SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 47 



oval-shaped eggs, yellowish-brown, with elongated marks of dark 

 olive brown. Young birds are of a much lighter colour than adults. 

 Mr. Gould believes the " Olivaceous Gallinule'' and '' Little Galli- 

 nule" of Montagu to be identical with the present species. 



Common Kite, Milvus vulgaris, — Milan royal, Fr., — Falco coUa- 

 coda-furcata, It., — Rother Milan, G. We must confess this plate 

 does not please us ; nay, in the somewhat tame figure we did not at 

 first recognize the beautiful bird it is intended to represent. It can 

 scarcely be said that any of the illustrations in the Birds of Europe 

 are bad, and, comparatively with most other ornithological works, 

 very few are indifierent. The Kite is equally, but sparingly, distri- 

 buted over the British Islands ; but is much less common than for- 

 merly. On the continent it has a wide range, appearing to inhabit 

 all the well-wooded districts. The elegance of the aerial evolutions 

 of this bird must be familiar to most of our readers, either by 

 description or actual observation. " Its prey, which consists of 

 mice, rats, leverets, young gallinaceous birds, ducks, reptiles, fishes 

 and insects, is sought for while it is soaring in the air at a moderate 

 distance from the ground, and is taken by a swoop so noiseless and 

 rapid, that little or no warning is given of its approach ; in this 

 way it sometimes commits great havoc among young broods of poul- 

 try, pheasants, partridges, &c." The nest is constructed, early in 

 the spring, of sticks, lined with wool and hair, in the densest part 

 of the forest. The eggs, three or four, greyish white, spotted with 

 reddish-brown. Sex and age effect no very remarkable changes in 

 the appearance of the Kite. The figure, of an adult, is three- 

 fourths of the natural size. 



Lapland Longspur, Plectrophanes Lapponica, — Bruant raontain, 

 Fr., — Lerchin Sporner, G. It is not at present known whether 

 the adult male of this species loses its strikingly contrasted colours 

 in winter or not. The Lapland Longspur breeds within the arctic 

 circle, but it passes southward in winter, in Europe as far south as 

 Switzerland, and in America visiting the northern parts of the 

 United States. Dr. Richardson informs us that the nest is " placed 

 upon a small hillock, among moss and shrubs, and is composed ex- 

 ternally of the dried stems of grass, interwoven to a considerable 

 thickness, and lined very neatly and compactly with deer's hair. 

 The eggs are usually of a pale ochre yellow, spotted with brown.'' 

 Its food consists of the seeds of mountain plants, &c. It appears to 

 be an almost exclusively terrestrial species, from the circumstance 

 of the British-killed specimens having been met with amongst vast 

 quantities of Larks in the London markets. The females and the 



