132 
GREATER PETTYCHAPS. 
approaching to white on the centre of the belly, 
and being darker on the flanks and across the 
breast. 
The Greater Pettychaps, Curruca hor- 
tensis, Bechstein. — Curruca hortensis, Selby, 
Swain. — Greater Pettychaps, or Garden Warbler 
of modern authors. — This interesting and unob- 
trusive bird, in the districts where the Black- 
Cap is found, is scarcely so common ; at the same 
time it is generally distributed, and in Scotland 
extends farther north. It is a bird of extremely 
retired and shy habits, seldom appearing out of 
the thicket and shrubbery. By close and silent 
watching it may generally be seen, but it is 
commonly discovered by its full song : at times 
this is warbled from the thicket, but, we think, 
more frequently from some elevation, and we 
have often watched it thus occupied near the top 
of a tall tree. The song is continued for a con- 
siderable time, but ceases upon any noise or 
interruption, the bird dropping stone-like from 
its perch to the thicket, whence it makes its way 
by hopping or flitting beyond the reach of its 
alarm. The garden is a favourite resort for this 
bird, particularly if it be much interspersed with 
shrubbery, and it here finds an ample food both 
in the hosts of insects and their larvae, and in the 
smaller fruits when ripe. The nest is placed in 
a low bush in these cultivated parts, but it is 
much more commonly built in a tangled brake of 
