SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 2^$ 



was, we know, first proposed by the illustrious Cuvier. But we 

 bend not to the authority of names even as great as his. The facts 

 of unerring Nature, not the whims and fantasies of erring and in- 

 stable man, are the foundation on which we should seek to erect 

 the imperishable edifice consecrated to Science, and only worthy of 

 its destination when so erected. What are the characters which, in 

 the opinion of the French zoologist, justify this deviation from the 

 track of his able predecessor, Ray ? the greater length and less 

 curved figure of the posterior claw ; by which the (so-named) Bu. 

 dijtes is connected with the Pipits and the Larks, — Farlouses et 

 Alouettes, Fr., — Anthi et Alaudce, L. See Regne Animal, v. i., p; 

 391. Now, such peculiarity of structure, we contend, although 

 furnishing a good sub-generic — , is not of sufficient weight to con- 

 stitute, alone, a generic character : more especially, as all the four 

 British species otherwise exhibit a close resemblance to each other 

 in structure. The First of Mr. Gould's plates represents two fi- 

 gures, male and female, of the Yellow Wagtail, Motacilla (Budy~ 

 tes) jlava, — Bergeronette Printaniere, Fr., — Gutrettola di Prima- 

 vera. It., — Gelbe Bachstelze, G. / the Second, — corresponding fi- 

 gures of the Gray-headed Wagtail, M. (Budytes) neglecta, — a spe- 

 cies hitherto confounded with the preceding ; from which it is prin- 

 cipally to be distinguished by the blueish ash-colour of the head 

 and nucha, and by the existence of two white lines passing trans- 

 versely, one above, and the other below, the eye. In its manners, 

 M. neglecta, described, by Temminck, under the specific designation 

 of fiava, is said to differ widely, in its manners, from the real Yel- 

 low Wagtail of British ornithologists. However this be, the epi- 

 thet, neglecta, is highly objectionable ; and should be sentenced to 

 perpetual exile from the domains of science. A more appropriate 

 one will presently suggest itself to us. Where was the vigilant eye 

 of the Derbyshire reformer when he permitted such a scrub to pass 

 muster without summary expulsion or even reprimand .'* 



According to our views of ornithological arrangement, the four 

 British Wagtails may be distributed in the following Order : 

 Genus, Motacilla. 

 A. Hind claw moderately long and curved. 

 1. M. alba — melanoleuca. 2. M. hoarula. 



B. Hind claw elongated and less curved. 

 3. M. fiava. 4. M. poliocephala ? 



Even Dr. Fleming himself, — History of British Animals, — retains 

 the Yellow Wagtail in the genus Motacilla. 



Plate XV.^-The Sand-Grouse,— P^eroc/ej arenarius, — Ganga 



v2 



