40 SKETCHES OP EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



Lovely figures of the male and female, the latter being distinguished 

 by the entire absence of the bright scarlet tints of the male. The 

 Scarlet Trascel has been confounded occasionally with Wilson's 

 Fringilla purpurea, an entirely distinct species. It appears to be 

 very rare in many parts of Europe, and our author is in possession 

 of some of the few specimens existing in British collections. It is, 

 however, common in Russia. It J'requents gardens, and its habits 

 are supposed to resemble those of our Hedge Coalhood, Pyrrhula 

 vulgaris. The young birds, as well as the female, have no scarlet 

 on the head and rump ; and we think, with Mr. Gould, that the male 

 casts off its brilliant attire in winter. 



Common Buzzard, Buteo vulgaris — Buse, Fr — Mause Falk, G. 

 We are very well pleased with the plate, representing an adult, two- 

 thirds of the size of life. The sluggish and timid nature of this spe- 

 cies is pretty generally known. Feeds on small mammaha and rep- 

 tiles, and even, when pressed by hunger, on dead or putrid animal 

 matter. Inhabits Britain and the temperate parts of Europe, espe- 

 cially the well-wooded districts. " The nest is constructed of sticks 

 in the densest part of the wood, and it sometimes takes up with the 

 deserted nests of Crows, Pies, &c. The eggs are two or three in 

 number, of a dirty white colour, slightly spotted with reddish-brown." 

 Mr. Gould informs us, from his own experience, that " the birds of 

 one year old are much lighter in their plumage than those of the 

 succeeding year," and that they become darker each year until matu- 

 rity, when the colouring is considerably more uniform. 



Subalpine Fauvet, Ficedula leucopogon — Becfin subalpin, Fr — 

 We believe it will be found necessary to remove this species from 

 the genus Ficedula; probably it will stand intermediate between 

 that group and 3Ielizopliilus. The figures on the plate, of both 

 sexes, summer plumage, are very fair. The male is distinguished by 

 the reddish-chesnut colour on the throat and breast : the young dif- 

 fer but little from the female. The Subalpine Fauvet never occurs 

 in England : " the natural habitat is limited to the south of Europe, 

 especially Italy and Sardinia ; it is also known to exist in considerable 

 abundance on the banks of the Nile, as far as Abyssinia. It fre- 

 quents bushes and underwood, living upon insects, small caterpillars, 

 &c. Of its eggs and nidification nothing is known. 



An adult male in the spring plumage, and a young bird of the 

 year, three-fourths of the natural size, of the Common Cormorant, 

 Cormoranus carbo — Grand Cormorant, Fr. — Marangone aquatico, 

 It. — Schwarze Kormoran, G. Tlie plate is " not bad," but scarcely 



