SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 241 



and morasses, abounding with lakes, of Eastern Europe. It is a 

 rare straggler in England, but a regular periodical visitant in 

 France, Germany, and Italy. Flies with elegance and rapidity, and 

 takes its insect food on the wing; it likewise runs with celerity on 

 the ground, where it frequently pursues its prey. Breeds amongst 

 osiers and tall rank herbage, and lays three or four white eggs. 

 The sexes resemble each other, but the young are of a more dusky 

 colour. 



The Mute Swan, Cygnus mutus — Cygne tuberculc, Fr. — Cigno 

 reale. It. — Hooker Schwan, G. Drawn and engraved, by E. Lear, 

 in a truly splendid and masterly style, and an excellent model for 

 the imitation of the ornithological painter. We have not a single 

 fault to find with it. Indigenous in England, and forming an ad- 

 mirable ornament in lakes flowing through gentlemen's parks. 

 More than one pair is seldom kept at one place, but we have seen as 

 many as twenty or thirty together. " The female lays six or seven 

 long oval-shaped eggs, of a greenish-grey colour, and sits about forty- 

 five days. During this extended period, the male keeps watch at 

 a short distance from her nest ; and when the young brood are pro- 

 duced, and take to the water, he is incessant in his care and guar- 

 dianship, and boldly advances to repel the intruder upon every ap- 

 pearance of danger." The sexes differ little. The young do not 

 attain their full plumage till after the second year, and are unable 

 to breed before the third. 



Adult male and female, the size of life, of the Sardinian Starling, 

 Sturnus wwzcoZor— E'tourneau unicolore, Fr, Found in the warmer 

 parts of Spain, Sardinia, and the rocky shores of the Mediterranean. 

 These birds live in small flocks, and breed in the holes of rocks, old 

 towers, &c., agreeing in most of their habits with the Spotted Starling 

 of Britain. The plumage is soft and glossy, and Mr. Gould's plates 

 are very good. Birds of the first year have the ends of the feathers 

 tipped with white; the sexes scarcely offer any difference worth 

 mentioning. 



Longtailed Hareld, Harelda glacialisj Leach — Miclon a-longue- 

 queue, Fr. — Eisente Trente, G. A male and female, three-fourths 

 of the living size ; characteristic, but not so gracefully situated as we 

 could have wished. Inhabits the north of Europe and America, but 

 is mostly found within the Arctic Circle, rarely travelling further 

 south than Britain, which it visits in considerable numbers in hard 

 winters, and a few remain to breed in the Orkneys. Sometimes 

 seen in the lakes of Germany, and abundantly in Russia. " The na- 

 ture of their food," observes our author, " which consists of Mussels 



VOL. VI. NO. XX. HH 



