SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 
849 
places—a singular and instructive example of the instinct with which the Creator 
has provided animals, in order to supply their wants. 
Bupleurum .—Named from fiovs, an ox, and <jr\svgov ) a rib, in allusion to the 
■ribbed leaves of some species. 
Butomus .— By-ro/xos, from /2s, greatly, and rsfvw to cut, so named from the 
sword-like shape of the leaves. 
Butomus umbeilatus, Flowering-rush, Water Gladiole.—It is an ornament to 
the banks of our rivers and marshy ditches, and may be readily propagated in 
small ponds, or basins of pleasure-grounds— 
“ Her rosy umbels rears the Flowering Rush, 
While with reflected charms the waters blush.” 
Buxus .—From to become hard; or perhaps altered from nvfor, the 
Greek name for the tree. 
Buxus sempervirens , Box-tree.—The Box-tree is often used (with other ever¬ 
greens) for the internal decoration of churches at Christmas; and the custom 
still prevails at Oxford of decorating the interior of the churches with sprigs of 
this shrub at Easter. Wordsworth relates, that in the North of England it is 
customary at funerals to provide sprigs of Box, which are thrown by each of the 
attendant mourners into the grave of the deceased. The Box bears chipping 
remarkably well, and on that account it is a favourite for hedges and formal 
figures. A dwarf variety is universally cultivated for borders to flower-beds. 
There is no wood, perhaps, equal to it for wood engravings, which, since the 
modem improvements in the art, and the plan of cutting on the end of the 
block instead of the lengthway of the grain, is the most important purpose to 
which it is applied. Isolated Box-trees may be occasionally observed fifteen or 
twenty feet high, and as many inches in girt. Single trees of such dimensions may 
be seen in different parts of' England. 
* Coggeshall , Essex , 
Feb. 12, 1839. 
SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 
Gould’s 44 Birds of Europe,” Part XXII. 
By Neville Wood, Esq. 
(Continued from p. 300.) 
Part XXII.—We have now arrived at the last part of this magnificent under¬ 
taking, published on the first of August, 1837. It contains nearly thirty plates 
TTT" 
