MOTACILLA. 
17. Motacilla curucca, the babbler: length five inches; 
bill blackfill; crown of the head cinereous; the reft of 
the upper parts inclining to brown ; beneath the eye a 
ftrealc of deep afii-colour; the under parts, and the edge 
of the wing, rufous white; quills brown, edged within 
with white, and outwardly with rufous grey; tail brown, 
edged with grey; the inner web cinereous, bordered with 
white; the middle feather the fliorteft, making the tail 
fomewhat forked; legs brown. This fpecies inhabits 
France and Italy; frequenting the hedges and building 
therein, not far from the ground. The egg's are greeiifih, 
dotted with brown. The food, for the moft part, is ca¬ 
terpillars. Scopolr obferves, that it is a reftlefs noify 
bird, imitating the notes of other birds; and hence it is 
called babbler. It is frequent in the gardens of Pifa in 
fummer, where it is called bianchetto. 
18. Motacilla pafierina, the paflerine warbler: five inches 
and a quarter in length ; bill flender and fliarp, and of a 
brown colour; irides red brown; the upper parts of the 
body pale afii-colour; the under parts of a greyifh white ; 
the tides inclining to brown ; over the eye a fmall whitifh 
ftreak; quills and tail dufky; legs lead-colour. Inhabits 
various parts of Europe, but not England. It is found 
in France, where it is called pafferinette; by the people of 
Bologna, cfiiviti; at Marfeilles, bucajigulo; and hoi-in by 
the Genoefe. It makes its neft on l'ome low bufti near 
the ground ; fuch as a goofeberry-bufti. It is compofed of 
dry herbs, -largeft on the outfiiLe, and finer within. The 
eggs are four in number, dirty white, i'potted with green 
of two colours ; moft fo about the large end. It has no 
other note than a chirp, which it repeats when hopping 
from one flmib to another. 
19. Motacilla hortenfis, the pettichaps. During the 
mild influence of fummer, this is one of the livelieft birds 
we know : each motion is expreflive, each accent is cheer¬ 
ful, and each gefture difplays the tendernefs of love. 
Thefe warblers arrive when the trees put forth their 
leaves, and begin to expand their blofl'oms; they difperle 
over a large extent; iome inhabit our gardens, others 
prefer clumps and avenues; fome conceal themfelves 
among reeds, and many retire to the heart of large woods. 
Poflefled of every other pleafing acquirement, beauty alone 
is wanting; but nature has here checked her profufion, 
and withheld decoration. Their plumage is dark and 
obicure. The robe of the nightingale is brown rufous, 
that of the pettichaps brown grey ; it is alfo lightly tinged 
with nifty on the fringe.of the coverts of the wings, and 
along the webs of the fmall quills; the large quills are of 
a blackfih cinereous; and fo are alfo the quills of the tail, 
of which the two outermoft are white on their exterior 
fide, and at the tips on both fi.des: over the eye there 
extends, from the bill, a white line like an eyebrow ; and 
under the eye, and a little behind, there is a blackfih fpot; 
and this fpot borders with the white on the throat, which 
has a rufty caft on the fides, of a deeper colour under the 
belly. This is about the fize of the nightingale: its 
total length fix inches ; its alar extent eight inches ten 
lines; its bill, from the tip to the angles, eight lines and 
a half; its tail two inches fix lines; its root ten lines. 
It afl'oeiates with the other fpecies in gardens, in thickets, 
and in fields of peafe and beans; they fit on the flakes 
which prop thefe ; and there they frolic, build their neft, 
and continually go out and in, tiil harveft, which pre¬ 
cedes their departure, forces them from their afylum, or 
rather from their feat of incubation. It is amuling to 
fee them play together, grow angry, and chafe each other; 
their attacks are gentle, and their quarrels commonly 
end in fongs. The pettichaps has been regarded as the 
emblem of volatile amours, while the turtle was the image 
of ardent and Heady love: yet the pettichaps, though 
lively and joyous, maintains a faithful and ftrong attach¬ 
ment ; while the turtle, all fad and plaintive, infringes 
often on the connubial rights. The male of the petti¬ 
chaps lavifhes a thoufand little carefl'es on his mate during 
incubation; he Ihares with her the folicitude for their 
79 
tender young, and does not abandon her even after the 
education of their family. 
The neft is compofed of dry herbs and ftalks of hemp, 
and lined with a little hair. It contains commonly five 
eggs, which the mother defects if they are touched: this 
approach of an enemy file regards as a bad omen for the 
expedled family. Nor is it poflible to deceive her with 
the eggs of other birds. “ I have often fet ftrange eggs 
under feveral fmall birds,” fays vifeount Querhoent; 
“ thofe of the titmice under wrens, thofe of the linnet 
under the red-breaft; but I could never make the petti¬ 
chaps hatch them ; they always broke them : and, when 
I fubftituted other young ones, they foon killed them.” 
From what'wonderful inftinct, then, do the pettichaps 
hatch the egg which the cuckoo drops into their neft af¬ 
ter deftroying their own ? and how can they fofter the 
ugly ufurper as their own progeny ? The pettichaps is 
of a timid character: it flies from birds as fmall as it- 
felf; and with better reafon it makes a rapid retreat from 
the fhrike, its formidable enemy; but the danger is for¬ 
gotten the moment it is paft, and the little warbler again 
refumes its cheerfulnefs, and frifks, and fings. Altnoft 
all of them retire at the fame time, in the middle of au¬ 
tumn ; and fcarcely any remain in Oftober. Their de¬ 
parture precedes the cold weather, which deftroys the in¬ 
fers, and blafts the fmall fruits, on which they fubfift; 
for they not only catch flies and gnats, and fearch for 
worms, but they eat the berries of ivy, mezereon, and 
brambles; they grow fat during the maturity of the el¬ 
ders, dwarf-elders, and privets, which afford them abun¬ 
dant food. 
In the Southern provinces of France, and in Italy, thefe 
birds generally abound, and are called epicurean warblers. 
In England, they are moft frequent in Lancafliire’; and 
the male and female are much alike. Though well-known 
birds, nothing can exceed the confufion which nomen- 
clators have introduced into the article of the pettichaps, 
or fauvette warbler. Gmelin and Latham have tranf- 
ferred the Greek name hippolais, which Linnrcus had in- 
judicioufly applied to this bird, and have bellowed it on 
another bird about one-third of the fize; and at the fame 
time they have given the pettichaps the epithet liortenfis. 
Yet, while thefe two authors agree in the application of 
the terms, the one afierts that the Motacilia hortenfis is 
larger than the redpole or black-cap, but the other repre- 
fents it as fmaller than even the linnet. 
20. Motacilla hippolais, the fmaller pettichaps: bill 
fhort; the upper mandible black ; the under bluifli; in- 
fide of the mouth flefh-colour; above and below the eye 
a yellowifh line; head, neck, and upper parts, greeniih 
afh-colour; quills and tail moufe-colour, with greenifh 
edges and black (hafts; under wing-coverts yellow ; belly 
filvery white; the bread darker, and tinged with yellow; 
legs lead-coloured. This is frequent in feveral parts of 
England, and a neft of an arched form, compofed of dry 
bents, mixed with a little mofs, and thickly lined with 
feathers : it is placed on the ground under a tuft of grafs, 
or at the bottom of a bifih. The eggs are five in num¬ 
ber, white, fprinkled all over with fmall red fpots, moft 
fo at the largeft end. In Dorfetfhire it is known by the 
name of hay-bird ; in Yorkfhire it is called the beam-bird. 
21. Motacilla melogafter, the black-breafted pettichaps. 
This fpecies has a black collar, or rather a broad femi- 
lunar flripe which goes entirely round the lower front 
of the neck, above which the neck is of a moft delicate 
white. The upper furface is entirely of a greyifh green, or 
olive-colour; the wing-quills are blackfih, bordered with 
olive; fo are the middle tail-quills; the lateral ones are • 
partly white, fo that the under part of the tail appears 
quite white. All the under furface of the body is yel¬ 
lowifh white. A black patch covers the upper part of 
the cheek, at the extremity of which patch lies the eye, 
which is brown ; the bill is black; legs and feet yellowifh. 
The male is about the fize of the fmaller pettichaps of 
Europe, juft deferibed; and is reprefented on Plate II. 
1 fig. 
