SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY, 
469 
are exceedingly sceptical. What, we would beg leave to inquire, are the 
peculiarities of structure which call for, or justify, this innovation ? The propriety 
of its removal from the Motacillce and Sylvioe , with which it was respectively 
arranged by Linnjeus and Latham, no enlightened ornithologist will for a 
moment question. The Wheatear is principally distinguished from its ancient 
congeners, by the “snow-white mark across the base of the tail f and hence has 
received, from good old Bewick, the homely but expressive name of White-rump. 
The specific designation, albicaudata , or albicoccygea , would, consequently, be far 
more applicable and characteristic than cenanthe of the older, or cinerea of 
modern, ornithologists. The British Wheatear is a migratory bird; arriving in 
March, and quitting in September. Gould’s two figures, illustrative of the sexual 
diversities of plumage, are finely executed. 
Turtle Dove, Columba turtur ,—Colombe tourterelle, Fr .—Tortora commune, 
It. —Turteltaube, G .—A specimen of the adult male, drawn and coloured with 
surprising skill and accuracy. 
Pintailed Sand-grous, Pterocles setarius , Temminck,— Tetrao alchata , and 
T. caudacutus , of Latham and Gmelin,— le Ganga cata, Fr., —inhabits the 
Southern countries of Europe, the sterile districts which skirt the Pyrenees, and 
the borders of the Mediterranean; and visits, at uncertain periods, the Southern 
provinces of France. It is a very handsome bird; and distinguished from the only 
other European species, P. arenarius , by the extraordinary length of the two 
slender feathers situated in the middle of the tail. Hence the English specific 
designation; and the obvious propriety of substituting the Latin adjective 
caudacutus , for the setarius employed by Temminck. The species of this genus 
constitute the genus (Enas of Vieillot ; and belong to the Tetraonidce , or 
Capricalidoe , of modern ornithologists. Two specimens, an adult male and 
female, are admirably figured by Mr. Gould. The bird is, also, prettily drawn 
and coloured in Livraison 25 of Werner’s Atlas. 
The Swift, C. murarius , Temminck,— le Martinet de muraille, Fr. —Rondine 
maggiore volgare, It. —Thurm Schwalbe, G .—Most of our readers are probably 
aware that this singular bird—with whose shrill scream, uttered in its rapid 
flight around the old grey church-tower in the glorious evenings of Summer, some 
of the best and brightest recollections of our earlier years are indissolubly blended 
—was arranged, by Linn^us, among the Swallows, under the title of Hirundo 
apus. Now the Swift, according to the established principles of zoological arrange¬ 
ment, is assuredly no Swallow: for the structure of the foot, with its four toes 
all anteriorly directed , suffices at once to distinguish it from every species of 
Hirundo ; one of the generic characters of which is the existence of “ three toes 
before , and one behind and the absurdity of designating by the epithet apus 
(footless) an animal which possesses feet, however small, is at once evident. The 
