which have been at times confounded 

 together as a fingle fpecies. 



Before we attempt to unravel the web of obfcurity, in which thefc 

 birds and their congenors are entangled, it may not be amifs to con- 

 fider the greater Pettychaps feparately, as the few remarks we have to 

 offer on the other birds involved in the enquiry, may be introduced 

 with nioft propriety after that bird is duly noticed : indeed, a corre£^ 

 defcriptron of the greater Pettychaps, with a few remarks on its haunts 

 and habits of life, muft lead, in no very inconfiderable degree, to 

 point out the precife diftinftions that prevail between this and tht 

 analogous kinds of warblers, with which it has been confounded. 



The difcovery of the greater Pettychaps in Britain, is attributed to 

 the zealous affiduity of the late Sir Afliton Lever; having been ob-? 

 ferved by that indefatigable colle6tor, in the firft inftance, in Lanca- 

 fhire, and communicated by him from thence to Dr. Latham, for the 

 purpofe of defcribing in his general fynopfis of Ornithology. 



This bird, as it appears, was deemed, at that time, of fuflficient 

 intereft, to induce Dr. Latham to record its defcription in its proper 



place, 



