DISTINCTION OF SPECIES. 



135 



sionally entering- the water as above stated. On the contrary, the 

 same exertion seems to be used by them as by other diving - birds." 



" A large variety," says the same author, " with a dusky bar en- 

 circling- the bottom of the neck, and the white of the breast and belly 

 having- numerous small black streaks pointing- downwards, is mentioned 

 by Latham, in the Second Supplement to his General Synopsis, under 

 the title of the Penrith Ouzel. Two other varieties mentioned in the 

 Appendix to Montag-u's Supplement, I should consider as belonging- to 

 a very late brood of the preceding year, and which had not acquired the 

 complete plumage of maturity."* 



The young birds which were taken shewed no inclination to dive in 

 a tub of water, but shewed great uneasiness by struggling on the surface. 

 They refused all food, and soon perished. They will sometimes pick 

 up insects at the edge of the water. When disturbed, it usually flirts 

 up the tail, and makes a chirping noise. It sings prettily in the spring : 

 their flight is even and rapid, like the kingfisher, as their wings are 

 short. It is said to be met with in many parts of Europe, and even as 

 far as Kamschatka ; and in some places it is said to be migratory. 



DISHWASHER.— A name for the Pied Wagtail. 



DISTINCTION OF SPECIES.— We shall here mention the diffi- 

 culty naturalists labour under in the description of some birds, their 

 eggs, and nest. From a variation in plumage in some birds we doubt 

 not naturalists have enumerated a greater variety in some genera than 

 there really are ; in others a similitude of colour in distinct species 

 has occasioned their being confounded and blended together for one 

 and the same. We do not so much wonder at it in exotics, who come 

 to "us in an imperfect state. But this has frequently happened to those 

 of our own country. 



If the ornithologist attended more to the habits and manners of birds, 

 he would not be so liable to be led into these errors, being invariably 

 distinct in some particulars, either in their notes, their nest, eggs, place 

 of resort and various other circumstances necessary to be considered. 

 It is true, as in the case of the marsh and cole tit, which are still 

 supposed to be only a variety of the same species by some persons who 

 have never minutely attended them in their natural haunts, that the 

 eggs, and sometimes the nest, of distinct species are so nearly allied, 

 that it would puzzle the most scrutinizing eye to determine ; but other 

 concomitant circumstances in the habits and manners of birds, such as 

 the place of nidification, &c, &c, would determine. The length of time 

 some birds are arriving at maturity in their plumage is the cause of 

 very great difficulty in determining their species. The gulls are not 



