440 



BRITISH BIRDS OF THE ROBIN KIND. 



which it was once made to comprise, contains three well-known British 

 species ; and I have reason to suspect one, if not two others, which 

 have hitherto escaped the attention of British ornithologists. I have 

 termed the genus by the English name pettychaps, in preference to 

 willow-wren, the latter not being at all applicable to these birds, and 

 implying that they particularly frequent willows, which is not the case. 

 Pettychaps is not quite so euphonical a term as could be wished, but 

 it is well known to most readers of natural history, as having been 

 employed by many writers to denote the garden warbler (Ficedula 

 hortensis), and also the chiff-chaff (Sylvia loquax, Herbert), contra- 

 distinguished from each other by the appellations larger and lesser • 

 How the garden warbler came to be so termed is not easy to imagine, 

 as it is one of the strongest billed birds of its genus ; and it is as diffi- 

 cult to conceive how the chifF-chafF came to be considered as a sort of 

 diminutive of the garden- warbler, there being no manner of resemblance 

 between them ; but chiefly, I suppose, from a disinclination to alter 

 established names, however inappropriate. The terms greater and 

 lesser pettychaps, have been adopted for these two dissimilar birds by 

 most of the British writers on ornithology. The name Pettychaps is 

 certainly very expressive of the delicate little beaks of the Sylvice (as 

 now restricted), and I have therefore employed the term as a general 

 appellation for the various members of this genus ; it being as well 

 always, I think, as far as possible, to have a vernacular designation for 

 every generic division. 



Sir James E. Smith (as quoted by Mr. Loudon) has well remarked, 

 in botany, that " while Rosa, Rubus, Quercus, Salix, Fiats, Cypri- 

 pedium, Epimedium, and Begonia exist, it will be in vain to deny 

 that generic distinctions are founded in nature, although botanists may, 

 as yet, be very far indeed from having discovered them all correctly.'* 

 That this remark applies with equal force to the other branches of na- 

 tural history, all, who have given them a study, cannot fail to testify. In 

 ornithology natural genera certainly do exist, but as the number of 

 species is not near so great as in botany, so also the several genera are 

 much less extensive. It is, therefore, possible, the generic divisions 

 being small, that the specific names can, in most instances, be rendered 

 significant and exclusively appropriate, each expressive of some pecu- 

 liarity not to be observed in the other members of the genus. Impressed 

 with a belief in this possibility, I have ventured, together with some 

 other alterations, to change the name of one species of Sylvia for a name 

 which I consider better and more expressive of a specific peculiarity, 



