312 SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 
the epithet, melolontha to a bird which preys as freely on lepidopte- 
rous and hymenopterous insects as on the cock-chafer, it would re- 
quire an apparatus of cerebral organs, far more finely constituted and 
fully developed than those in our possession, to discover. From the 
peculiarities of its external structure, mode of flight and capture 
of the animals which constitute its food, and its habits of crepuscular 
and nocturnal excursion in search of prey, the Night-jar evidently 
occupies an intermediate situation between the nocturnal Division of 
the Owl-, and the Swallow-Family. A due consideration of these 
circumstances will probably lead to the adoption of a more appropriate 
specific name than those we have so daringly denounced. Till then, 
the terms, Nyctichelidon vulgaris, may be conveniently employed. 
The eggs, two in number, of an oblong figure, and white colour regu- 
larly marbled with brown and ash-grey spots, are deposited, without 
nest, at the foot, or, sometimes, in the holes, of trees. The close re- 
semblance which exists between the plumage of the Night-Swallow, 
and young cuckoo, has been the source of divers erroneous statements 
respecting the habits of the latter bird. For an account of these, we 
refer the reader to page 121, of Rennie’s edition of the Ornithologi- 
eal Dictionary, of Montagu. 
Pirate IV. A delightful representation of Tengmalm’s Owl,— 
Noctua—olim Striz— Tengmalmi vel funerea—Chouette Tengmalm, 
Fr.,—Rauhfiissiger Kauz, G. This interesting little Night-owl, 
only of late years recognized as a British species, may be distinguish- 
ed from JV. passerina, with which it has frequently been confounded, 
by the more elongated figure of the body, the greater proportionate 
length of the wings and tail, and shortness of the ¢arsz, which, with 
the toes, are thickly feathered. It is widely distributed through the 
northern and eastern regions of the European continent, and the 
wooded districts of North America. A good description, and neat 
but not very characteristic figure of the bird, are given in the second 
volume of Fauna Boreali-Americana. Few specimens of it have 
hitherto been observed in Britain. As the two nearly allied species, 
whieh we have just been contrasting, are at once distinguishable by 
the presence, or absence, of down on the tarsi and toes, we trust that 
all “ good and true” Ornithologists will, henceforth, agree to respec- 
tively designate them by the characteristic terms of feather-foot, and 
bare-foot, Night-Owl, Noctua dasypa, and Noctua nudipes. 
PLatE V. The Common Tern—or Sea-Swallow,— Sterna hirun- 
do,—l Hirondelle-de-Mer Pierre Garin, F’r.,—Gemeine oder Roth- 
fiissige Meerschwalbe, G.,—Zee-Zwaluw, D. Two figures of the 
