)P L A T iE CL, 



feircls, we have fome fpepiilieiis which feem to accord with the defcrlp« 

 Hon pretty nearly, we are not fandioned by any authority in referring 

 then^ to the particular fpecies before lis ; we muft reft our opinion on the 

 Accuracy of thofe by whom the eggs of the two birds have been feea 

 and afcertained, and by thofe they are defcribed as being very dif 

 fetent from each other. — Upon this fubjeft we muft however obferve, 

 that the author of the Ornithological Didionary defcribes the eggs oli 

 ^ur greater Pettychaps, in the fame terms as thofe of the Fauvette are 

 defcribed above. This we fufpeft may arife from a defire in the 

 author to render the hiftory of the bird complete ; he concludes the 

 greater Pettychaps muft be the true Hortenfis, and confequently the 

 FauVette, and under this perfuafion, may have been induced to 

 'defcribe the egg of the latter as that of the Greater Pettychaps ; this 

 fuggeftion will fcarcely appear doubtful, when the language of its 

 author it collated with that of the French naturalift *. It appeared 

 Very material to the difcrimination of the two fpecies to digrefs on 

 this point, or we fliould not have mentioned it. The diffimilarity 

 between the eggs of thefe birds ftiould be carefully regarded. It can-* 

 not be unknown that the diftinflion in the eggs are as permanent as the 

 charaflers obfervable in the bird, and fliould thefe exhibit the dif- 

 ference ftated, as the authorities mentioned, incline us to believe 

 there cannot remain a doujjt that the two birds are diftinft. 



• ** It lays four eggs, about the fize of a Hedge Sparrow's, weighing about thirty-fix 

 grains,, of a dirty white, Jjlotchcd all over with light brown, moft numerous at the larger 

 end, where fpots of afh appear." Orn. DiSi. — " La femelle y depofe ordinairement quatre 

 CBufs pefant chacun trente-fix grains, d'gn blanc fale, avec petites tachcs brunatre* 

 affcz nombreufea et plus rapprochees au gtos bout.'* 



Vol. VII. D 



Authors 



