82 SKETCHES OP EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



vourably of their own performances, and we dare say our author 

 considered his Redstarts well worthy of a place in his work when 

 he had drawn them. All the Redstarts are confined to the old 

 world, and the habits of the present species are well known to our 

 ornithological readers. 



Redlegged Chough — Fregilus ruflpesj Auct. — Coracias sonneur, 

 Fr. — Coracia di montagna. It. — Stein Corak, G. A very fair fi- 

 gure of the adult male, rather less than the natural size, but some- 

 what tame. The Swiss Alps, the Himalaya, and the rocky portions 

 of the lofty mountains of Europe, are its favourite localities. In 

 England it occurs in Cornwall, Devonshire, Glamorganshire, the Isle 

 of Anglesea, and the Isle of Man. The late Dr. Latham informs us 

 that a pair were shot, a few months ago, near Andover, in Hamp- 

 shire. Breeds in the crevices of the cliffs, the nest consisting of 

 sticks, lined with wool and hair. Eggs, three or four, greenish- 

 white, spotted with green and grey. Feeds on insects, grain, and 

 berries, and is easily tamed. 



Collared Turnstone — Strepsilas collaris, Temm. — Tournepierre 

 a-collier, Fr. An adult male and a young bird are figured. They 

 are well drawn, but they might have been engraved in a better 

 style. Inhabits Norway, the shores of the Baltic, Africa, America, 

 Melville Island, and parts of Britain. Feeds on insects, mollusca, 

 and Crustacea, which it finds amongst the stones on the sea-shore. 

 The plumage of the female is less brilliant than that of the male. 



Here endeth our analysis of the sixth part of the Birds of Eu- 

 rope, on the completion of which we beg to offer a few general ob- 

 servations on the character of the work. To commence then, like a 

 true critic, with the faults. The figures appear to us to be in ge- 

 neral too tame, the forms in many cases too thick and dumpy, and 

 the execution in too soft, smooth, and subdued a style. This is es- 

 pecially observable as regards the Falconidce, the Haw Grosbeak, 

 and others ; and the attitudes are too often far from natural. We 

 marvel, too, that the author has not introduced the nests and eggs 

 into the plates, which might easily have been done in the majority 

 of instances. But if our perhaps too severe judgment has succeed- 

 ed in scraping together a few faults, how infinitely heavier will the 

 excellencies prove in the balance. When we consider that we had 

 before no work containing good representations of European birds, 

 and when we remember that Mr. Gould's delineations equal, if not 

 surpass, anything of the kind that has hitherto been produced, the 

 philosophic ornithologist ought to be truly grateful to our author 

 for the admirable history of them here laid open to him. It is of a 



