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.

    82/440 page 54
    Loon ; Greatest-speckled Diver; Cobble. —The weight of this species is about four pouuds ; length twenty-seven inches. Bill three inches long, of a pale hom-colour, ridge of the upper mandible dusky; irides yellowish broivn. The head is dusky, speckled with grey; the hind part of the neck plain dusky; on the sides of the head under the eyes, the chin, and throat white; the fore part of the neck speckled with ash-colour; back and whole upper parts dusky, marked with numerous small oval white spots; quills and tail dusky ; in some the latter is slightly tipped with white; the whole under parts of the body white, except on the sides under the wings, which are streaked with dusky; the thighs dusky broivn; the vent and under ti^- coverts mottled with grey; the tail con- sists of twenty-two unequal feathers, the outer ones not being hdf so long as the middle ones; legs dusky brown, inside greenish grey. The female is not so lai'ge, and the spots on the back and scapulars not so large and distinct. The Speckled Diver is the most common species found in this country. It is frequently seen in •winter in our bays and inlets, and some- times in fresh-water rivers and lakes. It is observed to attend the sprats in the river Thames, for which reason the fisher- men called it Sprat Loon. This, hke the rest of the genus, retires northward to breed; is said to be common about the Baltic and the White Sea. It lays two eggs in the grass upon the borders of lakes, the size of those of a Goose, dusky, •with a few black spots. [The Krst and Second-speckled Divers of Be^wick, here referred to the Speckled Diver by Mon- tagu, are respectively the young bird of the year and the adult in winter plumage of the Redthroated Diver, which see.] Supplement. — An opportunity offered, in a tour we made through the fens of Lincolnshire, of noticing and comparing the rate at which tliis bird can s^vim, both on the surface and under water. As late as the twenty-fourth of May we observed one of this species fishing in a canal, and got very near him unobserved. He did not attempt to fly, but instantly dived, at which time we exerted ourselves to the utmost in a wall?, in order to discover which gained upon the other, and soon found that immersed he gained consider- ably, and did not lose much when upon the srirface, so that after exerting our- selves for above half a mile, without a prospect of cutting off his retreat, we were obhged to run in order to head him. If we compute the rate of walking for a short distance to be five miles an hour, the swimming of tliis bird upon the surface might be about four miles and a half, and beneath the surface between six and se- ven. The general distance between the place of immersion and that of emersion appeared to be about eighty or ninety yards ; and as there was neither current nor -wind, and the line was quite straight and the foot-path good, it is probable the computation is not very incorrect. It is observable that aU bu’ds, and even quad- rupedes, who reside much in water, are aware of their superior powers of velocity beneath the surface, for they invaiiably dive when pursued, or whenever speed is required, and only rise to the surface for renewed respiration. Diving Pigeon.—See GuiOemot, Black. Dob-Chick.— See Grebes, Dusky, Eared, and Little. Dob-Chick, Black and White.—See Grebe, Dusky. Dob-Chick, Greater.—See Grebe, Tippet. Dottrel.— [YaTrell, ii. 484Hewitson, Ixx^^d. 293.] Charadrius Morinellus, Lin. Syst. i. p. 254, 5; Gmel. Sijst. ii. p. 686; Ind. Orn. ii. p. 746,17; Rail Syn. p. Ill, A. 4; Will. p. 230, t. 55, 57; Bris. y. p. 54, 5, t. 4, f. 2, and p. 58, 6 ; Ih. 8vo, ii. p. 225, and p. 126; Bewick, Br. Birds, 1, t. p. 343 ; Rural Sports, ii. t. p. 456. Petit Pluvier, ou le Guignard, B^lf. viii. p. 87. Dottrel, Br. Zool. ii. No. 210, t. 73; Ib. fol. 129, t. D.; Aret. Zool. ii. p. 487, A.; Will. Angl. p. 309; Alhin. ii. t. 62, and t. 63 ; Lath. Sijn. v. p. 208, 14; Pult. Cat. Dorset, p. 16; Wale. Syn. ii. 1.162; Lewin, Br. Birds, v. t. 186 ; Do7i. Br. Birds, ii. t. 42. — This species of Plover weighs about four ounces, sometimes five; length near ten inches. The biU is an inch long, duskj'; irides hazel; the cro^am of the head black; forehead dusky and grey, mixed; a broad stroke of white from above the eye passes to the hind-head; cheeks and throat wliite; the neck of a cinereous-olive; bock and coverts of the Avings oUve-brown, each feather margin- ated •Nrith pale ferruginous ; the breast is of a pale, dull orange, on the upper part of which is a transverse line of white, bor- dered above with a narrow one of black ; belly black; vent and thighs rufous-white; the quills dusky bro^wn; the shaft and outer web of the first feather white; the tail consists of twelve feathers, of an olive- brown, barred near the end •with black, •tipped •with white; legs dusky. Tlie fe- male has the cro^wn of the head bro^wn, mottled •with white, and the white line over the eye less conspidffous; the belly is mixed black and wliite; the white line on
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