A dictionary of British birds : reprinted from Montagu's Ornithological dictionary, and incorporating the additional species described by Selby; Yarrell, in all three editions, and in natural-history journals / compiled and edited by Edward Newman.

  • George Montagu
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A dictionary of British birds : reprinted from Montagu's Ornithological dictionary, and incorporating the additional species described by Selby; Yarrell, in all three editions, and in natural-history journals / compiled and edited by Edward Newman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    small chirp. At first there were ten young in the nest, but probably for want of the male’s assistance in providing fond two died. The visits of the female were generally repeated in tlie space of a minute and a half or two minutes ; or, upon an average, thirty-six times in an hour; and this continued full six- teen hours in a day, which, if equally divided between the eight young ones, each would receive seventy-two feeds in the day ; the whole amounting to five hundred and seventy-six. From examination of the food, which by accident now and then dropped into the nest, 1 judged from those weighed that each feed was a quarter of a grain upon a medium ; so that each young one was supplied with eighteen grains weight in a day ; and as the young birds weighed about seventy-seven grains at the time they began to perch, they consumed nearly their weight of food in four days at that time. * I could always perceive by the animation of the young brood when the old one was coming; probably some low note indicated her near approach, and in an instant every mouth was open to receive the insect morsel. But there appeared no regularity in the supply given by the parent bird ; sometimes the same was fed two or three times successively; and 1 generally observed that the strongest got most, being able to reach farthest, the old one deMvering it to the mouth nearest to her, and after each feed she waited awhile to see if any muted.f We shall now take notice of the external formation of some birds, so admirably adapted to their mode of life, and other singularities not so easily accounted for. It is well known carnivorous quadrupeds cannot exist without drink, and that they take liquid by means of their tongue; rapacious birds seldom or never drink; Eagles, Hawks, and Owls we have kept for years without ever tasting water. The large crooked talons of these birds, and their hooked beaks, are well formed for securing and tearing their prey. The formation of the feet of the Woodpeckers, the toes being placed two forward and two backward, is well calculated for climbing; and the cuneiform shape of the extremity of their bills is suited to the purpose of cutting holes in decayed trees ; their tongue is also wonderfully contrived to search out insects beyond the reach of their bill by its great length, which is double that of the bill at least. The Wryneck has this singularity, as weU as the like formation of the toes ; which last is also found in the Cuckow. But neither of these birds is seen to climb up the bodies of trees ; nor have either the stiff sharp-pointed feathers in the tail, as in the Woodpecker, so admirably adapted to support them when in the act of hewing. The call of most birds is effected by the lungs and larynx ; but some Species of Woodpeckers, in the breeding season, have a very extraordinary and loud call to each other, by strong reiterated strokes of their bill against a dead sonorous branch of a tree, peculiar to this genus. The flight of birds differs exceedingly : some fly by jerks, closing their wings every three or four strokes, which gives them an undulated motion, very conspicuous in the Woodpeckers and Wagtails, and in most small birds ; others fly smooth and even ; and some appear to buoy themselves in the air without perceptible motion of the wings, such as the Kite and Kestrel Hawk. Most birds fly with their legs contracted and neck extended; but there ai'e some whose length and weight of neck makes it necessary to contract it in flight, in order to bring the centre of gravity on * This extraordinary consumption seems absolutely requisite in animals of such rapid growth. The old bii-ds of this species weigh from eighty to ninety grains. + The lesser species of birds, who are so frequently fed, seldom or ever mute but immediately after they are fed, by which means the foeces are never left on the nest, but are instantly carried away by the fiarent bird.
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