Volume 1

Ornithological dictionary; or, alphabetical synopsis of British birds ... / [George Montagu].

  • George Montagu
Date:
1802
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Ornithological dictionary; or, alphabetical synopsis of British birds ... / [George Montagu]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    many as nineteen*, A bird will only lay the ufual number peculiar to the fpecies; and if, at the pe-. riod of incubation, it perceives the neft emptied, it is deferted: The link of nature. having “been broken, the female’ ftimulates to Jove again, and foon brings forward by that fimulus,’ aided by the male fecundity, anew lot of eggs; never more than the former, and ufually lefs, becaufe this is pro-. perly a forced production, at the additional ex-__ pence of the vigour of the bird, and lofs of animal parts, which is the caufe of great variation as to the number of eggs laid by domeftic fowls, de- pending entirely on the ftrength of conftitution, and the nourifhment of the food. In all animals taken immediately under the care of man, the dictates of nature are partly fuppreffed, their food changed, habits and manners altered, and difeafe often enfues, which is the origin of the great variety of colours in reclaimed animals. Nature purfues invariably one courte; therefore to draw a general rule of her actions we mutt ftrictly adhere to her in an unmolefted, uncultivated ftate; for if we deviate from that we muft infallibly err. We do not mean to fay accidental varieties do nat take place in animals unreclaimed, but fuch Jufus are by no means common; and when we fee a bird materially deviate in colour from its fpecies, we may confider it as a conttitutional defect; that > * An affertion of Dr. Lifter. Vide Br. Zool, p. 337. , Prete
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