SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 'Jo 



on small fish. Crabs, &c., and, when it repairs to fresh waters. Frogs, 

 Newts, and aquatic plants. Flight rapid and often long sustained. 

 Breeds in Scotland, the Orkneys and Hebrides, and the northern 

 shores of Europe, building a slight nest of grass, rushes, &c., on the 

 borders of large lakes and morasses. Its two eggs are dark brown, 

 blotched with black. The young do not attain the mature plu- 

 mage till after the first autumn. The young bird was described by 

 the older authors as the Speckled Diver, C. stellatus, &c., the white 

 throat of the latter, and the speckled plumage of the back, having, 

 apparently, caused the mistake. 



Common Hawk — Accipiier Jringillarius, Ray — E'pervier coni- 

 mun, F7\ — Sparviere da Fringuelli, //. — Gemeiner Sperber, G. — 

 Male and female, nearly the size of life ; both, but especially the 

 male, are too highly coloured, and, like most of Mr. Gould's rapa- 

 cious birds, wanting in boldness and vigour of aspect. Distributed 

 over the whole of Europe, in many parts of which, as England, it 

 abounds and superabounds ; occurs also in Asia and Africa. Of a 

 bold and intrepid character, feeding chiefly on the smaller insessorial 

 birds, but also on Partridges, Pigeons, and young poultry, which it 

 sometimes destroys in great numbers. We have known more than 

 one instance of its darting after its prey into the windows of houses. 

 It seldom misses its aim, but when this does happen, it repeats the 

 stroke until its end is accomplished. The male is easily distin- 

 guished by its rufous throat and richer hues of the back. Con- 

 structs its nest at the tops of trees ; eggs four, dull blueish-white, 

 marked with angular red blotches. The Common Hawk delights 

 in well-wooded and mountainous districts, where it daily destroys 

 great numbers of small birds, mammalia, and reptiles. 



An adult, in mature plumage and two-thirds of the natural size, 

 of the Garzet Heron — Ardea garzetta, Linn. — Heron garzette, Fr. 

 — Sgarza garzetta, IL — Straues Richer, G. Mr. Gould's figure is 

 a very good likeness. The Egret Heron inhabits the southern 

 countries of Europe, Sicily, Sardinia, Turkey in Europe, and the 

 islands of the Grecian Archipelago, being its chief habitat. A 

 small number migrate annually to France, and sometimes to Ger- 

 many ; it is generally considered a British species, but only two or 

 three individuals have been met with in this country during the 

 last fifty or sixty years. Its food consists of reptiles, insects, fish, 

 and moUusca, peculiar to its favourite morasses. The young bird, 

 destitute of the graceful tuft which adorns the head of the adult, 

 has been named the " Little White Heron," which, however, is not 

 the bird of that name described by Montagu. In Egypt it is called 



