Roftrum cultratum Unguiculatum Lingua ciliata Integra Lumbriciformis Pedes compedes Nares Lineares Marginate EXPLANATION of other LINNEAN TERMS. When the edges of the bill are very sharp, such as in that of the Crow. A bill with a nail at the end, as in those of the Goofanders and Ducks. When the tongue is edged with fine bristles, as in Ducks. When the tongue is long, round, and slender, like a worm, as that of the Woodpecker. When the legs are placed fo far behind as to make the bird walk with difficulty, or as if in fetters; as is the cafe with the Auks, Grebes, and Divers. When the noftrils are very narrow, as in Sea Gulls. $ 8. The PIGEON. The tame pigeon, and all its beautiful varieties, derive their origin from one fpecies, the Stock Dove: the English name implying its being the stock or stem from whence the other domestic kinds fprung. These birds, as Varro observes, take their (Latin) name, Columba, from their voice or cooing; and had he known it, he might have added the British, &c. for K'lommen, Kylobman, Kulm, and Kolm fignify the fame bird. They were, and ftill are, in moft parts of our island, in a state of nature; but probably the Romans taught us the method of making them domeftic, and conftructing pigeon-houses. Its characters in the ftate nearest that of its origin, is a deep bluish afh-colour; the breaft dashed with a fine changeable green and purple; the fides of the neck with fhining copper colour; its wings marked with two black bars, one on the coverts of the wings, the other on the quill-feathers. The back white, and the tail barred near the end with black. The weight fourteen ounces. In the wild ftate it breeds in holes of rocks, and hollows of trees, for which reafon fome writers ftile it columba cavernalis, in oppofition to the Ring Dove, which makes its neft on the boughs of trees. Nature ever preferves fome agreement in the manners, characters, and colours of birds reclaimed from their wild ftate. This fpecies of pigeon foon takes to build in artificial cavities, and from the temptation of a ready provifion becomes eafily domefticated. The drakes of the tame duck, however they may vary in colour, ever retain the mark of their origin from our English mallard, by the curled feathers of the tail: and the tame goofe betrays its defcent from the wild kind, by the invariable whiteness of its rump, which they always retain in both states. Multitudes of these birds are observed to migrate into the fouth of England; and while the beech woods were fuffered to cover large tracts of ground, they used to haunt them in myriads, reaching in strings of a mile in length, as they went out in the morning to feed. They vifit us the latest of any bird of paffage, not appearing till November; and retire in the fpring. I imagine that the fummer haunts of thefe are in Sweden, for Mr. Eckmark makes their retreat thence coincide with their arrival here. But many breed here, as I have obferved, on the cliffs of the coaft of Wales, and of the Hebrides. The varieties produced from the domeftic pigeon are very numerous, and extremely elegant; thefe are diftinguished by names expreffive of their feveral properties, fuch as Tumblers, Carriers, Jacobines, Croppers, Powters, Runts, Turbits, Owls, Nuns, &c. The most celebrated of these is the Carrier, which, from the fuperior attachment that pigeon fhews to its native place, is employed in many countries as the most expeditious courier: the letters are tied under its wing, it is let loose, and in a very fhort space returns to the home it was brought from, with its advices. This practice was much in vogue in the East; and at Scanderoon, till of late years, ufed on the arrival of a ship, to give the merchants at Aleppo a more expedi tious notice than could be done by any other means. In our own country, thefe aerial meffengers have been employed for a very fingular purpose, being let loose at Tyburn at the moment the fatal cart is drawn away, to notify to diftant friends the departure of the unhappy criminal. In the Eaft, the use of these birds seems to have been improved greatly, by having, if we may use the expreflion, relays of them ready to spread intelligence to all parts of the the country. Thus the governor of Da- Tofto che'l Caftellan di Damiata Quelle andò al Cairo, ed indi fu lafciata Εγώ δ' ̓Ανακρέοντο Και νῦν οἵας ἐκείνε I am now Anacreon's flave, . All the o'erflowings of his heart Each foft line, with nimble wing, The nature of pigeons is to be grega rious; to lay only two eggs; to breed many times in the year; to bill in their courtship; for the male and female to fit by turns, and alfo to feed their young; to caft their provifion out of their craw into the young one's mouths; to drink, not like other birds by fipping, but by continual draughts like quadrupeds; and to have notes mournful or plaintive. *As foon as the commandant of Damiata heard that Orrilo was dead, he let loofe a pigeon, under whofe wing he had tied a letter; this fled to Cairo, from whence a fecond was difpatched to another-place, as is ufual; fo that in very few hours all Egypt was acquainted with the death of Orrilo.' ARIOSTO, canto 15. † Anacreon, ode 9. sig magırıpán. 9. The BLACKBIRD. This bird is of a very retired and foli. tary nature; frequents hedges and thickets, in which it builds earlier than any other bird: the nest is formed of mofs, dead grafs, fibres, &c. lined or plaiftered with clay, and that again covered with hay or fmall ftray. It lays four or five eggs of a bluith green colour, marked with irregu extremely fine, but too loud for any place lar dufky fpots. The note of the male is except the woods: it begins to fing early in the fpring, continues its mufic part of the fummer, defifts in the moulting feafon; but refumes it for fome time in September, and the firft winter months: The colour of the male, when it has attained its full age, is of a fine deep black; and the bill of a bright yellow; the edges of the eye-lids yellow. When young the bill is dusky, and the plumage of a rusty black, fo that they are not to be diftinguished from the females; but at the age of one year they attain their proper colour, leaft mufical; but when tamed it becomes remarkably docile, and may be taught any in the jufteft manner: it feldom forgets what it has learned; and will become fo tune after a pipe, or to whistle any notes tame as to come at call, perch on its mafter's fhoulders, and (at command) go through a difficult muheal lefion. They may be taught to fpeak, and fome thus from Germany. inftructed are annually brought to London § 10. The BULLFINCH. The wild note of this bird is not in the The male is diftinguished from the female by the fuperior blacknefs of its crown, cheeks, breaft, belly, and throat of the and by the rich crimfon that adorns the male; thofe of the female being of a dirty colour: the bill is black, fhort, and very thick: the head large: the hind part of the neck and the back are grey: the coverts of the wings are black; the lower croffed with a white line: the quill-feathers dufky, but part of their inner webs white: the coverts of the tail and vent-feathers white the tail black. gardens, and are very destructive to ou In the spring these birds frequent our fruit trees, by eating the tender bus They breed about the latter end of May, or beginning of June, and are feldom fea at that time near houses, as they chufe fome very retired place to breed in. The birds are fometimes wholly black; I have heard of a male bullfinch which had changed its colours after it had been taken in full feather, and with all its fine teints. The first year it began to affume a dull hue, blackening every year, till in the fourth it attained the deepest degree of that colour. This was communicated to me by the Reverend Mr. White of Selborne. Mr. Morton, in his Hiftory of Northamptonshire, gives another inftance of fuch a change, with this addition, that the year following, after moulting, the bird recovered its native colours. Bullfinches fed entirely on hemp-feed are apteft to undergo this change. § 11. The GOLDFINCH. This is the most beautiful of our hardbilled fmall birds; whether we confider its colours, the elegance of its form, or the mufic of its note. The bill is white, tipt with black; the bafe is furrounded with a ring of rich scarlet feathers: from the corners of the mouth to the eyes is a black line: the cheeks are white: the top of the head is black; and the white on the cheeks is bounded almost to the fore part of the neck with black: the hind part of the head is white: the back, rump, and breaft are of a fine pale tawny brown, lightest on the two laft: the belly is white: the covert feathers of the wings, in the male, are black: the quill-feathers black, marked in their middle with a beautiful yellow; the tips white: the tail is black, but most of the feathers marked near their ends with a white spot: the legs are white. The female is diftinguished from the male by these notes; the feathers at the end of the bill in the former are brown; in the male black: the leffer coverts of the wings are brown: and the black and yellow in the wings of the female are lefs brilliant. The young bird, before it moults, is grey on the head; and hence it is termed by the bird-catchers a grey pate. There is another variety of goldfinch, which is, perhaps, not taken above once in two or three years, which is called by the London bird-catchers a cheverel, from the manner in which it concludes its jerk: when this fort is taken, it fells at a very high price: it is diftinguished from the common fort by a white ftreak, or by two, and fometimes three white spots under the throat. Their note is very fweet, and they are much efteemed on that account, as well as for their great docility. Towards winter they affemble in flocks, and feed on feeds of different kinds, particularly thofe of the thistle. It is fond of orchards, and frequently builds in an apple or pear-tree: its neft is very elegantly formed of fine mofs, liver-worts, and bents on the outfide; lined first with wool and hair, and then with the goflin or cotton of the fallow. It lays five white eggs, marked with deep purple fpots on the upper end. * This bird feems to have been the xvcouires of Ariftotle; being the only one that we know of, that could be distinguished by a golden fillet round its head, feeding on the feeds of prickly plants. The very ingenious tranflator (Dr. Margives the name of this bird to the acalan tyn) of Virgil's Eclogues and Georgics, this or acanthis: Littoraque alcyonen refonant, acanthida dumi. cients, we followed his opinion; but having $12. The LINNET. The bill of this fpecies is dufky, but in the fpring affumes a bluish caft: the feathers on the head are black, edged with afh-colour : the fides of the neck deep afhcolour: the throat marked in the middle with a brown line, bounded on each fide with a white one: the back black, bordered with reddish brown: the bottom of the breaft is of a fine blood red, which heightens in colour as the fpring advances: the belly white: the vent-feathers yellowifh: the fides under the wings spotted with brown: the quill-feathers are dufky; the lower part of the nine firft white: the co Which he places among the axavopaya. Scaliger reads the word gequire, which has no meaning; neither does the critic fupport his alteration with any reafons. Hift. an. 887. verts incumbent on them black; the others of a reddish brown; the lowest order tipt with a paler colour: the tail is a little forked, of a brown colour, edged with white; the two middle feathers excepted, which are bordered with dull red. The females and young birds want the red spot on the breaft; in lieu of that, their breafts are marked with short streaks of brown pointing downwards: the females have alfo lefs white in their wings. These birds are much efteemed for their fong: they feed on feeds of different kinds, which they peel before they eat: the feed of the linum or flax is their favourite food; from whence the name of the linnet tribe. They breed among furze and white thorn: the outfide of their neft is made with moss and bents; and lined with wool and hair. They lay five whitish fpotted like thofe of the goldfinch. $13. The CANARY BIRD. eggs, This bird is of the finch tribe. It was originally peculiar to thofe ifles, to which it owes its name; the fame that were known to the ancients by the addition of the fortunate. The happy temperament of the air; the fpontaneous productions of the ground in the varieties of fruits; the fprightly and chearful difpofition of the inhabitants; and the harmony arifing from the number of the birds found there, procured them that romantic diftinction. Though the ancients celebrate the isle of Canaria for the multitude of birds, they have not mentioned any in particular. It is probable then, that our fpecies was not introduced into Europe till after the fecond discovery of these ifles, which was between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. We are uncertain when it first made its appearance in this quarter of the globe. Belon, who wrote in 1555, is filent in refpect to these birds: Gefner is the first who mentions them; and Aldrovand speaks of them as rarities; that they were very dear on account of the difficulty attending the bringing them from fo diftant a country, and that they were purchafed by people of rank alone. Olina fays, that in his time there was a degenerate fort found on the ifle of Elba, off the coast of Italy, which came there originally by means of a ship bound from the Canaries to Leghorn, and was wrecked on that island. We once faw fome fmall birds brought directly from the Canary Islands, that we fufpect to be colour; but as they did not fing, we fup. pofed them to be hens. Thefe birds will produce with the goldfinch and linnet, and the offspring is called a mule-bird, becaufe, like that animal, it proves barren. They are ftill found on the fame spot to which we were first indebted for the production of fuch charming fongfters; but they are now become fo numerous in our country, that we are under no neceffity of croffing the ocean for them. §14. The SKY LARK. The length of this fpecies is seven inches one-fourth: the breadth twelve and a half: the weight one ounce and a half: the tongue broad and cloven: the bill flender: the upper mandible dusky, the lower yellow: above the eyes is a yellow fpot: the crown of the head a reddish brown spotted with deep black: the hind part of the head ashcolour: chin white. It has the faculty of erecting the feathers of the head. The feathers on the back, and coverts of the wings, dufky edged with reddish brown, which is paler on the latter: the quill-feathers dufky: the exterior web edged with white, that of the others with reddish brown: the upper part of the breaft yellow fpotted with black: the lower part of the body of a pale yellow: the exterior web, and half of the interior web next to the fhaft of the first feather of the tail, are white; of the fecond only the exterior web; the rest of those feathers dusky; the others are dufky edged with red; those in the middle deeply fo, the reft very flightly: the legs dufky: foles of the feet yellow: the hind claw very long and strait. This and the wood lark are the only birds that fing as they fly; this raifing its note as it foars, and lowering it till it quite dies away as it defcends. It will often foar to fuch a height, that we are charmed with the mufic when we lofe fight of the fongfter; it also begins its fong before the earlieft dawn. Milton, in his Allegro, most beautifully expreffes thefe circumftances: and Bishop Newton obferves, that the beautiful fcene that Milton exhibits of rural chearfulness, at the fame time gives us a fine picture of the regularity of his life, and the innocency of his own mind; thes he describes himself as in a fituation To hear the lark begin his flight, the genuine fort: they were of a dull green It continues its harmony feveral months, beginning beginning early in the fpring, on pairing. In the winter they affemble in vaft flocks, grow very fat, and are taken in great numbers for our tables. They build their neft on the ground, beneath fome clod; forming it of hay, dry fibres, &c. and lay four or five eggs. The place thefe birds are taken in the greatest quantity, is the neighbourhood of Dunftable: the feafon begins about the fourteenth of September, and ends the twenty-fifth of February; and during that fpace about 4000 dozen are caught, which fupply the markets of the metropolis. Thofe caught in the day are taken in clapnets of fifteen yards length, and two and a half in breadth; and are enticed within their reach by means of bits of looking-glafs, fixed in a piece of wood, and placed in the middle of the nets, which are put in a quick whirling motion, by a ftring the larker commands; he alfo makes ufe of a decoy lark. Thefe nets are used only till the fourteenth of November, for the larks will not dare, or frolick in the air except in fine funny weather; and of courfe cannot be inviegled into the fnare. When the weather grows gloomy, the larker changes his engine, and makes ufe of a trammel-net twenty-feven or twentyeight feet long, and five broad; which is put on two poles eighteen feet long, and carried by men under each arm, who pass over the fields and quarter the ground as a fetting dog; when they hear or feel a lark hit the net, they drop it down, and fo the birds are taken. $15. The NIGHTINGALE. The nightingale takes its name from night, and the Saxon word galan, to fing; expreffive of the time of its melody. In fize it is equal to the redstart; but longer bodied, and more elegantly made. The colours are very plain. The head and back are of a pale tawny, dashed with olive: the tail is of a deep tawny red: the throat, breaft, and upper part of the belly, of a light gloffy afh-colour: the lower belly almost white: the exterior webs of the quill-feathers are of a dull reddish brown; the interior of brownish afh-colour: the irides are hazel, and the eyes remarkably large and piercing: the legs and feet a deep ath-colour. This bird, the most famed of the feathered tribe, for the variety, length, and Sweetness of its notes, vifits England the beginning of April, and leaves us in Auguit. It is a fpecies that does not spread itself over the ifland. It is not found in North Wales; or in any of the English counties north of it, except Yorkshire, where they are met with in great plenty about Doncafter. They have been alfo heard, but rarely, near Shrewsbury. It is alfo remarkable, that this bird does not migrate fo far weft as Devonshire and Cornwall; counties where the seasons are fo very mild, that myrtles flourish in the open air during the whole year: neither are they found in Ireland. Sibbald places them in his lift of Scotch birds; but they certainly are unknown in that part of Great Britain, probably from the fcarcity and the recent introduction of hedges there. Yet they vifit Sweden, a much more fevere climate. With us they frequent thick hedges, and low coppices; and generally keep in the middle of the bufh, fo that they are very rarely feen. They form their neft of oakleaves, a few bents, and reeds. The eggs are of a deep brown. When the young first come abroad, and are helpless, the old birds make a plaintive and jarring noise with a fort of inapping as if in menace, puriuing along the hedge the paffengers. They begin their fong in the evening, and continue it the whole night. Theie their vigils did not pafs unnoticed by the antients: the flumbers of these birds were proverbial; and not to rest as much as the nightingale, exprefied a very bad fleeper. This was the favourite bird of the British poet, who omits no opportunity of introducing it, and almost constantly noting its love of folitude and night. How finely does it ferve to compofe part of the folemn fcenery of his Penterofo; when he de fcribes it In her faddeft sweetest plight, Smoothing the rugged brow of night; Thee, chaunt refs, oft the woods among, In another place he ftyles it the folemn bird; and again speaks of it, |