J 76 



FAUVETTE. 



FALK. — A name for the Razor Bill. 

 FALLOW FINCH. — A name for the Wheatear. 

 FALLOW LUNCH.— A name for the Wheatear. 

 FAUVETTE {Sylvia hortensis, Bechstein.) 



*Motacilla hortensis, Linn. Syst Sylvia hortensis, Bechst, Naturg. Deut. 3. p. 



524. sp. 4 lb. Tasschenb. Deut. p. 169 Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. p. 509. sp. 3 — 



Turton, Faun. 1. p. 44 La petit Fauvette, Buff. pi. Enl. 579. f. 2 — Cuiruca 



hortensis, Flem. 70 — Bee-fin Fauvette, Temm. Man d'Orn. 1. p. 206 — Graue- 

 Grasmuiicke, Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. I. p. 224 — Braernsluiper, Sepp. Nederl. 



Vog. 2. t. p. 139 Greater Pettychaps, Mont. Orn. Diet, and Supp — Fauvette 



Pettychaps, Bewick's Br. Birds, 1. t. 218 Garden Warbler, Sweet's Br. War- 

 bler, A.—Selby, pi. 46. fig. 44. p. 176.* 



Length, six inches ; weight above five drams. Bill dusky above ; 



base of the under mandible yellowish ; irides hazel ; orbits white ; 



general colour of the plumage above light brown, inclining to olive ; 



below the ear is a dash of ash-colour ; throat, neck, breast, and sides, 



dirty white, inclining to brown on the two last ; belly and under tail 



coverts white ; quills and tail feathers dusky, edged with olive ; legs 



bluish brown. 



This species of warbler, which is not very plentiful in England, was 

 first discovered in Lancashire, and sent from thence to Dr. Latham by 

 Sir Ashton Lever. However, since it has become better known, it is 

 found to arrive in several of the southern counties about the latter end 

 of April or beginning of May. 



* Montagu informs us, says Selby, that it is found throughout the 

 greater part of England ; but he fixes the Tyne as its northern limit. 

 In this boundary of its migration he is certainly mistaken, as I have 

 seen it on the north of the river Tweed ; and Syme informs us, that 

 he has heard it on the Corstorphine Hills, two miles to the westward 

 of Edinburgh ; he also heard it in the Roslin Woods, but was not 

 aware what bird it was until he read Montagu's description of it. It is 

 a wild, shy, and timid bird, and it was with considerable difficulty he 

 obtained a sight of it. He first heard its note among some low bushes, 

 afterwards in a sloe-bush ; but on his approaching nearer, the warbling 

 ceased. On waiting a little, however, he again heard the strain, and at 

 length perceived it perched on the topmost branch of a tree below him, 

 and immediately knew it to be the bird from which the delightful 

 melody proceeded, by the direction of the sound, and the motion of its 

 little throat. Its song is very little inferior to that of the nightingale. 

 Some of the notes are sweetly and softly drawn ; others quick, lively, 

 loud, and piercing, reaching the distant ear with a pleasing harmony, 

 something like the whistle of the blackbird, but in a more hurried 

 cadence ; its song is frequently heard after sunset. 



