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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    length six inches. The bill is dusky; irides hazel; the head, chin, and throat black; at the corner of the mouth com- mences a white ring whicj^ grows broader behind the ears, and encircles the head; the breast and beUy white; the sides grey, marked with a few dai-k brown strokes; the back is black, deeply bordered with reddish brown, intersiiersed irith grey, which grows more conspicuous towards the rump; quiU-feathers, and coverts of the primaries dusky, edged with tawny red; the tail is black; the two middle feathers deeply bordered with i-ufous, the two exteiior on each side marked ob- liquely with white towards the end; the shafts and tips black. The female is rather less; the head is rufous-browm streaked with dusky; from each side of the under mandible a dusky line passes under the neck, where it joins and foi-ms a bed of that colour; behind the eye a light coloured stroke ; the breast is streaked with reddish brown; the rump plain olive- brown ; it has no wliite ring round the head as in the male. The young male birds do not assume their full black head till the ensuing spring; nor is the w'hite ring so conspicuous. It is somewdiat ex- traordinary that the manners and habits of so common a bird should remain so long in obscurity; even modem authors tell us it is a song bu'd, that it sings after sunset; and describe its nest to be sus- pended over the W'ater, fastened between three or four reeds. There can be no doubt, however, that the nest, as well as the song of the Sedge Warbler, have been taken and confounded for those of this bird; for as they both frequent the same places in the breeding season, that elegant little warbler is pouring forth its varied notes, concealed in the tliickest part of a bush; wliile this is conspicuously perched above, whose tune is not deserving the name of song; consisting only of two notes, the first repeated three or four times,' the last single and more shai-p. This inharmonious tune it continues to deliver with small intervals from the same spray, for a great wliile together when the fem^e is sitting. The nest is most com- monly placed on the ground near water; sometimes it builds in a bush some dis- tance from the ground; at other times in high grass, reeds, sedge, or the like, and even in furze at a considerable distance from any water; in all these situations we have met with it, but never fastened or suspended as authors have related. The nest is composed of stalks of grass, or other dry vegetable substances; some- times partly moss, and lined with fine grass; frequently finished with long hair. The eggs, which are four or five in number. weigh about thirty-six grains, and are of a dii-ty bluish white, or purplish brown, with numerous dark-coloured spots and veins, much resembling those of the Chaftinch. We shall here remark that the eggs of very distinct species of bfrds are sometimes very similar, and not easily ascertained; they are also subject to con- siderable variation; the nest is a much greater inai-k of distinction; the materials rvith which they ai’e composed seldom vary. Bunting, Snow.— [FarreZl, i. 495; Hew- itson, xlri. 184.] Emberiza nivalis, Lin. Syst. i. p. 308, 1; Gmel. Syst. ii. p. 860 : hid. Orn. i. p. 397, 1; Thornton’s Tour, p. 134; Bewick, Br. Birds, i. p. 152. Hortu- lanus nivalis, Bris. iii. p. 285, 9 ; Ib. 8vo, i. p. 388. L’Ortolan de neige, Buf. iv. p. 329. Pied Mountain Finch, Albin. iii. t. 71. Snow Bunting, Br. Zool. i. No. 122, t. 50 ; Arct. Zool. ii. No. 222 ; Edw. 1.126; Wale. Br. Birds, ii. t. 210 ; Lath. Syn. iii. p. 101, A. B. C.; Ib. Sup. p. 157 : Lewin, Br. Birds, ii. t. 71. Pied Chaffinch, Albin. iii. t. 54. Prordncial: Snow-bfrd; Snow- flake ; Snow-fowl; Oat-owl.— This species is superior in size to the Chaffinch ; weight about one ounce and a quarter. The bin is black ; the forehead and crown white, mixed with black on the Irind head; back black; rump white; greater quiU- feathers black, at the base w'hite ; second- aries white, rrith a black spot on tlieir inner webs ; bastar-d wing and ends of the greater coverts white; the whole under par-ts, from chin to tail, pure white; the middle feathers of the tail black; the thr-ee outer ones white, with a dusky spot near their ends; legs black. The plumage of this species is subject to very great variety; in some the white on the upirer parts is more predominant. These birds appear in the norih of Scotland in large flocks during the winter. Some few are said to breed upon the highest mountains witlr the Ptarmigans, and, like those birds, probably change their plumage with the seasons. It is rarely seen in tire south of England. The eggs are said to be reddish white, spotted rvith brorrui. Supplement. — Itr order that a com- parison may be made, and the species more easily identified, we have thought proper to give a fuller description of the Snow, the Tawny, and the Mounting Buntings, from recent specimens. The bill, in the specimen now before us, is yeUorvish, with the tip black. The whole head, neck, upper part of the back, and all the under parts pure white, except a tinge of rust-colour on the forehead and back of the head; the rest of the back, scapulars, and tertials black, margined with ruforrs- white: the upper tail-coverts white; the
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