408 
SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 
Third Figure. —The Wood Wren (Larger Willow Wren, White, Yellow 
Willow Wren, Bewick), Sylvia sib'ilatrix , sylvicola , Latham,— le Bec-fin siffleur, 
Fr. —Griiner Sanger, G.— Spec. Char . ; Wing extending nearly two-thirds of the 
length of the tail; eye-streak bright-yellow; wing-feathers edged with yellow; 
under surface silvery-white. From the preceding outline, it appears that the 
third species, S. sibilatrix , is principally distinguished, from the first and second , 
by, a. the greater length of wing; b. the bright-yellow eye-streak; and c. the 
silvery-white of the abdominal plumage : and the second , S. hippolais , from the 
first , S. trochilus , by, a. the inferiority of size ; b. fainter eye-streak ; and c. the 
darker colour of the legs. The legs of the Wood Wren exhibit, like those of the 
Yellow Wren, a pale yellowish-brown hue. 
All these species are insectivorous and migratory; and visit the British islands 
only in the Spring and Summer. The Chiff-chaff, so termed from its monotonous 
song, answering, in sound, to that name, arrives, first, in March; the Yellow 
Wren, about the beginning of April; the Wood Wren, a few days after. They 
are all ground builders. The nest, composed of dead leaves and Grass, is, by the 
two first birds, profusely lined with feathers ; by the Wood Wren, invariably 
with fine Grass and hair. The eggs, from five to seven in number, of a white 
colour, speckled with purplish-red, or reddish-brown, more thickly at the larger 
end than elsewhere, are not readily traceable to their respective species. The 
spots of the Chiff-chaff’s eggs, are, ordinarily, darker in hue and fewer in number 
than those on the Yellow Wren’s. For the characters of the reformed genus, see 
Selby’s Illustrations , Y.I., 221. 
Eared Grebe, Podiceps auritus. —Five European and British species of Podi- 
ceps are described by Temminck and Selby. Of these, the subject of the present 
admirably-executed plate, comprising figures of a young and an adult male, is one 
of the most rare and beautiful. P. auritus ( Colymbus auritus , of Linnaeus and 
Brisson), — Grebe Oreillard, Fr .— Colimbo Suasso Turco, It .— Geohrter oder 
Ohren Steissfuss, G.,—is principally distinguished from its nearly-allied congener, 
P. cornutus , by the absence of the chesnut-coloured neck, and the rufous stripe 
which passes from the base of the bill, through the eye, to the occiput. The 
young, destitute of the long, silky, and radiating ear-feathers, from which the 
adult bird has acquired its specific designation, and of an uniform grey colour 
above, so closely resembles the young of cornutus that they have been confounded 
together, and regarded, by dusky ornithologists like Pennant, as a distinct species, 
under the title of P. obscurus , or Dusky Grebe. 
Grey Wagtail, Motacilla ( melanops , sulphurea , of older authors, cinerea , of 
the moderns), Bergeronnette jaune, Fr. —Gutrettola da Codizinzola, It .;—of 
which we have here two exquisitely-coloured figures, illustrative of the appear¬ 
ance of the bird in its Summer and Winter plumage. It strikingly resembles, in 
