Coloured Illustrations of the Eggs of British Birds: Accompanied with Descriptions of the Eggs, Nests, Etc, Volume 2John Van Voorst, 1846 - Birds |
Common terms and phrases
amongst ANATIDE arctic ARDEIDE beautiful BLACK GUILLEMOT BLACK TERN BLACK-BACKED GULL breeding-places breeding-season breeds British Birds coast collection colour common guillemot COMMON TERN distance Dotterel dry grass DUNLIN eggs feathers feet female Fern Islands figure found the eggs four eggs four in number frequently GADWALL GOOSE GRALLATORES GREATER BLACK-BACKED GULL GREBE ground ground-colour GROUSE habits Hancock heath herbage HERON hole Iceland incubation June Kittiwake lakes LARIDE lay their eggs lays its eggs lesser black-backed lesser black-backed gull Loch marshy districts NATATORES nest Norfolk Norway Orkney pairs peewit PETREL pieces placed PLATE PLOVER Proctor rare RASORES RED GROUSE Red-necked Grebe RED-THROATED DIVER reeds resemblance rock rushes Salmon SANDPIPER says SCOLOPACIDÆ seen Selby Shetland Islands slight Snipe sometimes species specimens spots STOCK DOVE STORK surface TERN three in number tinted trees tufts Tuke usually variety whilst WHIMBREL wild wing Yarrell young
Popular passages
Page 220 - A bird's nest. Mark it well ! — within, without ; No tool had he that wrought — no knife to cut, No nail to fix — no bodkin to insert — No glue to join ; his little beak was all. And yet how neatly finished ! What nice hand. With every implement and means of art, And twenty years...
Page 220 - To view the structure of this little work — A bird's nest. Mark it well ; within, without — No tool had he that wrought, no knife to cut. No nail to fix, no bodkin to insert, No glue to join ; his little beak was all — And yet how neatly finished ! What nice hand, With every implement and means of art, And twenty years...
Page 361 - The nest was snugly placed amid the tall leaves of a bunch of grass, and raised fully four inches above its roots. It was entirely composed of withered and rotten weeds, the former being circularly arranged over the latter, producing a well-rounded cavity, six inches in diameter by two and a half in depth.
Page 252 - ... (Trichostomum lanuginosum, Hedw.), which indeed grows more or less profusely on nearly all the most elevated parts of this alpine district.* In these lonely places they constantly reside the whole of the breeding season, a considerable part of the time enveloped in clouds, and almost daily drenched with rain or wetting mists, so extremely prevalent in these dreary regions : and there can be little doubt that it is owing to this peculiar feature in their economy, that they have remained so long...
Page 259 - was placed against a ledge of rock, and consisted of nothing more than the drooping leaves of the juniper-bush, under a creeping branch, by which the eggs, four in number, •were snugly concealed, and admirably sheltered from the many storms by which these "bleak and exposed rocks are visited, allowing just sufficient room for the bird to cover them. The several nests that we examined were placed in the same situation as the one described, with the exception of two, one of which was under a slanting...
Page 330 - We were agreeably surprised to find that the Bean Goose annually breeds upon several of the Sutherland lakes. The first intimation we received of this interesting fact was at Lairg, where we were informed that a few pairs bred upon some islands about twelve miles up Loch Shin. We accordingly took boat the following morning, and, upon arriving at the place, discovered a single pair, attended by four or five young goslings.
Page 295 - If this plan was generally enforced by the proprietors of fen land, or made a bye-law amongst themselves, the breed would not be so reduced ; but there are still fowlers who make two seasons, and by catching the old birds in the spring, especially the females, verify the fable of the goose and the golden eggs...
Page 360 - For more than a week after we had anchored in the lovely harbor of Little Macatina, I had been anxiously searching for the nest of this species. but in vain; the millions that sped along the shores had no regard to my wishes. At length I found that a few pairs had remained in the neighborhood, and one morning while In the company of Captain Emery, searching for the nests of the red-breasted merganser, over a vast oozy and treacherous freshwater marsh, I suddenly started a female surf duck from her...
Page 359 - The nests are placed within a few feet of the borders of small lakes, a mile or two from the sea, and usually under the low boughs of the bushes, of the twigs .of which, with mosses and various plants matted together, they are formed They are large and almost flat, several inches thick, with some feathers of the female, but no down, under the eggs, which are usually six in number, 2f inches in length, by 1| in breadth, of au uniform pale cream colour, tinged with green.
Page 374 - very large, at times raised seven or eight inches on the top of a bed of all the dead weeds which the bird can gather in the neighbourhood. Properly speaking, the real nest, however, is not larger than that of the Dusky Duck, and is rather neatly formed externally of fibrous roots, and lined round the edges with the down of the bird.