Ornithological dictionary of British birds / By G. Montagu.

  • George Montagu
Date:
1831
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Ornithological dictionary of British birds / By G. Montagu. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    112/666 page 44
    Sir William Jardine thinks the Blackcap retires in winter to Madeira, because he has received specimens of it from that island; but Dr. Heineken, who resided there, tells us that it is resident all the year.' Mr. Lewin once shot a male in Kent, in January. Mr. as says it is not rare in the vicinity of Edinburgh. * The nest is built in some low bush or shrub, (*I have generally found it four or five feet from the ground,*) composed of dried stalks, generally of goose grass, put together in a very neat manner with a little wool, and sometimes a little green moss on the outside; the in- side is lined with fibrous roots, upon which are frequently placed a few long hairs. The eggs are four or five in number, of a pale reddish brown, mottled, (*I should say stained,*) with a deeper colour, and sometimes sprinkled with a few ash-coloured spots: their weight about thirty-four grains. On the first arrival of the bird it feeds greedily on ivy berries, but forsakes that food as soon as the vernal sun has roused the insect tribes. BLACK COCK (Tetrao tetriz, Linnzvus.) * Tetrao Tetrix, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 272. 2.—Faun. Suec. No. 202.—Gmel. Syst. 1. p- 748.—Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. p. 635.3.—Urogallus minor, Raii, Syn. p. 35. A, 2.—Will. p. 124. t. 31.—Briss. 1. p. 186. 2.—Petit Tetras, ou Coq de Bruyere a queue fourchue, Buff. Ois. 2. p. 210. t. 6.—Id. pl. Enl. 172. and 175.—Tetras Berkhan, Temm. Pig. et Gall. 3. p. 140.—Jb. Man. d’Orn. 1. p. 461.— Gabel Schwanziges Waldhuhn, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. 3. p. 1319. —Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. 1. p. 295. — Frisch, Vog. t. 109. male. —Supp. No. 109. female.-—Black Grous, Black Game. Br. Zool. 1. No. 93. t. 42.— Arct. Zool. 2. No. 314. C.— Will. (Angl.)—Lath.Syn. 4. p. 733. 3.—Ib. Supp. p. 213.—Albin, 1. t. 22.—Lewin’s Br. Birds. 4. t. 183.—Mont. Orn. Dict.— Ib. Supp. —Pult. Cat. Dorset p. 7—Wale. Syn. 2. t. 181.—Don. Br. Birds, 4 t. 97.—Bewick’s Br. Birds. —Selby, pl. 58. and 58. p. 304. Provincial.—Heath-Cock, Heath-Poult.* This species sometimes weighs as much as four pounds; length about twenty-three inches, bill dusky, irides hazel; the head, neck, and whole body, are of glassy blue-black, particularly about the neck, breast, and rump ; over the eye the bare scarlet skin is granulated ; the coverts of the wings dusky brown, the four first quill feathers black, the next white at the bottom, the lower half and tips of the secondaries white, under wing coverts white; the thighs are dark brown, sometimes marked with a few white spots; the tail consists of sixteen black feathers ; the exterior ones bend outwards, and are much longer than those inthe middle, which makes the tail very forked; the under tail coverts pure white; legs covered with hair-like feathers of a dark brown, speckled with grey ; toes pectinated. 1 Zool. Journal. See also Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. iv.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3