62 
SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY* 
gradual advance from the bud to the full-blown flower; and in its different 
stages was wont to be mutually presented, and if favourably accepted, was 
deemed the pledge of future felicity.” The Rose only appears in its perfection 
of beauty when Summer has called forth all the glories of creation, and the leafy 
month of June presents its umbrageous woods sleeping in the fervid rays of noon. 
Hence the Rose is connected with our most delightful feelings,, our earliest 
excursions, our long-desired holidays, our tenderest recollections ; and hence the 
“ couleur de Rose ,” with which I have attempted slightly to tinge this paper, has 
become proverbial for that happy and exhilarating state of feeling which can 
see no imperfections, and trace no dark shadows within the scope of its 
imaginings—. 
“ Long, long be my heart with such memories fill’d, 
Like the vase in which Roses have once been distill’d; 
You may break, 3 'ou may ruin the vase if you will. 
But the scent of the Roses will hang round it still.’’ 
With this sentiment of Moore’s, I pause on my flowery excursion—for I can 
gather no other flowers on the same day with the Rose ! 
SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 
Gould’s “ Birds of Europe,” Part IY. 
By Shirley Palmer, M.D. 
(Continued from p. 29.) 
Great Grey Shrike, Lanius Meridionalis ,—Pie-grieche Meridionale, Fr .-— 
A native of Spain and South-Europe : distinguished from Lanius excubitor by 
superiority of size, and especially the fine vinous tinge of the breast-plumage; 
from Lanius minor by its shorter wings and cuneiform tail. Habits and nidifi- 
cation unknown. 
We have here three exquisite figures of the Starling, Sturnus vulgaris ,— 
E'tourneau vulgaire, Fr. —Gemeiner Star, G.,—exhibiting its peculiarities of 
plumage in the young, and its seasonal variations in the adult, bird. Verily may 
we assert that, until now, we have never seen justice done, by the hand of the 
artist, to this beautiful creature. The subject of our plate and S. unicolor , are 
the only European species of the Starling genus. 
Avocet, Recurvirostra avocetta ,—Avocette a-nuque-noire, Fr. —Avocetta 
o-becco-storto, It. —Blaufiissige Wasser-sabler, G. —Temminck’s French designa¬ 
tion of this elegant bird is peculiarly apposite : since the black colour of the back 
