140 
SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 
European coasts, and especially in the Arctic regions of Europe and America* 
In Winter, it is plentiful on the coasts of Holland and England, and betakes 
itself to lakes and rivers when the seas are frozen. Feeds on small fish, Crabs, 
&c., and, when it repairs to fresh waters, Frogs, Newts, and aquatic plants. 
Flight rapid and often long sustained. Breeds in Scotland, the Orkneys and 
Hebrides, and the Northern shores of Europe, building a slight nest of Grass, 
Rushes, &c., on the borders of large lakes and morasses. Its two eggs are dark 
brown, blotched with black. The young do not attain the mature plumage till 
after the first Autumn. The young bird was described by the older authors as 
the Speckled Diver, C. stellatus , &c., the white throat of the latter, and the 
speckled plumage of the back, having, apparently, caused the mistake. 
Common Hawk, Accipiter fringillarius , Ray, —-E'pervier commun, Fr. —Spar- 
viere da Fringuelli, It. —Gemeiner Sperber, G. —Male and female, nearly the 
size of life; both, but especially the male, are too highly coloured, and, like most 
of Mr. Gould’s rapacious birds, wanting in boldness and vigour of aspect. Dis¬ 
tributed over the whole of Europe, in many parts of which, as England, it 
abounds and superabounds; occurs also in Asia and Africa. Of a bold and in¬ 
trepid character, feeding chiefly on the smaller Insessorial birds, but also on Par¬ 
tridges, Pigeons, and young poultry, which it sometimes destroys in great num¬ 
bers. We have known more than one instance of its darting after its prey into 
the windows of houses. It seldom misses its aim, but when this does happen, it 
repeats the stroke until its end is accomplished. The male is easily distinguished 
by its rufous throat and the richer hues of the back. Constructs its nest at the tops 
of trees ; eggs four, dull bluish-white, marked with angular red blotches. The 
Common Hawk delights in well-wooded and mountainous districts, where it 
daily destroys great numbers of small birds, 'Mammalia and reptiles. 
An adult, in mature plumage and two-thirds of the natural size, of the Gar- 
zet Heron, Ardea Garzetta , Linn. —Heron garzette, Fr. —Sgarza garzetta, It. 
'—Straues Reiher, G. —Mr. Gould’s figure is a very good likeness. The Egret 
Heron inhabits the Southern countries of Europe,—Sicily, Sardinia, Turkey in 
Europe, and the islands of the Grecian Archipelago, being its chief habitat. A 
small number migrate annually to France, and sometimes to Germany; it is 
generally considered a British species, but only two or three individuals have 
been met with in this country during the last fifty or sixty years. Its food con¬ 
sists of reptiles, insects, fish, and Mollusca , peculiar to its favourite morasses. 
The young bird, destitute of the graceful tuft which adorns the head of the adult, 
has been named the 46 Little White Heron,” which, however, is not the bird of 
that name described by Montagu. In Egypt it is called the “ Ox-keeper,” from 
its associating with the cattle, and feeding on the larvae with which the backs 
of these animals are infested. Nidificates amongst the herbage in morasses, and 
