26 
SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY, 
which they serve only to disfigure and obscure. The proper designation of thi$ 
hitherto misnamed bird is obviously Mergus rubecala. 
Plate' VIII. contains figures of two species of Pyrgita , executed with equal 
taste, and fidelity of outline and colouring. The first is the Spanish Sparrow, 
P. Hispaniolensis ,—Gros-bec Espagnol, Fr. j —the second , the Alpine, P. Cisal- ( 
pina —Gros-bec Cisalpin, Fr. —Passer volgare, of Italian ornithologists. In their 
external characters, these birds closely resemble our domestic Sparrow, of which 
they are congeners; but differ much in their haunts. Of their habits and nidifi- 
cation, little is known. 
A splendid drawing of the Long-legged Plover, or, in the reformed nomen¬ 
clature, Black-winged Longshank, Himantopus melanopterus —1’E'chasse 
a-manteau-noir, Fr. —Cavaliere grande I tali an o, It. —Sehwarzfliigelige Strand- 
reuter, G .; formerly included, by Linnaeus, under the genus Ckaradrius. Of 
this genus, there are only two species at present known : the subject of the plate 
under review, a rare visitant of the British islands; and II. nigricollis , figured 
and described, by Wilson, in. pi. Iviii., p. 340, of Yol. II. of Jardine’s Edition 
of American Ornithology , under the name of Recurvirostra himantopus , or Long- 
legged Avocet. The latter is regarded, by Bonaparte, as a distinct species from 
H. Mexicanus. 
European Francolin, Francolinus vulgaris , Francolin a-collier-roux, Fr .*— 
Francolino, It.— An adult male and female, admirably delineated. The only 
European species of a genus which, in the natural system, connects the splendid 
Pheasants of the East with the sober-tinted Quails and Partridges of the Continent 
of Europe. This fine bird is the Perdix —, Tetrao Francolinus , of our predecessors 
in ornithological arrangement. 
Bose-coloured Pastor, Pastor (formerly, Sternus vel Turdus ) roseus,— Martin 
Roselin, Fr. —Storno roseo, It. —Rosenfarbige Drossel, G. —The admirable figures 
of this rare and beautiful bird, as here represented by Mr. Gould, in the 
adult and immature male plumage, may proudly challenge comparison with any 
iconographical productions in this department of science which it has ever yet 
been our lot examine. The colouring of the adult is as splendid, and that of 
the young bird as 'chaste and sober, as they are both correct. P. roseus is the 
only European species of the genus; seldom seen in Britain. Gould proposes as 
a query whether the young bird of this be not the “ Solitary Thrush of Bewick ?** 
A minutely-correct representation of the Arctic Tern, Sterna Arctica ,— 
Hirondelle-de-Mer Arctique, Fr. —confounded, till the time of Temminck, with 
the common Tern, S. Hirundo ; from which it may be distinguished, at all ages, 
by its smaller and more slender figure; longer and more elegant tail; shorter and 
less robust beak and tarsus, and the wholly red colour of the former. The eggs 
i 
