454 
ON THE IffEALY LINNET. 
and Europe. Should there he any, however, still disposed to regard these as 
mere varieties superinduced by the long-continued influence of external cir¬ 
cumstances, we have only to recede another step, and place in juxta-position 
the Buboes, Woodcocks, and Bitterns, of the two Continents; and after them 
any two species of the same genus, however dissimilar, and whether inhabiting 
different or the same localities. Or the question may be fairly propounded, how 
the European Sparrow Hawk comes to be represented by more than one closely- 
allied species in the corresponding latitude of America, and the Kestril of that 
continent by more than one analogous species in Europe ?—But as no one, in 
fact, now hesitates to admit all the above-named species as' really distinct—inas¬ 
much as the contrary opinion is quite untenable—we may forthwith proceed to 
the other extremity of the scale, and examine the claims of more intricately 
apjDroximate races to be ranked as species. 
The remarkable parallelism subsisting between a large proportion of the 
American and European birds is too obvious to have escaped the notice of the 
most cursory observer. It obtains, less or more, throughout every group which 
is common to the two continents; and abounds in instances tending to support 
the theory for which I contend. Thus, of twelve transatlantic species pertain¬ 
ing to the typical primary division of the Ardeidce^ or Heron family, corresponding 
to the genus Ardea^ as defined by Temminck, six are represented by as many 
analogous races in Europe, and may be opposed to them, commencing with the 
most diverse; those on the left being the European species, and the right their 
American representatives. 
Botaurus stellaris. B. lentiginosus. 
Ardea cinerea. A. herodias. 
Ardeola minuta. A. exilis. 
Egretta garzetta. E. candidissima. 
Egretta alba. E. leiica. 
Ngcticorax Gardenii. N. Gardenii ? 
Of the remaining species, the elegant European Purple Heron {^Ardeapurpurea) 
can only, as belonging to the same restricted genus, be opposed to the magnificent 
White Heron ( A. occidentalis) : and the abnormally structured Egretta russata 
and E. ralloides to the two dark-plumaged Egrets E. cceridea and E. rufescens ; 
though the former also deviate from the pure unsullied white adult garb which 
distinguishes the numerous typical representatives of the subdivision to which 
they pertain. The fauna of Europe is deficient in species to counterbalance the 
Ardea {?) mrescens, Egretta (?) Ludoviciana, and aberrant Ngcticorax molacea^ 
—of which the last-mentioned, as also the Bittern of America, have been met 
with in England, wherefore the occurrence of a solitary instance or so of Ngcti- 
corax Gardenii (?) of the American dimensions (to be presently noticed) on this 
