186 
SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 
gathered by Mr. E. Leyland, near Halifax. The specific characters in Sir J. E, 
Smith’s English Flora are very badly drawn up, for the shape of the leaves and 
the 'serratures afford no distinction. Mr. William Wilson, of Warrington^ 
observes, in the British Flora , that 44 the nectary which surrounds the base of the 
filaments is more prominent in lutetiana than in Alpina , and that this circum¬ 
stance, together with the general absence of bracteas, forms the only specific 
difference between them.” 
In the collection of the late Mr. J; Shepherd are some specimens ticketed C. 
minor ?, with the following remark appended 44 This plant was found on some 
mountains near Oldham, called 4 Pots and Pans*’ about the year 1792, by the 
Oldham botanist. It was given to me that yean I have grown the plant ever 
since, and have found very little variation in its growth,, although I have grown 
it in various situations, and think it different from C. Alpina of Smith.” I have 
not been able to find any other of this species or variety in any Flora that I have 
access to, and consider it referable to C. Alpina , differing only in being of a still 
more diminutive habit. 
Common Viper s-bugloss, Echium vulgare. —The specific character of this 
plant is not well defined. Dr. Smith, in noticing the stamina, says— 40 longitu- 
dine fere corollee” FI. Brit ., 222. Dr. Withering says,— 44 stamens much 
longer than the blossoms,” Vol. II., p. 232. Dr. Smith describes a variety (j3, 
Huds.) in which 44 stamina longissime exerta.” I do not think much dependence 
is to be placed on the length of the stamens. They are not regular in the genus 
Mentha , and in the above specimen they exceed the corolla. Gerard’s figure is 
good.—Col. Velley’s MS. Notes in Herbarium of the Liverpool Botanic Gardem 
Woodside , Cheshire , Nov. 15, 1838, 
SKETCHES OF EUEOPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 
Gould’s 44 Birds of Europe,” Part XIX. 
By Neville Wood, Esq. 
White Wagtail,* Motacilla alba , Linn. —Bergeronnette grise, Fr. —Cuttre- 
tola cinerea, It .—Weisse Bachstelze, G .—A good figure of the male, natural 
size. 44 In the early part of the present work we figured the Pied Wagtail, which 
is a permanent resident in our island, as the true M. alba of Linnaeus : subse¬ 
quent experience has, however, convinced us that that the true M. alba , a species 
* It seems to us a little Irish to designate so dark-coloured a bird as this the “ White Wagtaifi 
M. alba.” 
