SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 
411 
transcribe, from that excellent work, the description of the bird. It will afford 
a fair example of the Dutchman’s style, and be found to correspond well with 
the figures, as delineated by Gould ; and by Werner in the seventh plate of 
the seventh Livmison of his Atlas des Oiseaux d! Europe. 
“ Forehead, region of the eyes, and ears, black ; occiput, nape, and back, ash- 
grey ; throat white ; breast and flanks, of a rose-red ; wings black ; on the quills, 
only a white mark; first tail-feather white; on the second, black along the 
stem; on the third, a great black spot, terminated with white ; on the fourth, 
a more considerable black spot, with an extremity of pure white ; the four middle 
feathers perfectly black. Length, eight inches. The female has the rose-colour 
less bright, the black band of the forehead and ears more narrow; this band and 
the black of the wings verging more to brown. 
“ The young of the year , and both sexes after the Autumnal moult, do not 
exhibit the black frontal band. This part is, in Winter, of a dull ash-grey; 
after the Spring-moult, all the individuals have the black stripe, and the rose- 
colour of the breast is more vivid. The young of the year are, moreover, 
distinguished by the dull ash-grey of the superior parts, all the feathers of which 
are fringed, and by the dull-white of the lower parts. 
“Inhabits the Archipelago, Turkey, Italy, Spain, and sometimes visits the 
North of Europe, as far as Russia; breeds also in some provinces of France and 
Germany, where the species is little diffused: very rare in Holland. 
Food: Phaloence , Scaraboei , Moles, Crickets, and the smaller birds. Propaga¬ 
tion. Builds on forest-trees, and in bushes; lays six oblong eggs of a whitish-green 
colour, which have, towards the centre, a zone formed by minute points of an 
olive-grey.” 
Here our examination of the First Part of Mr. Gould’s work terminates. A 
brief analysis, or recapitulation, of its contents may not be destitute of interest 
and utility to the ornithological student. The twenty plates of which it consists, 
comprehend representations of thirty-five figures, and twenty-three species, of birds, 
belonging to the seventeen following genera: Alcedo , Anas ( Clangula ), Chara- 
drius ( Pluvialis ), Corvus (Pica), Curruca, Falco , Gallinula ( Crex), Lanius 
(Collurio), Mergus, Motacilla , Perdix (Rufipes), Picus , Podiceps , Saxicola 
( Rubetra ), Sylvia , Turdus , and Yunx ( Torquilla). Eighteen of the plates 
represent one species each; and of these six, only one figure of the adult; and 
twelve, two figures : ten of the twelve exhibiting sexual, and the remaining two, 
seasonal—diversities of plumage. Of the two remaining plates, one illustrates 
two, and the other three—species. Seventeen of the species figured are British, 
and the remaing six, continental—birds. The analysis of Mr. Gould’s work will 
be resumed in our next number. 
Birmingham , Dec. 7, 1835. 
VOL. IV.—NO. XXXII. 3 G 
