A Dictionary of Birds, 3–4. osa

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A. and C. Black, 1894 - 1212 pages

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Page 633 - Certain it is that some birds, whether by mistake or stupidity, do not unfrequently lay their eggs in the nests of others. It is within the knowledge of many that pheasants
Page 12 - Linnseau method to all the species described. Not to recur again to his labours, it may be said here that between 1821 and 1828 he published at Winchester, in eleven volumes, an enlarged edition of his original work, entitling it A General History of Birds ; but his defects as a compiler, which had been manifest before, rather increased with age, and the consequences were not...
Page 657 - London, | Printed for John Stafford, and are to | be sold at his House, at the George at | Fleet-bridge. 1655.
Page 9 - Birds which are carnivorous or scavengers. But greater value lies in his generic or sub-generic divisions, which, taken as a whole, are far more natural than those of Linnaeus, and consequently capable of better diagnosis. More than this, he seems to be the earliest ornithologist, perhaps the earliest zoologist, to conceive the idea of each genus possessing what is now called a
Page 817 - Scissor-tails have one remarkable habit ; they are not gregarious, but once every day, just before the sun sets, all the birds living near together rise to the tops of the trees, calling to one another with loud, excited chirps, and then mount upwards like rockets to a great height in the air; then, after whirling about for a few moments, they precipitate themselves downwards with the greatest violence, opening and shutting their tails during their wild zigzag flight, and uttering a succession of...
Page 809 - The long wings, the outermost primary of which in Syrrhuptts has its shaft produced into an attenuated filament, are in all the species worked by exceedingly powerful muscles, and in several forms the middle rectrices are likewise protracted and pointed, so as to give to their wearers the name of Pin-tailed Sand-Grouse.1 The nest is a shallow hole in the sand.
Page 936 - ... the salivary glands above mentioned, which dries and looks like isinglass. Their marketable value depends on their colour and purity, for they are often intermixed with feathers and other foreign substances. The swifts that construct these
Page 929 - Ilchcster, on the water called the Fleet, lying inside the Chesil Bank on the coast of Dorset, where from 700 to double that number of birds may be kept — a stock doubtless too great for the area, but very small when compared with the numbers that used to be retained on various rivers in the country.
Page 929 - ... game" (to use the old legal term) of Swans should bear a distinguishing mark of ownership (cygninota) on the bill. Originally this privilege was conferred on the larger freeholders only, but it was gradually extended, so that in the reign of Elizabeth upwards of 9oo distinct Swan-marks, being those of private persons or corporations, were recognized by the royal Swanherd, whose jurisdiction extended over the whole kingdom
Page 809 - Lighter tints are, however, exhibited by some species — the drab merging into a pale grey, the buff brightening into a lively orange, and streaks or edgings of an almost pure white relieve the prevailing sandy or fawn-coloured hues that especially characterize the group. The sexes seem always to differ in plumage, that of the male being the brightest and most diversified. The expression is decidedly Dove-like, and so is the form of the body...

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