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SYLVIA hortensis. 
The Greater Pettichaps , or Garden Warbler. 
S. hortensis. Above light olive-brown, beneath dirty white, 
from the bill over the eyes a whitish streak, tail-feathers 
brown; with a grey-brown outer margin, the outmost 
obliquely half white. 
Sylvia hortensis. Turt. Brit. Faun. v. 1. p. 44. 
Bill dusky, the base of the lower mandible yellowish. Iris 
hazel. Upper part of the head and hack, of a light olive- 
brown ; in some tinged with a greenish yellow. Quills 
dark brown, with paler margins. Legs lead colour. 
Length five inches and a half ; extent nine ; weight five to 
eight drachms. 
The present species, whose colours are not so 
gay as some of the others, is nevertheless a plump 
handsome shaped bird, and its song is scarcely to 
be surpassed by any of the genus, the Nightingale 
excepted. It first visits us in the Spring, about the 
latter end of April, or the beginning of May ; and 
its arrival is soon made known by its very loud and 
long song. It generally begins very low, not unlike 
the song of the Swallow, but raises it by degrees, 
until it resembles the song of the Blackbird, singing 
nearly all through the day, and the greater part of 
the time that it stays with us, which is but short, as 
it leaves us again in August. In confinement, it will 
sing nearly all through the year, if it be treated well. 
In a wild state, if is generally found in gardens and 
