SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 53 



Cinereous Sura, Snrnia cinerea, — Chouette Lapone, Fr. We 

 do not, on the whole, particularly admire the plate, which repre- 

 sents an adult male, three-fourths of the size of life. Occurs occa- 

 sionally in Scandinavia, Lapland, and Russia, but is only common 

 and indigenous in some parts of North America. According 

 to Dr. Richardson, " it keeps within the woods, and does not 

 frequent barren grounds, like the Snowy Owl, nor is it so often 

 met with in broad day-light as the Hawk Owl, but hunts principal- 

 ly when the sun is low ; indeed it is only at such times, when the 

 recesses of the woods are deeply shadowed, that the American Hare 

 and the marine animals, on which the present species chiefly preys, 

 come forth to feed." M. Paikul, a Swede, states that a specimen 

 in his collection measures two feet eight inches, being larger than 

 the female of Bubo maximus. Dr. Richardson discovered a nest 

 " on the top of a lofty Balsam Poplar, built of sticks and lined with 

 feathers. It contained three young, which were covered with a 

 whitish down.'' The sexes differ considerably in size — the female, 

 of course, being much larger than the male — but they are similar 

 in plumage. 



Black-tailed Godwit, Limosa mclanura. — Barge a-queue-noire, 

 Fr. — Pantana pittima, It. — Schwarzschwanzige Sumpflaufer, G. 

 The plate represents adults in summer and winter plumage, living 

 size. Distributed throughout Europe, and occurring also in India 

 and Africa. " In its manners it is elegant and graceful. The flesh 

 of the adult is rather coarse and rancid, but the young of the year 

 are more delicate, and are therefore more in request for the table. 

 A few pairs annually resort to the marshes in the neighbourhood of 

 Yarmouth, and to the fens of Lincolnshire ; but they are rarely 

 permitted to breed unmolested, their large size and peculiar actions 

 being sure to attract the notice of the sportsman or the egg-gather- 

 er. The eggs are four in number, of an olive green faintly blotched 

 with black, and arc deposited on the bare ground, among the herb- 

 age, with little or no nest." Feeds, on Worms, insects, larvae, &c. 

 It runs and flies with ease and rapidity. " The female surpasses the 

 male in size, and frequently in the brilliant colouring of the sum- 

 mer plumage." The rufous tints of summer wholly disappear in 

 winter, and the young of the year may be known, amongst other 

 distinctions, by the white streak between the bill and the eye. 



Blue Tit, Parus cwruleus, — Mcsange blcue, Fr. — Cinciallegra 

 picola, //. — Blau Meisc, G. The plate is good, though perhaps 

 the figure of the male is scarcely so excellent as that of Lewin. 

 M ill of life well known. 



