SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 257 



of winter, and whose abrupt precipitous cliffs are equally inviting as 

 a site for incubation. On the ledges of these rocks it deposits its 

 single white egg spotted with black : the young are hatched in about 

 three weeks, and shortly after are conveyed, but by what means is 

 unknown, to the water, an element to which they are so expressly 

 adapted, that their are enabled to swim and dive with the utmost 

 facility the moment they arrive on its surface, and to brave with im- 

 punity the rough seas which are so prevalent in the northern lati- 

 tudes. After the process of re-production is over, the adults are 

 subject to a considerable change in the colour of their plumage, ap- 

 parently caused by a general moult, even to the primaries which are 

 so simultaneously lost, that the bird is, for a considerable period, 

 deprived of the power of flight." The winter dress of the adults is 

 mottled black and white, the latter prevailing. The young birds 

 have the feathers white margined with black ; and the white spot on 

 the wings, invariable in the adults, is spotted also with black. 



Hyacinthine Porphyris, Porphyris hyacinthinus, Tem. — Taleve 

 porphyrion, Fr. — Purple Water-hen, Edwards. A bold and striking 

 figure of a most remarkable and richly coloured bird. The birds of 

 this genus are closely allied to the Coots and Gallinules, and their 

 manners are, to a certain extent, the same. The species represented 

 in the plate is a native of southern and south-eastern Europe, and the 

 adjacent portion of Africa. In former times, among the Greeks and 

 Romans, it was in high esteem on account of its beauty ; and in 

 modern times has received the name of Poule Sultane, or Sultana, for 

 the same reason. It frequents the marshy borders of lakes or rivers, 

 and is very abundant in marshy rice grounds ; in the swamps of 

 Sicily, Calabria, the Ionian Islands, and the whole of the Archipela- 

 go, and in the Levant, it is very common. Its food consists of grain, 

 seeds, and aquatic plants. 



Common Crossbill, Loxia curvirostra, Lin. — Beccroise commun, 

 Fr. — Fichten kreutzschnabel, G. — Crosicro, It. Two very charac- 

 teristic figures, representing an adult in its olive-coloured dress, and 

 a young of the year in its evanescent roseate livery. The Crossbill 

 is not a permanent dweller within the limits of our island, though 

 a few instances are on record of its having bred with us ; it visits us, 

 however, both in the autumn and spring, and sometimes (as in the 

 months of June and July, 1821) in great multitudes. It is singular 

 that the richest plumage of this bird should be that of immaturity. 

 Mr. Gould observes, that doubts exist in the minds of many as to 

 whether the rosy red colouring be characteristic of the breeding 

 vox,. VIII., no. xxiv. 33 



