SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 47 



resting its breast upon the ground and striking backward with its 

 feet somewhat like the action of swimming.' 5 The sexes do not 

 differ, but the young birds want the glossy green black on the head 

 and neck of the adults. 



Doubtful Sparrow, Passer petronius, — Grosbec soulcie, Fr. 



Grau Fink, G. We do not remember to have seen a specimen of 

 the Doubtful Sparrow (the Foolish Sparrow of Latham and others), 

 and cannot, therefore, say whether the figure, of a male, natural 

 size, is characteristic. According to Dr. Shaw, " this species is 

 found over the greatest part of Europe, in the southern portions of 

 which it is migratory, but is nowhere so common as in Germany. 

 It is not found in this country : it affects woods, and builds in the 

 holes of trees, laying four or five eggs, and feeds on seeds and insects. 

 These birds are very delicate, as numbers are often found dead in 

 trees in winter, during which time they assemble in flocks." The 

 sexes of this species are similar ; and this and other characters point 

 out the propriety of removing it from the genus Passe?: 



Rook Crow, Corvus nudirostris, Palmer, — Corbeau freux, Fr. — 

 Saat Rabe, G. An excellent figure of an adult, rather under the 

 size of life, is given. We conclude that our readers, one and all, are 

 as well acquainted with the history of this venerable bird as we 

 are, and we shall not affront our subscribers or the Rook by giving 

 a detailed description of its mode of life. 



Common Sandpiper, Totanus hypoleucos, Chevalier guignette, Fr. 

 — Piovanello, It. — Trillender Strandlaiifer, G. The figures, repre- 

 senting, of the natural size, an adult and a young bird in autumn, 

 are both pretty and characteristic, though not altogether devoid of 

 stiffness as regards attitude. Occurs in India, Africa, and Europe, 

 including Britain, where it arrives at the end of April, and departs 

 in September. Food, insects, Snails, Worms, Crustacea, &e., " in 

 capturing which its motions are not less elegant than graceful, run- 

 ning with agility over the oozy mud and sand-banks, often exhibit- 

 ing a peculiar and singular jerking of the tail, and a nodding of the 

 head not unlike that of the Common Gallinule and some of the ter- 

 restrial Pigeons of the West Indies." In Britain " the task of in- 

 cubation is commenced soon after its arrival, the female depositing 

 her four delicate eggs, of a pale reddish white ground spotted with 

 darker red, on the bank near the water's edge, a mere hollow in the 

 soil or depression in the shingle serving instead of a nest." The male 

 and female are similar, and the young birds only differ from adults 

 in having the edges of the feathers fringed with a margin of greyish 

 white. 



