its narcotic vertue yield themselves to be handled and taken out of the water by such as have their hands anointed with it Doubtless he that can get the Oyl of such an Osprey as they talk of may work wonders with it §. III. Of the BLACK EAGLE called Melanaëtus or Aquila Valeria WE saw a Bird of this kind kept shut up in a Cage in the Stadt-house of Middleburgh in Zealand It was double the bigness of a Raven but lesser than the Pygarg The Jaws and Eye-lids were bare of feathers and somewhat reddish The head neck and brest black In the middle of the back between the shoulders was a large triangular white spot dashed with red The rump red The lesser orders or rows of feathers in the Wings were of a Buzzard colour then followed a black stroak or bar cross the prime feathers after that a white one the remaining part of the feathers to the tips being of a dark ash-colour The Beak was less than that of the Pygarg black at the end then yellow as far as the Sear or skin covering its Base which was red The Eyes understand the Irides were of a hazel colour The Legs were feathered down but a little below the knees the naked part being red The Talons very long Those Birds which Aldrovandus hath set forth for Melanaëti or Black Eagles although they differ in some marks from this here described as for example in the blewish horny colour of the Beak in the dark ferrugineous colour of the crown of the head and neck and that their Legs are almost wholly covered with feathers scarce an inch remaining bare and that yellow yet I doubt not but they are of the same species there being in the Rapacious kind a great difference for the most part between Cock and Hen in point of magnitude and colour the colours also in the same Sex varying very much by age and other accidents Of the place of this Bird its food and manner of living building its Nest Eggs conditions c. we have nothing certain It is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from its black colour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Leporaria from killing of Hares And in Latine Aquila Valeria from its strength and valour §. IV. Of the PYGARG or white-tail'd Eagle called Pygargus and Albicilla and by some Hinnularia IT is called Pygargus from the whiteness of its rump or train which word Gaza rendred in Latine Albicilla The Male which we described was for bigness not much inferiour to a Turkey It weighed eight pounds and an half it is like the Female in this as in other Birds of prey may be bigger and more weighty It s length from the tip of the Beak to the end of the train was two feet and nine Inches to the end of the Talons two feet and five inches The distance from tip to tip of the Wings stretcht out seven feet wanting but one inch or two yards and eleven Inches From the tip of the Beak to the Nosethrils was near two inches to the corners of the mouth three to the Eyes almost so much The breadth of the Beak an inch and a quarter the hooked part of the upper Mandible over-hanging the lower three quarters of an Inch. The Nosthrils oblique and half an Inch long The second or middle bone of the Leg was six inches and an half long the third or lowermost no more than three and an half The colour of the Beak was yellow and also of the Sear or skin covering its Basis as far as the Nosthrils In the Palate it had a Cavity equal to the Tongue The Tongue broad fleshly black at the tip The sides or edges of the Beak sharp The Eyes great withdrawn or sunk in the head overhung and defended by Eye-brows prominent like the Eves of a house The Irides of a pale Hazel colour in one Bird which we saw of this sort they were red in another yellow The feet were yellow in the soles were callous rough knobs or fleshy protuberances as in others of this kind The Talons large sharp and crooked that of the back-toe as generally in most Birds being greatest That of the middle toe an inch long the toe it self being two Inches The Head was pale or whitish the feathers being sharp-pointed and their shafts black The neck covered with narrow feathers the upper part thereof something red the Rump blackish else the whole body round of a dark ferrugineous colour The number of prime feathers in each Wing was about twenty six or twenty seven whereof the third and fourth were the longest the second shorter by half an inch than the third and the first by three inches and an half than the second The Wings when closed reached not to the end of the train Of the Pinion feathers and the rest of the flags they make Quils for Virginals and very good Writing Pens All the prime feathers of the Wings were black the lesser rows of the Wing-feathers had their edges of an ash-colour The tail was eleven inches and an half long made up of twelve feathers the upper or extreme part for above half way being white the lower black The extreme or outmost feathers were shortest the rest gradually longer to the middlemost It had a large Gall long Testicles small Guts having many revolutions and being by measure one hundred thirty two Inches or eleven foot long a small stomach above which the Gullet was dilated into a kind of bag granulated on the inside with many small protuberancies which I take to be glandules and which being squeezed a little yielded a kind of pap or slime serving it is like as a menstruum to help macerate the meat in the stomach It had a vast Craw small short Appendices or blind guts viz. not more than three quarters of an inch long This Bird shot dead by a certain Fowler we bought and described at Venice in the year 1664. and from the white ring about the tail denominated it Pygargus It differs from that we have entituled the Golden Eagle with a white ring about its tail chiefly in the colour of the Head and Beak So that I suspect it may be the same as also with the Golden Eagle of Aldrovandus notwithstanding the white colour of the train which perchance may alter with age yet it differs also from it in other accidents as for example in the yellow colour of the Beak If these three birds be not the same yet are they very like and near of kin to one another Perchance the only difference may be in Age or Sex The Pygargus of Aldrovandus seems to be a different kind which he describes in these words It is of a mean magnitude as big as a large Dunghil-Cock The Bill all over yellow hooked and bending by little and little from the very root to the utmost tip or
notes of Vultures are 1. That for bigness they are equal to or exceed Eagles 2. That their Beaks are not presently from their first rise from the Forehead crooked and bending but after about two Inches continued streightness which Gesner saith he himself hath observed in many sorts of Vultures 3. That they have an excellent sagacity of smelling above all other Birds so that they can perceive the savour of dead Carcasses from far many miles off they say 4. The Ancients have delivered that they are content only with dead Carcasses abstaining from the ravine and slaughter of living Animals But Bellonius Gesner and others of the Moderns affirm that they pursue live Birds and prey upon living Fawns Hares Kids Lambs c. 5. That they have the neck for the most part bare of feathers 6. Bellonius asserts that among all Rapacious and hook-bill'd birds Vultures only assemble and fly together in flocks and that himself saw great flights of them of not fewer than fifty in each when he travelled from Cairo to Mount Sinai Hence that observation of Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is proved not to hold generally true in all Rapacious Birds 7. That their Legs are feathered down to the Feet By which note Bellonius thinks they are to be distinguished from other Birds of prey But neither is this note common to all Vultures Bellonius himself representing some with naked legs nor proper to the Vulturine kind but also common to some Eagles as appears by their figures and descriptions 8. That under their throats they have a space of about an hand-breadth clothed rather with hairs like to those of a Calf than with feathers Which note we found to be true in the Vulture kept in the Royal Aviary in St. James's Park London 9. That the Craw hangs down like a bag before the stomach or breast which we observed in the Venetian Vulture or Gypaëtos described in the precedent Chapter 10. That the Female contrary to the manner of other Birds of prey doth not exceed the Male in bigness 11. That all the inside of the Wings is covered with a soft fleece of Down which is peculiar to the Vulture alone among Rapacious Birds What is delivered of the generation of Vultures viz. That there are no Males found among them That the Females are impregnated by the Wind that they bring not forth Eggs but live Young c. is altogether false and frivolous scarce worth the mentioning much less the refuting Among the marks hitherto reckoned up the most proper Characteristic of a Vulture seems to me to be that of having its neck bare of destitute of feathers and only covered with a Down Those two I am sure which alone we have hapned to see had not only their necks but their heads also bare covered only with a short white Down CHAP. V. §. 1. * Of several of VULTURES ALdrovandus out of Bellonius and Gesner sets forth six several sorts of Vultures 1. The cinereous or ash-coloured Vulture 2. The black Vulture Of which he saith he wonders why Bellonius who boasts that he had so great opportunity and facility of seeing and getting divers sorts should give no perfect description neither of the one nor the other but only set forth a figure which yet doth not agree to what he writes of Vultures in general viz. That they all have rough legs wholly feathered down to the foot and do by this mark differ from Eagles it being represented with naked legs 3. The Chesnut-coloured Vulture Boeticus which Bellonius thus describes It is somewhat less than an Eagle hath the feathers of its Neck Back Belly and whole body of a Chesnut-colour wherein it differs from the black Vulture The greater feathers of the Wings and Train are of the same colour with those of the Black Both this and the black have short tails in respect of their very long Wings These do not as in other Rapacious Fowl follow the nature and constitution of the Wings but rather as in Woodpeckers are found for the most part with their points broken and shattered Which is a sign they wear and break them by rubbing against the Rocks where they harbour and build their Nests The Chesnut or white Vultures are more rare to be seen than the black and have this peculiar to them that the feathers of the Crowns of their heads are very short if compared to Eagles Which is the reason why some have thought them bald They have short legs covered all over with feathers down to the beginning of the toes Which note is peculiar to them not agreeing to any other Rapacious hook-bill'd Bird besides the Nocturnal ones The feathers of the Neck in these Baetic Vultures are very narrow and long like those that hang down about the necks of Dunghil-Cocks and Stares if compared with the rest which cover the back wings and sides which are small and broad like Scales But those which cover the back stomach belly and bottom of the rump in the Baetic Vulture are red in the black one black but in both pretty broad 4. The Hare-Vulture Leporarium so called from preying upon Hares of which Gesner writes after this manner It hath not so fulvous a breast as our Golden Vulture and is inferiour to it in magnitude George Fabricius the ornament of Germany sent me its figure with this description added The Vulture which the Germans call Ein Hasengyr hath a hooked black Bill foul Eyes a firm great Body broad Wings a long streight Train a dark red Colour and yellow Feet Standing or sitting it rears up a Crest upon its head as if it were horned which appears not in flying The Wings extended exceeded the measure of a fathom Orgyiae In walking it steps or paces two Palms hand-breadths It pursues all sorts of Birds of Beasts it catches and preys upon Hares Conies Foxes Fawns it also lies in wait for Fishes It will not be made tame It pursues its prey not only by flying but also by running It flies with a great force and noise It builds in thick and desart Woods upon the highest trees It feeds upon the flesh and entrails of Animals not abstaining from dead Carcasses It can endure hunger or abide without meat fourteen days although it be most voracious 5. The Golden Vulture of which Gesner thus Viewing the skin of the Golden Vulture sent me once out of the Alpine Country of the Grisons Rhaetia the beak and legs yet sticking to it I thus described it This Vulture hath many things common with that kind of Alpine Eagle whose figure and description we placed first in the History of the Eagle but is every way or in all parts greater From the Bill to the end of the Tail it was somewhat more than four feet and an half long to the end of the Claws three feet and nine Inches or somewhat less The length of the upper Chap of the Bill as far as the opening of
Aldrovandus for satisfaction We have a sort of bastard Hawk common enough among us called the Boccarel and its Tarcel the Boccaret §. XII The Crested Indian Falcon. THis Bird brought out of the East-Indies we saw in the Royal Aviary in St. James Park near Westminster and thus described it For bigness it was not much inferiour to a Goshawk The Head flat black copped the Crest hanging down backward from the hind part of the head like a Lapwings but forked The Neck red The Breast and Belly were parti-coloured of black and white the alternate cross lines being very bright and fair The Irides of the Eyes yellow The Beak of a deep or dark blue almost black especially towards the point for the Base was covered with a yellow Membrane The Legs feathered down to the Feet The Feet yellow the Talons of a dark black The lesser rows of Wing-feathers had whitish edges The Train was varied with transverse spaces or beds of black and cinereous alternately The rest of the feathers were black §. XIII * The Lanner whose Tarcel is called the Lanneret Bellonius his description of it THe Lanner is less than the Gentile Falcon adorned with fair feathers and in that respect more beautiful than the Sacre The most sure and undoubted notes whereby one may distinguish a Lanner from other Hawks are these That it have blue Beak Legs and Feet The anteriour or Breast-feathers parti-coloured of black and white the black marks or lines not crossing the feathers but drawn long-ways down the middle of them contrary to what they are in Falcons The feathers of the back are not much variegated as neither those of the Wings or Tail in the upper or external part And if perchance there be any spots seen in these they are small round and whitish But to one that shall view the lower or under side of the Wings extended there will appear marks of a different figure from those of other Rapacious Birds For they are round and like little pieces of money dispersed through the Superficies Although as we said the feathers of the Breast and forepart of the body are varied with spots drawn downwards in length and situate on their edges It hath a thick and short Neck and a like Bill The Male or Lanneret is of a lesser body but almost the same colour of the feathers Both Male and Female have shorter Legs than the rest of the Falcons Carcanus his description differs in some things from this of Bellonius which we shall therefore subjoyn The Head of all Lanners is wholly yellow with a flat Crown The Eyes black and great The Nosthrils for the most part small The Beak short and thick lesser than that of a Peregrine Falcon and also than that of a Mountain of a blue colour The Breast yellow spotted with a few thin-set ferrugineous spots The Back like a Peregrine Falcons The ends of the Wings spotted as it were with round white Eyes The Wings and Train long The Legs short The Feet much lesser than a Peregrines and blue of colour In those that are mewed the whole head is tinctured with yellow as far as the shoulders but inclining to red and varied with certain slender lines The Back is blue crossed with black lines and some golden The Breast of a deep yellow and without any spots But the feathers of the Thighs are varied with a few cross lines The feet in these which were blue are changed into yellow The Sores of this kind are very hardly distinguished from those that are mewed It seems to be called Lanarius à laniando i. e. from tearing It is of a gentle nature of a docile and tractable disposition as Bellonius writes very fit for all sorts of Game as well Waterfowl as Land For it catches not only Pies Quails Partridge Crows Pheasants c. but also Ducks yea and Cranes too being trained up thereto by humane industry All this is to be understood of the French Lanner for the Italian described by Carcanus is of no worth or use Carcanus writes that he could never so train them up as to make them good for ought The Lanner abides all the year in France being seen there as well in Winter as in Summer contrary to the manner of other Rapacious Birds §. XIV The Hobby Subbuteo Aldrov THe Bird we described was a Female and weighed nine ounces The length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail was thirteen Inches The breadth or distance between the tips of the Wings extended two feet and eight Inches From the tip of the Beak to the Nosthrils was something more than half an Inch. The Beak like that of a Kestrel The upper Mandible prominent hooked semicircular the Base covered with a yellow skin or Sear the part next the skin white the rest of a dark blue It hath also a tooth or Angle on each side at the beginning of the hooked part which is received in a hollow dent or nick in the lower Chap. The Tongue broad and a little cleft or divided The Palate withinside black and having a Cavity impressed to receive the Tongue The Nosthrils round The Irides of the Eyes of a Hazel colour The Eye-lids yellow As for the colour of the Plumage above each Eye passed a line of a clay-colour ex ruffo albicans The feathers on the top of the head had their shafts or middle part black their borders of a deep Chesnut Those on the middle of the Neck again were of a clay-colour the back and Wings of a dark brown or cinereous black those on the Rump and the lesser Pinion feathers being lighter the greater Pinion feathers and those on the middle of the back darker The Chin and upper part of the Throat were white with a dash of yellow To this white were drawn from the head on each side two lines one from the aperture of the mouth the other from the hinder part or noddle The lower part of the Belly was reddish the rest of the Belly and Breast clothed with feathers spotted with black in the middle and having their edges white The Thighs red spotted with black but the spots less than those on the Breast The number of prime feathers in each Wing twenty four whereof the second the longest The extreme or outmost had their tips black all of them their interiour webs varied with transverse clay-coloured spots The covert-feathers of the underside of the Wings were black curiously painted with round spots of white diluted with red The Tail as in all of this kind consisted of twelve feathers the middlemost whereof were the longest and the rest in order shorter to the two outermost which were the shortest The length of the middlemost was about five Inches and an half these were on both sides their shafts of one and the same colour the rest had their interiour Vanes marked
with transverse reddish spots the utmost tips being whitish The Legs and Feet were yellow The middle and outmost Toes connected as in others of this kind to the first joynt The Talons as black as Jet It had a great Gall The length of the Guts was two foot lacking an inch The Appendices or blind Guts short besides which it had another single Appendix or process which was we suppose the remainder of the Ductus intestinalis shrunk up The Hobby is a bird of passage yet breeds with us in England It s Game is chiefly Larks for the catching of which Birds our Fowlers make use of it thus The Spaniels range the field to find the birds The Hobby they let off and accustom to soar aloft in the Air over them The Larks espying their capital enemy dare by no means make use of their Wings but lie as close and flat upon the ground as they can and so are easily taken in the Nets they draw over them This kind of sport is called Daring of Larks To catch these Hawks the Fowlers take a Lark and having blinded her and fastned Lime-twigs to her Legs let her fly where they see the Hobby is which striking at the Lark is entangled with the Lime-twigs The Bird is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the lesser 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Buteo which Pliny renders in Latine Subbuteo It is called in English Hobby after the French name §. XV. The Kestrel Stannel or Stonegall in Latine Tinnunculus or Cenchris THe Female is about the bigness of a Pigeon That we described weighed nine ounces It s length from the point of the Beak to the end of the Train was fourteen inches and a quarter Its breadth or the distance between the tips of the Wings extended two foot and an half The Beak short prominent hooked and sharp-pointed The Base of the upper Chap covered with a skin or membrane in which are the Nosthrils The middle part of the Beak next the Sear is white the rest of a dark blue Where it begins to bend it hath a Tooth or Angle which is received in a dent or cavity in the lower Chap. The Nosthrils round The Tongue cleft The Eye-lids yellow the Eyes defended by prominent brows It hath a wide mouth and the Palate blue The Head is great the Crown broad and flat inclining to an ash-colour and marked with narrow black lines along the shaft of each feather The back shoulders and covert-feathers of the upper side of the Wings ferrugineous marked with black spots viz. each feather being reddish hath a black spot toward the tip The Rump is cinereous having the like transverse black spots The lower or nether side of the body that is the Breast and Belly was of a paler red or ferrugineous varied with black lines drawn downwards along the shafts of the feathers The Chin and lower belly without spots The flag-feathers of the Wing are in number twenty four The exteriour of which are of a brown or dusky colour but their interiour Vanes are partly of a reddish white indented with the brown like the teeth of a Saw The six or seven next to the body are red having their interiour Vanes marked with transverse brown stroaks The inner or under side of the Wing is white with black spots The Train made up of twelve feathers was above seven inches long The outmost feathers shortest the rest in order gradually longer to the middlemost The utmost tips of the feathers were of a rusty white Then succeeds a black bar or ring of an inch broad the rest of the feather being of a rusty ash-colour marked with transverse black spots The Legs and Feet are of a lovely yellow and the Talons black It had a Gall. In the stomach we found Beetles and fur of Mice The length of the Guts was twenty eight Inches The single blind gut Appendix intestinalis was twice as long as the lower Appendices or blind Guts The Male or Tarcel differs from the Female chiefly in being less and having the head and back of an ash-colour Kestrels are wont commonly with us in England to be reclaimed and trained up for fowling after the manner of other Rapacious birds They catch not only small birds but also young Partridge They build in hollow Oaks and other trees and that not after the manner of Crows upon the boughs but after the manner of Jackdaws always in holes as Turner saith he himself observed Aristotle makes the Kestrel the most fruitful or best breeder among Birds of prey yet neither doth she saith he lay more Eggs than four at once Her Eggs are whitish all over stained very thick with red spots whence Aristotle and Pliny write that they are red like Vermilion Indeed they deserve rather to be called red than white It is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying Millet as if one should say the Millet-bird for the same reason as Gesner thinks that a kind of Tetter the Swine-pox is called Herpes miliaris because it is marked or motled with specks like Millet seed This Bird is by some called the Wind-hover of which name we have elsewhere given an account §. XVI The Merlin called in Latine Aesalon BEllonius hath recorded that the Merlin is the least of all those birds our Falconers use for hawking and truly if we except only the Matagesse or great Butcher-bird which is sometimes reclaimed for small birds so it is It is not much bigger than a Black bird The length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail in that we described was fourteen Inches to the end of the Toes twelve and an half The Beak was blue and had an angular Appendix or tooth on each side The Irides of the Eyes of a hazel colour The back and upper part were particoloured of a dark blue and a ferrugineous The shaft and middle part of the feathers of the Head and Wings were black the edges blue The flag-feathers of the Wings black with ferrugineous spots The Train sive inches long of a dark brown or blackish with transverse white bars Of these black and white spaces were fourteen in all in the Female in the Male or Tarcel but ten The Breast and Belly were of a rusty white with brown spots not transverse but tending downwards from the Head toward the Tail The Legs were long slender and yellow The Talons black Below the Head it had a ring of yellowish white encircling the Head like a Coronet In the older Birds the back grows bluer as in other Falcons In the Males the feathers on the Rump next the Tail are bluer By which note and their bigness Falconers discern the Sex For the Female in this as in other birds of prey is greater than the Male being for colour less red with a certain mixture of
fourth or crested Bird of Paradise FRom the beginning of the Bill to the end of the Wings it was by measure full eighteen inches The Bill for the smalness of the body was very long black and somewhat hooked The feathers of the Head Neck and Wings were black yet at the joyning of the Bill yellow It had a crest or cop near the Neck almost three Inches high rigid of a yellow colour and which seemed to consist rather of bristles than feathers And in that chiefly did it differ from the following bird §. V. * Aldrovandus his fifth or common Bird of Paradise THis Gesner also hath figured but not described only he saith it is very like that which was formerly graven and published by it self at Nurenbergh in Germany To the Icon whereof he saith these words were added The Bird of Paradise or Indian Apos is of the bigness of a Song-Thrush wonderful light and very long-winged the feathers being rare tender and pervious to the light having besides two long slender black horny feathers if they may be called feathers and not rather bristles for they are bare of filaments It hath no feet flies perpetually nor doth it ever rest but hanging in some tree by those long strings or bristles twined about a bough No Ship sails so swiftly nor so far from the Continent which it doth not fly round about This Cut is very like to our last described But they differ much in the bigness of the Bill and Head Gesners figure shews the Bill to be little and the lower Chap crooked whereas on the contrary as I said in ours the Bill was very long and the upper Chap crooked Besides this hath no Crest which is a manifest argument of diversity §. VI. * The King of Birds of Paradise Marggrav IT shews to be as big as a Pigeon but was indeed not greater than a Swallow It had a small Head little Eyes a streight indifferently thick and sharp Bill an Inch and half long The Neck was an inch long The length of the Body from the Head to the rise of the Tail scarce three inches and an half The Wings were above seven inches long The Tail broad and six inches long It had two Legs the lower part of each two inches long Four Toes in the Feet three standing forwards and one backward after the usnal manner the middle Foretoe was a little longer than the rest The back-toe was also of a good length all armed with strong crooked Hawk-like Claws Both Legs and Feet are thick and strong made for rapine and preying The Wings and Tail have broad and strong feathers an inch wide The whole back tbe lower Belly the Wings and Tail are of an elegant brown colour Brunni Above next the Bill it hath feathers resembling Velvet mingled of green and dusky Beneath next the Bill it hath like feathers of a black colour The Neck above is of a yellow or gold colour beneath of a green with a gold-colour as it were shining through it The Breast is of a deep brown Under the Wings in the sides between the Wings and the Legs grow many feathers a foot long more or less of a curious structure which run forth a great way upon the Tail Towards their rise they are of a deep yellow or gold colour else of a whitish yellow shadowed or dashed with brown Among these feathers are extended two as it were threads or strings each more than two feet long near their rise of a yellow or gold colour crooked towards their ends and of a dark brown Their Legs are dusky their Talons being whiter The Bill is of a colour mixt of green and blue yet whitish toward the point § VII * Marggravius his other Bird of Paradise IN bigness it exceeded a Swallow It hath a small Head a little compressed or flat above two thirds of an inch long in thickness or compass two inches very lit-Eyes about the bigness of a grain of Millet or Mustard Seed The Bill strong above an inch long streight yet upwards towards its Base somewhat rising sharp of a colour mingled of blue and green with an oblong white spot in the upper Chap toward the point wide open Nosthrils The Neck a little more than two thirds of an inch long streight and of equal thickness with the head The body from the end of the Neck to the beginning of the Tail was scarce four inches long the thickness almost three but it was covered with many feathers which I do not here consider The length of the Wings was five inches Above on the head at the rise of the Bill it was adorned with very black small downy feathers exactly resembling Velvet and in like manner near the rise of the lower Bill the black here being broader than above In the whole throat or lower side of the Neck and as far as the Cheeks and also to the Eyes it was covered with silken feathers a little harder to the touch than those black ones of a most elegant golden green such as is wont to be seen in the necks of Peacocks and Mallards The whole upper part of the Head as far as that silken clothing was also covered with silken feathers but hard to the touch of a dark yellow colour The whole Neck encompassed with short feathers resembling Plush of a shining yellow colour like Gold The back was all covered with feathers of the like shining golden yellow to the touch resembling hairs lying many one upon another which below were of a pale brown colour The Wing-feathers are all one longer than another The Tail consists of a few the like brown feathers extended a little beyond the ends of the Wings and is above three inches and an half long At the very rise of the Wings and without the Wings in each side grow many very elegant feathers supported by small white ones Some of these are six inches long some a foot but the middlemost and longest are a foot and half long and white All these feathers are most elegant of a fine thin rare or subtile texture The number of feathers springing out of both sides amounts to about fifty in each among which there are forty a foot and half long apiece Clusius and others who take these long feathers to belong to the Wings are mistaken for they are not the Wing-feathers but as Marggravius truly hath delivered spring out of each side under the Wings These two descriptions seem to be either of one and the same sort of bird or of two very like and agree in most things with the first Species of Aldrovandus §. VIII * Of Birds of Paradise out of Clusius I See that he Aldrovandus he means and all the rest who have treated of this bird agree in this that they judge it to want feet because they had seen none but such as were bereaved of their feet Hereupon they did not stick to charge Antonius Pigafeta who accompanying Magellane in the Ship Victoria first sailed
whole body was fulvous or of a rusty ash-colour especially of the Breast where it was marked with blackish spots drawn long-ways promiscuously here and there in no order The Back and Wings are of a darker brown or ferrugineous dusky colour But the main difference is that that of Gesner hath all the particular feathers of its whole body more variegated with certain transverse narrow lines like the feathers of some kinds of Ducks Partridges and Hawks Besides it differs in that the whole body but especially the Back and Head are marked with certain black strakes irregularly drawn and as it were figured whereas mine saith he was not so painted but in the great feathers of the Wings and Tail distinguished with broad transverse blackish lines or bars which lines are so formed especially in the Tail that each of the broader are terminated above and below by other narrower ones like borders or fringes disposed in a triple order and at certain intervals distant from each other as in Hawks This had great and very sharp Talons not black as in that but of a horn-colour The Tail in both was very short 3. The third was in all things like the second save that the Legs were not hairy and both Legs and Feet weak Of this kind of Owl we saw one in France at the Kings Palace of Bois de Vincennes And two in his Majesties Park of St. James near Westminster They were as big as Eagles Their Legs and Feet hairy down to the Claws They had three fore-toes in each foot but the outmost of them was so framed that it could be turned backward and made stand like a hind-toe So that in that respect there is no difference between this and other sorts of Owls but this may as well be said to have two back toes as they whatever Aldrovandus hath delivered to the contrary Their colour was much like to that of a Bittour the feathers being marked with long black stroaks in the middle the out-sides of a light bay About the Belly some of the feathers were beautified with transverse lines The Irides of the Eyes were of a reddish yellow or flame colour rather of a golden That Owl which Marggravius describes under the name of Jacurutu of the Brasilians seems to be altogether the same with this It is saith he for bigness equal to a Goose Hath a round Head like a Cat a hooked black Bill the upper Chap being longer Great rising round Eyes shining like Crystal compassed toward the outside with a Circle of yellow The Circumference of the Eye something greater than a Misnian gross Near the Ear-holes it hath feathers two inches long which stick up and end in a sharp point like Ears The Tail is broad the Wings reach not to the end of it The Legs are feathered down to the Feet in which are four Toes three standing forward and one backward and in each a crooked black Talon above an inch long and very sharp The feathers of the whole body are elegantly variegated with yellow white and black It is said to build on high and inaccessible Rocks It preys not only on small birds but also Conies and Hares like the Eagle Yea saith Aldrovandus there is no Animal gathers so much prey by night as this Owl especially when she brings up her Young For she not only provides sufficient for her self and hers but is very advantageous to them that find her Nest For while she flies out a pourveying for more they privily steal away that she had before laid up only leaving so much as may suffice for nourishing the Young §. II. The Horn-Owl Otus sive Asio THat we described was a Female It weighed ten ounces Its length from the point of the Bill to the end of the Tail was fourteen Inches and an half Its breadth measuring from tip to tip of the Wings extended three foot and four inches The Bill was black from the point to the Angles of the Mouth one inch and half quarter The Tongue fleshy and a little divided The Irides of the Eyes of a lovely yellow The covers of the Ears large The ring of feathers compassing the face like a womans hood consists of a double row the exteriour variegated with small white black and red lines the interiour under the Eyes red where they are contiguous both black The forehead or ends of the two wreaths at the Bill more cinereous The feathers which cover the lower Belly and Legs are reddish in the Throat and Breast the middle parts of the feathers are black the outer parts partly white and partly yellow Those under the Wings are red At the bottoms of the foremost beam-feathers is a great transverse black spot Higher in the very bending and under the bastard-wing a broad bed or border of black The rest of the covert-feathers of the Wings are parti-coloured of a dark cinereous and yellow The Back was of the same colour with the Wings the middle of each feather being for the most part black The Horns were above an Inch long consisting of six feathers the middle parts of which were black the exteriour edges being red the interiour white sprinked with dusky specks The Tail was made up of twelve feathers six inches long the exteriour being shortest and the rest in order longer to the middlemost so that when spread it was terminated in a circular Circumference crossed with six or seven black bars but narrower than in other birds of this kind The intermediate spaces above were of an ash-colour below of a yellow The flag-feathers of the Wings were in each twenty four of the same colour with those of the Tail but in the outmost especially the third fourth and fifth there is a broad strake or bed of red toward the bottom and in the greater feathers the black bars are much broader than in the less The Legs and Feet are feathered down to the very Claws which are black that of the middle toe on the inside flatted into an edge The outmost of the fore-toes may be turned backwards as in other Owls It had a large Gall. The Guts were twenty inches long the Appendices or blind-guts two inches and a quarter longer and more tumid than in other carnivorous birds In the stomach we found bones and fur of Mice About Bologna and elsewhere in Italy it is frequent Found in England also but more rarely Francis Jessop Esq sent it to us out of Yorkshire This Bird is in all things exactly like the great Eagle-Owl or Bubo save in bigness whence also the French call it by the same name with the only addition of less Aldrovandus writes that it agrees with the Bubo in the structure or rather situation of its Toes both these having three fore-toes and one back one whereas all the rest of this kind have two fore-toes and two hind ones But in those we have observed both great and less Horn-Owls Otis Bubonibus
third and fourth the second above an inch shorter than the third and the fourth and fifth the longest of all whereas in that the second and third feathers are the longest and the extreme or Sarcel wants not half an inch of them Aldrovandus writes that the Country-people about Bononia told him that his Strix or Screech-Owl used to suck their Goats which ours as far as I have heard was never complained of for doing §. II. The Grey Owl Strix cinerea ANother Bird of this sort we described which we found first at Vienna in Austria and afterward in England also It weighed eleven ounces and an hlaf The length from the Bill to end of the Tail or Feet for they were equally extended was fourteen inches and an half The breadth between the tips of the Wings spread out two foot and eleven inches The Bill was an inch and quarter long The Tongue a little divided not so fleshy as in Hawks In the Palate it had a broad open fissure or cleft The Nosthrils were oblong The Sear or skin covering the Base of the Beak in diurnal Rapacious birds was wanting in this as in all other Owls It had huge round Eyes the Irides being of a dark Hazel colour Both upper and lower Eye-lid terminate in a membrane having black edges The Ear-holes were great and furnished with Valves This Bird was for the apparent magnitude very light and full of feathers A wreath or hood of stiffer feathers parti-coloured of white and black beginning from the Bill above and reaching beyond the Ears encompasses the Face and Eyes the ends meeting under the Chin like a womans hood Within this greater hood another circle of feathers of an ash-colour consisting of thinner and shorter hairs encompasses the Eyes The body is all over variegated with cinereous and brown The shafts of the feathers in the middle of the back are black The interiour Vanes of the long scapular feathers are white almost to the shafts The lower belly is white On the Breast are long black spots The first row of Wing-feathers had cross bars of black and reddish ash-colour In In the third row of the covert-feathers of the Wings were one or two white spots The Tail had twelve feathers seven inches and a quarter long the middlemost feathers being longest and the rest in order to the outmost somewhat shorter The Feet were feathered almost down to the Claws only two or three annulary scales naked The sole of the foot callous and of a yellowish colour as it were granulated with little knobs The Toes as in other Night-birds two standing forward and two backward The inner side of the Claw of the outer fore-toe is flatted into an edge The length of the Guts was twenty two inches of the blind Guts three and an half The name Strix some think is taken from the Verb stringere because it strangles people when they are asleep Ovid will have it so called à stridore from the screeching noise it makes Est illis Strigibus nomen sed nominis hujus Causa quòd horrenda stridere nocte solent This is like the precedent and of equal bigness from which yet it is distinguished by manifest notes and which argue a specifical difference The chief of those are 1. That this is grey that brown 2. That this hath long spots on the Breast which that wants 3. That the interiour hood in this is particoloured only of dusky and white §. III. The common Barn-Owl or White-Owl or Church-Owl Aluco minor Aldrov THe Cock which we described was about the bigness of a Pigeon weighed eleven ounces and an half It s length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail was fourteen inches The distance between the extremities of the Wings spread out three foot and one inch and half The Bill white hooked at the end more than an inch and half long The Tongue a little divided at the tip the Nosethrils oblong A circle or wreath of white soft downy feathers encompassed with yellow ones beginning from the Nosthrils on each side passed round the Eyes and under the Chin somewhat resembling a black hood such as women use to wear So that the Eyes were sunk in the middle of these feathers as it were in the bottom of a Pit or Valley At the interiour angle of each Eye the lower parts of these feathers were of a tawny colour The Ears were covered with a Valve which arises near the Eye and falls backwards The interiour circle we mentioned of white downy feathers passed just over this Valve so that part of them grew out of it The Breast Belly and covert-feathers of the inside of the Wings were white marked with a few quadrangular dark spots The Head Neck and Back as far as the prime feathers of the Wings variously and of all Night-birds most elegantly coloured The feathers toward the tips were waved with small whitish and blackish lines resembling a grey colour but about the shaft of each feather there was as it were a bed or row of black and white spots situate long-ways made up in some of two white and two black spots in some of three of each colour in some of but one Else the whole Plumage was of a dilute tawny or orange colour which same colour was also the field or ground in the Wings and Tail The master-feathers in each Wing were in number twenty four whereof the greater have four transverse blackish bars In these bars in the exteriour Vane of the feather there is also white mingled with the black which makes an appearance of a grey spot The intermediate spaces are fulvous and powdered with small black specks the tips of these feathers incline more to an ash-colour The Wings when shut up extend full as far or further than the end of the Tail In the exteriour Vanes of the first or outmost feather of each Wing the ends of the Pinnulae are not contiguous one to another but stand at distance like the teeth of a fine Comb. The Tail is made up of twelve feathers of the same colour with the Wings having four transverse black bars four inches and half long The interiour margins of the feathers both of Wings and Tail are white The Legs are covered with a thick Down to the Feet but the Toes are only hairy the hairs also thin-set The Claw of the middle Toe is serrate on the inside as in Herons but not so manifestly It hath but one Toe that stands backward but the outmost fore-toe may be turned so as to stand a little backward The Guts were eighteen inches long the blind Guts but two It had a large Gall Its Eggs were white Aldrovandus his description agrees exactly with ours The Eye in this Bird and I suppose in all the rest of this kind is of a strange and singular structure That part which appears
outwardly and lay two or three Eggs like to Pigeons without any made Nest as Marggravius saith Lerius affirms that they do build Nests sufficiently firm and hard of a round orbicular figure Whence it is manifest that they do not hang their Nests upon the slender twigs of Trees as Cadamustus and others have delivered For that bird which hangs its Nest on this fashion called by the Brasilians Guira tangeima as Marggravius writes is much different from the Parrot Though you touch her Eggs yet will not the Parrot forsake them but hatch them notwithstanding Parrots are made of several colours by the Tapuyae by plucking them when they are young and then staining their skins with divers colours These the Portugues call counterfeit Parrots Which thing if it be true for to me indeed it seems not probable it is to no purpose to distinguish Parrots by the diversity of colour sith therein they may vary infinitely In all Parrots that I have hitherto observed the Nosthrils were round situate in the upper part of the upper Chap close by the feathers and very near one to another Parrots in respect of bigness may be divided into three kinds viz. the greatest mean-sized and least The greatest are equal in bigness to our common Raven or as Aldrovandus saith to a well-fed Capon and have long Tails In English they are called Macaos and Cockatoons The middle or meansized and most common Parrots are as big or bigger than a Pigeon have short Tails and are called in English Parrots and Poppinjayes The least are of the bulk of a Blackbird or a Lark have very long Tails and are called in English Parakeetos CHAP. II. Of the greatest sort of Parrots called Maccaws and Cockatoons §. I. * Aldrovandus his greatest blue and yellow Maccaw THe body of this equals a well-fed Capons From the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail it was two Cubits long The Bill hooked and in that measure that it made an exact semicircle being outwardly conformed into the perfect roundness of half a ring a full Palm long and where it begins as thick within half an inch if you measure both Mandibles The upper Mandible is almost two inches longer than the nether which on the lower side downward is convex and round The whole Bill is black The Eyes white and black Three black lines drawn from the Bill to the beginning of the Neck representing the figure of the letter S lying compass the eyes underneath The Crown of the Head is flat and of a green colour The Throat adorned with a kind of black ring The Breast Belly Thighs Rump and Tail underneath all of a Saffron colour The Neck above Back Wings and upper side of the Tail of a very pleasant blue or azure The Tail eighteen inches long more or less The Legs very short thick and of a dusky or dark colour as are also the Feet the Toes long armed with great crooked black Talons §. II. * The other Maccaw or Macao of Aldrovandus THis is nothing less than the foregoing of the same length but seemed not to be so thick-bodied It s Bill is shorter than the precedents being not drawn out into so long a hook yet almost three inches long and as many broad where it is joyned to the head the upper Chap being white the nether black The region of the Eyes and the Temples are white The crown of the Head more than a Palm long and flat The Back beginning of the Wings Throat Breast Belly Thighs and finally the whole Tail above are beautified with a most lovely Scarlet or red colour as is also the inner side of the flag-feathers of the Wings The second row of the covert Wing-feathers are yellow with scarlet edges each adorned with a kind of eye of blue near the tip The outer surface of the flag-feathers and the Rump I suppose he means the Tail underneath tinctured with a deep blue The Legs are short the Feet divided into long Toes armed with crooked Claws Both of a duskish or dark ash-colour §. III. A Maccaw described at London the same I suppose with the precedent called by Marggrav Araracanga AT London we observed and described a certain Macao either the same with the precedent I mean in kind or very like it It was of the same bigness had a huge Bill the upper Mandible being almost wholly white the lower black The skin about the Eyes was bare of feathers and rough or rugged The whole head Breast and Belly red like minium The Wings and Tail parti-coloured of red yellow and blue The Tail of a great length especially the two middlemost feathers which do much exceed the rest and are of a blue colour I take that which Marggravius describes Book 5. Chap. 9. to be the same with this Let the Reader compare the descriptions His runs thus It is bigger than our common Raven Hath a great Head broad and flat above fair * grey Eyes * Coesius with a black Pupil A white Membrane encompasses the Eyes as also the Jaws and lower Bill I suppose he means that the skin thereabouts is white and bare of feathers This under the Eyes is produced in a semilunar form The Bill is great hooked white above black underneath It hath a Tongue like a Parrot and eats after the same manner It learns also to pronounce some words The upper Chap of the Bill is about three inches long broad or deep It hath black Legs and Feet like a Parrot The whole Head Neck Breast Belly Thighs and Tail underneath as also the beginning of the Wings above are cloathed with most lovely and elegant red feathers The middle part of the Wings is adorned with green and the lower half of them from the middle to the end with blue The Rump or lower part of the Back and the Tail are blue some brown feathers being also intermingled The Tail is about ten inches long running out much beyond the ends of the Wings §. IV. * The Macao called Ararauna by the Brasilians Marggrav the same with Aldrov his first IT is in shape like the precedent but of a different colour It s Bill black Eyes grey Pupil black The skin about the Eyes white variegated with black as if it were wrought with a Needle The Legs and Feet dusky fusca The forepart of the Head above the Bill hath a copple or tuft of green feathers Under the lower Bill black feathers compass the Throat The sides of the Neck the whole Breast and lower Belly are covered with yellow feathers The hinder or extreme part of the Head the backside of the Neck the whole Back and outsides of the Wings with blue The ends of the Wings have yellow feathers mingled with the blue The Tail consists of long blue feathers wherewith some yellow ones are mingled The inner or underside of all the blue feathers in general is black These feathers do also cast a shew of blackness from their sides Upon
It hath four Toes two standing forwards two backwards after the manner or Parrots It cries with a loud voice in one tone yiiiiy in the middle more elevated They are frequent in all Woods but not good to eat THE SECOND PART OF THE FIRST BOOK Of Birds with streighter or less hooked Bills THE FIRST SECTION OF GREATER BIRDS CHAP. I. Birds with thick streight and large Bills THese either feed indifferently upon Insects and Fruit some of them also are carnivorous and rapacious being very greedy of dead Carkasses and Carrion or upon Insects only The first may be divided into such whose body is for the most part of one colour and that black which we call the Crow-kind Or such whose body is particoloured and who chatter much viz. the Pie-kind Of those which feed upon Insects only there is but one family to wit Wood-peckers Yet the Reader is to take notice that when we affirm Woodpeckers to feed only upon Insects we understand Woodpeckers properly and strictly so called For there are some birds which we have referred to this Genus of Woodpeckers largely taken which feed also upon fruit as for example the Nuthatch Wall-creeper c. CHAP. II. Birds of the Crow-kind §. I. The Raven called in Latine Corvus in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THe Bird we described weighed two pounds and two ounces Its length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail was two feet and one inch The distance between the extremities of the Wings extended was four feet and half an inch The Bill long thick sharp and very black The upper Chap something hooked but not so as in Hawks the lower streight The Tongue broad cleft at the tip rough and black underneath The Iris of the Eye or ring encircling the Pupil consists as it were of a double circle the exteriour being of a light cinereous or ash-colour the interiour of a dark cinereous Black hairs or bristles bending from the Head downwards cover the Nosthrils The Plumage is black all over the body having a blue splendour or gloss which is seen especially in the Tail and Wings The Belly is something paler inclining to brown On the middle of the Back grow only downy feathers For the Back is covered with those long feathers that spring from the shoulders as in many other birds The number of prime feathers in each Wing is twenty of which the first is shorter than the second the second than the third and that than the fourth which is the longest of all In all from the sixth to the eighteenth the shaft extends further than the Vanes and ends in a sharp point The Tail is about nine inches long made up of twelve feathers the exteriour being gradually somewhat shorter than the interiour It hath large crooked Claws especially those of the back-toes The outmost fore-toe is joyned to the middlemost from the divarication to the first joynt The Liver is divided into two Lobes It hath a large Gall sticking to the Guts The length of the Guts is forty three inches of the blind-guts one inch The Gullet below the Bill is dilated into a kind of bag wherein she brings meat to feed her Young The stomach within is wrinkled The Raven feeds not only upon Fruits and Insects but also upon the Carkasses of beasts birds and fishes moreover it sets upon kills and devours living birds after the manner of Hawks We have seen one or two milk-white Ravens Aldrovandus mentions divers and saith that they are often found in England But without doubt he was mistaken or misinformed for they are seldom seen among us insomuch that they are carried up and down to be shewn for money I rather think that they are found in those Mountainous or Northern Countries which are for the greatest part of the year covered with snow Where also many other Animals change their native colours and become white as Bears Foxes Hares Blackbirds c. whether it proceeds from the force of the imagination heightned by the constant intuition of Snow or from the cold of the Climate occasioning such a languishing of colour as we see in old Age when the natural heat decays the hair grows grey and at last white They say that a Raven may be reclaimed and trained up for fowling after the manner of a Hawk Ravens are found not only in one part or Region of the World but abound in all Countries Do easily bear all changes of weather fearing neither heat nor cold enduring well to abide and live where-ever there is plenty of meat for them And though they are said to love solitude yet do they very often live and build in the midst of the most populous Cities as Aldrovandus delivers and experience confirms They build in high Trees or old Towers in the beginning of March with us in England and sometimes sooner They lay four or five and sometimes six Eggs before they begin to sit Their Eggs are of a pale greenish blue full of black spots and lines What is reported by Hesiod and others of the Ancients of the long lives of Ravens is without doubt fabulous But that all Birds in general compared with Quadrupeds are long-lived we have already proved by divers examples in several kinds And that Ravens are in the number of the longest lived we will not deny §. II. The common or carrion Crow Cornix THe Cock which we described weighed twenty two ounces another but twenty It s length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Feet was eighteen inches and an half to the end of the Tail about an inch more Its breadth between the extremities of the Wings spread two feet and two inches The Bill strong thick streight from the tip to the Angles of the Mouth two inches and almost an half long the lower Mandible being somewhat the shorter The Tongue cleft and as it were jagged or torn The Eyes great having Irides of a Hazel colour The Nosthrils round covered with black bristles reflected toward the end of the Bill The Plumage of the whole body is black only the ground or bottom of the feathers of a Lead or dark ash-colour The beam-feathers are in number twenty in each Wing whereof the first is shorter than the second the second than the third that than the fourth which is the longest of all being by measure ten inches three quarters The inner of these feathers end in sharp points The Tail was seven inches and an half long composed of twelve feathers of equal length The Legs and Feet black The Claws black and strong The outmost fore-toe is joyned to the middle one from the bottom as far as the first joynt The Liver divided into two Lobes of which the right is the greater It hath a large Gall which empties it self by a double channel into the Guts The Muscles of the stomach are
but small The Guts have many revolutions The blind's no more than half an inch long Scarce any foot-step to be found of the * Ductus intestinalis channel conveying the Yolk to the Guts This Bird delights to feed upon Carrion that is the Carkasses of dead Animals when they begin to putrefie Neither doth it feed only upon Carrion but also set upon kill and devour living birds in like manner as the Raven Moreover it eats Grain and all sorts of Insects in England at least For beyond Seas they say it meddles with no kind of Grain This kind of Bird abounds with us in Britain as Cardan and Turner truly observe because here is plenty of food for them They build upon high trees and lay four or five Eggs at a time like Ravens but less They are very noisom to Lambs new-yeaned if they be weak and feeble first picking out their eyes They are said to have a very sagacious sent so that it is difficult to shoot them they smelling the Gunpowder at a great distance Ravens Crows c. roost as they say upon trees with their Bills directed toward the Sun-rising That the Crow it self saith Aldrovandus is capable of humane speech and hath been taught to pronounce several words both we our selves do certainly know and Pliny a Witness beyond exception testifieth writing thus There was also in the City of Rome whilest I was recording these things a Crow belonging to a Roman Gentleman brought out of Baetica first admirable for its colour which was exceeding black then pronouncing many words in connexion and still learning more and more As for its pace it is reckoned among those birds which neither run nor leap but walk Aldrovandus The Females only sit and that diligently the Males in the mean time bring them food as Aristotle saith In most other birds which pair together the Male and Female sit by turns They do not saith Aldrovandus as I hear feed their Young till they begin to be feathered the same also is reported of Ravens and many other birds that are much on the Wing You will say wherewithal are they nourished in the mean time and how do they grow I answer with the Yolk of the Egg remaining in the Belly after exclusion For we have elsewhere shewn that a good part of the Yolk is received into the cavity of the belly in birds newly hatched which being by degrees conveyed into the Guts by a certain passage called by us ductus intestinalis serves to nourish the Young newly excluded §. III. Cornix frugivora seu frugilega The Rook. IT weighed nineteen ounces Its length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail was twenty inches to the end of the Claws eighteen The breadth or distance between the tips of the Wings extended thirty eight inches It hath no Craw but instead thereof the Gullet below the Bill is dilated into a kind of bag wherein it brings meat to feed its Young In the old ones of this sort the feathers about the root of the Bill as far as the Eyes are worn off by often thrusting the Bill into the ground to fetch out Earth-worms c. So that the flesh thereabouts is bare and appears of a whitish colour By which note this bird may be distinguished from the common Crow Howbeit the Bill it self is not white as Bellonius writes and others believe It differs also from the Crow 2. In that it is somewhat bigger 3. In the purple splendour or gloss of its feathers 4. In that it is gregarious both flying and breeding in company The number of beam-feathers in each Wing is twenty of which the fourth is the longest being by measure ten inches and a quarter The shafts of the middle Wing-feathers end in bristles or spines The Tail is seven inches and an half long made up of twelve feathers the exteriour whereof are a little shorter than the middle ones The Bill from the tip to the Angles of the mouth is two inches and an half long The Nostrils round The Tongue black horny and cloven at the end The hind-toe hath a large strong Claw The outmost fore-toe is joyned to the middlemost as in the Crow It hath a large Gall short blind-guts like the Crow of about half an inch The stomach is great and musculous as in granivorous birds The Guts wide and variously reflected They are most greedy of Corn yet feed also upon Earth-worms and other Insects refraining from garbage and carrion They build many together upon high trees about Gentlemens houses who are much delighted with the noise they make in breeding time Both Cock and Hen sit by turns Their Eggs are like Crows but lesser spotted with greater spots especially about the blunt end I have been told by a worthy Gentleman of Sussex who himself observed it that when Rooks build one of the Pair always sits by to watch the Nest till it be finished whilst the other goes about to fetch materials Else if both go and leave the Nest unfinished as sometimes they venture to do their fellow-Rooks ere they return again will have rob'd and carried away to their several Nests all their sticks and whatever else they had got together Hence perhaps the word Rooking with us is used for cheating or abusing These Birds are noisome to Corn and Grain So that the Husbandmen are forced to employ Children with hooting and Crackers and Rattles of Metal and finally with throwing of stones to scare them away Such as have no Servants or Children to spare for such a purpose make use of other devices either of Mills made with Sails to be turned by the Wind making a continual snapping as they turn wherewith they fright the birds or of Bugbears or as we call them Scare-Crows placed up and down the fields and dressed up in a Country habit which the birds taking for Country men dare not come near the grounds where they stand I was also told by the fore-mentioned Gentleman that if Rooks infest your Corn they will be more terrified by taking a Rook and plucking it limb from limb in their sight and then casting the several limbs about your field than if you hang up half a dozen dead Rooks in it §. IV. The Royston Crow Cornix cinerea frugilega THat we described weighed about twenty two ounces Its measures were from the point of the Bill to the end of the Tail twenty two inches to the Angles of the mouth two inches and an half Between the Wings extended three feet and three inches The Bill long strong smooth black but having the tip whitish the upper Chap somewhat longer than the lower and a little bowed or crooked The Nosthrils round covered with bristly hairs The Tongue broad black a little cloven and rough on the sides The Irides of the Eyes of a cinereous Hazel colour The Head Wings and Throat as far as
the Breast-bone black with a certain bluo gloss The Breast Belly Back and Neck cinereous or grey the shafts of the feathers being blackish The feathers on the Throat where the black and cinereous meet have their exteriour sides cinereous and their interiour black The Back is of somewhat a darker ash-colour than the Belly It hath in each Wing twenty master-feathers of which the first is the shortest the third fourth and fifth equal From the sixth the shafts being produced above the feathers end in sharp points The Tail consists of twelve feathers the exteriour whereof were gradually something shorter than the interiour to the middlemost which were seven inches and an half long The back-toe and Claw are large The exteriour and interiour fore-toes equal and their Claws reach as far as the root of the Claw of the middle Toe The outmost and middle Toe are joyned at the bottom asin the Crow The Liver is divided into two Lobes The Stomach or Gizzard large and in that we dissected was full of Wheat Barley and other Grain It is infested with Lice and Ticks In Summer time saith Aldrovandus it lives in high Mountains where it also builds In the Winter compelled as is likely by the cold it descends into the Plains On the Heaths about Newmarket Royston and elsewhere in Cambridge-shire it is frequently seen in Winter time §. V. The Jack-daw Monedula IT weighed nine ounces and an half being in length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail thirteen inches and an half in breadth between the tips of the Wings spread two feet four inches and an half The Bill is strong from the point to the Angles of the mouth an inch and a quarter long The Nosthrils round Little hairy feathers cover the Nosthrils and half the Bill The Tongue cloven the Irides of the Eyes whitish the Ears large The hinder part of the Head as far as the middle of the Neck inclines to an ash-colour as also the Breast and Belly but less else the whole Plumage is black with a kind of blue gloss the fore-part of the Head is of a deeper black The number of prime feathers in each Wing is twenty Of which the first is shorter by half than the second the third and fourth the longest of all From the eleventh the six following have the tops of their Vanes so running forth on each side above their shafts that these feathers seem to be crenate in their tops and from the Angle of that notch the shaft of the feather is continued in form of a bristle The number of Tail-feathers is twelve whereof the exteriour are somewhat shorter The length of the Tail five inches and an half The back-toe and Claw greater than in other birds is usual The outmost fore-toe joyned to the middlemost at the bottom as in the rest of this kind It hath no Craw The stomach is musculous The length of the Guts was twenty four inches It feeds upon Nuts Fruits Seeds and Insects The Appendices or blind Guts small and scarce an inch long The Head of this Bird in respect of its body is great which argues him to be ingenious and crafty which is found true by experience Jackdaws usually frequent and build in ancient Castles Towers Houses and Stone-walls especially if they be desolate and ruinous in great numbers They build also sometimes in Trees as we can testifie upon our own experience though Aldrovandus be unwilling to believe it They lay five or six Eggs lesser paler and having fewer spots than those of Crows Aldrovandus makes the Latine Graculus which answers to the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a common or general name containing under it four Species viz. the Coracias or Chough the Lupus or Jackdaw the Scurra or and the Graculus palmipes or Shag But the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Graculus are sometimes appropriated to the Jackdaw as he acknowledges Besides the common Jackdaw we have now described Aldrovandus sets forth a figure of another difiering from this only in that it hath a white ring about its neck Gesncr also writes from the report of others that about Zug in Switzerland there is found a Jackdaw distinguished from the common by a ring of white encompassing his neck As for that Species of Daw Graculus in Rhaetia known by the name of Tulla which Gesner also mentions having a blue head he giving us no other notes of it I cannot tell what to determine concerning it The Vulgar and ignorant Fowlers love to tell wonders and amplifie things and therefore their relations are not much to be confided in What Gesner delivers of his own sight or knowledge I readily believe and accept for true he being an Author of great judgment and no less fidelity and integrity But what he hath from the relation of others I do often suspect Besides it is to be observed that short rude imperfect and general descriptions made by such as were not practised and skilful in describing and observing the certain and characteristic notes of each Species have occasioned great confusion and multiplication of more kinds of birds and other Creatures than Nature hath produced §. VI. The Cornish Chough Coracias seu Pyrrhocorax THe Female weighed twelve ounces and an half the Male thirteen The length from the point of the Bill to the end of the Feet sixteen inches and an half to the end of the Tail seventeen The Wings spread were thirty three inches and an half wide It is like a Jackdaw but bigger and almost equal to a Crow It differs chiefly from the Jackdaw in the Bill which is longer red sharp a little bowed or crooked The upper Mandible being something longer than the lower The Nosthrils round The Tongue broad thin and a little cloven shorter than the Bill The sides of the fissures of the Palate and Windpipe and of the root of the Tongue are rough and as it were hairy Feathers reflected downwards cover the Nosthrils The Feet and Legs are like those of a Jackdaw but red of colour The Plumage of the whole body all over is black The number of prime feathers in each Wing is twenty Of which the first is shorter than the second that than the third the third than the fourth which is the longest of all being by measure ten inches and an half The Wings complicated extend as far as the end of the Tail The Tail-feathers are in number twelve all equal or if any difference be the middle a little the longer as in the rest of this kind being by measure 5⅜ inches The Liver was divided into two Lobes of which the left was the less The Spleen long soft and round The Stomach fleshy and full of Insects It frequents Rocks old Castles and Churches by the Sea-side It is found not only in Cornwal but also in Wales and all along
also frequently flirted up that rudiment of a Tail as Wrens and Wagtails are wont to do Each foot was divided into two Toes standing forward and two backward above of a Violet-colour underneath of an ash or grey It often hopped and leapt up and down and cried with a voice not unlike the chattering of a Magpie It fed upon almost all the same things that Parrots do but was most greedy of Grapes which being pluckt off one by one and tossed to it it would most dextrously catch in the Air before they fell to the ground The flesh of the whole body was of a deep Violet colour Faber doth not undeservedly enquire how seeing the Bill is so light and thin the Bird can pierce trees with it Which difficulty he thus satisfies that though it be thin and light yet is it of a bony substance and therefore it is not to be wondred at that dextrously used by the living Animal it should therewith by many repeated strokes pierce a tree having perchance the instinct to chuse a rotten one as we see drops of rain wear holes in Flints nay the very feet of Pismires walking often over them as Pliny observes make impressions on them Lerius writes that this Bird is of the colour of a Raven except the Breast which is of a Saffron-colour compassed beneath with a line of Vermilion the skin of which part pluckt off the Indians dry and use for an ornament of their Cheeks gluing it on with Wax This same Bird is described by John de Laet out of a Portugues Author and out of the same by Marggrave It is of the bigness saith he of a Pie or Dove hath a Crop under the Breast three or four inches broad of a Saffron-colour and compassed about the borders with Vermilion feathers The Breast is yellow the rest of the body black One would wonder how so little a bird could carry so great a Bill but it is exceeding light and very tender We have seen in several Cabinets the Bill of this Bird and our selves have also one of them §. III. The Jay Pica glandaria IT weighed seven ounces It s length from the point of the Bill to the end of the Tail was fourteen inches to the end of the Feet but twelve and an half The distance between the extremities of the Wings spread twenty one and an half The Bill black strong from the tip to the Angles of the mouth about or near an inch and half long The Tongue black thin pellucid and cloven at the tip The Irides of the Eyes white The feathers of the Head and Body in this bird are taller slenderer and stand more staring or erect than ordinary Near the lower Chap of the Bill are two black spots on each side one The Chin and lower part of the Belly whitish Else the Breast and Belly are of a colour mixt of cinereous and red The Rump above is white The Back red with a certain mixture of blue The feathers on the crown of the Head variegated with black and white The Sails of the Wings are in number twenty Of which the first is shorter by half than the second The fourth the longest being by measure six inches and a quarter As for their colours the first or outmost is black the bottom or lower part being white which is proper to it alone The six next-following have their exteriour Vanes of an ash-colour the three next likewise but more obscure and mingled with blue being also marked toward their bottoms with transverse black and white strokes The five succeeding have their exteriour Vanes half white half black viz. the lower half white the upper black but so that each extremity of the white is terminated with blue The sixteenth in place of the white of the four precedent hath transverse blue black and white spots The seventeenth is black having one or two blue spots The eighteenth is black with some little red The nineteenth red with the tip black The undersides of all the feathers of the Wing are of a dark or dusky colour The covert-feathers of the fifteen exteriour Sails are very beautiful being variegated or chequered with black white and lovely shining blue lines The rest of the covert-feathers being black The Tail is six inches and a quarter long consisting of twelve feathers wholly black except toward their roots Under the Rump there is something of blue mingled with cinereous The Feet and Toes are of a ferrugineous dusky colour The middle Toe is the longest the outmost is equal to the back-toe The lower internodium of the outmost Toe is joyned to the middlemost The back Claw is greatest The Eggs are cinereous with darker spots scarce appearing The Guts twenty four inches long the blind Guts but half an inch It hath a Gall and a long Spleen The Stomach or Gizzard not very fleshy and having its Echinus Wherein we found Acorns c. Yet it feeds not only on Acorns whence it got the name of Pica glandaria but also upon Cherries of which it is very greedy Goose-berries Rasps and other fruit It differs from that described by Aldrovandus in that it hath no transverse spots in the Tail The Female differs little or nothing from the Male either in bigness or colour so that it is very difficult to know them asunder It learns to imitate mans voice and speak articulately as well as a Jackdaw §. IV. The Roller Garrulus Argentoratensis THe bird we described was a Cock and weighed six ounces It s length from the tip of the Bill to the Claws eleven inches and an half to the end of the Tail thirteen and an half The breadth or distance between the tips of the Wings spread twenty six inches The Bill was black sharp something hooked otherwise like to that of a Jay from the point to the Angles of the mouth 1 â… inches long The Irides of the Eyes were of a pale hazel-colour Near the Eyes toward the hinder part of the Head were two bunches as it were Warts void of feathers The Tongue black as in Jays jagged or torn but not cloven The roof of the mouth green and having a double cleft or fissure The bottom of the Palate is rugged or rough with little bunches At the Base of the Tongue there is only a little forked excrescency on each side The circumference of the Eyes is bare or void of feathers The Rump and lesser rows of covert feathers of the Wings are of a lovely blue or ultramarine colour as the Painters call it The middle of the Back between the shoulders red The Head of a sordid green mingled with blue of which colour is also the Throat with white lines in the middle of each feather The Breast and Belly are of a pale blue like those of a Pigeon The number of Sails in each Wing is twenty of which the first second and third
are equal and from the tenth all the rest Almost all of them have their lower half blue and the upper black The foremost are black almost down to the bottom only in their exteriour Webs they have a mixture of blue The covert feathers of the Wings are of a pale blue of which colour also but paler are those that invest the underside of the Wing The Tail consists of twelve feathers of which the ten intermediate are equal each being four inches three quarters long The two extreme longer than the rest by three quarters of an inch The two middlemost are of a dark ash-colour the next to them have their tips of a bluish white which colour gradually increases in the rest till in the outmost it takes up half the feather Below the white the interiour webs of the feathers are black and the exteriour blue The tips of the outmost feathers are black The tail-feathers and sails of the Wings where ever they are blackish above are blue underneath The outmost feather of the Ala notha is black the rest blue The Feet are short and like those of a Dove of a dirty yellow colour The middle Toe the longest next to that the outmost fore-toe The Claw of the middle Toe in the inner side is edged The Claws are black and the Toes divided to the bottom The Stomach within was of a Saffron colour and therein we found a large Grass-hopper The Guts thirteen inches and an half long the blind Guts two and an half We found of these Birds not only in Germany but also in the Isles of Sicily and Malta to be sold in the Markets and in the Poulterers shops There are many singular and characteristic marks in this bird as 1. The knobs or wart-like bunches under the eyes 2. The figure of the Tail the outmost feather on each side being longer than the rest 3. The Toes divided down to the bottom 4. The Tongue having only two forked Appendices * Gesners blue Crow the same I suspect with the precedent The blue Crow whose figure Jo. Kentmannus sent to Gesner but the History thereof George Fabricius out of Misnia is a wild bird and not easie to be tamed called by the Misnians Ein wild Holtzkrae of others Galgen-regell or Halck-regel It is found beyond the River Elb in the Luchovian Forest and in the neighbouring Woods It haunts and abides in desart and unfrequented places Some from the colour call it Ein Tentschen Pappagey that is The German Parrot It is transported into Forein Countries for no other commendation but the colour So far George Fabricius The Bill as the Picture shews is black The Legs dusky and for the proportion of the body small It is here and there all over the body viz. on the Head Wings Tail about the Rump and all the underside of a shining blue colour in some places more sincere in some mixt with green The colour of the Back and upper side of the Neck is dusky The greater feathers of the Wings black I am verily perswaded that this bird is no other than the Strasburgh Roller §. V. * The Sea-Pie Pica Marina ALdrovandus in the twelfth Book and fifteenth Chapter of his Ornithology doth thus briefly describe this bird The whole Bird excepting the Head Neck Feet and also part of the Wings is of a greenish colour The Bill is strong a little longer than a Pies very sharp The top of the Head and down as low as a third part of the Neck is of a delayed Chesnut colour The lower part of the Head to the Temples and Eyes yellow The Eyes black with yellow Irides encompassed again with a black circle The Feet dusky the Toes long the Nails very crooked and black The rest of the body green except the second row of Wing-feathers which are of a dilute Chesnut having their ends blue Whether he himself saw this Bird or described it from a picture he tells us not But in that he affirms that the Strasburg Roller never lives in maritime places and so without reason challenges the name of the Sea-pie which the Bolognese as Gesner witnesseth attribute to it he is without doubt deceived Sith we our selves as we said before saw at Messina in Sicily and in the Isle of Malta several of them §. VI. * The Persian Pie. Aldrovandus THe bird which Aldrovandus calls by this name and describes from a Picture sent him from Venice hath a strong thick short whitish Bill Also white Eyes with a black Pupil The second row of Wing-feathers the Rump and foremost feathers in the Tail are yellow The Feet are bluish with black tabulary scales The Claws small but crooked and black Else it is all over of a dusky colour Besides these Dr. Charleton in his Onomasticon Zoicon p. 68. mentions another sort of Pie viz. The Indian Mock-bird not much unlike the Jay but somewhat smaller We have not as yet had the hap to see this bird Nor is there any thing written of it by others that we know of §. VII Caryocatactes Gesn and Turn IT weighed five ounces three quarters It s length from the Bill to the end of the Toes was thirteen inches and an half to the end of the Tail the same The breadth between the tips of the Wings spread twenty two inches and an half The Bill from the tip to the corners of the mouth is almost two inches long black strong and like that of a Pie save that it is not sharp pointed but blunt at the end and the upper Mandible a little prominent The Tongue is short scarce reaching beyond the Angle of the lower Mandible cloven with a deeper incision than in any other Bird I have observed In the lower Chap from the Angle is a wrinkle exactly equal to the fissure or cleft of the Tongue so that the Tongue seems never to extend further the wrinkle filling up the fissure The bottom of the Palate and sides of the fissure therein are rough The Irides of the Eyes are of a hazel colour The Nosthrils round and covered with whitish bristly reflected feathers The whole body as well lower as upper side is of a dusky red all over except the Head beautified with triangular white spots in the tops of the feathers these spots on the Breast are greater than elsewhere The Head is not spotted at all The upper side of the body partakes more of red Between the Eyes and Bill it is white The feathers under the Tail beyond the vent are milk-white The sails in each Wing are about twenty of a black or dark colour the Tail-feathers twelve all of equal length being by measure four inches three quarters except the outmost on each side which are a little shorter And for their colours the outmost on each side are three quarters white and from them the white part is gradually less and less in the succeeding feathers to the middlemost in which it doth wholly disappear The
Caterpillars and Cossi It sits more upon the ground than other Woodpeckers and seeks its food there It s Tongue is round ending in a stiff sharp bony tip dented on both sides This Tongue the Bird can dart out to a great length viz. some three or four inches and draw up again by the help of two small round Cartilages fastned into the forementioned bony tip and running along the length of the Tongue These Cartilages from the root of the Tongue take a circuit beyond the Ears and being reflected backwards to the crown of the Head where they both meet again and are kept down down by a Ligament going over them make a large bow Below the Ligament they run down the Sagittal Suture and then declining a little to the right side pass just above the orbit of the right Eye and along the right side of the Bill into a hole excavated there whence they have their rise or original The musculous spongy flesh of the Tongue encloses these Cartilages like a sheath and is so made that it may be extended or contracted like a Worm That part also of these Cartilages reaching from the hind part of the Head to the end of the Bill is covered with the like musculous flesh that may be contracted or extended like the Tongue only both Cartilages are not enclosed in one muscle but have each its several distinct musculous sheath like two small strings or worms On the ends of these Cartilages for I could without much force draw them out of their socket in the Bill there was a white glutinous or mucous matter On the inside the flexure of these Cartilages reaching from the root of the Tongue to the top of the Head was a broad thin muscle which served to move the Cartilages to and fro For by contracting it self it streightens the bow of the Cartilages almost after the manner as the Tunica Uvea dilates the Pupil and so necessarily forces the Cartilages forward through the Tongue and thrusts out the Tongue But we leave these things to be more curiously weighed and examined by others The tips of the shafts of the Tail-feathers in this and other Woodpeckers seem to be broken or worn off by their resting upon them in climbing This kind lays five or six Eggs at once I have seen six young ones together in a Nest * Bellonius his greatest green Woodpecker Bellonius makes this Bird which he would have to be Aristotles third kind of Woodpecker far greater than the common green Woodspite now described He gives him a crooked Bill contrary to the manner of the rest of this Tribe Feet after the fashion of others Divers spots in the Wings such as are seen in the Wings of the rest but different in colour §. III. The greater spotted Woodpecker or Witwall Picus varius major 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist IT is as big or bigger than a Blackbird The Female weighed two ounces three quarters It s length from the Bill to the Claws was eight inches to the end of the Tail nine and an half the distance between the tips of the Wings extended sixteen inches The Bill in the Cock was an inch and a quarter long measuring from the tip to the corner of the slit of the mouth streight black thicker at the head and slenderer by degrees ending in a sharp point being of a triangular Pyramidal figure and channel'd with a furrow or two The Nosthrils round and covered with black bristles The Irides of the Eyes red The Tongue made like that of the green Woodpecker On the hind part of the Head is a line of Crimson or Vermilion red reaching from white to white in each cheek in the Cock not in the Hen. In the Hen the Throat and Breast were of a dirty yellowish white The lower Belly under the Tail of a lovely red or Crimson colour Hence the Italians call it Cul rosso the Welsh by a name signifying Fire-tail the feathers encompassing the Base of the upper Chap and those about the Eyes and Ears are white The Head is black with a dash of shining green the Back also black At the insertion of the Wings on each side is a great white spot From the corners of the mouth a broad black stroak reaches own to the Back just below the Head another black stroak crosses this The flag-feathers of the Wing are in number twenty of which the first or outmost is the shortest black and marked with semicircular white spots The interiour covert feathers of the Wings are white and make up part of those white spots we mentioned on the shoulders the middlemost are wholly black the exteriour have one or two white spots The ridge or Base of the Wing is white The Tail is three inches and an half long made up of ten feathers of which the two middlemost are the longest being strong stiff sharp-pointed and bending inwards The shaft as in others is not produced to the utmost tip perchance worn or broken off with climbing by reason whereof the feathers appear forked The outmost Tail-feather on each side is small black and having a white spot in the exteriour Web. In the two next the lower part is black and the rest white with two transverse black spots or stroaks of which the upper cuts both Webs of the feather the lower only the interiour In the third the black reacheth higher and the white part hath only one transverse black stroak The fourth pair are all black having only a semicircular spot of white toward the top the very tip being of a reddish white The two middlemost are wholly black Annot. I think it is not needful so scrupulously to describe every particular spot in each feather for that nature takes a latitude sporting her self as they call it in these lesser things not observing always the same number figure and situation of spots In the Bird I described the flag-feathers of the Wings were spotted on both sides the shaft with white spots which when the Wing was extended stood in rows crossing the feathers The four middle feathers of the Tail wholly black the rest variegated with white and black transverse spots The feathers stand so that the Tail when shut seems a little forked The Feet are of a lead colour It hath the Toes so situate as the others of this kind viz. two forward two backward The two fore-toes likewise connected from the divarication place to the first joynt It hath a small Liver with a Gall annexed The Breast-bone is very long produced almost to the vent A small Gizzard or stomach in that we dissected full of Cossi Spondyli and Beetles The Guts lie deep within the body that they be not hurt when the Bird turns her head downward and strikes trees with her Bill It is common to this with the rest of its kind to want the blind Guts §. IV. The lesser spotted Woodpecker or Hickwall Picus varius minor THis is for shape and colour like to the
last described but much less weighing scarce an ounce being in length from Bill to Tail not more than six inches though the Wings extended were no less than eleven inches broad from tip to tip The Tail consisted of ten feathers from the exteriour to the middlemost gradually longer each than other the two middlemost being the longest Of these the four middlemost are wholly black strong sharp and bending inward as in the rest of this kind so made to sustain the body when she climbs trees The three exteriour are less sharp of which the outmost and least hath the bottom black and the upper part white with two transverse black spots In the next the black part is extended in the inner Web as far as the second transverse black spot in the outer the white reacheth lower yet hath it only one transverse black spot toward the top The third is black having only the tip white The Throat Breast and Belly are of a sordid white above the Nosthrils it is of a dusky colour and on the head it hath a white spot The hinder part of the head is black From the Eyes to the middle of the Neck two broad lines of white feathers terminated on both sides with black are produced concurring about the middle of the Neck only the feathers that cover the Ears are of the same colour with the Breast The upper part of the Back and upper covert feathers of the Wings are black The prime feathers and rest of the covert feathers are elegantly spotted with white semicircular spots The middle part of the Back is white with cross lines of black The Bill Tongue Irides Feet and Toes like those of the last described The Legs feathered but not down to the Toes The Claws black and crooked The same number of prime feathers in Wings and Tail The Stomach dissected was full of Insects It wants the Appendices or blind Guts like the rest of this kind The Cock differs from the Hen in that instead of a white spot on the head is hath one of a lovely red or Crimson Aldrovandus writes that this kind wants those red spots on the Head and Rump which is true of the Female but not of the Male for his Head as we said is marked with a red spot §. V. * The Brasilian parti-coloured Woodpecker called Ipecu Marggrave THis Bird is about the bigness of a Dove The length of the Neck was two inches of the body four of the Tail also four of the Legs almost an inch and half It hath four Toes in its Feet two standing forwards and two backwards as in Parrots The Head is covered with feathers of a Vermilion colour on which also it hath a Crest like a Dove The Neck underneath is black to the very Bill as also above But in both sides there is a broad white line produced toward the Back divisim The Wings are outwardly all over black inwardly white The Tail black In the Belly and upper part of the Legs the feathers are black and white It s Bill is streight sharp-pointed an inch and half long wherewith it pierces the barks of trees as the Woodpecker §. VI. The Wryneck Iynx sive Torquilla THis Bird is of the bigness of the common Lark or somewhat less It weighs more than an ounce It s length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail seven inches and an half The breadth of the Wings spread eleven inches The Bill is short smaller and less triangular than in the rest of this kind of a lead-colour The Tongue round ending in a sharp bony thorn which it can dart out to a great length and withdraw again like the rest of this kind The Irides of the Eyes of a yellow hazel colour The Feet and Legs short of a pale lead colour or as I described them of a flesh colour It could ruffle up the feathers of its Head so as to make them appear like a Crest as doth the Jay The Plumage is so elegantly and curiously coloured that it is very difficult in words to describe it the upper part of the body being variegated with white black reddish dusky and grey or ash-colour From the crown of the Head all along the middle of the Back runs a list of black The Head is cinereous with transverse white black and red lines The Throat and lower Belly yellow with transverse black lines the middle of the Breast is whiter with fewer lines The feathers covering the bottom of the prime Wing-feathers are yellow with transverse black lines The Rump is more ash-coloured than the Head with white spots and transverse black lines The prime Wing-feathers are in number nineteen the first or outmost being something shorter than the second black but spotted with great red spots which spots especially in the feathers next the body are powdered with small black specks The tips of the second row of Wing-feathers are white The Tail-feathers are ten not sharp-pointed nor stiff nor bending inwards as in the above described Woodpeckers two inches and an half long of a cinereous colour crossed at large intervals with bars of black To speak exactly the part next the cross bars is of a dark ash-colour the rest of the intermediate spaces of a paler cinereous sprinkled and as it were bedewed with black specks The Toes are so disposed as in the rest of this kind two forward two backward The outmost Toes in each Foot are equal and twice so long as the inmost It wants the blind Guts like the rest of this kind The length of the Guts was nine inches It strangely and ridiculously turns its head back to its shoulders whence it is by Gaza called Torquilla It feeds upon Ants which darting out its Tongue it stabs through with great celerity with the thorny point we mentioned as Children are wont to catch Frogs with an Iron Dart shot out of a Bow and drawn back again and so swallows them never touching them with its Bill as other birds are wont to do their meat Witness Gesner who tells us that himself kept one five days in a Cage and affirms upon his own experience that it feeds upon no other food but Ants. The Hen is paler and more cinereous than the Cock Aldrovandus observed a long black spot behind the Eyes in the Cock Annot. I described this Bird thus The Quils or prime feathers in each Wing were eighteen of a dusky colour marked in their exteriour Webs with red spots in their interiour with pale ones so situate as in the pied Woodpecker The Throat and upper part of the Breast were yellow and the Belly white from Bill to Tail variegated with thick-set cross black lines At each corner of the mouth grew white feathers varied with the like transverse lines §. VII * The Brasilian Jacamaciri of Marggrave FOr the conformity of its Feet we have subjoyned it to the Woodpeckers It is of the bigness of a Lark It hath a streight sharp-pointed black Bill almost two
inches long A short Tongue wherein it differs from Woodpeckers blue Eyes short Wings which end a little beneath the rise of the Tail The Tail is almost three inches and an half long streight composed of seven or eight feathers The upper Legs are feathered the lower bare the skin being of a colour mingled of yellow and green of which colour are also the Feet In each foot it hath four Toes two standing forwards and two backwards both the inner Toes in each Foot as well the fore as the back one are but half so long as the outer The Claws are black The whole Head upper part of the Neck Back Wings and Tail above are of a green colour mingled with golden or igneous so that they shine wonderfully A ring of the same colour doth also encompass the Neck Under the Throat on the Breast the lower Belly and under the Tail it is of a dark yellow colour like yellow Way §. VIII * The Brasilian Curucui of Marggrave IT is a very elegant and beautiful bird almost of the bigness of a Pie Hath a short broadish Bill of a brimston colour A wide mouth and when open or a triangular figure Fair blue eyes with a golden circle I suppose he means encompassing the Pupil and under each Eye a spot of white skin like a Hen In the Eye-lids above and beneath black stiff hairs The Neck not long The Legs short and feathered almost to the Feet with black feathers It hath a Tail five inches and an half long of a good breadth Under the lower Bill in the middle and at both sides is as it were a beard made up of black bristles yet shining with a gloss of blue as in the Necks of Mallards Under the Throat the feathers are only black The whole Breast and lower Belly are of an excellent Vermilion colour The whole Back and upper side of the Tail are of a shining green with a gloss of blue and golden or igneous colour The end of the Tail hath a black border Underneath the Tail it hath white feathers elegantly straked with cross black lines The beginning of the Wings is of that shining green we mentioned The middle part is hoary the black feathers being poudered with very little grey specks as Mallards use to be The utmost part that is the longest feathers are of a dark dusky or blackish colour The Legs as I said are almost wholly cloathed with black feathers What is bare together with the Feet is of a dusky ash-colour The Toes are so disposed as the Parrots The feathers under the Wings are grey §. IX * Guira acangatara of the Brasilians Marggrav THis Bird is about the bigness of a Magpie It hath a Bill an inch long the upper Chap whereof is a little hooked the whole of a dark yellow The Eyes Crystalline with a dusky circle The Neck two inches long the body three The Tail very long viz. eight inches consisting of eight streight feathers The upper Legs are an inch and half long as also the lower The Toes in each foot four standing as in Parrots the two inward in each foot being shorter the two outward longer The whole Head is cloathed with feathers which in their middles longways near the shaft are dusky in their sides yellow as is the Crest The Neck and Wings on the other side have their feathers yellow in the middle and dusky in the sides The ends of the Wings are almost wholly dusky The whole Belly Back excepting the Wings upper Legs and rise or base of the Wings to three inches and an half length are covered with feathers of a pale yellow The end of the Tail hath white feathers the rest of the Tail is dusky The lower Legs and Feet are of a Sea-water-colour On the Head are long feathers erected like a Crest It makes a great cry in the Woods §. X. * The Brasilian Aracari of Marggrav the other Xochitenacatl of Nieremberg IT is of the bigness of a Woodpecker I suppose he means the common green one hath a Bill four inches long an inch and half broad or deep three inches and an half thick where thickest I suppose he means so much by measure round a little bending downward like a Turkish Scymitar and sharp-pointed like a Parrots the upper Chap being a little longer than the lower Both upper and lower are for above half way reckoning from the end serrate or toothed The upper part of the Bill is greater than the lower The Bill is hollow very light lighter than a Spunge The upper Chap white distinguished by a black line running along the middle or ridge from head to point the lower Chap wholly black The whole Bill is inserted into the Head triangle-wise and where the insertion is compassed about with a triangular white line It hath a Tongue four inches long very light and plainly resembling a feather to see to Or else is feathered and black if the Tongue may be said to have a feather It hath a Head not very big broad and compressed great Eyes with a black Pupil yellow Irides and the rest of the outsides of the Eyes black The Neck is not longer than a Parrots The body from the rise of the Neck to the Tail is about five inches long The Tail is broad like a Woodpeckers and six inches long or somewhat more The Legs and Feet are of a dark green or black like to those of Parrots having two fore-toes whereof the one longer than the other and two back-toes likewise of unequal length The Claws crooked and dusky or black The length of the upper Legs is two inches of the lower one and an half The whole Head and Neck as far as the beginning of the Breast are covered with black feathers which where they end are terminated in a circle The Breast and all the lower Belly elegantly cloathed with yellow feathers mingled with pavonine Cross the Breast from the one side to the other is a broad line drawn of a sanguine colour The whole Back Wings Tail and upper Legs are covered with dark green feathers or black with a gloss of green like the colour usual in our Magpies The end of the Back above the beginning of the Tail is of a sanguine colour to more than the Circumference of a Crown piece The Wings end at the rise of the Tail and within side are of a dark ash-colour The Bill is black within This Bird doth as it were pronounce its own name crying with a sharp voice but not very shril Aracari This Bird is very like the Toucan or Brasilian Pie The conformation of its Feet argues it to belong to the Woodpecker-kind We saw the Bill of this Bird in the Repository of the Royal Society London our selves also have one of them It is much less than the Toucans Bill not so compressed side-ways but rounder The upper Chap wholly white without any line of black in the top wherein it differs from the Aracari's Bill described
by Marggrave the lower black §. XI * The yellow blue-footed Persian Woodpecker of Aldrovandus THis Bird communicated to me by Tartaglinus the Venetian who shewed me many exotic Animals painted at first sight from the constitution of the Bill and Feet I judged to be of the Woodpecker-kind In bigness it differs little or nothing from the green Woodspite only it hath a thicker Head and Neck and a longer Bill The feathers from the middle of the Crown to the end of the Tail have something of ferrugineous But the Bill is altogether ferrugineous The Feet are of a pale blue The Claws are black The rest of the body is yellow save that all the Wing-feathers ends or tips incline somewhat to ferrugineous and that a spot of the same colour encompasses the Eyes He said it was an exotic Bird and bred in Persia §. XII * The American Hang-nest called by the Brasilians Guira tangeima Marggr IT is a Bird somewhat bigger than a Lark equal to the spotted Woodpecker It s body is about three inches long Its Neck an inch and half The Head is small the Bill streight sharp-pointed an inch long Its Legs and Feet are like those of other birds its Tail streight four inches long The colour of its Bill is black except the lower part where it is inserted which hath something of dusky The Head and Neck as low as the beginning of the Breast very black The upper part of the Neck from the Head almost to the beginning of the Back is of a Sky-colour Through the beginning of the Back it hath a transverse black spot reaching as far as the Wings But the Wings themselves are of a deep black only in the middle they have a white spot situate longways the feathers of an inch and half long The Tail also is wholly black The rest of the body is of a Sky-colour The Legs are bluish The Pupil of the Eyes black with a yellowish white Iris. These Birds build admirable Nests of a Cylindrical figure and hand them in great numbers on the ends of the boughs and twigs of trees These Nests are made of the small Fibres of roots and twigs of trees and herbs curiously platted and interwoven §. XIII The Brasilian Jupujuba or Japu of Marggrave THis is of the same figure with the precedent and builds after the same manner in the same tree one of these is a Male the other a Female but hath somewhat a shorter Tail The whole body is invested with very black feathers In the middle of each Wing it hath a yellow spot an inch long In the end of the Back and near the vent it is all yellow I have seen also that were wholly black with their Backs of a sanguine colour The Tail below from its rise half way is yellow the other half being black above it is wholly black only it hath on both sides a feather half yellow The Legs and Feet are black The Bill of a Brimstone-colour The Eyes of a Sapphire colour with a black Pupil It hath a blue Tongue cleft or doubled at the top Near the house of the Owner of the Engine Tapucurai is planted the tree Uti in which hang more thau four hundred Nests of these Birds of which there are there a very great number which hatch and bring up three broods of young in a year Each Nest is made of dry grass and horse-hair or hogs bristles mingled of a dusky colour of the figure of a narrow Cucurbite with its Alembick long in the whole about a foot and half and from the bottom for one foot upwards hollow like a Purse the remaining or upper part of it for half a foot being solid and hanging by its tip on the tip of a little branch of the tree All these Nests hang down on this fashion from the tips of the twigs of trees We have often seen the Nest of this Bird artificially built kept among other rarities in the Cabinets of the curious I persuade my self that this was the very Bird which the Ancients understood by the name of Picus nidum suspendens i. e. the Hang-nest-Woodpecker I am sure there is a great deal more reason why this should be so called than the Oriolus which Aldrovandus takes to be the Picus nidum suspendens Antonius Pigafeta writes that Parrots do on this fashion hang their Nests on the extremities of the branches of trees falsly imagining that the Nests which he saw hanging on the twigs of trees were Parrots Nests CHAP. VI. Of Woodpeckers less properly so called §. I. The Nuthatch or Nutjobber Sitta seu Picus cinereus IT is somewhat less than a Chaffinch The Cock weighed almost an ounce It s length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail was five inches three quarters to the end of the Toes six inches The Bill was streight triangular black above underneath toward the Throat white almost an inch long measuring from the tip to the Angles of the slit of the mouth The Tongue broad not longer than the mouth horny at the end and jagged The Nosthrils round and covered with small bristles The Head Neck and Back of an ash-colour The sides under the Wings red The Throat and Breast of a pale yellow or rather Chesnut-red The lower Belly under the Tail hath some red feathers with white tips From the Bill through the Eyes to the Neck is extended a long black stroak The Chin is white The number of flag-feathers is nineteen of the which the first is very short and little The interiour or those next the body have their Webs cinereous the exteriour dusky The shafts of all are black The Wings underneath are marked with a double spot the one white at the roots of the exteriour quils the other black and larger beginning at the insertion of the bastard-wing The Tail is short scarce two inches made up of twelve feathers all of equal length unless the outmost be somewhat the shorter not sharp-pointed nor stiff as in Woodpeckers but flexile and limber The two middlemost cinereous the two next to them black with cinereous tips the two succeeding have the inside of their tips white the outside cinereous The outmost have their tips of a dark ash-colour and under that a transverse whitespot the rest of the feathers being black The Legs are short both Legs and Feet of a dark flesh-colour It hath but one back-toe equal to the middle of the fore-toes The Claws are great crooked and of a dusky colour that of the back-toe the biggest The outmost fore-toe the least Both outmost and inmost joyned to the middle toe at the bottom It had a musculous Stomach or Gizzard in which we found Beetles short blind Guts The length of the Guts was six inches and an half It builds in the holes of trees and if the entrance be too big it doth artificially stop up part of it with clay leaving only a small hole for it self to pass in and out by
colour The Throat Breast and Belly white The Head Back and Wings inclining to a Fox-colour the middle parts of the feathers being whitish Above the Eyes on each side is a white spot The beam-feathers of the Wings are eighteen the first of which is very short the fourth the longest and by measure two ½ inches The three outmost are dusky the rest have white tips and a broad white line through their middle something inclining to fulvous The edges of those next the body are likewise fulvous and have white only on the exteriour side of their shafts The covert-feathers of the Wings are more black the middlemost have their middle part fulvous all their tips white The Tail consists of ten feathers only as in Woodspites is very long for the bigness of the bird viz. two inches and an half sharp-pointed stiff of a dusky red or reddish dun colour The Feet are of a light brown The Legs short The Feet have long Toes all armed with very long sharp white Claws especially the back-toe which hath it extraordinarily long like a Lark It is sufficiently characterized and distinguished from all other birds by its littleness and bow-bill Aldrovandus attributes to his Certhia a short Tail wherein it differs from ours It runs up the bodies and boughs of trees having its Feet and Tail fitly disposed and formed for such a purpose It is frequent in England and as Aldrovandus reports builds in the hollows of trees after the manner of Woodpeckers It lays a great number of Eggs sometimes they say not fewer than twenty §. VI. The Hoop or Hoopoe Upupa Latinis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Graecis IT weighs three ounces It s length from the point of the Bill to the end of the Tail was twelve inches and an half Its breadth the Wings being stretched out nineteen inches It s Bill is two inches and an half long black sharp and something bending The Tongue small as Aldrovandus rightly hath it deep withdrawn in the mouth triangular being broad at bottom and sharp at top like a perfect equilateral triangle The shape of the body approacheth to that of a Plover The Head is adorned with a most beautiful Crest two inches high consisting of a double row of feathers reaching from the Bill to the nape of the Neck all along the top of the Head Which it can at pleasure set up and let fall It is made up of twenty four or twenty six feathers some of which are longer than others the tips of them are black under the black they are white the remaining part under the white being of a Chesnut inclining to yellow The Neck is of a pale red The Breast white variegated with black strokes tending downward The older birds had no black strokes in their Breasts but only in their sides The Tail is four inches and an half long Aldrovandus saith six made up of ten feathers only black with a cross mark or bed of white of the figure of a Crescent or Parabola the middle being toward the Rump the horns toward the ends of the feathers The Tail is extended further than the Wings complicated There are in each Wing eighteen quils or master-feathers of which the ten foremost are black having a white cross bar which in the second third fourth fifth sixth and seventh is more than half an inch broad The seven following feathers have four or five white cross bars The limbs or borders of the last are something red The Rump is white The long feathers springing out of the shoulders and covering the back are varied with white and black cross lines or bars after the same manner as the Wings The Irides of the Eyes are of a hazel colour The lower Eye-lid bigger than the upper The Legs short The outmost toe at bottom fastned to the middle without any intervening membrane The Windpipe as Aldrovandus describes it at the beginning of the divarication or division into two branches which go to the Lungs hath two little bones outwardly supplying the use of the Larynx between which is spread a very thin skin The annulary-Cartilages beyond the divarication in each branch in our observation were only semicircular as in Herons In the Stomach dissected we found Beetles whence it is manifest that it feeds upon Insects but whether also upon Grapes and other Berries as some of the Ancients have delivered we know not I hear saith Aldrovandus that among other things it feeds upon Ants. It hath no blind Guts In the number of Tail-feathers want of the blind Guts cross lines of the Wings and partly also in its food it agreeth with Woodpeckers to which therefore we have subjoyned it About Collen and elsewhere in High Germany it is very frequent where they call it Widehuppe It sits for the most part on the ground sometimes on Willows Turner saith that it is found no where in Britany But he is deceived for we are assured by credible persons that it is sometimes though more rarely seen in Northumberland and also in Surrey Aristotle witnesseth that it makes its Nest of dung especially mans dung daubing it therewith instead of Clay It took its name in both Languages Greek and Latine from the sound of its voice The most of our English Grammarians saith Turner call that bird Upupa which those that speak barbarously from the noise it makes with its Wings are wont to call Vannellus and they in their own Language a Lapwing This inveterate error our Grammar Schools do still retain They say the Hen is always greater than the Cock CHAP. VII Of Land Birds that feed upon Fish §. I. The Kingfisher Ispida an Veterum Alcyon IT weighed an ounce and a quarter In length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail exceeded seven inches The ends of the Wings extended were eleven inches distant The Bill was almost two inches long thick strong streight sharp-pointed black yet whitish at the Angle of the lower Mandible The upper Chap is for the most part longer than the lower yet in some birds the lower is longer than the upper The Tongue is short broad sharp-pointed and undivided The Mouth within of a Saffron-colour the Nosthrils oblong The Chin is white with a certain mixture of red the middle also of the Breast or Belly is of the like colour The lower Belly under the Tail is of a deep red as are also the sides and feathers under the Wings The Breast is red the outmost borders of the feathers being of a dirty bluish green From the Neck through the middle of the Back to the Tail it is of a most lovely bright but pale blue which by its splendour is said to hurt their Eyes that look long and intently upon it If you heed this colour attentively you may observe the blue crossed with obscure or dark-coloured lines Between the Nosthrils and the Eyes is a red spot and another beyond the Eyes to which succeeds a white mark tinctured with red The crown
of the Head is of a black green with cross blue lines In each Wing are twenty three Quils of which the third is the longest both quil-feathers and those next to them have their exteriour Webs blue their interiour dusky The lesser rows of Wing-feathers all excepting those covering the base of the Wing have blue tips The long-feathers springing from the shoulders and covering the Back are of a bluish green The Tail is short about an inch and an half in length made up of twelve feathers of a dark blue with somewhat of black The Legs and Feet are very short and little black before red behind as are also the soals of the feet and the back-toes The structure of the Feet in this Bird is singular and different from all others for the three lower joynts of the outmost toe are joyned to the middlemost of the inmost only one This inner toe is the least and shorter by half than the middlemost the outer almost equal to the middlemost The back-toe is somewhat bigger than the inner foretoe The third or lowest bone of the Leg is greater than is usual in other birds The toes seem as it were joynted with many cross lines The bones of the Tongue are lesser and shorter than in other birds The Stomach is great and lax as in carnivorous birds in that we dissected was full of the bones and scales of fishes The Guts are slenderer toward the vent Gesner affirms that the fat of this bird is red which we found to be true The same Author tells us that in one Nest are often found nine young ones In a Nest in a hole about half a yard deep in the bank of a River we observed but five young ones It is a Vulgar persuasion that this bird being hung up on an untwisted thread by the Bill in any room will turn its Breast to that quarter of the Heaven whence the wind blows They that doubt of it may try it Dr. Charleton in his Onomasticon makes mention of another Kingfisher brought out of India which scarce exceeds a Wren in bigness We have not as yet hapned to see this Bird neither do we remember to have elsewhere read any thing of it §. II. The Brasilian Jaguacati guacu Marggrav akin to the Kingfisher IT is by the Portugues called Papa peixe because it lives upon fish It is equal in bigness to a Throstle or Mavis For the figure of its body like to the greater Woodspite It hath a black streight and sharp-pointed Bill almost three inches long Black Eyes and very short black Legs The upper Legs are in part bare of feathers The Feet have four toes one standing backward of unequal length For the two outer are short and contiguous but the third or inner is much the shorter and more remote The Claws are black The Tail is two inches long reaching further than the ends of the Wings The superiour feathers of the whole body viz. the Head Neck Wings and Tail are of a rusty but shining colour About the Neck it hath a ring of pure white feathers The Throat underside of the Neck Breast and Belly are also cloathed with white feathers Near both the Eyes it hath also a spot of white In the Tail some of the feathers are sprinkled with white spots which yet are scarce seen unless when they spread their Wings and fly §. VII The Bee-eater Merops sive Apiaster FOr the shape of the body it is like the Kingfisher for bigness equal to a Blackbird From the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail eleven inches and an half long the Wings being spread eighteen inches broad The Bill is great from the tip to the Angles of the Mouth almost two inches long black and for the proportion of the body very like that of a Kingfisher save only that it is a little more arcuate or bending downward The Tongue slender deeply cut in or torn at the tip The Irides of the Eyes of a lovely red and in some of a hazel colour The Head is great and oblong The colour of the feathers at the Base of the upper Chap is a greenish blue but in the middle between the Nosthrils white The crown of the Head red but in some birds having something of green mixt From the corners of the mouth through the Eyes on each side is extended a black stroak contiguous whereto under the Chin are bright but pale yellow feathers The Neck and Shoulders are green with a certain mixture of red The whole Belly and Breast as far as the Chin are blue this colour is deeper near the Chin fainter on the Breast and Belly In some the colour of the underside inclines more to green Perchance these are Cocks The number of beam-feathers in each Wing is about twenty one or twenty two decreasing by degrees to the tenth All to the twentieth have black tips The first or outmost ten beneath the black are of a bluish green The next nine beneath the black are of a lovely Orange colour as are also the lesser rows next to them Those above near the ridge of the Wing are blue The long feathers springing from the shoulders are of a pale yellow The Tail is near an hand-breadth long made up of twelve feathers of a blue colour the exteriour Webs having something of green intermixt The underside of the Tail was of a dun colour The two middle feathers run out in length beyond the rest and end in sharp points The Legs are very short but thick for the length Both Legs and Feet exactly like those of the King-fisher For the fore-toes as in that are all joyned together to the first joynt as if they were but one toe the outmost and middle to the second or third The Claws are black the Feet and Toes of a dusky red The Liver was of a pale yellow The Stomach rather membranous than musculous in that we dissected filled with Beetles and other Insects The colours of the Wings varied in several birds in some was more blue in some more green in some more red and in some less It is strange that Aldrovandus should not take any notice of or not mention at least the connexion of the Toes in this Bird. It is not unfrequent in the Campagn of Rome For that we saw it there to be sold in the Market more than once It is not found in England that we know of Bellonius writes that it is so common in Candy that it is seen every where in that Island Aristotle tells us that it feeds upon Bees whom all other Writers of the History of Animals do therein follow But it feeds not only upon Bees but also upon Cicadae Beetles and other Insects Yea as Bellonius relates upon the Seeds of Nipplewort Bastard Parsley Turnep c. not abstaining from Wheat and other grain From its exact agreement in the shape and make of its Body Bill and Feet with the Kingfisher we suspect that it likewise preys
upon fish Bellonius in the first Book of his Observations writes thus concerning the Merops Flying in the air it catches and preys upon Bees as Swallows do upon flies It flies not singly but in flocks and especially by the sides of those Mountains where the true Thyme grows It s Voice is heard afar off almost like to the whistling of a man It s singular elegancy invites the Candy Boys to hunt for it with Cicadae as they do also for those greater Swallows called Swifts after this manner bending a Pin like a hook and tying it by the Head to the end of a thread they thrust it through a Cicada as Boys bait a hook with a fly holding the other end of the thread in their hand The Cicada so fastned flies nevertheless in the Air which the Morops spying flies after it with all her force and catching it swallows Pin and all wherewith she is caught §. IV. * The other Bee-eater of Aldrovandus Merops alter seu Meropi congener Aldrov THe Germans call this Bird the Sea-Swallow both because at first sight it seems to resemble a Swallow partly in the shortness of its Legs and partly in its flying and also because like the Swallow it catches Insects as it flies I should rather make it congenerous to the Bee-eater than the Swallow because it differs widely from the Sea-Swallow so much as to have little common with it This Bird is a little longer than the precedent and as its picture shews a little grosser or thicker-bodied Its Bill is black long sharp-pointed and approaching somewhat more to the figure of a Sithe than in that The Head Neck Breast and almost the whole Belly yellow From the bill it hath a great black spot which is carried on backwards through the Eyes to the beginning of the Neck The Back is of a Chesnut colour but mingled with green and yellow The Wing-feathers are painted with divers colours For the first the uppermost are blue the second mixt of blue and yellow the third altogether yellow the fourth viz. the prime or beam-feathers black with red tips The upper part of the Tail is of a bright green the lower of a very fair yellow so that it seems to be half green half yellow It hath yellow Feet and black Claws §. V. * The Brasilian Guira guainumbi of Marggrave of kin to the Merops IT is a Bird to see to of the bigness of a Pigeon because it is thick and deep-feathered but the bulk of the body the feathers pluckt off is indeed no bigger than that of a Thrush It hath a head somewhat bigger than a Throstle a black Bill about two inches long the upper Chap whereof is a little longer than the nether Both upper and nether Chap are on both sides toothed like a Saw It hath short Legs not much exceeding an inch in length for colour black Four Toes in each Foot one situate backward three forwards as is ordinary But the first or inmost foretoe is shorter the middlemost longest and the third again short but not of equal rise with the rest For the rise of the first is from the middle of the foot and also of the second but the rise or beginning of the third is near the third joynt of the middlemost The first hath three joynts the second four the third again three the back-toe but two The Claws are black and bending downwards The Tail is very long streight consisting of a few streight feathers about an inch broad but ten inches long Indeed only two feathers make up the end of the Tail which for two inches have naked shafts and again have their ends web'd for two inches The whole body is about six inches long The feathers very beautiful viz. on their Head they have as it were a Mitre or Crown of Sapphire-coloured feathers which near the rise of the Bill resemble the colour of the Turcois stone In the middle of this Mitre is seen a black spot of the bigness of a Gross of Misnia Beneath the Eyes which are yellow with a black Pupil it hath also black feathers mingled with Sapphire-coloured The Throat and the whole Breast and Belly are of a dark yellow The upper part of the Neck the whole Back Wings and Tail are of a green or grass colour but wherewith a Sea-green is mixt as in the Necks of Mallards and Peacocks From the Knees to the Belly the upper Legs are covered with green feathers In the middle of the Neck underneath it bears as it were a badge of three or four black feathers and about them Sapphirine ones which make a kind of spot or mark This Bird for the like constitution of its Feet and some agreement in colour we have subjoyned to the Merops §. VI. The Water-Ouzel or Water-Crake Merula aquatica THis Bird is well nigh as big as the common Blackbird Weighs two ounces and an half is in length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail eight inches and an half to the end of the Claws nine In breadth between the tips of the Wings stretcht out twelve inches and an half It hath a shorter body than the Blackbird and a thicker Neck It s Bill is streight sharp-pointed slenderer than a Blackbirds measuring from the point to the Angles of the mouth about an inch long or somewhatless black-coloured The Head and upper side of the Neck are of a dark dusky colour or black with an eye of red All the Back and both prime and covert-feathers of the Wings are particoloured of cinereous and black the middle parts of the feathers being black the edges blue The underside of the Neck and forepart of the Breast are milk white The feathers contiguous to the white are reddish The lower Belly towards the Tail black The Eyelids white round about It hath in each Wing eighteen quills The Tail is shorter than in the rest of this kind that is Merula scarce two inches and an half long composed of twelve feathers of equal length The Legs Feet and Claws are black The outmost foretoe at bottom joyned to the middlemost The Tongue is black slender and a little cloven at the tip The circles encompassing the Pupils of the Eyes great broad and of a fair hazel colour The Eyes are furnished with nictating membranes The Nosthrils are long The Plumage covering the wholebody thick-set as in water-birds It frequents stony Rivers and Water-courses in the Mountainous parts of Wales Northumberland Westmoreland Yorkshire c. That I J. R. described was shot beside the River Rivelin near Sheffield in Yorkshire That Mr. Willughby described near Pentambath in Denbighshire in North-Wales It is common in the Alps in Switzerland where they call it Wasser-Amzel It feeds upon fish yet refuseth not Insects Sitting on the banks of Rivers it now and then flirts up its Tail Although it be not Web-footed yet will it sometimes dive or dart it self quite underwater It is a solitary Bird companying only with its
Mate in coupling and breeding time CHAP. VIII The greatest Land-birds of a peculiar kind by themselves which by reason of the bulk of their bodies and smalness of their Wings cannot fly but only walk §. I. The Ostrich Struthiocamelus WHat occurs in Ancient and Modern Writers concerning this Bird see in Gesner and Aldrovandus It is the greatest of all birds except perchance the Emen which though it be not so tall yet in bulk of body is well nigh equal to it Mr. Willughby saith it is either equal or bigger but I think that if either have advantage of other in magnitude it is the Ostrich When it holds up its Head it approacheth to the height of two Yards Pliny writes that it exceeds the height of a horseman sitting on horseback Which is to be understood when it stretches its Neck forth and reaches upwards as high as it can The Head is small depressed or flat-crown'd and as Aldrovandus truly like a Gooses The Bill also is compressed and compared with the body very small of a triangular figure and horn colour the tip being black The skin at the Nosthrils ends in a semicircle The slit of the mouth is large reaching so far that its extremes or Angles lie directly under the Eyes The Eyes are great with hazel-coloured Irides Of all great birds this alone hath both Eye-lids upper and lower as Pliny witnesseth Which whether it be true or not we leave to be examined by others that have opportunity of seeing the bird The Head and Neck almost as far as the Breast are bare of feathers as are also the Thighs The Head and Neck are covered with a certain Down or thin-set hairs instead of feathers The sides under the Wings and the Thighs are absolutely bare The lower part of the Neck where the feathers begin is white The Wings are small and altogether unuseful for flying designed by Nature only to assist the bird in running being spread and moved The feathers of the Back in the Cock are cole-black in the Hen only dusky so soft that they resemble a kind of Wool The Wing-feathers are of the same colour with the Back beneath but above in their upper part purely white The Tail is thick bushy and round not as in other Birds to be spread out in breadth the component feathers in the Cock being whitish in the Hen duskish with white tops which feathers are in great request for Souldiers Hats Helmets c. It s Neck and Legs are very long It hath but two toes wanting the back-toe and inmost foretoe The outer toe in that we described was five inches and an half long the other eight The length of the whole Foot from the end of the heel eleven Inches The longer Toe was covered with twenty four great disjoyned annulary scales This Toe is armed with a great strong black Claw the other or outer Toe had no Claw in the Bird we described The Toes are connected with a thick strong membrane as far as the first joynt It swallows Iron Leather Grass Bread Hair and whatever else you offer it promiscuously Howbeit it doth not concoct Iron and other hard things but avoids them entire by siege That we saw at Bruxels was usually fed with bread mixt with hair Africa produces this bird in the Desarts whereof are sometimes seen such multitudes of them in company that to them that behold them afar off they seem to be Troops or Armies of horsemen They are also found abundantly in Arabia and not less plentifully in America but of a different kind as will appear by and by They lay very great Eggs viz. sometimes as big as a young Childs head and of fifteen pound weight covered with a very hard and stony shell which being buried in the sand are cherished only by the heat of the Sun till the Young be excluded For the Writers of Natural History do generally agree that the old birds after they have layed and covered their Eggs in the sand forsake them and take no more care of them That Ostrich-feathers were much used by the Ancients for the adorning of Caps Helmets c. is manifest by the testimony of Pliny And that still they retain their esteem being also used now adays for the same purposes every body knows They were also formerly wont to be employed not only in Italy but in England for to make Fans for Gentlewomen to cool themselves withal in the Summer time §. II. * The American Ostrich called Nhanduguacu by the Brasilians Marggrav THis sort is somewhat less than the African Their Legs are long the lower about a foot and half the upper a foot They have three Toes in each foot armed with thick black but not sharp Claws One Toe standing backward which is round and gross so that they can hardly walk on a smooth or boarded floor but easily slip and fall They carry their Necks bending like a Swan or Stork being about two foot in length Their Heads are like those of Geese They have fair black Eyes A compressed or flat Bill not very broad two inches and an half long They have little Wings unfit for flight one of which they spread and set up like a sail to assist them in running which they do with that speed and swiftness that a good Greyhound can hardly overtake them Their whole body is covered with grey feathers which are longer and more beautiful on the Back The body with the feathers appears almost round They have not such a Tail made up of crested feathers as is represented commonly in the Pictures of Ostriches but the feathers are stretched forth along the Back even to the vent It swallows bits of Iron Brass-mony Dice or any the like things you offer it but concocts them not casting them out again by siege It feeds on fruits and flesh It is frequent in the fields of the Capitania of Serigippo and the Capitania of Rio grande In Fernambuco it is not found It s flesh is good to eat §. III. The Cassowary or Emeu of Aldrovandus Clusius Nierembergius Bontius and Wormius WE have seen four birds of this kind at London three Males and one Female viz. one Male among his Majesties birds kept in St. James's Park near Westminster two Males and a Female at Mr. Maydstons an East-India Merchant in Newgate-Market brought out of the East Indies It hath a horny Crown on the top of the Head The Head and Neck are bare of feathers only thin-set with a hairy down The skin is of a purplish blue colour excepting the lower part of the backside of the Neck which is red or of a Vermilion colour In the lower part of the Neck hand down two Wattles or Lobes of flesh as low as the Breast It hath a very wide mouth The Bill is near four inches long of a moderate thickness and streight The Legs are thick and strong It hath three Toes in each foot all standing forward for it wants the back-toe The Claw of
of elegant black feathers covers the Head The white points or spots round the whole body are variegated as it were with a shade §. VII Macucagua of the Brasilians a bird of the Hen-kind Marggrave IT is of the bigness of our Country Hen or bigger hath a black Bill more than an inch and half long forward a little crooked like a Partridges In the middle of the Bill are two large holes for Nosthrils The Eyes are black and behind them at a little distance are the Ears as in Hens The body thick and great wherewith the Wings end for it hath no Tail The lower Legs are bare two inches and an half long It hath in its Feet three Toes standing forward thick with short and blunt Claws a round heel like an Ostrich and a little above that a short Toe toward the inside of the Leg with a blunt Talon The whole Head and Neck is speckled with a dark yellow and black Under the Throat it is white The Breast Belly and Back are of a dark ash-colour The Wings are all over of an Umber-colour waved with black except the prime feathers which are wholly black The upper Legs are clothed with feathers of the same colour with the Belly the lower together with the Feet are blue The Claws grey It is a very fleshy bird and hath so much flesh as scarce two ordinary Hens have and that also well tasted Under the outer skin which is thick and fat it hath another membrane wherewith the flesh is covered It lives upon divers fruits that fall from wild trees I found in its stomach wild Beans the Seeds of Araticu c. It runs upon the ground for its Feet are unfit to climb trees It lays Eggs a little bigger than Hens Eggs of a bluish green colour This might have been put in the next Chapter among the wild birds CHAP. XI Wild Birds of the Poultry-kind and first of all the Granivorous §. I. The Pheasant Phasianus THis Bird is supposed to be so called from Phasis a River in Colchis from whence it was first brought ito Europe Aldrovandus not improbably takes this word to be rather derived from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same sound and as he supposes signification They differ much in weight according as they are fatter or leaner One Cock we made trial in weighed fifty ounces another but forty five a Hen thirty three It s length from the point of the Bill to the end of the Tail was thirty six inches to the end of the Claws twenty four The distance between the tips of the Wings extended thirty three inches The Bill like to that of other granivorous birds from the tip to the angles of the mouth an inch three quarters long in old birds whitish It hath on both sides a fleshy and tuberous membrane by which it is above joyned to the Head under which the Nosthrils are as it were hid The Irides of the Eyes are yellow A red or Scarlet colour according to Aldrovandus powdered with black specks compasses the Eye round for a good breadth In the forepart of the Head at the Basis of the upper Chap of the Bill the feathers are black with a kind of purple gloss The Crown of the Head and upper part of the Neck are tinctured with a dark green shining like silk which colour yet is more dilute on the Crown of the Head Aldrovandus writes that the Crown commonly is of a very elegant shining ash-colour at the sides and near the Bill being green and either in Sun or shade very changeable Which most beautiful colour doth also take up the whole Neck above Mr. Willughby makes the Crown of the Head to be of a shining blue with a certain mixture of red and as well the Head as the upper part of the Neck to appear sometimes blue sometimes green It hath moreover on both sides the Head about the Ears feathers sticking out which Pliny calls horns There grow also to the Ears in their lower angle black feathers longer than the rest The sides of the Neck and the Throat are of a shining purple colour Note that as well the green as the purple colour inheres only in the exteriour part or borders of the feathers the rest i. e. the middle and lower part of the feather being on the top of the Head dusky on the Neck black The feathers under the Chin and at the angles of the Mouth are black with green edges or borders Below the green the rest of the Neck the Breast Shoulders middle of the Back and sides under the Wings are clothed with most beautiful feathers having their bottoms black their edges tincted with a most beautiful colour which as it is diversly objected to the light appears either black or purple Next to the purple in each feather is a cross line or bed of a most splendid gold colour Below the gold a fulvous which reaches as low as the black bottom we mentioned Howbeit the gold colour is not immediately contiguous to the fulvous but divided by an intermediate narrow line of a shining purplish On the underside of the Neck the extremities tops of the feathers are painted with a black spot of the figure of a Parabola The shafts of all are fulvous The feathers themselves about the shaft in the lower part of the under side of the Neck are marked with an Oval white spot in the black bottom we spoke of The feathers on the shoulders and middle of the Back are variegated with these colours First their edges are fulvous next succeeds a narrow purplish line then a pretty broad black line running parallel to the edges of the feathers wherein is included another broad white line This Aldrovandus calls an Oval line The space comprehended within this line and the rest of the feather to the very bottom are black Yet in the middle of the Back the space comprehended is various of dusky and black The shafts of the feathers are fulvous or yellow The lower feathers of the Back are almost wholly ferrugineous inclining to a Fox colour want that white spot are longer than others and end as it were in small filaments Yet they have this common with the fore-mentioned that in the light about their middles they seem to have an appearance of that green colour which else is not seen in them that their shafts approach to a gold colour and that their bottoms or lower parts are all dusky The Tail if you measure the middle feathers which are much longer than the rest is full twenty six inches long almost of the figure of an Organ for as in that the Pipes on each side are gradually longer and longer or bigger and bigger the biggest being the middlemost so is it in this Tail Those two middlemost feathers which as we said are the longest of all have on each side them eight all of different magnitude the exteriour shorter and lesser than the interiour in order to the outmost They
except the exteriour edges of those next the body which are red The outmost feather of the Wing is shorter than the second the third the longest of all The interiour bastard Wing is made up of white feathers The feathers also on the under side of the Wings next to the flags are white The Breast and Belly are almost of the same colour with the Back in both Sexes Yet in the middle of the Breast and Belly are some pretty great white spots The Legs and Feet are clothed with a long thick Plumage or Down to the utmost ends of the Toes The Tail is more than a handful long not forked consisting of sixteen feathers all black except the two middlemost which are varied with red The flesh is very tender especially in the younger ones not so white as a Hens It is frequent in the high Mountains of Derbyshire Yorkshire Westmorland and Wales It lays five six seven or eight Eggs seldom more one inch three quarters long sharper at one end all speckled with dark red specks or points only towards the sharper end are one or two beds void of sports The younger are infested with belly-worms which sometimes as they fly hang down a foot length from behind We take this Fowl to be the Lagopus altera of Pliny lib. 10. cap. 48. It delights to abide in the highest tops of the highest Mountains and with us never comes down into the Plains yea seldom into the sides of the Mountains This is the Bird which Bellonius call the Attagen as we said before in the Chapter of the Attagen of Aldrovandus and takes that Bird which the Savoyards call the white Partridge and Pliny Lagopus to be a variety of this for it is all over white and hath the Legs covered with feathers though finer like the Attagen The Italians also call both kinds Francolino And indeed the colour and bigness excepted the Red Game differs little from the Lagopus The figure of the Bill and whole body is the same in both The Feet alike feathered to the very Claws So that Mr. Willughby also together with Bellonius did sometimes suspect that they differed rather accidentally than specifically But to me so great difference of colour and bigness do necessarily infer a diversity of kind The flesh of these and the rest of this Tribe doth suddenly corrupt and therefore the Fowlers so soon as ever they take them presently exenterate them and stuff the Cavity of the Belly with green Ling. §. VIII * Bellonius his Damascus Partridge which Aldrovand supposes to be the other Lagopus of Pliny THere are saith he no wild Birds at Damascus more notable than the Partridges of that Country They are less than the red or ash-coloured In the colour of the Back and Neck they resemble a Woodcock But their Wings are of a different colour For where they are joyned to the body they are covered with white dusky and fulvous feathers Ten of the prime feathers are cinereous The inner side of the Wings and the Belly are white It hath a collar-like mark on its Breast like the Merula torquata consisting of red fulvous and yellow colours Else in the colour of the lower part of the Head and Neck in the Bill and Eyes it is like a Partridge and hath a short Tail We had ranked it with the Water Rail or Woodcock or Plover but that its Legs were feathered like the Savoyard white Partridges which is the Lagopus or a rough-footed Doves This if rightly described is a kind of Lagopus or Heath Cock which we have not yet seen and the least of that kind that we have yet seen or heard of CHAP. XIII Birds of the Poultry-kind that want the back-toe §. 1. The Bustard Otis seu Tarda avis IT is for bigness nothing inferiour to a Turkey It s length measuring from the beginning of the Bill to the end of the Tail was sixty inches It s breadth or distance between the tips of the Wings spread two yards and an half It s Bill like a Hens the upper Chap being something crooked The Head and Neck are ash-coloured the Belly white The Back variegated with red and black transverse lines It wants the back-toe which is especially remarkable For by this note alone and its bigness it is sufficiently distinguished from all other Birds of this kind It feeds upon Corn Seeds of Herbs Colewort Dandelion leaves c. In the Stomach of one diffected we found a great quantity of Hemlock Seed with three or four grains of Barley and that in Harvest time On New-market and Royston Heaths in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk and elsewhere in Wasts and Plains they are found with us They are of slow flight and when they are lighted can hardly raise themselves from the earth by reason of the bulk and weight of their bodies from whence without doubt they got the Latine name Tarda They are called by the Scots Gustardae as Hector Boethius witnesseth in these words In March a Province of Scotland are Birds bred called in the Vulgar Dialect Gustardes the colour of whose feathers and their flesh is not unlike the Partridges but the bulk of their body exceeds the Swans Some say one may catch them with ones hands before they can compose themselves to fly but this is a mistake for though as we said before it be long ere they can raise themselves from the earth yet are they very timorous and circumspect and will not suffer a man to come within a Furlong of them before they take Wing and fly away Yet our Fowlers report that they may be run down with Greyhounds Italy saith Aldrovandus hath none of these Birds unless they be brought over accidentally by the force of tempestuous winds But we when we travelled in Italy did see in the Market at Modena a Bustard to be sold whence we suspect that there are of them in that Country Though some discommend their flesh yet with us it is esteemed both delicate and wholesome Hence but chiefly for its rarity the Bustard sells very dear serving only to furnish Princes and great mens Tables at Feasts and public entertainments §. II. The French Canne-petiere Anas campestris or Tetrax of Bellonius THe Field-Duck seems to us to be a Bird peculiar to France where there is not a Country man but knows it at least by name It is so called not because it is a Water-bird but because it sits on the ground like the Water-Duck But it hath no similitude or agreement with Water-fowl being a Land-bird It is of the bigness of a Pheasant the Head saving the bigness resembling a Quails the Bill a Pullets It is more known by its name than by its shape For we have a Country-Proverb against suspicious persons wherein we say that they play the Land Duck. It is taken in Plains and open fields as they take Partridges in snares with Nets and à la for me and also with Hawks But it is very crafty in
back again not one bird remaining insomuch that as far as ever I could hear there was never seen young Fieldfare or Redwing or so much as a Nest of those birds with us in England Whither they betake themselves or where they breed is not to us perfectly known It is by some reported that they breed in Bohemia others tell us with much confidence in Sweden They have a hoarse chattering note not much unlike a Magpie by reason the sides of the fissure in the Palate are rough as we conjecture This kind of Thrush saith Gesner loves to feed upon Berries of all sorts especially those of Juniper With us in England they are very greedy of Holly-berries This bird is accounted very good meat and preferred far before the Missel-bird In open weather they feed upon Worms and other Insects lying much upon Meadows and Pasture-grounds §. IV. The Redwing Swinepipe or Wind-thrush Turdus Iliacus sive Illas aut Tylas IT is rather less than the Mavis not exceeding two ounces and an half in weight It s length from Bill-point to tail-Tail-end is eight inches and an half Its Bill an inch long the upper Mandible dusky the lower partly dusky partly yellow It s Tongue hard and rough the tip being divided into many Filaments The Mouth withinside is yellow The Irides of the Eyes of a dark hazel colour The Legs and Feet pale The outer Toe joyned to the middle below as in the rest of this kind The upper side of the body is of the same colour with that of the Mavis The Breast not so much spotted The covert-feathers of the underside of the Wings and of the sides of the body under the Wings which in the Mavis are yellow in this kind are of a red Orange-colour by which mark it is chiefly distinguished from it The belly is white as in the Fieldfare The Throat and Brest yellowish spotted with dusky spots which take up the middle parts of the feathers The sides of the Breast and Belly are in like manner spotted The spots are less but thicker set than in the Mavis Above the Eyes is a long spot or line of a clay colour reaching from the Eyes to the hinder part of the Head The number of quill-feathers in each Wing as in the rest of this kind and almost all small birds is eighteen These are more red or chesnut-coloured than the rest of the feathers They differ also in divers birds for in some the edges of the outmost feathers are white which are not so in others The tips of the two inmost quill-feathers as also of the second row of feathers beginning from the tenth are white The Tail is three inches and an half long consisting of twelve feathers The Gizzard like those of the precedent The blind Guts in like manner very short We found in this some remainder of the channel conveying the Yolk into the Guts The Liver is large for the bulk of the body and hath its Gall-bladder appendant In the Stomach dissected we found divers sorts of Insects Snails c. It comes to us from beyond Seas as the Fieldfare with which it flies in company observing the same times of coming and returning Whither it goes and where it breeds is not to us certainly known Perchance in the Mountainous parts of Bohemia or Hungaria as Gesner saith he had heard It s flesh by reason of its bitterness is less esteemed Dr. Charleton thinks they are called in English Wind-Thrushes because about the beginning of Winter when strong Winds blow by which perchance they are assisted in their passage they come flying over to us from beyond Seas I rather think we borrowed that name from the Germans who call this bird Wyntrostel that is Vineyard Thrushes because as Bellonius reports they feed upon Grapes and are very noisom to the Vineyards So that they are by mistake called Wind-Thrushes their true name being Wine-Thrushes §. V. * The Brasilian Tamatia of Marggrave THis Bird is of the bigness of a Lark or small Woodpecker all spotted like a Throstle or Mavis On the Belly it hath white feathers with dusky spots It is yellow under the Throat as also about the Neck It hath a long red Bill a little dusky above the upper Chap somewhat longer than the nether Above the Nosthrils stand up certain slender feathers like hairs or bristles It hath four Toes in each foot and crooked Claws It s Head is bigger than the proportion of the body requires as also its Bill Not knowing better whither to refer this bird for its agreement with Thrushes in bigness and colour I have placed it here CHAP. XVIII Birds of the Thrush-kind that are black of colour §. I. The common Blackbird Merula vulgaris IT is little or nothing less than a Fieldfare of four ounces weight nine inches and an half long from the tip of the Bill to the Claws to the end of the Tail ten and an half and the Cock eleven The Bill is an inch long in the Cock of a deep yellow in the Hen the tip and upper part is black The Mouth in both Sexes is yellow within The Bill in young Cock-birds is black and turns not perfectly yellow till they be near a year old The circumference of the Eye-lids is also yellow The Cock after he hath mewed his chicken feathers becomes cole-black the Hen and young Cock-birds are rather brown or of a dark russet than black Their Breasts have something of reddish and their Bellies of ash-colour The Cocks while young cannot be distinguished from the Hens by their colour The number of quill-feathers in each Wing is eighteen of which the fourth is the longest The Tail is four inches and an half long made up of twelve feathers of equal length save the two outmost which are somewhat shorter than the rest The Feet are black The outmost fore-toe and the back-toe are equal And the outmost Toe joyned to the middlemost at bottom as in the rest of this kind The Liver is divided into two Lobes and hath its Gall-bladder annexed The Gizzard not very fleshy nor thick as in the rest It feeds promiscuously upon Berries and Insects I could not find any remainder of the Yolk-channel in the Guts The Cocks in this kind are very canorous whistling and singing very pleasantly all the Spring and Summer-time only their note is too loud and shrill near hand The Hen lays four or five Eggs seldom more at once of a bluish green colour full of dusky spots and lines On the Alps the Appennine and other high Mountains are sometime found birds of this kind all over white We our selves saw one in a Poulterers Shop at Rome particoloured of black and white But this we look upon as accidental Either the coldness of the Region or the constant intuition of Snow effecting this alteration of colour as in Crows Ravens c. So that we do not think a white Blackbird pardon the seeming contradiction in adjecto to differ specifically from a
or Carnation colour its Head tufted its Wings and Tail black the prime feathers being near a Chesnut colour The Bill next the Head black else of a flesh colour The Feet of a deep yellow or Saffron-colour The Cock in this kind is of a more lively and lovely colour The head of the Hen is in colour like to the Cocks but the Neck Wings and Tail not so black as his They become very fat and are accounted good meat We have not as yet seen this bird neither do we remember to have elsewhere read or heard any thing of it §. VII The red-breasted Indian Blackbird perchance the Jacapu of Marggrave WE saw the Case of this bird in Tradescants Cabinet It was of the bigness and shape of a Blackbird as far as I could judge by the dried skin The colour of the whole upper side was black only the edges of the feathers about the Rump were ash-coloured The Breast was of a scarlet colour The Bill like a Blackbirds The Tail also long and like a Blackbirds I take this to be the same bird which Marggrave describes under the title of Jacapu of the Brasilians though he attribute to it only the bigness of a Lark It hath saith he a long Tail shorter Wings short and black Legs with sharp Claws on the four toes A Bill a little crooked and black half an inch long The whole body is covered with shining black feathers yet under the Throat spots of a Vermilion colour are mingled with the black This bird differs from ours in its smalness and the shortness of its Bill §. VIII The Ring-Ouzel Merula torquata IT is like and equal to or somewhat bigger than the common Blackbird From Bill to Tail eleven inches long to the end of the Feet ten and a quarter the Wings extended were by measure seventeen inches The Bill more than an inch long of a dark dusky or blackish colour The mouth yellow withinside The Tongue rough The Irides of the Eyes are of a dark hazel colour The Legs and Feet dusky The outer Toe is joyned to the middle as far as to the first joynt The colour of the upper side of the body is a dark brown or russet inclining to black The feathers covering the Breast and Belly are marked with a long whitish spot down the shaft having also white edges The Ring or Collar is below the Throat just above the Breast of a white colour an inch broad of the form of a Crescent the horns ending at the sides of the Neck It hath eighteen quil-feathers in each Wing twelve in the Tail the outmost being a little shorter than the rest four inches long The exteriour feathers of the Tail are blacker than the middlemost The small feathers under the Wings whitish In a bird that I described at Rome the edges of the prime feathers of the Wings as also of the covert-feathers of the Head and Wings were cinereous The ring also was not white but ash-coloured I suppose this was either a young bird or a Hen. It hath a large Gall and a round Spleen In the Stomach we found Insects and Berries like to Currans These Birds are common in the Alps in Rhoetia and Switzerland They are also found in the mountainous parts of Derbyshire Yorkshire and elsewhere in the North of England They say that the Female of this kind hath no ring Whence I perswade my self that the bird which I sometimes described for the Merula Saxatilis or Montana that is the Rock-Ouzel of Gesner p. 584. was no other than a Hen Ring-Ouzel It nearly resembles the common Blackbird in bigness figure and colour yet is in some things manifestly different viz. it is a thought bigger hath a longer body and not so dark a colour It s length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail was ten inches and an half to the end of the Claws nine and an half Its breadth one foot and five inches Its weight three ounces and two drachms The top of the Head the Shoulders Back Wings and Tail in a word the whole upper side was of a dark brown or dusky colour The number of quill-feathers in each Wing eighteen The Tail was four inches and an half long not forked black made up of twelve feathers The underside viz. the Breast Belly Sides Thighs and under-coverts of the Wings particoloured of brown and white or rather cinereous the middle part of each feather being brown and the borders round about cinereous It s Bill is every way like the common Blackbirds excepting the colour which in this is of a dark brown or blackish The inside of the mouth as in that yellow The Legs are of a moderate length and dusky colour as also the Feet and Claws The Guts indifferent large but not very long and consequently not having many revolutions The blind Guts small white and very short as in the rest of this kind The Stomach or Gizzard was of a moderate bigness filled partly with Insects partly with the purple juyce of Bill-berries which had also tinctured all the excrements of the Guts It is usually conversant about the Rocks and steep Cliffs of high mountains This we described was shot by Fr. Jessop Esq on a Cliff or Scar called Rive-edge where they dig Mill-stones not far from a Village called Hathers-edge in the Mountains of the Peak of Derbyshire where the Inhabitants call it Rock-Ouzel §. IX * The Rock Ouzel or Mountain Ouzel of Gesner called in High Dutch Berg-Amzel Merula Saxatilis seu Montana IT differs from the Ring-Ouzel 1. In that it wants a Ring 2. In that the Throat is red with black spots the Belly is cinereous with black spots 3. That the extreme edges of the great Wing-feathers are whitish and the lesser rows have sometimes white spots in their middle about their shafts But these differences are not to me so considerable as to induce me to believe that this bird is a Species different from the Ring-Ouzel at least if it be true that the Hen in that kind wants a ring and differs other ways in colour from the Cock as we have been informed Yet will we not be very confident or positive but refer it to further inquiry and observation To these may be added Aldrovandus his 1. MERULA BICOLOR described lib. 16. cap. 12. varied with two colours especially viz. dusky or blackish and reddish yellow 2. MERULAE CONGENER Aldrov lib. 16. cap. 13. having a red line near the Bill 3. MERULAE CONGENER ALIA in Chap. 14. of the same Book like to the ash-coloured Butcher-bird Which because we have not seen nor read of elsewhere we omit Whosoever pleases may look out their figures and descriptions in the places cited The second of these Aldrovandus saw only painted neither did he see the first alive CHAP. XIX Of the Starling and Birds akin to it §. I. A Stare or Starling Sturnus THe Cock weighed three ounces and an half the Hen
spots and a few black ones The Throat and upper part of the Breast are darker than the Belly for that the forementioned colours are there more mingled and confounded whereas in the belly they are more distinct and make greater spots If you heed each feather you shall find the bottom to be blue in the middle a yellow spot encompassed with a black line and the top white The Wings are long reaching almost to the end of the Tail The description of the Bill and Legs we have already given in Mr. Willughby's words and have nothing further to add concerning them It is said to abide and build in mountainous places It is kept in Cages for its singing I suspect that Bellonius his solitary Sparrow is the same with this bird though the description answers not exactly in all things §. IV. * The Brasilian Pitanga guacu called by the Portugnese Bemtere Marggrav IN bigness it is equal to a Stare hath a thick broad Pyramidal Bill a little more than an inch long outwardly sharp A broad compressed Head A short Neck which sitting it contracts or draws up A body near two inches and an half long The Legs and Feet dusky Four Toes disposed in the usual manner The Head upper side of the Neck the whole Back Wings and Tail of a dark brown or black mingled with a little green The under side of the Neck the Breast and lower Belly have yellow feathers But above by the Head it hath a Crown like that of a Monk of a white colour It hath a loud shrill cry Some of these birds have on the top of their Heads a yellow spot and some have it partly of a clay colour else in all things like This kind is called by the Brasilians Cuiriri CHAP. XX. Atinga guacu mucu of Marggrave IT is about the bigness of a Throstle Hath a great Head a Neck of a moderate length a body three inches long The Bill a little hooked of a colour mingled of green and yellow sanguine Eyes with a black Pupil The Legs are ash-coloured of a moderate length above the Knees I suppose he means covered with feathers In the Feet four Toes disposed after the usual manner an exceeding long Tail viz. of about nine inches consisting of about ten feathers of which some of the lower are shorter than the upper The whole Head Neck Back Wings and Tail have brown or fuligineous feathers which in the Tail are darker-coloured than the rest The end of each feather of the Tail for about half an inch is white and between the white and red part shaded with black The Throat Breast lower Belly and Thighs are covered with ash-coloured feathers On the Head it hath long feathers which it can set up like two horns It is a bird remarkable for the length of its Tail For its agreement in bigness its Bill and some other accidents we have subjoyned it to the Thrush-kind CHAP. XXI The Witwall as it is by some called Galbula seu Picus nidum suspendens Aldrov Oriolus Alberti Chloreus Aristotelis Icterus Plinii in Aldrovandus his judgment THis bird from the beginning of the Bill to the end of the Tail was by measure ten inches long Equal in magnitude to or somewhat bigger than a Thrush Its Bill more than an inch long red like a Thrushes but bigger and longer Its Tongue cloven and rough The Irides of its Eyes red Its Legs Feet and Toes of a Lead-colour The hind-Toe near the rise of it was broad and callous The outer Toe joyned to the middle as in the rest of this kind up to the first joynt The quil-feathers of the Wings were black But the tips of the fifth sixth and seventh also of the tenth and four subsequent white and the utmost edges of the third and fourth The foremost feathers of the second row were almost half way of a pale yellow Else the upper surface of the whole Wing black The twelve feathers of the Tail were of equal length viz. about three inches and an half The two middlemost black the rest had their upper halfs yellow their lower black All the body beside was of a bright yellow very beautiful to behold So that for the lustre and elegancy of its colours it scarce gives place to any of the American birds Between the Eyes and Nosthrils on each side it had a black spot In the Female the colours are not so fair and lively the yellow being mingled with black and brown the Breast shaded with dusky lines The lesser rows of Wing-feathers and the two middle feathers of the Tail green The young ones also are greener and have their Breasts spotted The Guts are sixteen inches long great and lax the blind Guts very small and short The Testicles round In the Belly we found Caterpillars We shot this bird near Frankeford in Germany Afterwards we saw many of them at Naples in the Poulterers Shops Whence we guess that they are frequent in the neighbouring Country The structure of the Nest and how artificially it hangs it see in Aldrovand The Low Dutch call this bird by a very fit name Goutmerle that is the golden Ouzel For it agrees with Thrushes or Blackbirds in the shape of the Bill and the whole body in the bigness also food and manner of living It is called Galbula or Galgulus from its yellow colour It is a bird of passage Gesner writes that it comes into his Country for the most part in May but sometimes also in April After whose coming they have certain hope that there will be no more frosts Whence it appears that it delights in hot places and seasons It feeds wonderfully fat hath very delicate flesh and yields wholsom nourishment and no wonder sith it is akin to the Thrushes and uses the same food viz. Insects and Berries CHAP. XXII * Matuitui of Marggravius IT is of the bigness of a Stare Hath a short Neck a strong Breast short Legs a Tail two inches and an half long It hath a streight strong Bill the upper Chap whereof is a little prominent the point inclining downwards of a Vermilion colour The whole Head upper side of the Neck Back Wings and Tail are brown spotted with a pale yellow partly speckled like a Sparrow-Hawk Under the Throat it hath yellow feathers The Breast and Belly are white speckled with brown The Legs of a dark ash-colour CHAP. XXIII * Guirapunga of Marggrave THe cry of this Bird may be heard a great way off It is bigger than the Missel-bird almost equal to a Pigeon Hath a Bill an inch long and pretty broad sharp-pointed the upper part a little prominent above the lower and bending downward black having wide or open Nosthrils It s Mouth is large the slit reaching as far as the Eyes so that the aperture of the Mouth with the Bill forms a triangle It hath a short Tongue Eyes between black and blue Under the Throat which is broad and in the lower part of
Its Rump Breast and Belly milk-white Under the Chin the white is somewhat more sullen or obscure Each Wing hath eighteen master-feathers From the tenth the six or seven following have their tips broad and indented The tips of the interiour quil-feathers are white The Tail is less forked than in the House-Swallow The feathers from the middle on each side are longer in order the exteriour than the interiour almost by an equal excess otherwise than in the House-Swallow the outmost feathers of whose Tail as we said before exceed the next three times as much as they do the following c. The length of the outmost feathers is two inches and an half of the middlemost one and three quarters In the stomachs of the Young of this kind we found no stones but many Flies and Beetles This bird builds a round Nest like the House-Swallow and also of like matter yet not in Chimneys but in Windows under Eves of Houses c. It differs moreover in that the House-Swallows Nest is like those of other birds semicircular and all open above but its Nest is covered above a round hole only being left open in the side by which the old one goes in and out §. III. The Sand-Martin or Shore-bird Hirundo riparia Aldrov THis bird is the least that we know of the Swallow-kind being from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail no more than five inches and a quarter long It s Bill is small sharp flat black as in the rest of this kind from the point to the angles of the Mouth half an inch long Its Tongue cloven Its Eyes great its Feet dusky At the rise of the back-toe a few small feathers grow else the Legs are bare as far as the knees It s Head Neck and Back are of a dark dun or Mouse colour Its Chin Breast and Belly white At the bottom of the Throat a Ring of the same Mouse-dun encompasses the Neck The number of feathers in Wings and Tail is the same as in other Swallows But the quil-feathers of the Wings are blacker than the feathers on the back from the tenth to the last all of equal length the six next to the tenth have their tips indented The middle feathers of the Tail are an inch and three quarters long the outmost an inch and half It builds in the holes of River-banks lays five or six Eggs makes its Nest of straws bents c. within of feathers on which it lays its Eggs. It differs from the Common Martin in having no white upon the Rump nor its feet feathered as that hath Of this kind great numbers are brought to the Markets at Valentia in Spain to besold for the use of the Kitchin where the Fowlers and Country people call them Papilion di Montagna They are frequent also in Holland and no less in England §. IV. The black Martin or Swift Hirundo apus THis is the biggest of all Swallows we have hitherto seen It hath a great Head a huge wide mouth but a very small black Bill wherein it agrees with the Churn-Owl towards the Nosthrils broad and depressed It s Tongue is broad and somewhat cloven Its Nosthrils long placed obliquely obtuse toward the Head acute toward the point of the Bill Its Eyes great and their Irides of a hazel colour It hath almost no variety or difference of colour in the whole body For as well the upper as the lower side and also the Wings and Tail are black with an obscure tincture of green or red Only under the Chin is a notable spot of white or ash-colour It hath in each Wing eighteen quil-feathers all ending in sharp points but especially the exteriour ones The Tail is about an hand-breadth long consisting of but ten feathers from the middle to the outmost in order one longer than another ending all in sharp points Its Legs are very short but thick Its Feet very small All its Toes stand forwards for the least which in others is wont to stand backward is in this placed the same way with the rest The least Toe hath as in other birds one bone The other three contrary to the manner of all other that we know besides it have all an equal number of bones or joynts viz. only two the one very short the other longer The Toes also are all divided from the very rise The Gall-bladder is little The Stomach not very fleshy out of which dislected we took Beetles and other Insects They say that by reason of the length of its Wings and shortness of its Legs if it happens to alight or fall upon the ground it cannot raise it self up again but may easily be caught Wherefore it doth either always fly or sit upon the tops of Churches Towers or other ancient buildings It s weight was three quarters of an ounce Its length from the tip of the Bill to the Claws five inches to the end of the Tail seven and a quarter The distance between the tips of the wings extended sixteen inches and an half Of this kind we have seen the Picture of one having its whole nether part Throat Breast and Belly white And as we said before Scaliger mentions one of the bigness of a Buzzard §. V. * Aldrovandus his Sea-Swallow THis bird in my judgment belongs not to this Family but ought to be ranked with the lesser Lari or Sea-Gulls It is saith Aldrovandus much bigger than a Swallow and hath longer legs It s whole Belly up to the Breast is white its Head Wings and Back duskish Its Wings and Tail as in Swallows are very long and of a blackish colour but brown withinside It s Tail is forked It s Bill strong and black as in a Gull Its Mouth wide and of a scarlet colour within From the Bill through the Eyes almost to the Breast is extended a notable black line which near the Breast makes as it were a Collar The Feet are as black as Jet and as I said before less than a Swallows For its likeness it is called by Fowlers The Sea Swallow §. VI. * The American Swallow called by the Brasilians Tapera by the Portugues Andorinha Marggrav IT is like our Country Swallows of the same bigness and flying about after the same manner It hath a short broad black Bill A wide Mouth which it can open beyond the region of the Eyes like the greater Ibijan elegant black Eyes Long Wings reaching as far as the end of the Tail which is of a good breadth Its Legs and Feet like those of our Country Swallows All the upper part of the Head the Neck Back Wings and Tail feathers are of a brown colour mingled with grey The Belly is white as are also the feathers under the Tail The Legs and Feet dusky This bird perchance may not differ specifically from our Europaean black Martin or Swift For that as we before observed the Europaean Swift varies sometimes in colour being found with a white
together with the feathers is scarce equal in bigness to a Spanish Olive It hath a slender and very sharp round even streight Bill yet toward the end a little inclining downward an inch and half long The colour of this Bill is black excepting the lower Chap toward the rise where it is reddish It hath a double or cloven Tongue very small or slender like a fine silken thread white long so that it can thrust it forth far beyond the Bill Small black Eyes very small and short Legs and Feet of a black colour Four Toes in each foot three standing forward and one backward armed with long semilunar very sharp black Claws It hath a streight Tail an inch long consisting for the most part of four feathers The Wings which are of two inches length reach almost to the end of the Tail Nature hath shewn a singular Art in the composure of the Wing-feathers From the rise of the Wings for about three quarters of an inch there is a double row of feathers one longer than the other and the feathers are put one upon another as it were short wings upon long ones Then after these feathers come the Wing-feathers which are about ten the subsequent interiour being still longer than the precedent exteriour so that the inmost determining the end of the Wing is the longest of all These Wings being spread it can fly a long time and rest in the same place as it were hanging in the air As it flies it makes a noise like a Bruchus or more truly like a linnen Spinning-wheel Hur hur hur The feathers of the Wings spread appear very thin and transparent The colour of the feathers of the whole Head the upper side of the Neck the sides the whole Back and the beginning of the Wings is wonderfully resplendent so that it cannot be well represented by any Painter for with a green such as is seen in the Necks of Peacocks and Mallards a golden flame-colour and yellow are strangely mixt so that being exposed to the Sun-beams it shines admirably In the Throat the lower side of the Neck the breast and all the lower Belly and the upper Legs are white feathers wherewith underneath the Neck are feathers of an excellent colour dispersedly intermixt In the Belly beneath the white feathers lie black ones The beginning of the Wings was as I said of an admirable rare colour all the rest of the Wing brown and of a shining spadiceous The Tail consists of feathers of a blue colour like polished Steel They make their Nests in the boughs of trees of the bigness of a Holland Schilling They lay very white Eggs two for the most part of an oval figure not bigger than a Pease 2. The second sort is more beautiful than the first of the same bigness and figure Yet is its Bill shorter viz. â…” of an inch long of the same colour and figure with that of the former The Tongue is the same as also the Eyes Legs Feet and figure of the Wings and Tail The colour of the feathers in the Head upper side of the Neck Back Wings and Tail like to that of the former But in the Throat or underside of the Neck the whole Breast and lower Belly to the very end of the body of so elegant and shining a green with a golden colour enterchangeably mixt that they glister wonderfully Near the Vent is a spot of a good bigness in respect of the bulk of the bird consisting of pure white feathers 3. The third is lesser than all the rest From the beginning of the Head or insertion of the Bill to the rise of the Tail two inches and an half long The Neck is almost one inch long The Head not great The Body an inch and half long The Bill a little more than an inch long black round sharp and almost streight The Legs and Feet like those of the rest The feathers also of the Body and Wings are alike disposed but differently coloured It hath a Tail longer than any of the rest somewhat more than three inches consisting of feathers of which that which is nearer to its rise is shorter the second always longer The Tail also is forked and the bird flying spreads it into two large horns so that the tips of the horns are an inch and half distant one from the other The whole Head and Neck of this bird is of a shining silken black colour inclining to or interchanging with blue as in the Necks of Mallards The whole Back and Breast are green shining enterchangeably with golden and Sea-green as in the second kind and near the vent is also the like spot of white feathers The Wings are of a liver-colour The Tail is of a blackish blue shining like polished Steel blued over 4. The fourth is a little lesser than the third The shape of the body and disposition of the feathers the same but it is of another colour and differs also in the Bill and colour of the Legs The Bill is an inch and half long bowed downward like a Polonian Sword round every where of equal thickness and sharp-pointed The upper part thereof is black the under yellow excepting the tip which is also black The top of the Head the upper side of the Neck as also the Wings are of like colour with those of the first kind The Throat the lower side of the Neck the whole Breast and lower Belly from white incline to a red colour It hath a Tail an inch long ending with the Wings consisting of feathers which from black incline to green having white tips The Toes so disposed as the other Species yet not black but white or yellowish with like semilunar sharp and black Claws 5. The fifth is in bigness equal to the third kind having a black Bill a little more than an inch long and a little bending downward black Eyes as also Legs and Feet The Throat lower side of the Neck and all the Belly are covered with black Velvet feathers having as it were a gloss of shining blue Near the Vent is a spot of white feathers But the black ends of the feathers on the sides of the Neck Breast and Belly shine wonderfully with a rare mixture of Sea-water colour golden and green All the upper side of the Head and Neck and the whole Back are adorned with feathers mixt with golden fire-colour and green as is also the beginning of the Wings The rest of the Wings is of an iron or dusky colour The Tail is a little more than an inch long consisting of feathers of an elegant brown with a gloss of blue About the edges these feathers are of the colour of polished Steel blued 6. The sixth is in bigness equal to the fifth hath a Bill of an inch long a little bending white underneath black above The whole Head Neck Back and Belly and the beginning of the Wings are covered with feathers of an excellent shining colour consisting as it were of a mixture of
or red the middle of the Belly being whiter The feathers of this bird are soft and stand ruffling out as in a Jay In all other points it agrees with the above described so that I doubt not but it is the same The third and fourth Muscicapae of Aldrovand differ not I think from this nor from one another otherwise than in colour It is found for the most part in Heaths and is very querulous §. IV. * The Brasilian Guiraru Nheengeta of Marggrave which may be called The American Chat. IT is as big or a little bigger than a Water-Blackbird or Crake hath a streight compressed black Bill more than half an inch long Sapphire-coloured Eyes with a black Pupil The upper Legs are covered with ash-coloured feathers The lower with a black skin as are also the Feet which have four Toes standing after the usual manner with sharp black Claws The whole Head Neck Breast and lower Belly are cloathed with white feathers approaching to a dilute grey but the Back with cinereous From the Bill on each side through the Eyes to the end of the sides of the Head is a long black spot extended The Wings are black but not of a deep colour The Tail hath very black feathers which yet have white tips and above also are covered with white ones This for its bigness ought rather to have been referred to the Thrush-kind §. V. A Bird called Coldfinch by the Germans THis Bird was shot by Mr. Jessop in the Mountains of the Peak in Derbyshire and sent us by him It s Belly is white its Breast of a dusky yellow The Head and Back of a dusky or greenish ash-colour The covert-feathers of the Tail black The quil-feathers of the Wings likewise black but from the fifth they are all white toward the bottoms whence arises a whitespot or stroak cross the Wing from a narrow beginning widening by degrees so that in the last feathers it takes up all the exteriour Vanes but where it is broader it is gradually tinctured with yellow The second row of Wing-feathers is black with whitish tips The edges of the rest of the coverts are green The Tail is two inches and a quarter long It s outmost feathers have their exteriour Webs almost wholly white in the next to them the white part is narrower All the rest are black but the middlemost deeper It s Bill is black compressed and almost triangular The Tongue cloven and rough The Irides of the Eyes of a hazel-colour The Feet black The outmost Toe joyned to the middlemost as in other small birds The Testicles small and round In the Stomach we found Insects This excellent person sent us also out of the Peak of Derbyshire the third Beccafigo of Aldrovand which I suppose differs only in age or Sex from the precedent The Throat Breast and Belly are much whiter than in that All the exteriour Webs of the outmost feathers of the Tail are white of those next to them the lower half This hath a great white spot in each Wing altogether like the precedent Above the Bill also it hath a white spot The Back else is cole-black In its fashion bigness Bill and Tail it agrees with the Coldfinch CHAP. XVI The White-throat An Spipola prima Aldrov THe body of this Bird seems to be something longer than that of the Beccafigo before described but of almost the same magnitude From the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail or of the Feet for they are equally extended it hath six inches and a quarter of length Between the extreme points of the Wings spread eight and an half of breadth The upper Bill is black the lower white The Tongue slit with a deep incision The Mouth within yellow The Irides of the Eyes hazel-coloured The Feet are of a dusky yellow or Amber-colour The back-toe great the exteriour foretoes equal and less than in other small birds joyned at bottom to the middlemost the interiour by an intervening membrane which we have not observed in other Birds of this kind The upper surface of the body from red inclines to an ash-colour The Head more cinereous The Chin white the rest of the Throat white with a tincture of red The Breast also and lower Belly are something red In the Hen the Breast is white without any mixture of red The outmost edge of the first or outmost quil-feather is white The exteriour edges of those next the body are red The extreme feathers of the Tail on each side have all their exteriour Webs and half their interiour white Of the next to these the tips only are white All the rest are black only the extreme borders or edges especially of the two middlemost incline to cinereous It frequents Gardens and feeds upon Beetles Flies and other Insects Creeping and hopping up and down in bushes like the Hedg-Sparrow It builds also in bushes not far from the ground The outer part of the Nest is made of the tender stalks of herbs and dry straws the middlemost of fine bents and soft grass the inner on which the Eggs lie of horse-hair or other long hair It lays about five Eggs oblong of a dusky colour mingled of white and green besprinkled over with black specks This Bird is very like the Ficedula above described yet differs in some particulars especially that the outmost feathers of the Tail in this are white whereas in that the Tail is all of one colour Among the doubtful birds of this kind at least to us not sufficiently known we reckon 1. The small Nightingale Lusciniola or Roussette of Bellonius which you may find in Aldrovand tom 2. pag. 767. perchance the same with the Giarola of Aldrovand having a red Bill and the colour of the body like a Quail 2. Oenanthe congener Aldrov tom 2. p. 764. 3. The other Spipola of Aldrovand tom 2. p. 731. the description whereof we have already set down p. 153. which perchance may be the same with our Spipoletta or with our Whin-chat p. 168. 4. Spipola tertia or Boarina of Aldrovand p. 732. which we have already entred the description of p. 153. 5. The Stoparola of Aldrovand p. 732 which you may find also in pag. 153. of this work 6. Boarina of Aldrovand p. 733. whose description we have subjoyned to the Ficedula p. 158. 7. Grisola which we have annexed to our Spipoletta pag. 153. 8. Anthos or Florus which we have remembred in our Chapter of Oenanthe pag. 169. These and some other birds comprehended by Aldrovandus in three Chapters viz. twenty sixth twenty seventh and twenty eighth of the seventeenth Book under the titles of Spipolae Stoparolae and Muscicapae seem to us reducible to three or four Species viz. to the White-throat or Moucherolle or Passer rubi for Bellonius his Moucherolle is perchance another sort of bird and the Beccasigo or Black-cap CHAP. XVII The Water-Wagtail Motacilla in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 §. I. The white
Fringillago THis small bird is of the bigness of a Chaffinch Hath a Bill scarce half an inch long and blackish black Eyes The whole head lower side of the Neck Breast and lower Belly and utmost half of the Back are cloathed with blue feathers The upper side of the Neck and fore-half of the Back are covered with black The Wings also are black but in their beginning have some blue feathers interspersed The rest of the feathers are black yet have blue edges The Tail is almost an inch and half long and also black and the Wings end a little beyond the beginning of the Tail The Legs are dusky and each foot hath four toes placed after the usual manner §. IV. The Cole-mouse Parus ater Gesneri pag. 616. THe Head is by Gesner rightly described to be black with a white spot in the hinder part The Back is of a greenish ash-colour The Rump greener The Wings and Tail dusky The exteriour edges of the prime Wing-feathers green The interiour covert-feathers of the Wings have white tips The Tail when shut appears something forked from dusky inclining to green The Bill is streight round black The Legs Feet and Claws bluish or of a lead-colour This is the least of all this kind By its smalness were other notes wanting it is abundantly distinguished from the great Titmouse It weighs two drachms being from Bill-point to tail-Tail-end four inches three quarters long and between the extremities of the Wings extended seven inches broad The number of quil-feathers in each Wing is eighteen The Tail is an inch and three quarters long and composed of twelve feathers §. V. The Marsh Titmouse or Black-cap Parus palustris Gesneri THe Head of this is black The cheeks white the back greenish The Feet of a Lead-colour It differs from that next above described 1. In that it is bigger 2. That it hath a larger Tail 3. That it wants the white spot on the back of the Head 4. That it s under side is whiter 5. That it hath less black under the Chin. 6. That it wants those white spots in the tips of the covert-feathers of the Wings It weighs more than three drachms From the point of the Bill to the end of the Claws it is by measure four inches and an half long The distance between the extreme tips of the Wings extended is eight inches The number of Wing and Tail-feathers is the same as in other small birds The Tail is more than two inches long composed of feathers of equal length Gesner makes the Back of this bird dusky inclining to cinereous §. VI. The blue Titmouse or Nun Parus caeruleus THe Bill of this Bird is pretty short thick sharp and of a dusky blackish colour The Tongue broad ending in four filaments The Legs of a lead-colour The outmost Toes at bottom are fastned to the middle ones The Head being of an azure colour is encompassed with a circle of white as it were a Wreath or Coronet To the white circle succeeds another particoloured encompassing the Throat and hinder part of the Head above being almost of the same colour with the Head towards the Throat and under the Throat black Below this circle on the Neck is a white spot From the Bill a black line passes through the Eyes to the hinder part of the Head The Cheeks are white The Back is of a yellowish green The sides Breast and Belly yellow save that a whitish line produced as far as the Vent divides the Breast in two In the Cock-bird the Head is more blue in the Hen and young ones less The tips of the quil-feathers next the body are white as also the outer edges of the foremost from the middle part upward The covert-feathers of the Wings are blue the innermost of which with their white tips make a white line cross the Wing The Tail is two inches long of a blue colour only the edges of the outmost feathers are a little white It s weight is three drachms Its length from Bill-point to tail-Tail-end four inches and an half to the Claws four Its breadth the Wings extended eight inches The quil-feathers in each Wing eighteen besides the outmost short one The Tail-feathers twelve §. VII The crested Titmouse Parus cristatus Aldrov THis hath a pretty short big Bill of a blackish colour It s Tongue is broad and divided into four filaments Its Feet of a lead-colour The outer Toes for some space from their divarication joyned to the middle one The crown of the Head black the edges of the feathers being white At the hinder part of the Head begins a black line which like a Wreath or Collar encompasses the Neck From the lower Mandible of the Bill to this Collar is a black line produced To the Collar and Chin is another bed or border of white contiguous But beyond the Ears is a spot of black The middle of the Breast is white the sides something red The Wings and Tail are dusky only the exteriour edges of the feathers somewhat green The Back from red inclining to green It weighs two drachms and an half Is from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail five inches long From tip to tip of the Wings extended eight inches and a quarter broad The quil-feathers of the Wings are eighteen in number the Tail-feathers twelve The Tail two inches long The Bill from the tip to the corners of the mouth half an inch §. VIII The long-tail'd Titmouse Parus caudatus THe crown of this Bird is white The Neck black From the Bill above the Eyes on each side to the hinder-part of the Head is a broad black line produced The Jaws and Throat are white The Breast white varied with small dusky spots The Belly and sides of a dilute Chesnut colour Of which but mixt with black both the Back and also the Rump partake The quil-feathers of the Wings are of an obscure dusky colour the outer edges of the interiour of these are white The singular structure or conformation of the feathers of the Tail difference this Bird from all other small birds of what kind soever For the outmost feathers are the shortest the rest in order longer to the middlemost which are the longest and that by a notable difference or excess as in the Magpie Of the outmost feather on each side the top and outer half from the shaft is white The next hath less white of the third only the outer part of the tip is white All the rest are wholly black In respect of these colours there may possibly be some variety in several birds The Bill is short strong black The Tongue broad cloven and divided into silaments The Eyes bigger than in other small birds their Irides hazel-coloured The edges of the eye-lids yellow The Nosthrils covered with small feathers The Feet black as are also the Claws but deeper The Claw of the back-toe biggest of all as is usual in most birds both great and small With us it
they climb up and down the sides with the Bills and Feet after the manner of Parrots It is a most voracious bird much delighted and feeding very fat with Hemp-seed It also loves Fir-kernels and in the Months of January and February builds its Nest in those or the like trees They say that with one stroak of its bill it will in a trice divide an Apple in halves that it may feed upon the Kernels by that means doing a great deal of mischief in Orchards In some parts of Germany Bavaria Suevia Noricum they are found in great numbers all the year round Sometimes they come over to us and in the Western part of England especially Worcestershire make bad work spoiling a great deal of fruit in our Orchards One thing also more saith Aldrovandus seemeth to me strange and unusual in the Cross-bill that in the Winter-time when all things shrink with cold and other birds are mute she sings and in Summer when other birds sing she is silent Which whether it be true or no let those observe among whom such birds are common It sings they say very sweetly CHAP. V. Of Sparrows THese Birds feed upon grains of Corn Crums of bread worms and divers Seeds Their Bills are short thick and something crooked Their colour testaceous or earthy They are very salacious and therefore held to be short-lived §. I. The House-Sparrow Passer domesticus Aldrov THe weight of this well known and every where obvious bird is 1⅛ ounce Its length from the beginning of the Bill to the end of the Tail six inches and an half The Bill is thick in the Cock black at the corners of the Mouth between the Eyes yellowish in the Hen dusky scarce half an inch long The Eyes hazel-coloured The Legs and Feet of a dusky flesh-colour The Claws black The lower joynt of the outmost Toe as in other small birds grows to that of the middle Toe The Head is of a dusky blue or ash-colour the Chin black Above the Eyes are two small white spots From the Eyes a broad line of a spadiceous colour The feathers growing about the Ears are ash-coloured The Throat below the black spot of a white ash-colour Under the Ears on each side is a great white spot The lower Breast and Belly are white The feathers dividing between the Back and Neck on the outside the shaft are red on the inside black but toward their bottoms something of white terminates the red The rest of the Back and Rump are of the same colour with Thrushes made up as it were of a mixture of green dusky and ash-colour The Hen-bird wants that black spot under the Throat as also the white spots on the Neck and above the Eyes Its Head and Neck being also of the same colour with the Rump The nether side of the body of a sordid white Instead of a white line cross the Wings it hath black feathers with pale reddish tips In general the colours all the body over are not so fair and lively Each Wing hath eighteen quil-feathers dusky with reddish edges From the bastard Wing a broad white line is extended to the next joynt Above this line the covert-feathers of the Wings are of a spadiceous colour beneath they have their middle parts black their exteriour edges red The Tail hath twelve feathers and is two inches and a quarter long the middlemost feathers being something shorter than the rest All of a dusky blackish colour with reddish edges Its Testicles are great as being a very salacious bird Its Guts nine inches long The blind Guts very short It s Stomach musculous it feeding upon Wheat Barley and other Grain The Womb of the Female is great It hath a Gall-bladder Whether or no it be so short-lived as is reported I think there is some reason to doubt This kind of bird doth sometimes vary in colour Aldrovandus setting forth a white and a yellow Sparrow The figures and descriptions whereof may be seen in the fifteenth Book of his Ornithology Chap. 11 12. §. II. * The foolish Bononian Sparrow of Aldrovand IT is in bigness equal to the common Sparrow The colour of its whole body is yellowish spotted every where with oblong rusty or rather red spots which on the Back are longer and bigger than elsewhere all over tending downwards The Bill is red thick and short The Eyes great their Pupils encompassed with a yellow circle The Tail and Wings incline to black but the ends of the lesser feathers in the Wings are white §. III. * A small bird akin to the Sparrow Aldrov Book 15. Chap. 17. THis small bird although it have not a black Chin nor any footstep of it as we have observed in some Hen-Sparrows yet by the whole fashion and make of its body it discovers and warrants it self to be of the Sparrow-kind It s Bill is whitish as in the House-Sparrow It is painted all over the body with oblong reddish spots tending downward But those on the underside of the Neck and on the Breast are more manifest because those parts are white whereas the upper viz. the Back the upper side of the Neck and the crown of the Head are red as are also the whole Tail and the Wings but most of the feathers of these have white ends The Belly also and the Thighs are white The Legs and Feet yellowish The Claws long and black §. IV. * The spotted or three-coloured Sparrow of Aldrovand Book 15. Chap. 13. HE calls it three-coloured for that whereas it consists only of three colours viz. white black and yellowish no one of them can be said to excell another The whole Head and Neck are white varied with yellowish spots The Wings are adorned with the three forenamed colours but the white and black are in them predominant The Bill as in Sparrows thick sharp pointed the upper Chap yellowish the nether altogether yellow The Iris of the Eye is white the Pupil black The Chin Breast and Belly Thighs Legs Feet and Tail underneath are of a yellowish white else the Tail is almost yellow §. V. * The white-tail'd Sparrow of Aldrovand Book 15. Chap. 14. THe Tail of this although it be not altogether white yet is of a pale whitish ash-colour whereas otherwise for colour it is almost like the House-Sparrow but hath not that black spot under the Chin. The Bill as in that is white The Eyes black The Head and all the lower parts from white incline to yellow Large spots of almost a ferrugineous colour beautified with very small milk-white lines are dispersed all over the Back All the feathers of the Wings are of a chesnut-colour round about yellow The Legs and Feet are dusky §. VI. * The Dalmatic Sparrow of Aldrovand Lib. 15. Cap. 21. THis bird Aldrovand saw only the Picture of at Tartaglinus's a Citizen of Venice It is saith he bigger than our common Sparrow but for colour almost like it Underneath also it is absolutely white but above of a
birds themselves But Pictures of them as Pliny rightly saith fallacious these descriptions cannot be thought to come near the exactness of such as are taken from the birds themselves §. XVI The Mountain Sparrow frequent in Stiria and Carinthia FRom the tip of the Bill to the end of the Claws it was by measure six inches long It s Tongue was something cloven The Irides of its Eyes between grey and hazel-coloured It s Chin was black It had also on both sides a black spot about the Ears A border of white compasses the Neck almost half way and the spots about the ears The Head of a dusky red The outer Webs of the feathers on the middle of the Back are red the inner black The Rump is of a yellowish ash-colour The Breast and Belly of a sordid white Of the second and third row of Wing-feathers all but the eighth or tenth outmost have white tips The small feathers on the base or ridge of the Wing are red as are also the outmost edges of the rest The number of quil-feathers is eighteen The Tail is two inches and a quarter long made up of twelve feathers of almost equal length The Bill is black more than half an inch long at the corners of the Mouth and lower Chap yellow It had a large Craw full of seeds The muscles of the Gizzard were not very thick The Testicles great and white The description of the Mountain Sparrow in Aldrovand agrees indifferently well with ours save that he attributes to it two black spots beside the Eyes one of which is wanting in our bird at least Mr. Willughby mentions only one We saw abundance of these birds in the mountainous Countries of Stiria and Carinthia as we travelled from Vienna to Venice §. XVII * The Wood-Sparrow of Aldrovand Book 15. Chap. 16. IN bigness it exactly corresponds with the common Sparrows It s Bill from yellow inclines to white and is as I may so say exactly Sparrow-like The crown of its head as in the precedent Mountain Sparrow is of a rusty colour inclining to Vermilion The circumference of the Eyes white the Iris yellowish the Pupil black From Chin to Tail it is of an ash-colour but the extremities of the feathers incline to red The Chin and underside of the Neck are crossed with continuous transverse blackish lines whereas in all other Cock-Sparrows we suspect nay we positively affirm that they are wholly black The Back Tail and Feet are of a dusky ferrugineous save that the tips or ends of the feathers are altogether yellow The Wings are of the same colour but the first feathers which cover their ridges end in a notable white §. XVIII * The Brasilian Sparrow called Guiranheemgatu by Marggrave IT is of the bigness of a Sparrow The Head above is of a pale yellow as is the Throat The Neck Breast and lower Belly of a deeper yellow The Wings are mixt of green and yellow and distinguished with dusky as is also the Tail The Eyes and Bill black The Legs dusky The Cock of this kind sings rarely well like a Finch The Hen is of the same bigness covered with Sparrow-like feathers sings not but cries Tschrip tschrip like a Sparrow CHAP. VI. §. I. The Chaffinch Fringilla 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotelis IT is something less than a House-Sparrow weighing not a full ounce It s Bill is sharp strong white underneath above and toward the tip dusky The lower Chap equal to the upper The Tongue cloven and rough The Irides of the Eyes hazel-coloured The Ears great The Head in the Cock is blue but the feathers contiguous to the Nosthrils black The Back is reddish with a mixture of ash-colour or green The Breast red the Belly under the Tail white The colours of the Hen are not so bright and lively But its Rump is green It s Back not so red The Belly from red inclines to a dirty kind of green The Breast also is of a duller colour The Quil-feathers in each Wing in number eighteen all but the three first or outmost have their bottoms and interiour Webs white their exteriour edges yellowish or rather green In the Cock the small feathers investing the ridge or basis of the Wing are blue Above in each Wing is a remarkable white spot Then after an interstice of black succeeds a long white fillet beginning from the fourth quill and after the tenth continued through the tops of the covert-feathers That part of this white fillet which passes through the tips of the coverts is tinctured with yellow The Tail is two inches and an half long and made up of twelve feathers of which the outmost on each side have their bottoms and also their tops on the outside the shaft black their middle part white The next to these have less white viz. only near the top and on the outside the shaft The three subsequent on both sides are black the two middlemost cinereous with greenish edges The Liver is divided into two Lobes the right being the biggest The Stomach not very fleshy The outmost Toe in each foot as in other small birds grows to the middlemost at bottom This bird sometimes varies in the colour of its feathers For Gesner affirms that himself had seen a Chaffinch all over white And Aldrovandus describes two others one whose whole body from white declined to yellow Another that was partly yellowish and partly blackish They are saith Aldrovandus birds of passage They love moderate cold but are offended by immoderate But with us in England they fear no cold abiding here all Winter be the weather never so sharp Neither is there any Bird more frequent in all parts of this Land excepting perchance the Lark the Sparrow and the Yellow-hammer §. II. The Bramble or Brambling Fringilla montana seu Montifringilla 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist IN weight and bigness it agrees with the precedent It s Bill is thick strong streigt from a broad base diminishing into a sharp point almost like a Cone or Funnel in some birds wholly black in others black at point and yellow at bottom It s Tongue like the Chaffinches the upper Chap of equal length with the lower its sides strong and thin'd into sharp edges The Bill of the Female hath no part yellow Its Feet of a pale dusky colour The outer Toe joyned to the middle below as in other small birds From the head to the middle of the Back the colour in the Cock is like that of a Starling a shining black the edges of the feathers being of a reddish ash-colour The lower part of the Back is white The Throat is of a yellowish red the Breast white the feathers behind the Vent reddish In the Female the Head from red or dusky inclines to cinereous The Neck is ash-coloured The feathers of the Back have their middle parts black their borders of that same reddish ash-colour The Throat is not so red as in the Cock Within the ridge of
otherwise when the Tail was closed was hidden and not exposed to view The whole Belly from cinereous inclined to dusky §. II. * The Brasilian Jacarini of Marggrave IT is of the bigness of our Goldfinch Hath a thick ash-coloured Bill Ash-coloured Legs and Feet with four Toes situate after the usual manner The whole Body is covered with black feathers but shining with a gloss like polished steel The Wings withinside are white The Eyes are blue and behind each a large hole instead of Ears This Bird being of the bigness of a Goldfinch and having a Bill not unlike it not knowing better to dispose of it I have inserted in this Chapter although it agrees not in colour either with the Goldfinch or any other European Bird that I know of this bigness CHAP. XI Of the Linnet §. I. Of the Linnet in general THe Characteristic notes of this kind are 1. A size of body something less than a Chaffinch 2. A testaceous or earthy colour mixt of cinereous and dusky or brown 3. A Tail a little forked 4. A peculiar colour of the outmost feathers of the Tail viz. brown with white borders or edges 5. A sweet note Of Linnets we have observed four sorts in England 1. The common 2. The greater red 3. The lesser red 4. The Mountain Linnet §. II. The common Linnet Linaria vulgaris IT weighs about an ounce From the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail being half a foot long between the tips of the Wings spread forth ten inches broad It s Bill is half an inch long thick strong black above white underneath The Tongue is as it were cut off The Nosthrils round The Head particoloured of cinereous and black the Back of black and reddish the middle part of each feather being black the edges or outsides in the Head cinereous in the Back reddish The Breast is white The lower Belly about the Vent yellowish The region of the Craw or bottom of the Gullet is of a lovely red the edges of the feathers being yellowish Each Wing hath eighteen quil-feathers all black but the edges which in the exteriour are whitish in the interiour red The foremost feathers of the second row are black the edges of the interiour or those next the rise of the Wing red The lesser covert-feathers about the ridge or base of the Wing are red The Tail is somewhat forked it s two outmost feathers being two inches and a quarter long the middle only two Of the middle two the borders or edges are red of the rest white The Tail consists of the usual number of twelve feathers It delights to feed upon Line-seed whence Gesner in imitation of the French who call it Linote imposed on it the name of Linaria It seems not to have been described or mentioned by the Ancients Howbeit Bellonius makes it to be the Aegithus of Aristotle It is kept in Cages with us for the sweetness of its singing wherein in my judgment it excels all other small birds It feeds upon Canary seed Panic Millet whence also it is by some called Miliaria Rape-seed Cole-seed and Hemp-seed But whatever seed it eats it first decorticates it with its Bill that it may feed only on the pulp But Hemp-seed that we may note that by the by makes birds that feed upon it so fat that it either kills them or takes from them all courage and list to sing Olina saith that the Linnet builds in trees that are not very tall and lays three or four Eggs. We have observed it to build in black or white thorn bushes or Furze-bushes Mr. Willughby ascribes to the Feet of this bird an obscure dusky or blarkish colour Olina a middle colour between flesh-colour and white Perchance the Feet of the younger birds are paler of the old darker coloured Or those of the Cock blacker the Hen-birds white Mr. Jessop sent us a Linnet of the common sort with Feet perfectly black but that was extraordinary An Addition to the History of the Linnet out of our English Writer of Singing Birds YOu may take the young ones out at four days old if you intend they shall learn to whistle or hear any other birds song For then being so young they have not the old birds song and are more apt to take any thing than if you suffer them to be in the Nest till they are almost quite fledg'd You must be sure when you take them out so young to keep them very warm and to feed them but a little at a time Your meat must be Rape-seed soaked and then bruised mingled with full as much soaked white-bread You must make fresh every day for if it be sour it immediately makes them scour and not long after die You must not give them their meat too dry for if you do it will make them Vent-burned and that is as bad as if they scoured If you intend to whistle to them do it when you feed them For they will learn very much before they can crack hard seeds So hang them under any bird you intend they shall learn his Song I have known several that have been taught to speak You may know the Cock-Linnet by these two marks 1. The Cock is much browner on the Back and pinion of the Wing than the Hen. 2. By the white of the Wing Take your young Linnet when the Wing-feathers are grown and stretch out his Wing holding his body fast with the other hand otherwise I have known them by a sudden jerk to break their Wings and then observe the white upon the fourth fifth and sixth feather if it be glossie and glistering and the white goes close to the quill this is a certain sign of a Cock. The Linnets diseases and their cures 1. This Bird is sometimes troubled with melancholy and then you will find the end of his Rump to be very much swelled which you must prick with a Needle and let out all the corruption squeezing it out very well with the point of the Needle then anoint him with the ointment made of fresh butter and Capons grease and feed him for two or three days with Lettice or Beet seeds and the leaves also And you may give him the seeds of Melons chopt in pieces which he will eat very greedily and when you find him to mend take the Melon seeds away and give him his old diet again Put into his water two or three blades of Saffron and white Sugar-candy for a Week or more till you perceive the bird to be wholly recovered 2. The disease this Bird is most troubled withal is a scouring of which there are three sorts The first very thin and with a black substance in the middle which is not very dangerous for I have known many sing very strong and lavish when they have had this scouring in a very violent manner The second is between a black and a white but not so thin as the other but very clammy and sticking This is
and covert-feathers of the Wings are dusky having their outer edges cinereous The Back as we said of a testaceous colour the middle parts of the feathers being blacker The Neck beneath the Head behind is ash-coloured The shafts of the Head-feathers are of a dark brown the outsides or edges being of a reddish ash-colour The Tail is more than three inches long of a dusky red colour without any whiteness save that a kind of dark shadow or appearance of white may be discerned in the outmost feathers It sings sitting upon the highest twigs of trees and shrubs It feeds upon Corn. Both the figure and description of the Bird called Strillozo in Olina agree exactly in all points to our Bunting save only that he attributes to it the bigness of the common Lark than which our Bunting is something bigger I my self also when I was at Rome saw and described a small bird called Strillozo somewhat less as it then seemed to me than the common Lark Seeing therefore Olina besides the Strillozo describes also the Calandra making it somewhat bigger than the common Lark and not much less than a Thrush I do suspect that the Calandra is the same with our Bunting and the Strillozo a different kind of bird described by none besides him at least clearly and exactly The description of the Alaudae congener of Aldrovand agrees exactly to this Bird so doth also that of the Cenchramus of Bellonius so that of one bird Aldrovandus makes four giving us the Bunting under the title of 1. Emberiza alba 2. Of Alaudae congener 3. Of Cenchramus Bellonii 4. Also if we be not much mistaken of Calandra all which he exhibits for distinct Species §. II. The Yellow-hammer Emberiza flava of Gesner Hortulanus of Bellonius Luteae alterum genus of Aldrovand Chloreus seu Lutea Aristotelis of Turner IT is equal to a Chaffinch or a little bigger weighs 1⅛ ounce From the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail is six inches and an half long to the end of the Feet but six It s Bill is of a dark dusky colour half an inch long having a hard knob in the upper Chap to break the grains of corn and the sides of the nether Chap turned inwards and bent together like the Buntings The Tongue shorter than is usual in other birds not reaching beyond the knob its tip horny and sharp slit into filaments The Eyes hazel-coloured The Feet of a horn colour the Claws black The like cohesion between the outmost and middle toe at the bottom as in other birds The Throat and Belly are yellow The Breast hath something of red mingled with it as also the sides under the Wings The Head is of a greenish yellow spotted with brown Above the Shoulders in the lower part of the Neck is a certain colour between green and cinereous or compounded of both The middle parts of the covert-feathers of the Back and Shoulders are black the edges from green incline to red The Rump is reddish The Female is all over paler less yellow on the Head less red on the Breast and under the Wings The quil-feathers of the Wings are dusky having their exteriour edges from green inclining to a sordid white The Tail is three inches long composed of twelve feathers something forked of a brown colour the middle two having their edges on both sides the rest only their outside-edges green The two outmost on the inside the shaft near the tip are marked with a white spot cutting the feather obliquely It hath a Craw and a musculous Stomach or Gizzard like the granivorous birds It hath also a Gall-bladder The blind guts as in almost all small birds are very little and short These birds build upon the ground being every where in England most common §. III. Aldrovandus his first sort of Yellow-hammer which he calls Cirlus Zivolo of Olina IT is of the bigness of a Sparrow hath a short thick Bill The Breast and Belly are yellowish sprinkled with brown spots The Head Back Wings and Tail from testaceous inclining to a brown or dusky colour but in the Tail there are two feathers on each side partly white and partly of the same colour with the rest Between the Male and the Female there is this difference that the Male hath more yellow about him than the Female especially in the upper part about the Eyes and in the Throat and under the Neck on the sides where are seen good large spots of yellow which are wanting in the Female It abides for the most part on the ground seeking its food there of Seeds and other things and therefore when it is new taken it is wont almost always to have its Bill dirty Whether this Bird be specifically distinct or no from the precedent I am not fully satisfied but because both Aldrovandus and Olina make it distinct I would not omit it Olina calls it Zivolo from its note Zi zi which it often ingeminates §. IV. The Reed-Sparrow Passer torquatus in arundinetis nidisicans Perchance the Passer arundinaceus of Turner IT is bigger than the Linnet equal to the Chaffinch The Cock weighed three quarters of an ounce Was from Bill-point to tail-Tail-end six inches and an half long Broad between the extremes of the Wings spread ten inches The Bill short black Mr. Willughby makes the upper Mandible black the nether whitish like the Bill of the Hortulane Mr. Willughby compares it to the Chaffinches Bill the lower Chap having its edges on both sides bent inwards is hollow in fashion of a Funnel and contains the Tongue within it Besides near its base it rises up into a dent or angle on each side to which there is a notch or furrow correspondent in the upper Chap to receive it as in the Buntings Bill The Head is black The Cheeks about the Eyes red A ring of white encompasses the Neck which on each side is stretched forth to the corners of the Mouth The Chin and Throat are black The Breast and middle of the Belly white The Back and covert-feathers of the Wings are particoloured of red and black viz. the middle part of each feather black the outsides red The Rump red with a mixture of ash-colour The quil-feathers of the Wings are dusky having their exteriour edges red The tips of the seven first or outmost are sharp of the rest blunt indented and of an ash-colour The lesser rows of Wing-feathers have their outer edges and tips red being else of an ash-colour The Plumage on the base or ridge of the Wing bluish underneath the Wing white The Tail is two inches and an half long and made up of twelve feathers of which the two middlemost are something shorter than the rest and black their outward edges red The three next on each side were dark coloured and almost black The exteriour edge of the fifth is white The interiour also not far from the tip is spotted with white The outmost feather is wholly white All
up of Bristles spread every way like to Hogs Bristles of the colour of the prickles of a common Hedghog By which note it may at first sight be easily known and distinguished from all other birds In both Cheeks it hath a white spot terminated above with a red line The lesser quil-feathers of the Wings are white the whole Bird besides is black of the colour of a Coot the Tail not excepted Under the Bill hangs down a red excrescence on each side like a Gill or Wattle The Legs are long bare of feathers from the knees upward almost to the second joynt We saw a bird of this kind in the Royal Aviary in St. James's Park near Westminster Aldrovandus his description which he took from a Picture he saw of this Bird differs in some particulars from ours For 1. He makes the bristles of the Crest of a Gold colour 2. All the underside of a dusky ash-colour the Back of a dark green as in Lapwings 3. He mentions some ferrugineous feathers in the Wings These Birds are found in the Country near CapoVerde For bigness they may match our Country Cranes As they run they stretch out their Wings and so run very swiftly otherwise they walk softly They never roost in houses but about night when they have a mind to go to their rest they search out high Walls whereon to pearch after the manner of Peacocks whose voice and conditions they also imitate They feed upon green herbs and together with Hens and Peacocks devour Barley and other grain This out of Aldrovandus In the Tables of Birds engraven by Vischer it is figured by the title of Struthio ex China i. e. A China Ostrich CHAP. II. Marggraves Jabiru of the Brasilians called by the Low Dutch Negro THis Bird in bigness exceeds a Swan It s body is fourteen inches long its Neck as many and of the thickness of a mans arm It s Head sufficiently great its Eyes black its Bill also blackish extended streight forward and above toward the point a little bending eleven inches long two and an half broad edged versus exteriora The upper Chap of the Bill is a little higher or deeper and bigger than the nether It hath no Tongue under the Throat is a Crop of a moderate bigness The Legs are very long viz. two foot For the upper Legs or Thighs are one foot and an inch long and half way bare of feathers the lower eleven inches These are streight black and as it were scaled half an inch thick In each foot are four toes three standing forward and one backward as is usual in most birds The whole bird all over is covered with white feathers like a Swan or Goose The whole Neck almost viz. for eight inches length counting from the Head is destitute of feathers and one half of this bare part together with the Head is covered with a black skin the other half with a white But I suppose the feathers had been pluckt off and that the white down stuck in the skin The Tail is broad ending with the end of the Wings CHAP. III. * Jabiru guacu of the Petiguares Nhandu apoa of the Tupinambi Scurvogel of the Low Dutch IT hath a great Bill seven inches and an half long round at the end and bending downward It wants the Tongue and the lower Bill is grey On the top of the Head it hath a bony Miter or Crown of a colour mixt of white and cinereous The Eyes are black and behind them large Ear-holes The Neck is ten inches long the upper half whereof together with the Head is not covered with feathers but with a scaly ash-coloured skin whose scales are white In bulk of body it equals a Stork It hath a short black Tail reaching no further than the ends of the Wings The upper Legs or Thighs are covered partly with white feathers else the whole Legs are ash-coloured the upper being eight inches long the lower six or a little more There are four Toes in each foot so disposed as in the former The whole Body and Neck are covered with white feathers Long feathers hang down from the Neck and about it The Wings are white their quil-feathers black with a gloss of a Ruby colour They flay the skin off this bird and eat the flesh boiled or roasted It is fat dry and well-tasted especially if it be fried with butter I have eaten of it often CHAP. IV. The Brasilian Cariama of Marggrave THis is a Water-fowl of the bigness of the greater Heron. On its Head above the rise of its Bill it carries a crest or tuft of feathers standing upright of a black mingled with an ash-colour The Bill is short the upper part a little hooked brown with a tincture of dark yellow It hath elegant golden Eyes with a black Pupil and long black Eye-brows The Wings end a little behind the rise of the Tail It hath long Legs above covered half way with feathers else naked and of a dark yellow colour Three Toes in each foot the middlemost the longest the outer shorter than that and the inner the shortest connected partly by a skin intervening Behind or on the backside the foot it hath a small Toe set higher than is usual and a round heel like an Ostrich The Claws are short hooked dusky The whole Body is covered with grey or ash-coloured feathers waved with brown as in Falcons and a dark yellow intermingled The ends of the Wings and Tail are brown waved with a dark yellow and grey In the Breast and lower Belly it hath more grey It carries its Tail low its Neck high It s cry is like a Hen Turkeys and is heard afar off It is very good meat CHAP. V. The Brasilian Anhima of Marggrave IT is a Water-fowl of the rapacious kind bigger than a Swan It s Head is not great like a Hens its Bill black the upper Chap whereof is something longer than the nether and turning downward at the tip It hath fair golden Eyes with a black Pupil and a black circle without On the Head near the rise of the Beak it carries an erect horn bending forward at point a little more than two inches long of the bigness of the greater string in a base Viol round as though it were turned of a white or bone colour About the horn stand up very fine short black and white feathers It s Neck is seven inches long the rest of its Body to the rise of its Tail almost a foot and half It hath very large Wings the greater feathers being above a foot and half long In the forepart of each Wing are two streight triangular horns springing from the very bone of the Wing as thick as the tip of ones little finger and of a Conical more properly Pyramidal triangulate figure The foremost of these goads or spurs are an inch long the hindmost a little shorter and of a dusky colour It hath a Tail ten inches long and broad like
that of a Goose The upper Legs Thighs are four inches long and for the lower half bare of feathers The lower Legs are five inches long and almost two thick In each foot it hath four toes so situate as in Hens The middle of the three fore-toes is four inches and an half long the other two three and an half the back-toe almost two Each hath a crooked black Claw an inch long but the back toes a little longer Both Feet and Legs as far as they be naked are covered with a brown scaly skin The crown of the Head is variegated with black and white feathers The sides of the Throat and upper half of the Neck are black The lower half of the Neck and Breast are variegated with white cinereous and black feathers The lower Belly is all white On the sides under the Wings and on the Back the Plumage is black white feathers being here and there intermingled The Tail is black The Wings also are black excepting the outmost borders near the bones where they are covered with yellowish white feathers It hath a terrible cry sounding something like Vyhu Vyhu It is never found alone but always a pair Cock and Hen walk together and when one is dead the other never departs from its carkass The horn that grows on its Head is held to be a remedy against poyson being infused a whole night in Wine The same is reputed a remedy against the suffocation of the Womb and in hard travel This that I described was a Hen The Cock is of twice the bigness It makes its Nest of clay by the bodies of trees upon the ground of the shape of an Oven Thus far Marggravius This is a bird of a singular kind none like it Perchance it may be the Cuntur so much talked of Here we may note by the by that these spurs in the Wings are found only in some American birds but in none of our Continent BOOK III. PART I. SECTION II. Of Cloven-footed Piscivorous Water-fowl THese have very long Necks Their Bills also are long strong ending in a sharp point to strike fish and fetch them from under stones or brinks Long Legs to wade in Rivers and Pools of water Very long Toes especially the hind-toe to stand more firmly in Rivers Large crooked Talons and the middle serrate on the inside to hold Eels and other slippery fishes the faster or because they sit on trees lean and carrion bodies because of their great fear and watchfulness The Heron-kind is distinguished from all other tribes of birds by this most certain note that they have but one single blind gut a-piece after the manner of Quadrupeds whereas all other birds known to us have twain CHAP. I. Of Herons §. I. The common Heron or Heronshaw Ardea cinerea major sive Pella THe Female which I described weighed almost four pounds Being from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Claws four foot long to the end of the Tail thirty eight inches and an half The foremost feathers on the crown of the Head were white then succeeded a black crest four inches and an half high The Chin was white The Neck being white and ash-coloured was tinctured with red The Throat white being delicately painted with black spots and on its lower part grew small long narrow sharp white feathers The Back on which grows nothing but down is covered with those long feathers that spring from the Shoulders and are variegated with whitish strakes or lines tending downwards The middle part of the Breast and lower part of the Rump viz. that underneath the Tail inclines to yellow Under the Shoulders is a great black spot from which a black line is drawn to the Vent The prime feathers of the Wings are about twenty seven in number the last of which are ash-coloured all the rest black excepting the outer edges of the eleventh and twelfth which are somewhat cinereous The undersides of all of them is cinereous The feathers of the bastard Wing are black Under the bastard-wing is a great white spot Also white feathers cover the root of the bastard wing above Then a white line is continued all along the basis or ridge of the Wing as far as its setting on Ten of the second row of Wing-feathers are black then four or five have their exteriour borders white All the rest are ash-coloured The Tail also is ash-coloured seven inches long and made up of twelve feathers It s Bill is great strong streight from a thick base gently lessening into a sharp point from the tip to the angles of the Mouth five inches and an half long of a yellowish green colour The upper Mandible is a thought longer than the nether and therein a furrow or groove impressed reaching from the Nosthrils to the utmost tip Its sides towards the point are something rough and as it were serrate for the faster holding of slippery fishes The lower Mandible is more yellow The sides of both are thinned into very sharp edges The Mouth gapes wide The Tongue is sharp long but not hard The eye-lids and that naked space between the Eyes and Bill are green The Nosthrils are oblong narrow chinks The Legs and Feet are green The hind-part of the Legs and soals of the Feet greener The Toes very long The outmost foretoes are joyned to the middle by a membrane below The inner edge of the middle claw is serrate which is worthy the notice taking It s Stomach is large and flaggy rather membranous than musculous as in carnivorous birds in which dissected we found Ivy-leaved Duckmeat The Guts towards the Vent where the blind guts are situate are larger than in other birds It hath not two blind guts one on each side like other birds but only one like Quadrupeds but that bigger and thicker than ordinary The Gullet under the Chin is dilated into a great wideness In the middle of the Merry-thought is an Appendix It hath a long Gall-bladder Gesner counts but eleven Vertebres in the Neck I observed fifteen of which the fifth hath a contrary position viz. is reflected upward It feeds upon Fishes Frogs c. Oftentimes also it strikes and wounds greater fishes than it can draw out and carry away Young Herons may be fatted with fish guts and entrails flesh c. It sits sometimes with its Neck so bent up that its Head is drawn down to stand between its shoulders These Birds build sometimes on the tops of great trees and for the most part many together But whether they are wont to build in old Rooks Nests as Aldrovandus out of Polydore relates I leave to further enquiry We have Heronries in England such as they have in France however Bellonius denies it In which Herons are so well instructed and accustomed to breed that the owners make yearly a good profit of the young §. II. Aldrovandus his third sort of ash-coloured Heron. THis Heron which I make congenerous to the common cinereous from the
tip of the Bill to the end of the Feet was thirty six inches or four foot long Had a Bill an inch thick of the length of a Palm near the Nosthrils of the breadth of ones little finger channel'd within beneath of a horn and rose colour The Iris of the Eye yellow the Pupil black The Neck was a full span long The feathers of the Head Neck Back and upper side of the Wings of a dusky ash-colour All their ends marked with a red spot But the great Wing-feathers are variegated with white at their tips and also those which make up the Tail which is a Palm and half long Those which cover the Breast are sprinkled with longer marks of black red and white The Belly is of a pale ash-colour almost white The Hips or Thighs are somewhat red and for the space of an inch above the knees bare of feathers From these to the ends of the Claws remains the measure of two Palms The Legs are greenish and the Feet cloven into Toes which yet at the beginning of the divarication are joyned together by a short membrane because it must needs be conversant about waters The Claw of the back-toe is greater than the rest Upon the tips of the feathers of the Head stuck certain small tender white capillaments which argued this to be a young bird §. III. The lesser ash-coloured Heron called by the Germans The Night-raven IT is much lesser than the precedent and hath a shorter Neck It s Back and the crown of its Head are black its Neck ash-coloured It s Throat and Belly tinctured with yellow A white line is extended from the Eyes to the Bill From the hinder part of the Head it hath a Crest of three feathers five inches long hanging down over the Back whereby it is differenced from all other birds Its Wings and Tail are cinereous Its Bill black Its Legs and Feet of a yellowish green At Sevenhuys a Village in Holland in a fenny Country not far from Leyden we described a young bird of this kind as I suppose taken out of the Nest thus Its Legs and Feet were green and those bare of feathers for about an inch above the knees The outmost Toe connected with the middle one by an intervening membrane from the divarication to the first joynt The Claw of the middle Toe serrate on the inner side as in the common Heron. The Eyes of a lovely yellow In the colour of its body it comes nearer to a Bittour than to the common Heron-shaw Two rows of the greater Wing-feathers are black with white tips The Tail is of a dusky ash-colour the tips of its component feathers being also white The Back and Neckfeathers are black with red shafts or red lines in the middle In the Neck the red lines are broader The tips of the lesser covert feathers of the Wings decline from white to red The Belly is white with black spots The Chin white The feathers on the Throat on one side white on the other black After it hath mew'd its first feathers without doubt it changes its colour as most other birds do It hath a great Gall a large Stomach glandulous within but not fleshy or musculous which kind we in English call a Gizzard in it were the shells of Beetles In the middle of the bone called the Merry-thought is an Appendix This Bird lays white Eggs. The Germans call it Nacht rab that is Night-raven and under that title it is figured and described by Gesner whence Aldrovandus propounds it under the title of Night-raven for a distinct species of bird subjoyning it to the Corvus Sylvaticus of Gesner It is called Night-Raven because in the night time it cries with an uncouth voice like one that were straining to vomit §. IV. The great white Heron. Ardea alba major IT weighed forty ounces It s length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Feet was fifty three inches and an half to the end of the Tail no more than forty It s breadth as we reckon it between the tips of the Wings extended sixty inches and an half It s colour was all over as white as snow The number of the main feathers of its Wings was about twenty seven of its Tail twelve The length of its tail six inches and an half It had no Crest It s Bill as in the common Heron was yellowish The edges of its Eye-lids and that naked space between the Eyes and Bill green The Eyes of a pale yellow The Legs for some space above the knees bare of feathers The Feet and Talons black The outer fore-toe connected with the middle one from the divarication to the first joynt by an intervening membrane The Claw of the middle toe had its interiour edge serrate The figure of the Breast-bone was arcuate bending like a Bow as in other Herons The vertebres of the Back were six or seven Those of the Neck to the fourth were bent downwards all the rest upwards It had a great Gall A triangular Appendix on the Merry-thought Of its fat is made Oil good for the wind c. This differs from the common Heron 1. In magnitude as being lesser than that 2. In the length of its Tail 3. In that it wants a Crest A certain English man saith Aldrovand affirmed that he had seen white Herons though but rarely which neither in bigness of body nor shape differed at all from the common Heron but only in colour I suspect this Relator whosoever he was was mistaken accounting the bird in this article described by us not to differ from the common Heron-shaw but only in colour For Mr. Johnson who hath seen the white Heron in England puts it down for a distinct kind in his Method of Birds communicated to us §. V. The lesser white Heron Ardea alba minor BEing weighed it scarce amounted to one pound From the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail it was twenty four inches and an half long to the end of the Legs thirty two and an half It is all over of a pure white colour like the bigger From the hinder part of the Head hangs down backward a short Crest About the Eyes the skin is bare of feathers and of a green colour The Bill is four inches and an half long and black The Eyes are of a pale yellow The Tongue short The Feet green but sometime covered with a black scaly bark which may easily be rubbed or scraped off The Legs are bare of feathers something above the knees and up higher than in the former kind The outer fore-toe is connected with the middle from its rise to the first joynt by an intervening membrane The middle Talon is toothed as in the rest of this kind It hath also but one blind gut like them and a great Gall. It differs from the precedent white Heron in being much lesser and in having a crest which that wants We take this to be the
a Bill a palm long of a horny colour streight and sharp-pointed The upper Mandible was a little hooked at the end and longer than the nether with some blackness The crown was black The Neck ferrugineous two palms long The Back was black and so was the Tail which was very short the Rump beneath white The Wings partly ferrugineous partly white The Legs nine inches long The Iris of the Eyes was yellow This seemed as yet to be a young bird that had not mewed its first feathers §. XIV The greater speckled or red Heron of Aldrovand THis seems to be a bastard kind between the Bittour and the common Heron but to partake more of the common Heron whence it would be more rightly intituled The ash-coloured or blue Heron with red breast and sides In its bigness shape and serrate Claw it agrees with the common Heron. The crown of its Head is black adorned with a long Crest It s Back ash-coloured but darker than the common Herons On the shoulders grow long red bristly hairs The lesser covert-feathers of the inner side of the Leg are red The Thighs are white dashed with red Near the Breast on both sides is a broad red stroke The middle of the Throat is particoloured with black and pale red spots Down the sides of the Neck is a black line in the middle of two red ones The lower part of the Neck under the long feathers was of a deep red In other particulars it agreed with the common Heron. It had but one single blind-gut A huge Gall-bladder The Ribs tend streight downwards from the vertebres of the back like those of Quadrupeds The Guts are small and slender The remnant of the passage conveying the Yolk into the Guts is plainly to be seen in the form of a blind gut about the middle of the intestines the Pipe conveying Gall from the Gall-bladder to the gut and the porus bilarius do not concur in one common passage but continue their channels several and distinct and perforate the Gut in two places but near one to the other §. XV. * The Brasilian Soco of Marggrave IT is a Water-fowl of which here in Brasil many sorts may be observed It is of the bigness of the lesser Heron Hath a streight black and sharp-pointed Bill two inches and an half thick where it is thickest It s Head is like a Herons as is also its Neck being a foot long Its Eyes black with a golden circle The Wings and Tail are equally extended ending together For the Tail is short being not of above five inches length The Legs are sufficiently long above the knees four inches and as many below Each foot hath four Toes three standing forwards and one backwards The Thighs above the Knees are above half way bare of feathers covered with a dusky skin The Head and Neck are cloathed with brown feathers variegated with small specks Along the lower side of the Neck down as low as the Breast is a line drawn of white feathers mixt with black and brown ones The Back and Wings are indeed black but variegated or powdred with very small yellow specks or points The Belly is of the same colour with the Back Under the Wings are black feathers spotted with white §. XVI * The Brasilian Heron called Cocoi of Marggrave IT is an elegant bird of almost the bigness of a Stork Hath a streight sharp Bill about six inches long which is of a yellowish green at its rise Crystal Eyes with a golden circle the skin about the Eyes bare and ash-coloured The length of the Neck is fifteen inches of the Body ten of the Tail five The Tail and Wings equally extended The upper Legs are feathered half down being eight inches long the lower are but six and an half covered with an ash-coloured skin The Feet have four Toes disposed in the usual manner the middle the longest the rest shorter all armed with crooked dusky Claws The Throat and all the Neck are white The top of the Head and sides of a black colour mixt with cinereous It carries on the Head an elegant erect crest of the same colour from which two neat feathers hang down backwards of a black colour inclining to cinereous each five inches and an half long The foreside of the Neck is spotted longways or down its length with feathers mixt of black and cinereous In the lower part of the Neck before it hath long white fine delicate feathers hanging down which we were wont to wear in our Caps The whole Back Wings and Tail are of a pale ash-colour mingled with a little white The upper half of the Legs upper is invested with white feathers Along the length of the Back are extended fine elegant ash-coloured feathers for their figure and structure like those on the Neck It is good meat §. XVII * The Brasilian Heron with a serrate Bill of Marggrave IT is of the bigness of a tame Duck or a little bigger Hath a streight sharp Bill the fore-fore-half as well above as beneath doubly serrate four inches and an half long It hath the Head and Neck of a Heron a black Pupil with a golden circle Its Neck is a foot long its body five inches and an half its Tail four wherewith the Wings end The whole Legs are nine inches and an half long The upper to the middle part only covered with feathers the lower half being bare In each Foot four Toes after the usual manner The upper Bill is dusky but toward the rise of a yellowish green The whole Head and upper side of the Neck are covered with long feathers of a pale yellow colour waved with black Under the Throat it is White The Neck beneath the Breast and lower Belly have white feathers waved with brown which brown is round about edged with yellow The whole Back and Wings are covered with dusky feathers waved with yellow The quil-feathers of the Wings are mixt of equal parts of black and green their tips being white The Tail consists of such feathers as the ends of the Wings but crossed with white lines The Legs and Feet are of a dark grey colour The Claws dusky It s flesh is eaten and tastes like that of other Herons §. XVIII * Guiratinga of the Brasilians called by the Portugues Garza that is a Heron. Marggrave IT is of the bigness of the Spoon-bills or Pelecan of Gesner and the same shape of body It walks erect with its long Neck and extended Bill which is streight sharp yellow four inches long the upper part thereof black the lower white It hath long Legs like a Heron of about six inches The Toes are after the usual manner The Legs outwardly as also the Feet are yellow inwardly mixt of green and dusky The whole body is covered with milk-white feathers On the neck are most elegant white feathers more fine than Ostriches It is a Water-fowl and its upper Legs are for some space bare of feathers §. XIX *
shores by the Sea-side which for a great space are uncovered when the Tide is out where it hides not it self like the Woodcock but walks up and down the Sands in open view like a Gull Barge of Bellonius which he saith they in French call Petit Corlieu It lives in Meadows like the Curlew and in like manner frequents the Sea It is a timorous bird not abiding the approach of a man It hath a cry like a Goat whence we guess it was named by Aristotle Aegocephalus or Goathead But lest perchance this my conjecture may seem rash and groundless I will describe it It is lesser than the Curlew but for colour not much unlike it hath also a shorter Bill and streight Aristotle writes thus of it It altogether wants a Spleen and a little after For in some birds the Gall sticks to the Stomach in some to the Guts as in the Dove Raven Quail Swallow Sparrow in some to the Liver and the Stomach as in the Aegocephalus and lastly in other to the Liver and the gut as in the Hawk and Kite But in our Barge dissected we found the Gall sticking both to the Liver and Stomach as any one that will be content to take the pains to cut it up may observe It is esteemed a delicate bird by the French but seldom appears in places far remote from the Sea seeking its food most willingly in salt Marshes A good part of Marsh-birds are nocturnal as this also is intent upon feeding by night rather than by day Wherefore we shall receive it for the Aegocephalus till some other more fit name be found out for it Thus far Bellonius I take this bird of Bellonius to be the same with our Godwit which in Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely they call Yarwhelp §. II. The second sort of Godwit which seems to be the same with the Totanus of Aldrovand called at Venice Vetola IT weighs above nine ounces Its length from Bill to Tail is full seventeen inches to the feet twenty one Its breadth from wings-Wings-end to wings-Wings-end twenty eight It s Bill is like a Woodcocks three inches three quarters long black at the end else reddish Its Legs long and bare above the Knees The outmost Toe joyned to the middle by a membrane as far as the first joynt The middle Claw excavated on the inner side The Chin is white with a tincture of red The Neck cinereous The Breast and Belly white The Head of a dusky ash-colour whitish about the Eyes The Back brown The Rump encompassed with a white ring as in the Pygargus The quil-feathers in each Wing were twenty six The first or outmost the longest all black as were also the six next The rest to the nineteenth were half white In the twentieth and twenty first the outer edges were also white The tips of the feathers of the second row were white and together made a white line crossing the middle of the Wing It s Tail was three inches long made up of twelve feathers The two middlemost of which were almost wholly black The outmost especially on the outside Web white almost up to the tips In the rest in order the white part was less and less to the middlemost This bird hath thick blind-guts ⅛ of an inch long and besides that single one about the middle of the guts It differs from the precedent 1. In the colour of the Tail 2. In the colour of the Back and upper side which in that is various in this one and the same 3. In bigness being less than that §. III. The third sort of Godwit BEsides the two already described Mr. Willughby acknowledges a third sort of Godwit which in Cornwall they call the Stone-Curlew differing from the precedent in that it hath a much shorter and slenderer Bill than either of them BOOK III. PART I. SECTION IV. Water-fowl not piscivorous with very long slender crooked Bills CHAP. I. § I. The Curlew Numenius sive Arquata THe Female weighed twenty eight ounces the Male which is somewhat less and commonly called The Jack Curlew twenty five and a quarter The length of the Female from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Claws was twenty nine inches To the end of the Tail twenty three and an half The distance of the tips of the Wings spread forty inches The middle parts of the feathers of the Head Neck and Back are black the borders or outsides ash-coloured with a mixture of red In the Throat and Breast the middle parts or shafts of the feathers are black the borders or edges in the Breast white in the Throat white with a tincture of red The Chin is not spotted The Rump and Belly are white The feathers investing the underside of the Wing are all white the first or outmost quil-feathers all over black the rest spotted with white The first feather of the second row is all black the tips of the eighth or ninth next are white This Bird hath a small sharp-pointed black feather at the end of the Wing which whether or no it is to be reckoned among the quil-feathers one may justly doubt It s Bill is very long narrow bowed of a dark brown or black colour Its Tongue sharp and very short extending not further than the angle of the lower Chap The Nosthrils long The Legs long of a dusky blue colour bare of feathers half up the second joynt The Claws small and black That of the middle Toe thinned into an edge on the inside All the Toes connected by a thick membrane from the divarication to the first joynt It hath a great Gall-bladder with a long neck extending to the gut which concurs not in one common passage with the Gall-pore but enters the gut at a distinct hole though near to that It hath a musculous Stomach or Gizzard like granivorous birds In the Stomach of one we found Periwinkle shells small stones and grit c. in anothers Frogs c. The single blind gut is very long The common blind gut three or four inches long and full of excrements Above the Stomach the Gullet is dilated into a bag granulated within with thick-set papillary glandules This bird for the goodness and delicate taste of its flesh may justly challenge the principal place among Water-fowl Of this our Fowlers are not ignorant and therefore sell them dear They have a Proverb among them in Suffolk A Curlew be she white be she black She carries twelve pence on her back It is a Sea-fowl seeking its food on the Sands and Ouze and in salt Marshes It is found on the Sea-coasts on all sides of England §. II. The Whimbrel Arquata minor at Venice Taraniolo THis bird the bigness excepted is very like the Curlew It weighs twelve ounces The measure from Bill to Tail was seventeen inches to the end of the Feet twenty Of the Wings spread thirty three and an half The Bill three inches long The blind guts two
This Bird we saw at Milan in Italy and thus described It is something less than a Lapwing The upper surface of its body is grey of such a kind of colour as is seen in the Backs of Hen Ducks and Teal or of the Curlew Its Legs and Feet are long and yellow its Claws black It hath the back toe It s Bill is shorter than the Redshanks longer than the Lapwings near the Head of a flesh-colour near the tip black The prime feathers are twenty five in each Wing The Tail half a hand-breadth long not reaching so far as the ends of the Wings closed It hath the Head and Neck of a Tringa CHAP. VI. Of the Birds called Tringae §. I. The Tringa of Aldrovand The Cinclus of Bellonius The Gallinula rhodopus or phoenicopus and also the Ochropus media of Gesner The Steingallel of Leonard Baltner IN bigness it equals or exceeds a Blackbird The colour of the upper side is of a dusky green and shining like silk The feathers growing on and between the Shoulders as also the quil-feathers next the body and most of the covert-feathers of the Wings are spotted on the edges with many white specks Those on the top of the Head and upper side of the Neck want these spots N. B. That this Bird was a Female for in the Males there are many and thick set spots on the Head so that they make up certain lines or strakes The Circumference of the Eyes and the Chin are white The Throat is white and spotted with brown The feathers on the middle of the Back are blackish with white edges Those next the Tail milk-white The colour also of the Breast and whole Belly is purely white The Bill is an inch and half long streight slender compressed at the sides of a dark green black at the point The upper Mandible a little longer than the nether The Tongue sharp not cloven The Eyes of a greater size with hazel-coloured Irides The Legs are long lead-coloured with a tincture of green The Toes also long the two outmost connected by a membrane almost to the first joynt The back-toe little The Claws black This is a solitary bird yet in breeding time they fly two together Male and Female about the banks of Pools Lakes and Rivers The Gallinula rhodopus or phoenicopus of Gesner which he saith the Germans call Steingallel differs from the Steingallel of Baltner in the colour of the Legs which in Gesners Bird was like that of a Rose or Amethyst in Baltners a dirty green But seeing the other notes agree I judge it to be the same Bird different perchance in Sex since as Baltner hath observed in some of these Birds the Sexes differ in the colour of their feet §. II. * The third Tringa of Aldrovand called by the Italians Giaroncello Pinirolo THe Bill of this is much blacker than that of the precedent and a little shorter the upper Chap somewhat longer than the nether It is the same for shape of body only somewhat different in colours For whereas both are chiefly of a dusky and chesnut-colour in the Head Neck Back and Wings that in all these parts hath more of dusky this more of the other colour The Tail in like manner though it be something shorter is white underneath above approaches to the same chesnut colour In the Breast Belly Thighs Legs and Feet it differs little or nothing §. III. The lesser Tringa or Sandpiper An Cinclus secundus seu minor Aldrov Gallinula hypoleucos Gesneri Aldrov tom 3. pag. 469. Ein Psisterlein Leon. Baltner IT weighs near two ounces and is from Bill to Feet eight inches three quarters in length The middle of the Neck is ash-coloured else the whole upper surface of the body is of a dusky sordid green elegantly variegated with darker transverse lines only there is something of red mingled with the feathers on the middle of the Back and those that spring out of the Shoulders The Head is paler not varied with cross lines but black strokes drawn downward along the shafts of the feathers The Sides Breast and Belly are white Above the Eyes is a white line The Throat is of a sordid white the shafts of the feathers being darker The three or four quil-feathers next to the body are of the same colour with the body The outmost is dusky or dark brown the inner edge of the second about the middle of the feathers length hath a spot of white Of the rest to the tenth the inner Webs in order have larger white spots After the tenth the white spreadeth beyond the shaft into the other Web of the feather The tips also of the feathers from the fourteenth to the twentieth are white The primary covert-feathers of the Wings or those of the first row as well the upper as the nether have white tips Of the upper those especially from the tenth to the twentieth Of the nether those next the body which indeed are wholly white and not varied with lines The ridge or base of the Wing is white The feathers of the third row are white almost to the bottom But between the third row and the basis of the Wing is a broad line of brown The middle feathers of the Tail are of the same colour with the body The third on each side from the two middlemost have their tips white The fourth are more white Of the fifth all the exteriour Web is white and a little also of the interiour In the outmost the white spreads further into the interiour Web. The top of the Bill is of a dusky blackish colour the bottom whitish The tip a little bent downward The Eyes hazel-coloured The Ears great The Feet of a pale green The Claws black The outmost fore-toe joyned at bottom to the middle one by a membrane the back-toe small The Stomach less musculous than in granivorous birds in which dissected we found water-insects These are also solitary birds living singly except in breeding time when they fly together by pairs the Male and his Female I suppose this Bird is the same with that Gesner describes under the title of Pilvenckegen especially for that he saith it makes a noise by night like one crying or lamenting which thing as we have been informed is true of our bird Only it seems to be something lesser and of a darker colour above See Aldrovand tom 3. p. 485. They frequent Rivers and Pools of water I have seen of them about the River Tame in Warwickshire the Lake of Geneva c. CHAP. VII The Knot Canuti regis avis An Bellonii Callidrys nigra IT weighed four ounces and an half from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Feet was ten inches long between the ends of the Wings stretcht out twenty inches broad As for the colour the Head and Back were of a dusky ash-colour or dark grey The Rump varied with white and black lines The Breast and Belly white The sides
under the Wings spotted with brown In some Birds we observed a white line between the Eyes and the Bill The greater quil-feathers of the Wings were black with white shafts The outer edges of the next after the fifth white Of the second row of Wing-feathers the foremost were black with white tips From the fourth the white increased or spread it self further down the feather The lesser covert-feathers of the Wings were of the same colour with the back only fringed as it were with white The Tail was two inches and a quarter long made up of twelve feathers the outmost whereof on each side was white The Bill was near an inch and half long black as in the Woodcock bigger and stronger than in the Snipe-kind The Tongue extended to the very end of the Bill Some Birds have a knob or eminency under the Bill like Gulls The Eyes great and hazel-coloured The feet greenish The back-toe small The fore-toes divided from the very beginning of the divarication no membrane intervening The Liver divided into two Lobes with a Gall appendant About the beginning of Winter they are said to come into Lincolnshire where they continue two or three months about the Sea-shores and away again They fly in flocks In the month of February in the year of our Lord 1671 on the Coast of Lancashire about Leverpool I observed many of this sort of birds flying in company so that they are not peculiar to Lincolnshire Being fed with white bread and milk they grow very fat and are accounted excellent meat King Knout is reported to have been so fond of them that from him they got the name of Knots or Knouts They may at first sight be easily distinguished from the Tringae by the line of white cross their Wings were other notes wanting CHAP. VIII The Ruff whose Female is called a Reeve Avis pugnax Aldrov THat we described was a young one It weighed five ounces Its length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Feet was fifteen inches It s Neck was ash-coloured Its Head of a dusky ash-colour spotted with a dark brown The Back and scapular feathers particoloured of cinereous black and white The Breast and Belly white The Throat white and cinereous The Chin white The outmost ten Wing-feathers of the first row were black Of the following the tips began to be white From the fourteenth to the twentieth the edges were also white The five next the body were of the same colour with it having darker spots The tips of the second row of Wing-feathers were white of the foremost more obscurely the remaining part of the same colour with the Back The covert-feathers of the under side of the Wing were white Those of the exteriour bastard wing purely white The Tail was two inches a quarter long made up of twelve feathers of a dusky colour with whitish tips In the Cock birds a circle or collar of long feathers something resembling a Ruff encompasses the Neck under the Head whence they took the name of Ruffs This shaft in some is white in some yellow in some black in some ash-coloured in some of a deep blue or black with a gloss of blue shining like silk For there is wonderful and almost infinite variety in the colours of the feathers of the Cocks so that in the Spring-time there can scarce be found any two exactly like one to another After Midsummer when they have moulted their feathers they say they become all alike again The Hens are somewhat less than the Cocks they change not their colours and are like the Bird here described They seldom or never fight Their Bills are like the Tringa's black but somewhat red about the Nosthrils The upper Mandible a little longer than the nether The Tongue reaches to the end of the Bill The Eyes are hazel-coloured The Legs from yellow incline to red The back-toe small The outmost fore-toe joyned to the middlemost below with a membrane The Claws black pretty long and almost streight The Stomach within yellow The Gall large They breed in Summer-time in the Fens of Lincolnshire about Crowland They are fatted with white bread and milk like Knots being shut up in close dark rooms For let in but the light upon them presently they fall a fighting never giving over till one hath killed the other especially if any body stand by The Fowlers when they see them intent upon fighting spread their Nets over them and catch them before they be aware In the Spring time they come over also to the Low Countries And it is reported that at their first coming in the beginning of the Spring there are many more Cocks than Hens but that they never cease fighting till there be so many Cocks killed as to make the number of both Sexes equal The Hens never have any Ruffs the Cocks have none immediately after moulting time When they begin to moult white Tumours or Warts break out about their Eyes and Head CHAP. IX The Sanderling called also Curwillet about Pensance in Cornwal IT is somthing bigger than the Sand-piper though both take their names from sand It weighs almost two ounces It s length from the Bill to the end of the Feet is eight inches and an half to the end of the Tail eight The breadth of the Wings spread sixteen It is rather long than round-bodied It s Bill is streight black slender an inch long for its figure and make like to a Tringa's Bill The upper Mandible a little longer than the nether The Tongue extended to the end of the Bill The Nosthrils oblong The Ears great The Legs Feet and Claws black And which is especially remarkable it wants the back-toe The fore-toes disjoyned from the very rise The Head is small particoloured of cinereous and black The Neck more cinereous The middle of the Back the Shoulders and scapular feathers are of a lovely colour in some various of black and white in others of black and ash-colour each feather being black about the shaft and cinereous about the edges The rest of the Back to the Tail is of the same colour but more faint and dilute But the edges of the feathers have more of a reddish ash-colour Each Wing hath twenty two quil-feathers The four outmost excepting the shafts which are white all of a dark brown or dusky colour The rest have their upper halves as far as they appear above the second row brown the lower white Howbeit these colours do not divide all the feathers equally but from the fifth the white is gradually increased so that in the twentieth it takes up almost the whole feather The next following after the tenth have also their tips white The first row of covert-feathers next the quils have white tips which when the Wing is spread make a long transverse white line broader and broader by degrees from the beginning The feathers near the ridge of the Wing and on the outmost joynt are all dusky in the Cocks almost black of
the same colour with the middle of the Back The Wings when closed reach as far or further than the Tail it self which is short of about an inch and half or two inches consisting of twelve feathers of an ash-colour The two middlemost darker than the rest and almost black The whole Belly and underside of the Wings as white as Snow The Breast in some spotted or clouded with brown in others perhaps these are the Males no spots appear yet the Breast is darker than the Belly and inclined to red The blind guts are an inch and half long The Stomach not very musculous These birds live upon the sandy shores of the Sea and fly in flocks We saw many of them on the Sea-coasts of Cornwall CHAP. X. * The Rotknussel of Baltner Rotkmillis or Gallinula Melampus of Gesner Aldrov THe German name Rotkmillis saith Gesner seems to be compounded of the colour For this Bird is of a red or russet colour with dusky spots in the Neck and about the Eyes But Kmillis I know not whence derived is a more common or general word sith another Water-hen of this kind is also called Matkmillis We from the colour of the Legs have imposed on it the name Melampus which signifies Black-soot For there is no bird I know of this kind that hath blacker feet The body is dusky with some spots of a sordid and dark colour The Bill also is black The Wings marked with black spots To this Bird saith Aldrovand that which I here give you called by our Fowlers Giarola a name common to many birds is very like if not the same For on the Head Neck and Breast down to the middle of the Belly it is red sprinkled with brown and sometimes also white spots Its Feet and Legs are cole-black The small Wing-feathers are distinguished with cinereous and black The great ones are black The Bill is long and a little bending sharp at point The Belly is white with a tincture of red and curiously spotted with black spots The Tail also is white but black at the end CHAP. XI * Matkneltzel of Baltner Gallinula Erythra of Gesner THis Bird the Germans call Matkern but for what reason saith Gesner I know not I from the colour of its whole body have called it Erythra But though almost the whole body I except the Belly which is whitish with a faint tincture of red and the Legs which are ash-coloured be red yet is that redness darker on the Back and intercepted with white spots Brighter in some of the Wing-feathers the longest whereof approach to the colour of red Oker In the Neck beneath are some white specks The Bill is black not without somewhat of red shorter than in most others of this kind It is taken among Reeds with snares It hath a cry somewhat resembling the sound of Fullers striking of Wool Leonard Baltner describes his Matkneltzel if at least it be the same bird with Gesners Matkern thus It is a very fair beautiful bird From the tip of the Bill to the end of the Claws it is a full Strasburgh Ell long It weighs six Lots and an half that is three ounces a quarter For a Lot is about half an ounce It Guts are an Ell long It frequents Waters and seeks its meat in watery places The Cocks are adorned with beautiful feathers like those of Partridges and have pale-red Feet The feathers of the Hens are less beautiful and their Feet grey Some also weigh thirteen Lots and are three quarters of a Ell long These birds in figure magnitude and colour do very nearly resemble the Female RUFFS which they call REEVES Whether they be the same or not let the Virtuosi at Strasburgh where they are found examine CHAP. XII The North-Country Dunlin of Mr. Johnson IT is about the bigness of the Jack-Snipe or Judcock hath a streight channell'd black Bill a little broader at the end oblong Nosthrils a blackish Tongue The Throat and Breast white spotted with black The middle of the Belly is blackish waved with white lines The lower Belly and feathers under the Tail white All the upper side is red every where spotted with pretty great black spots with a little white Yet the Wings from a grey incline to a brown or dusky colour The Legs and Feet are of a competent length and black The back-toe the shortest The Tail consists of twelve feathers of which the two middlemost are dusky brown with one or two red spots the rest from brown incline to white It gets its food out of the mud The Rotknussel or Gallinula melampus of Gesner and Aldrovand differs not much from this bird CHAP. XIII §. I. The Stint which the French call the Sea-Lark Schoeniclos seu Junco Bellonii An Cinclus prior Aldrov IT is equal to the common Lark or but very little less For the shape of its body like to a Snipe From Bill to Feet eight inches and an half long It s Bill is streight slender black an inch and half long and like to a Snipes bill The Tongue extended to the end of the Bill The Feet dusky or blackish with a tincture of green The toes not joyned by any membrane The back-toe small The colour of the upper side of the body excepting the prime feathers of the Wings and first row of coverts is grey or cinereous with black spots or lines in the middle of each single feather The feathers in the middle of the Back and upper side of the Wings have a tincture of red Mr. Willughby describes it a little differently thus The middle parts of the feathers on the Head are black the edges red or russet The Neck is more of an ash-colour The Back-feathers of a dark purple with reddish ash-coloured edges Those on the Rump of a lighter red with black lines or stroaks down their shafts The Wings are long and when folded up reaching to the end of the Tail The quil-feathers of each Wing twenty four of a dusky colour as far as they appear above the covert-feathers for their bottoms are white and the interiour in order gradually more than the exteriour to the nineteenth which is almost wholly white Mr. Willughby in the bird he described observed the tips of the second row of Wing-feathers to have been also white in the same proportion as in the Sanderling making together a white line cross the Wing yet narrower than in that The exteriour edges of the fifth counting from the outmost and of the subsequent to the eleventh are white The four next the body are wholly dusky and by little and little streightned into sharp points and when the Wing is closed reach almost to the end of the Tail The Tail is scarce two inches long not forked made up of twelve feathers of which the two middlemost are longer than the rest sharper pointed also and darker-coloured All the rest are of a pale ash-colour without any cross lines or bars only their outmost edges whitish All the
divided The Eyes are hazel-coloured The Legs and Feet of a pale yellow The Claws black It wants the back-toe The outmost of the fore-toes is joyned to the middlemost by a membrane reaching to the first joynt The Stomach hath not very thick muscles in it dissected we found Beetles The Gall-bladder is large It builds on the Sea-rocks making its Nest of grass straws and stalks of Plants Its Eggs are of a greenish colour spotted with brown all the blunt end being dusky It runs very swiftly on the shores and makes short flights singing or crying continually as it flies It is with us in England every where very common upon the Sea-coasts We saw it also about the Lake of Geneva and it hath been brought to us killed upon the banks of the River Trent not far from Notingham This Bird is the very same which Marggravius describes Book 5. Chap. 5. by the name of Matuitui as he saith the Brasilians call it as will clearly appear to him that shall but compare them together So that it seems there are some Birds common to Europe and even the Southern part of America Leonard Baltner describes and pictures two sorts of this bird Perchance his lesser kind is that which the Welsh call Goligod and say is like a Sea-Lark but less CHAP. V. The Turn-stone or Sea-Dottrel Morinellus marinus of Sir Thomas Brown An Cinclus Turneri IT is lesser than a Plover and something bigger than a Blackbird in length from the tip of the Bill to the points of the Claws ten inches In breadth between the extremities of the Wings extended twenty It is long-bodied and hath but an indifferent Head The Cocks and Hens differ not in colours It s Bill is streight black an inch long from a thick base lessening by degrees into a sharp point something flat stronger and stiffer than in the Woodcock kind The colour of the Plumage in the Head Neck Shoulders Wings and upper part of the Breast is brown Mr. Willughby makes the feathers covering these parts to be black or purplish black in the middle cinereous or of a white russet about the edges All the under-side but the Breast is as white as snow The Plumage on the middle of the Back is white but on the very Rump is a great transverse black spot The long scapular feathers are brown with edges of an ash-colour or dirty white The quil-feathers of the Wings are about twenty six of a brown or dusky colour But from the outmost three or four their bottoms are white continually more and more till in the nineteenth and twentieth the white spreads almost over the whole feather In the second row the foremost feathers are wholly black The tips of the following being white together make a broad line of white cross the Wing The edges of the lesser rows are red Near the second joynt of the Wing is a white spot The Tail is two inches and an half long consisting of twelve feathers of which the lower half is white the upper black yet the very tips white The Legs are short of a Saffron or Orange colour The Claws black The Toes divided almost to the bottom but the outmost and middle toe coupled by a membrane as far as the first joynt It hath the back-toe The Liver is divided into two Lobes of which the dexter is much the bigger I found no Gall yet dare not say that it wants one Upon the Western shores of England about Pensans in Cornwal and Aberdaren in Merioneth-shire in Wales we observed many of them where they fly three or four in company Nor are they less frequent on the Sea-coasts of Norfolk Our honoured Friend Sir Thomas Brown of Norwich sent us the Picture of this bird by the title of the Sea-Dottrel CHAP. VI. * The first Junco of Aldrovand IT is of the bigness of a Sparrow hath a black channelled Bill sufficiently hard and crooked at the end the Tongue also channelled and at the tip hard and cloven The upper part of the Head Neck and the Belly are of a chesnut-colour All the underside of the Neck and Breast white All the other parts of the body from dusky incline to black The Tail is three inches long consisting of ten feathers The Legs and Feet dusky The Cock differs from the Hen only in this that in her the colours are more dull in him more lively To this Aldrovand adds another which being altogether of the same bigness the same shape and fashion of body and make of Bill and Feet he thinks to be of kin to it but to differ only in colour For its Throat and Breast indeed are white but its whole Belly from cinereous inclines to dusky or brown The rest of the Plumage is dusky BOOK III. PART II. Birds of a middle nature between Swimmers and Waders or that do both Swim and Wade Of these there be two kinds the one of cloven-footed Birds that swim the other of whole-footed with long Legs SECTION I. Cloven-footed Birds that swim in the Water I. Such whose Toes have no lateral membranes called WATER-HENS CHAP. I. Of Water-hens or More-hens in general THe Characteristic notes of Water-hens or More-hens by which they may be distinguished from other kinds of Birds are a small Head a slender compressed or narrow Body A short Bill moderately bending short concave Wings like to Hens a very short Tail long Legs very long Toes Short flights They are called Gallinulae by modern Writers a diminutive word from Gallina which signifies a Hen for the likeness of their bodies especially their Bills and Wings and conditions to Hens CHAP. II. Of Water-hens in particular §. I. The common Water-hen or More-hen Gallinula chloropus major Aldrovandi IN shape of body it is like a Coot but smaller Narrow-bodies or very much compressed sideways which is common to all this kind contrary to the Duck-kind whose bodies are broad flat and depressed The Hen weighed twelve ounces the Cock fifteen The length of the Hen from the point of the Bill to the end of the Feet was more than seventeen inches to the end of the Tail thirteen and an half of the Cock fourteen and an half The extremes of the Wings extended were twenty two inches and an half distant The Bill from the tip to the corners of the mouth was more than an inch long streight or but little bending The nether Chap as far as the angle of a pale yellow then red the upper less yellow at the end about the Nosthrils and to the end of the bald part red The bald part is round and ends at the top of the Head being like that of a Coot save that the Coots is white but this birds red The redness on the Bill is as it were plaistered on and may be scraped off The red part of the Bill is separated from the yellow by a round circumference a little elevated so that in the middle of the Bill it is produced further than on
In the forepart of each Wing it hath the like horn or spur as the former of a yellow colour This is the Avis cornuta of Nierembergius or rather Hernandez which the Indians saith he call Yohualcuachili or Caput nocturnum §. XIII The fourth Brasilian Water-hen of Marggrave IT is of the same figure or shape with the rest It s Bill is yellow It hath a red skinny Miter or Cap on its forehead near the rise of its Bill It hath also processes extended down the sides after the manner of the Guiny Hens It s whole Head Neck Breast and lower Belly are covered with black feathers The Back Tail and beginning of the Wings with red or light brown The quil-feathers of the Wings are of a Sea-green with black tips but they are covered with those red or russet ones forementioned and cannot be seen unless when the bird flies Its Legs are long its Toes also long Each hath four joynts of an ash-colour Each Wing in the fore-part hath a very sharp horn or spur of a Saffron colour §. XIV A Water-hen called by the Brasilians Tamatia IT hath the Bill of a Sparrow-hawk is of the bigness of Yassana asu walking with a crooked Back and crooked Neck It hath a great Head great black Eyes situate near the rise of the Bill A Bill two inches long more than one broad like a Ducks indeed but sharp toward the tip It s upper part black its nether yellowish The upper Legs are bare of feathers and of a good length It hath in each foot four Toes three standing forward one backward long as in Water-hens The Legs and Toes are of a yellowish green colour The Tail very short not longer than in the Yassana It s Head is covered with black feathers the rest of its body with brown But in the Belly some white feathers are intermingled CHAP. III. §. I. * Of the Porphyrio or purple Water-hen THis Bird neither Gesner nor Aldrovandus nor we truly have hitherto seen but Pictures of it only It is if the Pictures deceive us not of the Water-hen kind It s body is all over of a blue colour The extreme half of the Tail is a whitish ash-colour The Bill and Legs of a shining purple So Gesner describes it by a Picture sent him from Montpellier Aldrovandus describes it otherwise as may be seen in Book 20. Chap. 28. of his Ornithology Seeing therefore the Pictures of this Bird do so much vary and none of those who have compiled Histories of Animals do profess themselves to have seen the Porphyrio we did sometimes doubt whether there were any such bird in nature especially seeing some of those things which the Ancients attribute to it as for example that it hath five Toes in each foot are without doubt false and fabulous But because all the Pictures of it do agree in the figure of its Bill Legs and Feet and indeed the whole body we have now changed our minds and are more apt to believe the affirmative viz. that there is such a Porphyrio as they picture akin to the Coots or Water-hens Let others who have the hap to see it describe it more exactly and so remove all doubt and scruple concerning this matter out of the minds of the learned and curious §. II. * The Quachilto or American Porphyrio of Nieremberg THe Quachilto doth imitate the watching and crowings of a Cock Some call it Yacacintli Late at night and early in the morning it crows after the manner of Cocks It is of a dark purple colour with some white feathers intermixt The Bill is pale at the beginning In the young birds the bald part at the rise of the Bill is red It is like a Coot Its Legs are yellow inclining to green ending in four pale-coloured Toes without any membrane The Eyes are black with a fulvous Iris or circle about the Pupil It is a Marsh-bird feeding upon fishes it self being no unpleasant or ill-tasted meat CHAP. IV. Aldrovands Italian Rail THis Rail as Gesner describes it is more a Water than a Land Fowl And at Mestre a Village not far distant from Venice it is taken not without great toil and expence viz. in Falcons or other Hawks and a troup of Servants who wearing Buskins or high-shoos do in the room of hunting Dogs wade up and down the shallow waters thereabouts and put up those Birds with certain Clubs they carry shaking and beating the shrubs and bushes where they lie that so they may afterwards become a prey to the Falcons that wait for them This is a very noted Bird in that City but in my judgment much inferiour for taste both to a Thrush and a Quail Aloysius Mundella principal Physician at Brescia in his Letters to me writes thus This Bird differs from our Fulica in that it hath more white in the Wings and about the Eyes It s Bill is black its Legs greenish It hath no such dissected or scalloped membranes between the Toes no baldness on the Head as far as I gather from the Picture What Bird this is and whether we have ever seen it being so briefly described with a few and some of those negative notes we cannot certainly determine MEMB. II. Cloven-footed fin-toed Birds of kin to the Waterhens §. I. The Coot Fulica IT weighs twenty four ounces From Bill-point to tail-Tail-end is sixteen inches long to the Claws twenty two The Bill is an inch and half long white with a light tincture of blue sharp-pointed a little compressed or narrow both Mandibles equal The feet bluish or of a dusky green The back-toe little with one only membrane adhering and that not scallop'd but extending all the length of the Toe The inner fore-toe is a little shorter than the outer All the Toes longer than in whole-footed birds About the joynts of the Toes are semicircular membranes appendant on the inner Toe two the middle three the outer four These circular membranes are bigger and more distinct on the inside of the Toes so that the intermediate incisures or nicks reach to the very joynts This may be thus briefly expressed The three fore-toes have lateral membranes on each side scalloped the inner with two the middle Toe with three and the outer with four scallops From the Bill almost to the crown of the Head arises an Excrescency or Lobe of flesh bare of feathers soft smooth round which they call the baldness The feathers about the Head and Neck are low soft and thick The colour all over the body black deeper about the Head The Breast and Belly are of a lead-colour The Thighs covered with feathers almost down to the knees Just beneath the feathers is a ring of yellow about the Leg. The first ten quil-feathers are of a dark dusky or black colour the eight next lighter with white tips the last or next the body are of a deeper black The Tail consists of twelve feathers and is two inches long The Liver
they were yellow By a diligent search we could find no Nosthrils but in their stead a furrow or cranny extended on each side through the whole length of the Bill If one view them attentively the edges of both Mandibles appear serrat that it may more firmly hold the fish that it catcheth It hath four fore-toes for all its four toes are web'd together and stand forward The Legs are feathered down to the knees The Feet and Legs as far as they are bare black The Claw of the middle Toe is broad and pectinated on the inside as in Herons The Plumage is like that of a Goose The colour of the old ones that have moulted their Chicken-feathers is all over white excepting the greater quil-feathers of the Wings which are black and the top of the head which with age grows yellow The young ones are particoloured of white and dark brown or black especially on the upper part of the body The number of quil-feathers in each Wing is about thirty two The Tail is white about seven inches long consisting of twelve feathers The skin is very full sticking loose to the flesh The Bird we described was taken alive near Coleshil a Market Town in Warwickshire not being able by reason of the length of his Wings to raise himself from the ground on which I know not by what chance he had fallen down The blind guts were very short Scarce any footstep remaining of the channel conveying the Yolk into the guts In the Bass Island in Scotland lying in the middle of Edinburgh Frith and no where else that I know of in Britany a huge number of these Birds doth yearly breed Each Female lays only one Egg. Upon this Island the Birds being never shot at or frightned are so confident as to alight and feed their young ones close by you They feed only upon fish yet are the young Geese counted a great dainty by the Scots and sold very dear so that the Lord of the Islet makes no small profit of them yearly They come in the Spring and go not away again before the Autumn Whither they go and where they Winter is to me unknown CHAP. III. The Cormorant Corvusaquaticus IN bigness it is not much inferiour to a Goose The colour on the upper side is dusky shining with an obscure tincture of green exactly like that of a Shag The Breast and Belly are white Each Wing hath about thirty quil-feathers the extreme tips whereof as also of those of the second row are a little ash-coloured The Tail is extended beyond the Feet being an hand-breadth and an half long when spread ending in a round circumference being concave on the underside consisting of fourteen stiff hard feathers not being in any part covered with feathers incumbent on it either above or beneath The Bill is like that of the Shag three inches and an half long hooked at the end the upper Mandible black with sharp edges the sides of the lower Mandible compressed and broad The Tongue small and almost none The Eyes situate nearer the aperture of the Mouth than in most other birds having cinereous circles round the Pupil The Legs are strong thick but very short broad and flat at least in the young ones The Feet and Claws black covered with a skin not divided into perfect scales but cancellated It hath four Toes in each foot all web'd together by a broad black membrane and standing forward the outmost the longest the rest in order shorter The Claw of the middle Toe is serrate on the inside But what is especially remarkable in this Bird wherein it chiefly differs the bigness excepted from the Shag is that the basis of the nether Chap is covered with a naked yellow skin or membrane like the Elks. It s stomach is membranaceous but its upper part thick and glandulous Within were bones of fishes which it had devoured and also one fish entire that was a small Cod-fish also many little long blackish worms of the figure of Earthworms Such like worms also Mr. Willughby found in the stomach of a young one which he got at Sevenhuys in Holland where many birds of this kind build upon trees The Guts are long having many revolutions The blind Guts very small The Liver large divided into two Lobes the right one the bigger It is infested with Lice of a pale red colour having a great black spot in the middle of their Backs They are wont saith Jo. Faber in England to train up Cormorants to fishing When they carry them out of the rooms where they are kept to the fish-pools they hood-wink them that they be not frightned by the way When they are come to the Rivers they take off their hoods and having tied a leather thong round the lower part of their Necks that they may not swallow down the fish they catch they throw them into the River They presently dive under water and there for a long time with wonderful swiftness pursue the fish and when they have caught them they arise presently to the top of the water and pressing the fish lightly with their Bills they swallow them till each Bird hath after this manner devoured five or six fishes Then their Keepers call them to the fist to which they readily fly and little by little one after another vomit up all their fish a little bruised with the nip they gave them with their Bills When they have done fishing setting the Birds on some high place they loose the string from their Necks leaving the passage to the stomach free and open and for their reward they throw them part of their prey they have caught to each perchance one or two fishes which they by the way as they are falling in the air will catch most dextrously in their mouths This kind of fishing with Cormorants is it seems also used in the Kingdom of China as Nierembergius out of Mendoza relates This Bird builds not only on the Sea-Rocks but also upon trees For saith a certain Englishman mentioned by Aldrovand I have seen their Nests on the Rocks near the mouth of the River Tine and in Norfolk upon high trees together with the Herons Which same thing we also have observed For on the Rocks of Prestholm Island near Beaumaris we saw a Cormorants Nest and on the high trees near Sevenhuys in Holland abundance Which thing is worthy the notice-taking For besides this and the following we have not known or heard of any whole-footed bird that is wont to sit upon trees much less build its Nest upon them CHAP. IV. The Shag called in the North of England the Crane Corvus aquaticus minor sive Graculus palmipes IT is bigger than a tame Duck weighing almost four pounds It s length from Bill-point to Tail end was two foot and an half It s breadth the Wings being spread forty four inches It s Bill streight slender neither flat nor compressed sideways but rather round from the tip to the angles of
Albellus to which also he gives the title of White Nun. CHAP. IV. The other Albellus of Aldrovand tom 3. p. 279. the Mergus major cirratus of Gesner Aldrov tom 3. p. 276. We may call it with the Germans the White Nun. IN bigness it comes near to a Wigeon weighing about twenty four ounces From the point of the Bill to the end of the Tail or of the Feet it was by measure eighteen inches and an half long between the tips of the Wings extended twenty seven inches broad The Bill an inch and half or near two inches long It s Head and Neck were white excepting a black spot under the Crest which it hath hanging down backward from behind its Head encompassing the Crest and ending in an acute angle below and another on each side extending from the angles of the mouth to the Eyes The Breast Belly and whole under-side is purely white As for the upper side all the Back is black The long scapular feathers incumbent on the back are white At the setting on of the Wing on each side there is a crooked line of black half encircling the Neck just above the shoulders and higher up the Neck where the black we mentioned in the middle of the Neck begins there is another such like arcuate line on each side resembling half a collar The ten outmost quil-feathers of the Wings are wholly black the tips of the next ten are white of the hindmost in order more than the foremost Then follow two half white viz. on the outside the shaft the other half being black The rest of the feathers are cinereous The number of all twenty seven The feathers of the second row growing on the middle of the Wing are black only their utmost tips being white Above a broad and long spot or bed of white beginning from the bastard wing reacheth to the twentieth quil-feather The interiour bastard wing is white The side-feathers under the Wings variegated with transverse waved black lines are very pleasant to behold The Tail is dusky or between ash-coloured and black composed of sixteen feathers a quarter of a yard or three inches and an half long the middle feathers being the longest the rest on each side gradually shorter to the outmost The Bill is of a cinereous or lead colour but at the tip of each Mandible is a spot of sorbid white thicker at the Head growing slenderer by degrees toward the point narrower and less than in the Duck-kind The upper Mandible hooked at the end toothed on the sides The Nosthrils oblong open at a good distance from the feathers The Eves of a dark colour The Legs and Feet of a cinereous or lead colour the Toes being joyned by a dusky membrane The foremost Toe and the back-Toe have lateral appendant membranes reaching their whole length The Wind-pipe at the divarication ends in a certain great strong bony vessel which we are wont to call a Labyrinth whence proceed the two branches tending to the Lungs This Bird hath not two blind guts after the manner of other Birds but only one short blunt one yet in one bird of this kind we found two The Wind-pipe is fastned to the upper angle of the Merry-thought by a transverse ligament and then ascends upward to the Labyrinth It feeds upon fishes The Albellus aquaticus of Aldrovand as it seems to me differs not from this bird for both the figure and all the marks he gives of it agree only he makes no mention of the crest perchance it was a young bird he described There is in this kind also so much difference between the Sexes that the Writers of the History of Birds have taken the Male and Female for different sorts The Female is described by Gesner under the title of Mergus glacialis which Mr. Johnson Englisheth the Lough-diver It was sent us by Mr. Dent from Cambridge by the name of a Smew In the Female the whole Head and the Cheeks are red or fulvous The Throat white On the beginning of the Breast above the Craw there is seen as it were a collar of a darker or brown colour It hath no Crest All the upper side except the Wings is of a dusky ash-colour or brown About the middle of each Wing are two transverse white lines In other particulars it agrees well enough with the Male. It hath a great Gall oblong Testicles The Guts have many revolutions The Stomach larger than in granivorous birds less musculous filled with fishes in the birds we opened SECTION V. Of DOUCKERS or Loons called in Latine COLYMBI CHAP. I. Of Douckers in general DOuckers have narrow streight sharp-pointed Bills Small Heads and also small Wings Their Legs situate backwards near the Tail for quick swimming and easier diving broad flat Legs by which note they are distinguished from all other kinds of birds Broad Claws like humane nails Of these Douckers there are two kinds The first is of such as are cloven-footed but fin-toed having lateral membranes all along the sides of their Toes and that want the Tail the second is of those that are whole-footed and caudate which do nearly approach to those birds we call Tridactylae that want the back-toe These are not without good reason called Douckers for that they dive much and continue long under water as soon as they are up dopping down again CHAP. II. Cloven-footed DOUCKERS that have no Tails §. I. The greater Loon or Arsfoot Colymbus major Aldrov IT weighed a pound Was from Bill to Claws twenty three inches long Between the extremities of the Wings spread twenty three and an half broad The Bill from the tip to the angles of the mouth was two inches long The feathers investing the whole body were fine soft and thick The Head and Neck brown The Back blacker The sides and lower Belly dusky The Breast of a silver colour It wholly wants the Tail Each Wing hath about thirty quil-feathers Of which the outmost twelve are black the tip of the thirteenth is white and the tops of the following in order more and more to the twentieth after which the next four are wholly white The twenty fifth towards the tip is brown and in the twenty sixth the white ends The lesser rows of Wing-feathers underneath are white It s Bill is black narrow or compressed sideways about the angles of the mouth and on the nether Chap yellowish The Tongue long and a little cloven The Eyes of an ash-colour with some mixture of red Its Claws are broad like the nails of a man black on one side on the other of a pale blue or ash-colour The outmost toe the longest The Legs broad flat serrate behind with a double row of asperities The Toes are broad bordered on each side with appendant membranes but not web'd together It hath no Labyrinth on the Wind-pipe That we described had a great Gall A large Stomach almost round and therein we found Sea-weeds and fish-bones §. II. The greater crested or copped Doucker
but the upper edges convex or arcuate underneath it bunches out into an angle or knob on the sides of which is a large spot of red The Irides of the Eyes were of a lovely yellow The edges of the Eye-lids in some yellow in some perchance these were Cocks of a red-lead colour The Legs in some yellow bare of feathers for some space above the knees in others white or of a pale flesh-colour The hind-toe small The Claws black The inner edge of the middle Claw sharp It s Head Neck Rump Tail and whole under-side white It s Back the covert-feathers of its Wings and the quil-feathers also except the outmost five of a dark ash-colour The two outmost quils were marked with a white spot near the tip the outmost with a greater the inner with a lesser but the very tips of both were black The tips of the fifth and sixth were dusky All the rest had white tips These colours in several Birds vary something Yet in general the quil-feathers in all Birds of this sort are particoloured of white black and cinereous The Tail was about five inches long not forked made up of twelve feathers of equal length The Wings when gathered up reached beyond the end of the Tail and crossed one another It had a large Craw a musculous Stomach in which were fish-bones They say that is preys upon Herrings whence it took the name Herring-gull It lays Eggs as big as Hens Eggs sharp at one end whitish but spotted with a few black spots In the young ones the Back and Head are ash-coloured with black spots the Bill black but white at the tip This sort though it be very common with us yet hath it not hitherto that I know of been described §. III. The common Sea-Mall Larus cinereus minor THat which I described was a Hen-bird It weighed a full pound of sixteen ounces It was from the beginning of the Bill to the end of the Toes fifteen inches and an half long to the end of the Tail sixteen and an half The tips of the Wings extended were forty one inches distant from each other It is something less than the greater Gull described by Aldrovand like to the Herring-Gull but much less It s Bill was like to those of the rest of this kind narrow but deep sharp-pointed of a whitish colour but yellow toward the tip The knob under the lower Chap small and scarce conspicuous the upper Chap something hooked or bending at the point The Tongue cloven The Nosthrils oblong The Eyes were great and furnished with membranes for nictation the Irides of a pale hazel-colour The Ears of a mean size The Feet of a pale green The Claws black that of the middle Toe sharp on the inner side The back-toe very small yet armed with a Claw The membranes connecting the Toes reached as far as the Claws The Head and upper part of the Neck were clouded with brown spots the nether part white The Back ash-coloured but the feathers covering the Tail white The Throat and whole under-side of the body was as white as snow The Tail also purely white The Shoulders and upper covert-feathers of the Wings ash-coloured the coverts of the underside white In each Wing were about thirty quil-feathers the first of which at the tip in the inner Web had a black spot and on the outer edge a black line scarce appearing then followed a white bar about two inches broad the rest of the feathers to the bottom being black The tip of the second was white Under the white a cross bar of black half an inch broad beneath that a white bar of an inch breadth the rest of the feather to the bottom being black but the very bottom ash-coloured The tip also of the third was white from the tip the upper half of the feather was black the lower ash-coloured The three next had also white tips but the black part was still shorter and shorter or narrower and narrower in the following than the foregoing feathers till in the sixth it became scarce a quarter of an inch broad All the rest of the quils were ash-coloured with white tips The Tail was six inches long not forked made up of twelve feathers The Liver was large divided into two Lobes The Gall yellow The Pancreas great The muscles of the Gizzard not so thick and strong as in granivorous birds within which we found grass and Beetles It is a gregarious bird frequenting Meadows and the banks of Lakes That which we described we shot on the bank of the Lake of Bala in Merioneth-shire in Wales commonly called Pimble-mear through which the River Dee on which Chester is built runs and they say mixes not its waters with those of the Lake It differs from the Herring-gull 1. In that it is less 2. In the colour of the Bill From Bellonius his ash-coloured Gull 1. In that it is bigger 2. That it hath a back-toe armed with a Claw §. IV. * Baltners great ash-coloured Sea-Mew perchance our Pewit THe whole body at least on the upper side is of a dark ash-colour or bluish as are also the Tail and lesser quil-feathers for the greater are black The crown or top of the Head is black with an obscure tincture of green if the Picture deceive us not The Bill streight of a red-lead colour The Legs and Feet black The Wings very long and when gathered up reaching beyond the end of the Tail The length of the Bird from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail was a Strasburgh Yard or more The breadth from tip to tip of the Wings extended two yards The Leg so far as it was bare from the feathers to the end of the Claws a quarter of a yard long The Guts seven quarters I suspect this Bird was no other than the Cepphus of Turner and Gesner that is our Pewit But then the Legs are painted of a wrong colour for in the Pewit they are red so is also the Tail §. V. Bellonius his ash-coloured Gull called in Cornwal Tarrock IN bigness it exceeds not a common Pigeon neither is it much different in the shape of its body save that its Head is bigger It weighs seven ounces Its length from the point of the Bill to the end of the Tail is almost sixteen inches Its Wings extended were by measure full thirty six inches It s Tail almost five inches long not forcipate consisting of twelve feathers The under-side of the body was all purely white As for the upper side the Head and Neck were white save that at the Ears on each side was a black spot The lower part of the Neck was black The middle of the Back and the Shoulders ash-coloured The Tail white only the tips of the feathers for about an inch black Yet the outmost feather on each side was all white The four outmost quil-feathers were above half way black The two next to these had only black tips being
kill'd we have not as yet seen at hand It is of the biggest of this kind equal to or bigger than a tame Duck. Its Bill is stronger bigger and shorter than in other great Gulls black hooked at the end and seemed to be covered with a skin from the base to the Nosthrils as in Land-birds of prey Its Legs and Feet were black Its Toes armed with strong crooked Claws such as we never before observed in any whole-footed Fowl The colour of the Back is a rusty cinereous or brown like that of a Buzzards Its Belly and underside paler The greater quil-feathers of the Wings are black The Tail also is black about seven inches long made up of twelve feathers of which the two middlemost are somewhat longer than the rest The bottoms of the feathers as well of the Tail as Wing-quils are white The length of the Bill from the tip to the angles of the Mouth was no more than two inches and an half The angular prominence on the lower Chap is small and scarce conspicuous Hapning to read over the description of Hoiers Skua in the Auctarium of Clusius his Exotics pag. 367. I find it exactly to agree with ours so that I do not at all doubt but this Bird is the Skua of Hoier Clusius his description being more full than ours I shall here subjoyn The Bird sent me by Hoier was saith he of the bigness of a great Gull from the bottom of the Neck to the Rump nine inches long The compass of its body measuring under its Wings was sixteen inches The Neck from the crown of the Head to the Back was seven inches long The Head not very great nor the Bill flat but rather long and narrow on the part next the Head rugged and rough towards the point smooth black and crooked almost like those of rapacious birds or Gulls not exceeding the length of two inches The Wings were almost seventeen inches long reaching something further than the end of the Tail The four greater quil-feathers of the Wings were black not white at the tip as Hoier wrote unless perchance he had observed that mark in other birds of this kind From the quill or naked part I found them to be white half way up the feather as were also the three greater and uppermost Tail-feathers below where they were inserted into the Rump the upper part being black as in the quil-feathers As for the rest of the feathers investing the body they were of a colour between black and cinereous but the black predominant and did nearly resemble the feathers of a bald Buzzard or Kite The Legs were placed backward in the hindmost part of the body at in most Water-fowl above the Knee they were very short below the Knee down to the Foot almost three inches long The Feet were flat having three Toes and a short Heel The outmost Toe next in length to the middlemost consisted of four joynts the middle which was the longest of three the inmost which was the shortest of two and the heel or back-toe of one All ending in sharp crooked Claws and joyned together by a black membrane or cartilage to the very Claws The characteristic notes of this species are 1. The thickness and its Bill 2. The uniform black colour of its Tail as far as it appears beyond the incumbent feathers 3. The bigness and crookedness of its Talons Hoier writes that it preys not only upon fish but on all kinds of small birds The Cornish Gannet as they told us doth constantly accompany the sholes of Pilchards still hovering over them in the Air. It pursues and strikes at these fish with that violence that they catcht it with a strange artifice They fasten a Pilchard to a board which they fix a little under water The Gannet espying the Pilchard casts himself down from on high upon it with that vehemence that he strikes his Bill clear through the board and dashes out his brains against it and so comes to be taken We saw many of these Gannets flying but could not kill one They seem to be very strong birds long-winged and fly swiftly §. II. * Aldrovandus his Catarracta IT comes near to the bird last described It saith he exactly resembles a Goshawk to which our Bird also answers very well both in bigness and figure and in the colour of the upper side of the body so that you can scarce distinguish them for on the upper side like that it is variegated with brown white and yellow mingled on the under side it is all white spotted with brown as the Picture shews Aristotle also writes that it is less than a Hawk and that it hath a large and broad Throat or Gullet which last note agrees exactly to my bird though indeed other Gulls also have a wide throat as well as this But I think Aristotle likened it to a Hawk not only for its bigness but because it was alike spotted and especially because it preys after the manner of a Hawk and for that purpose is endued with a Bill for the bigness of its body very great and strong sharp-pointed also and the upper Chap more than ordinarily hooked It is an inch thick and of a deep black The Neck also is pretty long The Head lesser than in Gulls The Wings in length are even with the Tail The Tail is a Palm long and black The Hips covered with feathers to the Knees which in other Gulls are not so but bare a little higher Its Legs Feet and intervening membranes cinereous The Claws black crooked and small It differs from our Catarracta chiefly 1. In the colour of the underside of the body 2. In the colour of the Feet 3. In the smalness of the Claws But these things notwithstanding perchance it may be the same For Aldrovandus as I gather from his words took his description from a Picture But Painters are not wont to be very exact either in expressing of the colours or delineating the parts This description also doth in many things agree to that Gull which we shall next describe under the title of the Cornish Wagel §. III. The great grey Gull which we take to be the Cornish Wagel called at Venice Martinazzo at Amsterdam the Burgomaster of Groenland An Larus albo-cinereus torque cinereo of Aldrov IT weighed twenty two ounces being stretcht out in length from the point of the Bill to the end of the Feet twenty one inches and an half to the end of the Tail twenty one its breadth was fifty three inches It s colour as well in the lower as upper side was grey such as is seen in the back of a wild Duck or a Curlew being mixed of whitish and brown Mr. Willughby gives also some mixture of ferrugineous both to the brown and to the ash-colour in the Wings and Back The feathers of the Back are black in the middle and ash-coloured about the edges The Rump-feathers incumbent on the Tail are for the most part white only
commonly and not undeservedly called the Sea-Swallow §. II. The lesser Sea-Swallow Larus Piscator of Gesner and Aldrov Ein Fischerlin of Baltner GEsner describes this Bird thus They say that it is white with a black crown It is lesser than the ash-coloured Gull with a black head like the Sterna Bill and Feet of a pale dusky colour Of swift flight and when it catches fish plunging it self into the water which the ash-coloured Gull doth not Leonard Baltner describes his Fischerlin after this manner It is a very little kind of Speurer that is Sea-Swallow even less than a Blackbird It hath long ash-coloured feathers Bill and Feet of a Saffron-colour A black crown The neither side of the body all white in like manner the Tail It preys upon small fishes whence it had its name Its guts are half a yard long The Females are less than the Males Their flesh is good to eat The Picture represents the Tail forked and the point of the Bill black The greater quil-feathers of the Wings likewise black It differs from the greater Sea-Swallow chiefly in bigness and the colour of the Bill and Feet Mr. Johnson thus briefly describes it It hath the Wings Tail and swiftness of a Swallow A red Bill a black crown brown Legs a forked Tail six inches long In the colour of the Legs he agrees with Gesner but perchance the colour may vary with Age or differ in the Sexes §. III. The Scare-crow Larus niger Gesneri Aldrov Ein Brandvogel or Megvogel of Baltner THis small Gull hath black Bill Head Neck Breast Belly and Back as far as one can judge by the Picture ash-coloured Wings reaching beyond the Tail The Legs have a light dash of red About Strasburgh it is called Megvogelin that is the May-fowl because saith Baltner it comes to them in the month of May. Baltner describes and paints it under the title of Brand-vogel It is saith he of the bigness of a Blackbird hath long Wings small and short Legs and Feet partly cloven a black Bill of which colour is also the whole body They fly in flocks for the most part twenty or thirty together They catch Gnats and other water-Insects Their flesh is good to eat This is Isuppose the same with that which Mr. Johnson saith they in the North call the Scare-Crow and thus briefly describes It cannot abide the presence of men Its Head Neck and Belly are black its Wings ash-coloured its Tail a little forked Its feet small and red The Male hath a white spot under his chin §. IV. Our black cloven-footed Gull IT is less than the Sea-Swallow In length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail ten inches in breadth from Wings end to Wings end twenty four The Bill from the point to the angles of the mouth is an inch and half long sharp-pointed and black The Tongue sharp and slit at the end The Head black The back and upper surface of the Wings of a dark cinereous The Throat and Breast black But the feathers of the lower belly under the Tail pure white The number of quils in each Wing twenty seven The Tail forked made up of twelve feathers the outmost 3⅛ inches long the middlemost two and an half The outmost on each side is all white all the rest ash-coloured The Legs are bare up to the middle of the second joynt The Feet small of a reddish black colour The Claws black The hind-toe little the middle fore-toe the longest and next to that the outmost The membrane connecting the inmost and middle toes in the inmost is extended to the Claw in the middle toe proceeds not beyond the first joynt so the upper bone of the Toe is altogether free and loose That which joyns the outmost and middle Toes though it begins in both from the very Claws yet is it depressed in the middle and as it were hollowed into the form of a Crescent whose horns are the Toes The Claw of the middle toe on the inside is thinned into an edge Its cry is hardly distinguishable from that of the Sea-Swallow It builds among the Reeds and lays three or four Eggs like to those of other Gulls of a sordid green spotted with black compassed with a broad black girdle about the middle The blind Guts as in the rest of this kind are very short In the Stomach were Beetles Maggots c. This Bird comes very near to the black cloven-footed Gull of Aldrovand But its Tail is forked of which remarkable note he makes no mention which sure could not have escaped him if it had been in the birds he described It frequents Rivers Mears and Plashes of Water far from the Sea §. V. * Aldrovands cloven-footed Gull with longer Wings THis Bird on the Wings and Breast is all ash-coloured hath very large Wings exceeding the Tail three inches in length and towards the end black The Tail is short and cinereous The part under the Tail white The Toes are of a good length and armed with notable Claws the Legs short both black The Eyes very black as is the whole Head and also the Neck and the Bill beside which is pretty long and a little crooked at the end §. VI. * The other cloven-footed Gull of Aldrovand with shorter Wings IT is almost of the same bigness with the precedent but hath far shorter Wings and on the contrary a much longer Tail Its bigness is equal to that of a Blackbird its colour cinereous its Head black It s length from the Head to the Rump is nine inches The Tail is a full Palm hand-breadth long The ridges of the Wings are white The Bill black slender a little crooked The feathers under the Tail are white The Feet are reddish small as in Swallows It hath four Toes with some rudiment of a membrane between them The Claws are black and small however crooked These Birds saith Aldrovand because they do in the shape of their bodies something resemble Swallows are called by us Rondini marini §. VII Mr. Johnsons small cloven-footed Gull IT is of the bigness of a Blackbird or something less It s Bill is slender streight sharp-pointed black round having no knob in the lower Mandible The crown of a black or dark red The sides and under-side of the Neck are red The Belly and whole nether side white The Back and Wings brown spotted with yellowish spots In the Wings is a transverse white line in the tips of the feathers The Wings are long the Tail short The Toes not web'd together but bordered on each side with lateral membranes scalloped and elegantly serrate Whence when I first saw the skin of it stuft at Mr. Johnsons at Brignal in Yorkshire from the make of its Feet I judged to be of the Coot-kind But afterwards being informed by Mr. Johnson that it is much upon the wing hath sharp Wings and cries like a small Gull differs also in the fashion of the Bill I changed my opinion and
body between the very Lobes of the Lungs The Wind-pipe enters the breast-bone and comes out again below the Merry-thought The stomach is very fleshy and furnished with thick muscles Above the Stomach the Gullet is dilated into a bag thick-set and as it were granulated within with many papillary glandules excerning a kind of Saliva which serves as a menstruum to macerate the meat The Wind-pipe reflected in form of a Trumpet seems to be so contrived and formed by nature for modulating the voice Hence what the Ancients have delivered concerning the singing of Swans if it be true which I much doubt seems chiefly to agree to this bird and not to the tame Swan For my part those stories of the Ancients concerning the singing of Swans viz. that those Birds at other times but especially when their death approaches do with a most sweet and melodious modulation of their voice sing their own Naenia or funeral song seemed to me always very unlikely and fabulous and to have been therefore not undeservedly exploded by Scaliger and others Howbeit Aldrovandus weighing on both sides the Arguments and Authorities of learned men hath he saith observed them to be equal wherefore to cast the scale and establish the affirmative he thinks that wonderful structure of the Wind-pipe by him first observed is of weight sufficient But this Argument though it be very specious and plausible yet doth it not conclude the controversie For we have observed in the Wind-pipe of the Crane the like ingress into the cavity of the Breast-bone and reflection therein or a more remarkable one yet no man that I know of ever commended the Crane for singing or musical modulation of its voice But if you ask me to what purpose then doth the Wind-pipe enter into the breast-bone and is in that manner reflected there I must ingenuously confess I do not certainly and fully know Yet may there be other reasons assigned thereof as that which Aldrovand alledges in the first place 1. That whereas sometimes for almost half an hours space the Swan continues with her heels up and her head under water seeking and gathering up her food from the bottom of the Pool or River she swims in that part of the Wind-pipe enclosed in the breast-bone may supply her with air enough to serve her all that while So the use of it will be to be a store-house of air for the advantage of diving and continuing long under water 2. This kind of structure doth undoubtedly conduce much to the increasing the strength and force of the voice For that the wild Swan hath a very loud and shrill cry and which may be heard a long way off the English name Hooper imposed upon it as I suppose from its hooping and hollowing noise doth import Hence it appears how uncertain and fallacious a way of arguing it is from the final cause For though Nature Gods ordinary Minister always acts for some end yet what that is we are often ignorant and it doth not rarely fall out to be far different from what we fancy Nay we may be deceived when we think we are most sure and imagine it can be no other than what we have presumed Wherefore I make more account of the testimonies he alledges as of Frederick Pendasius that affirmed he had often heard Swans singing sweetly in the Lake of Mantua as he was rowed up and down in a Boat But as for the testimony of George Braun concerning flocks of Swans in the Sea near London meeting and as it were welcoming the Fleets of Ships returning home with loud and chearful singing is without doubt most false We having never heard of any such thing Olaus Wormius of late confirms the opinion of Aldrovand and the reports of the Ancients concerning the singing of Swans producing the Testimonies of some of his familiars and Scholars who professed themselves to have heard their music There was saith he in my Family a very honest young man one Mr. John Rostorph Student in Divinity a Norwegian by Nation This man did upon his credit and with the interposition of an Oath solemnly affirm that himself in the Territory of Dronten did once by the Sea-shore early in the Morning hear an unusual and most sweet murmur composed of most pleasant whistlings and sounds Which when as he knew not whence it came or how it was made for that he saw no man near which might be the author of it looking round about him and climbing up the top of a certain Promontory he espied an infinite number of Swans gathered together in a Bay of the Sea near hand making that harmony a sweeter than which in all his lives time he had never heard By some Islanders my Scholars I have been told that nothing is more frequent with them than this harmony in those places where there are Swans This I therefore alledge that it may appear that the report of those famous ancient Authors concerning the singing of Swans is not altogether vain but attested and proved by modern experiments Thus far Wormius Let the Readers judge whether his witnesses be sufficient This Bird hath not as yet that I know of been described by any Author CHAP. II. Of the Goose §. I. Of the tame Goose IT is less than a Swan bigger than a Duck weighing sometimes when fatted ten pounds It s length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail in that we measured was thirty five inches and an half to the end of the Feet thirty seven and an half The Wings extended were sixty inches and an half over The length of the Neck from the tip of the Bill to the setting on of the Wings seventeen inches The Bill it self from the tip to the angles of the Mouth was two inches three quarters long to the Eyes three and an half The Tail was six inches and an half long compounded of eighteen feathers the outmost the shortest the rest by degrees longer to the middlemost which are the longest The colour in these as in other tame Birds is various in some brown in some grey in some white in some flecked or particoloured of white and brown The Bill and Legs in young ones are yellow in old ones for the most part red The Bill is thick at the head and slenderer by degrees to the point Each Wing hath twenty seven quils or feathers in the first row When it is angry it hisses like a Serpent It is very long-lived A certain friend of ours of undoubted fidelity told us that his Father had once a Goose that was known to be eighty years old which for ought he knew might have lived the other eighty years had he not been constrained to kill it for its mischievousness in beating and destroying the younger Geese But of the Goose a Bird so well known in all Nations more than enough §. II. The common wild Goose Anser ferus IN bigness it equals a tame Goose is for the shape of its
body very like it and not much different in colour It s Head Neck Back generally its whole upper side excepting the feathers incumbent on the Tail is of a dark grey or brown Yet the uppermost covert-feathers of the Wings are paler The second third and fourth rows of Wing feathers and likewise the scapular ones have white edges about their tips The feathers also next the Tail are purely white The quils of the Wings are twenty seven in number of a dark brown almost black The Tail is six inches long composed of eighteen black feathers having their tips and exteriour edges white The colour of the underside of the body is a light grey by degrees lighter from the Head to the Tail whereunder it is perfectly white The Bill is more than two inches long from the Head almost half way black then of a Saffron colour the tip again being black The upper Mandible all along is toothed or indented with many rows of small teeth the nether only with one row on each side The Tongue also hath on either side a row of Teeth in its bordering membrane Its Legs and Feet are of a Saffron colour Its Claws black or livid Under each Eye is a whitish line That we described weighed seven pound and a quarter §. III. The Bernacle or Clakis Bernicla seu Bernacla IT is lesser than a tame Goose It s length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Claws or Tail for they are equally extended is thirty one inches It s Bill black much lesser and shorter than a Gooses from the tip to the angles of the Mouth scarce an inch and half The Chin Cheeks and what of the forehead touches the Bill is white excepting only a line or bed of black between the Eyes and Bill The Neck and fore-part of the Breast to the sternum both above and beneath is black The under-side of the body is white with some mixture of cinereous yet the lower feathers on the Thighs a little above the Knees are black The feathers next the Tail are white those above them black else the Back is particoloured of black and cinereous The Tail black The quil-feathers of the Wings brown The lesser rows of covert-feathers of the Wings have white edges then they are black for a good way the remaining part of the feather being ash-coloured which colours so succeeding one another make a very fair shew The hind-toe is very small It frequents the Sea-coasts of Lancashire in the Winter-time This is the Bird which Bellonius describes under the title of Cravant or Oye Nonnette which he thinks to be the Chenalopex of the Ancients See Bellonius his description in Aldrovand which agrees exactly to this bird We have sometimes thought the Bernacle and Brent-Goose to differ only in Sex not in Species but afterwards more diligently considering and comparing both their cases we changed our opinion for there are remarkable notes by which they may be distinguished as will easily appear to whosoever will take the pains to compare their descriptions For in this the Chin and Cheeks are white in that the whole Head and Neck black save only a black line on each side the Neck which in the Bernacle are wanting Besides the Bernacle seemed to us bigger and much fairer for those cinereous and black colours alternately disposed in the feathers of the Back and Wings make a very lovely shew This also seems to be the same with the Brenta or Bernicla of Gesner although his description be not very exact Perchance also the Baumgansz or tree-goose of Gesner may be the same although he make them different birds For the description of this he took from a Picture as it seems not exactly drawn Unless his Baumgansz be the same with Baltners i. e. the Brenta next to be described What is reported concerning the rise and original of these birds to wit that they are bred of rotten wood for instance of the Masts Ribs and Planks of broken Ships half putrified and corrupted or of certain Palms of trees falling into the Sea or lastly of a kind of Sea-shels the figures whereof Lobel Gerard and others have set forth may be seen in Aldrovand Sennertus in his Hypomnemata Michael Meyerus who hath written an entire book concerning the Tree-fowl and many others But that all these stories are false and fabulous I am confidently perswaded Neither do there want sufficient arguments to induce the lovers of truth to be of our opinion and to convince the gainsayers For in the whole Genus of Birds excepting the Phaenix whose reputed original is without doubt fabulous there is not any one example of equivocal or spontaneous generation Among other Animals indeed the lesser and more imperfect as for example many Insects and Frogs are commonly thought either to be of spontaneous original or to come of different seeds and principles But the greater Animals and perfect in their kind such as is among Birds the Goose no Philosopher would ever admit to be in this manner produced Secondly those shells in which they affirm these Birds to be bred and to come forth by a strange metamorphosis do most certainly contain an Animal of their own kind and not transmutable into any other thing Concerning which the Reader may please to consult that curious Naturalist Fabius Columna These shells we our selves have seen once at Venice growing in great abundance to the Keel of an old Ship a second time in the Mediterranean Sea growing to the back of a Tortoise we took between Sicily and Malta Columna makes this shell-fish to be a kind of Balanus marinus Thirdly that these Geese do lay Eggs after the manner of other Birds sit on them and hatch their Young the Hollanders in their Northern Voyages affirm themselves to have found by experience §. IV. The Brent-Goose Brenta IT is a little bigger than a Duck and longer-bodied The Head Neck and upper part of the Breast are black But about the middle of the Neck on each side is a small spot or line of white which together appear like a ring of white The Back is of the colour of a common Goose that is a dark grey Toward the Tail it is darker coloured But those feathers which are next and immediate to the Tail are white The lower Belly is white The Breast of a dark grey The Tail and greater quils of the Wings black the lesser of a dark grey The Bill is small black an inch and half long thicker at the head slenderer toward the tip The Eyes hazel-coloured The Nosthrils great The Feet black having the back-toe The length of the Bird from Bill to Tail was twenty inches I am of opinion that the Brant-Goose differs specifically from the Bernacle however Writers of the History of Birds confound them and make these words Synonymous We have seen both alive among his Majesties Wild-fowl kept in St. James's Park The Case of the Brent-Goose stuft we have seen with
not exceeding two inches made up of twelve feathers of a dark grey the outmost the shortest the rest gradually longer to the middlemost yet the excess is not considerable so that notwithstanding it is not to be reckoned among those that have sharp Tails The quils of the Wings are about twenty five all of one colour viz. a dark cinereous though if they be carefully heeded there will appear some diversity for the tips of the exteriour and greater feathers are marked with black of the middle ones with white The interiour bastard-wing and lesser covert-feathers of the underside of the Wings are white The Bill is bigger and broader than in the Wigeon The feathers divide the middle of the upper Mandible coming down from the forehead in form of a peak or acute angle The upper Mandible is of a lead-colour but its tip black The nether is wholly black The Irides of the Eyes are of a very beautiful colour from yellow inclining to a sparkling red The Feet lead-coloured The membranes connecting the Toes black The inmost toe the least having a membranous border annexed to its outside The back toe hath likewise an appendant membrane or fin The characteristic note of this Bird is one uniform colour of its Wings without any feathers of different colour in the middle of the Wing as is usual in most Birds of this kind In another Bird of this kind which we take to be the Female of this the Bill was black with an ash-coloured spot of the form of a crescent a little above the tip The back feathers and coverts of the Wings had no such transverse waved lines as those of the Male. In other points it agreed mostwhat with the Male. §. XII The lesser red-headed Duck Perchance the Anas Filigula altera of Gesner Aldrov p. 227. The Glaucium or Morillon of Bellonius Capo rosso at Venice IT is bigger than a Teal and something less than a Wigeon It s Bill two inches and an half long of a moderate breadth of a dark blue colour paler about the edges and toward the tip The very tip or nail is round and black The Nosthrils small long situate almost in the middle of the Bill The Irides of the Eyes of a cream or Ivory colour The Head is pretty great all over red But in the very angle of the lower Mandible is a small white spot The Neck as in others of this kind is short encompassed in the middle with a ring of brown The whole Back and covert-feathers of the Wings are of a dark brown or dusky colour All the quils of the Wings which are in each about twenty six except the three or four outmost and the three or four inmost are white with brown tips so that when the Wing is spread they represent a broad transverse line of white The Tail is very short the middle feathers which are the longest being about two inches and a quarter in length the outmost shorter of a brown or dusky colour the number of feathers fourteen The Breast below the ring down to the Merry-thought is red which colour above also reaches to the middle of the Shoulders The rest of the Breast and the upper Belly is white the lower to the Vent dusky or dark grey The feathers under the Tail are white those long ones on the thighs red The Legs and Feet black especially the joynts and membranes connecting the Toes The back-toe hath a broad appendant membrane or sin as in the rest of this kind The Wind-pipe hath a labyrinth at the divarication and besides above swells out into a puff-like cavity The stomach is musculous These Birds vary something in the colour especially of their Wings A Bird of this kind weighed twenty one ounces was in length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the toes seventeen inches and an half in breadth between the extremes of the Wings expanded twenty six and three quarters The length of the guts forty two inches The description of the Anas Fuligula altera of Gesner in Aldrovand agrees well to this Bird So doth also the description and figure of the Morillous or Glaucium of Bellonius especially in the colour of the Eyes But because there is some difference we will subjoyn his description that the Reader himself may judge The Glaucium or Morillon of Bellonius There is saith he also another Water-fowl called in our common speech Morillon very like to a Duck and of the same bigness having its Bill cut in the edge like a Saw its Legs and Feet red on the inside dusky on the out It s whole Head to the middle of the Neck of a deep ferrugineous Below the ferrugineous a whitish circle encompasseth the Neck The Breast is of an ash-colour the Belly white The Back and Wings black But in these if they be stretcht out appear seven white feathers which render the Wings particoloured as in a Pie The rest of the Wings as also the Tail resembling that of a Cormorant are black Getting its food for the most part out of the water it lives upon little vermine and creeping things which it finds in the bottom of the water Diving also and continuing long under water it catches small fishes and water Millepedes or Lice which the French call les Escrouelles It feeds also upon the seeds of herbs which grow on River-banks and upon young Cray-fish and Snails It hath a Tongue so fleshy that near the root it seems double A broad Breast like the rest of the Duck-kind Short Legs stretched out backwards like the Divers Mergi In the inward parts this only is peculiar to it that no Gall appears in it The Liver is divided into two Lobes one whereof is incumbent on the stomach the other on the guts This description in most notes the magnitude excepted agrees to our Bird. For though Bellonius in his description affirms that the ring about the Neck is white yet in his figure he represents it black §. XIII The Golden-eye Anas platyrhynchos mas Aldrov p. 225. Clangula Gesneri Aldrov p. 224. Quattro occhii Italis Weisser Dritvogel of the Germans about Strasburgh IT is thick and short-bodied and hath a great head It s Neck as in the rest of this kind is short Its Bill broad indeed but short more elevated and not so flat or depressed as in the rest of this kind thicker at the head lesser and narrower toward the tipl all black from the tip to the angles of the mouth an inch and three quarters long The Head is of a very dark green or of a changeable colour of black purple and green as it is variously exposed to the light shining like silk At the corner of the Mouth on each side is a round white spot as big as a three pence whence it got its name Quattr ' occhii in Italian The Irides of the Eyes are of a lovely yellow or gold-colour The whole Neck both above and underneath
Pack-thread with large mashes at least two Inches from knot to knot For the bigger the mash so the birds cannot creep through the better The Net must not be above two fathoms deep and six long at the most A Net of that size being as great as a man is well able to throw over It must be verged with a strong cord on each side and extended stiff upon a long Pole at each end Then having observed the Morning and Evening-feeding of the Fowl which is seldom in one and the same place be sure to come two hours before those feeding times which are twilight in the Morning and after Sun-set at Night and upon these haunts spread your Nets smooth and flat staking down the two lower ends firm on the ground so that they may only come and go and no more The upper verge of the Net must stand extended on the long Cord the further end whereof must be staked down to the earth two or three fathoms from the Net the Stake standing in a right line with the lower edge of the Net the Fowler holding in his hand the other end which should be at least ten or twelve fathom long at its distance where he shall make some artificial shelter of grass sods earth or such like matter where he may lie out of sight of the Fowl Be sure that the Net lie so tickle that upon the least twitch it will rise from the earth and fly over Strow over the Net short dead fog and other grass to hide it as much as may be from the view of the Fowl It would be of advantage close to your Net to stake down a live Heron or other Fowl you spread for formerly taken for a stale making her now and then flutter her wings When you see a competent number of Fowl within the danger of your Net draw your Cord suddenly and cover them This you may do till the Sun be almost half an hour high but no longer for after that time no more Fowl will come to feed and at Evening from Sun-set till the Stars begin to appear Thus you may take not only the greater Water-fowl but Plover and others §. II. How to take whole-footed Water-fowl with Nets MAke your Nets of the smallest and strongest Pack-thread the Mashes of less compass than the forementioned let them be 2½ or 3 foot deep for length according to the Rivers and Waters they are to be pitched over Let them be lined on both sides with false Nets of strong Packthread every Mash being 1½ foot square that as the Fowl striketh either through or against them the smaller Net may pass through the great Mashes and so entangle them These Nets you shall pitch for the Evening-flight of Fowl before Sun-set and stake them fast down on each side the River the lower side of the Nets about half a foot within the water the upper side shoaling slantwise against the water yet not touching it by a foot and half at least The strings that support this upper side must be fastned to small yielding sticks prickt in the bark which as the Fowl striketh may give liberty to the Net to run and entangle them Yet one end ever made so fast that the Net may by no means be carried away You may thus place divers of these Nets over the River about twelve score one from another If there be any Fens Plashes or Pits at a good distance from the River go to them and shooting off a piece twice or thrice raise the Fowl from thence which will presently pack to the River then plant your Nets of the middle size upon the small Plashes and Pits and the longest of all upon the Fens In like manner if there be any covert of Sedge Reeds Rushes c. in the water pitch Nets about them also In the Morning go first to the River about an hour or two before day and see what your Nets have taken and unlade them Then if you find there be many Fowls upon the River shoot off your Gun in one or two places and that will quickly send them to the Fens Plashes and blank waters wither you may repair about Sun-rising and see what your Nets have taken there CHAP. II §. I. How to take Water-Fowl with limed strings AFter you have found and observed the haunts of the Fowl provide a long line made of small cord knotted here and there and well limed over and a burthen of little sticks sharp at the nether end and with a little fork at the upper If it be for the Evening-flight come to the place an hour before Sun-set if for the Morning at least two hours before day observe the same times in going to prick down Lime-rods and prick them down a little slanting so as they may be within a foot and half of the ground at the uttermost in even rows all over the place of haunt one row distant from another a yard or two and one stick from the next in the same row four or five yards Then lay the limed strings on the forks some rows higher than others like waves Fasten the ends with a slipping loop so that upon any violent strain the limed string may loosen and lap about any thing that toucheth it And so you shall take a great number of Plover of other Fowl that fly in a broad squadron and swoop close by the ground a good distance before they light In like manner you may take whole-footed Water-fowl liming your strings with strong and water-tried Lime placing the strings over the Water as you did over the Land only making your forked sticks so much the longer observing never to lay them in the Moon-shine but either in dark nights or shady places They may be placed either so near the water as almost to touch it or higher not exceeding a foot and half These birds though many times they fly in single files yet when they come down spread themselves so as to alight all as it were together upon the water And so by this Artifice they may be taken many together §. II. How to take Water-fowl with Lime-twigs YOu must provide good store of rods the best are small long streight twigs of Willow cut of even length less for small fowl and greater for greater yet all so light and slender as to be apt to play and wind about any thing The length must be suited to the place where they are to be used Smear above half their upper ends with Birdlime and holding them to the fire make the Bird-lime melt and run upon them that the Rod may not be discerned from the Lime Then at the times before directed go to the haunts And first in the very middle of the place pin down for a stale a live-fowl of the same kind you lay for yet so that she may have liberty of wing to flutter up and down at pleasure Round the Stale every way all the place over prick down your Lime-rods in rows at about
may be from the view of the Birds as if near a Barn-door by casting Chaff upon it c. Observe also first to have some Covert to hide your person in where you may see and not be seen Secondly not to be too hasty in striking but stay till you have a full number under the reach of your Net and then pull freely and quickly §. II. Of taking Birds with Day-nets THE time of the Year for these Nets is from August till November Of the Day a little before Sun-rise so as your Nets may be laid and all your Implements in readiness to begin your work by peep of Sun The milder the Air and the clearer and brighter the Morning the fitter is the season for this exercise The best place is in Champain Countries remote from any Town Village or common concourse of people on short Barley stubbles smooth green Layes or level Meadows if the place be not naturally even and plain where you pitch your Nets you must make it so That both lying and falling over they may couch so close to the ground that the shortest grass or stubble appearing through them they may as it were lie hid and unperceived by the Birds and that being covered they may not creep or flicker from under them Let your Nets be made of very fine Packthread knit sure the Mash not above an Inch square Let them be about three fathoms long and not above one deep verged on each side with strong small Cords the ends extended upon two small Poles as long as the Net is broad c. in all things like the Net described § I. save that that was to be but one single Net but here you must have two exactly of the same size and fashion and placed at that distance that when they are drawn the sides may just meet and touch one another Your Nets being staked down with strong stakes so that with any nimble twitch you may cast them to and fro at pleasure some twenty or thirty paces from the Nets place your Giggs on the tops of long Poles turned into the wind so as they may play and make a noise therein These Giggs are made of long Goose-feathers in the manner of Shuttle-cocks and with little turnels of wood running in broad and flat Swan-quills made round like a small hoop and so with longer strings fastned to the Pole will with any small wind twirl and flicker in the Air after such a wanton manner that the Birds will come in great flocks to wonder and play about the same After the placing of your Giggs you shall then place your Stale which is a small stake of wood to prick down fast in the earth having in it a Morteise hole in which a long slender piece of wood of about two foot is so fastned that it may move up and down at pleasure and to this longer stick you shall fasten a small Line which running through a hole in the stake aforesaid and so coming up to the place where you sit you may by drawing the Line up and down to you with your right hand raise and mount the longer stick from the ground as oft as you shall find occasion Now to this longer stick you shall fasten a live Lark or Bunting for you must be sure ever to preserve some alive for that purpose or for want of such any other small Bird which the Line making to flicker up and down by your pulling will entice the Larks to play about it and swoop so near the ground that drawing your hand you may cover them with your Nets at pleasure Also it will entice Hawks and any other Birds of prey to stoop and strike at the same so as you may with ease take them There is also another Stale called the Looking-glass and this is a round stake of wood as big as a mans Arm and made very sharp at the nether end so as you may thrust and fasten it into the earth at your pleasure This Stake is made very hollow in the upper part above five fingers deep at the least into this hollowness is placed a three-square piece of wood about twelve Inches long and each square two Inches broad lying upon the top of the Stake and going with a foot into the hollowness which foot must have a great knob at the top and another at the bottom with a deep slenderness between them to which slenderness must be fastned a small Packthread which running through a hole in the side of the Stake must come up to the seat where you sit Now the three-square piece of wood which lies on the top of the Stake must be made of such a true poise and evenness and the foot in the Socket so round and smooth that upon the least touch it will twirl and turn round like a Scoperil winding the Packthread so many times about it which being suddenly drawn and as suddenly let go again will keep the Engine in a perpetual round motion like a Childs Mill made of a Nut a stick and an Apple This done you shall with Glue or other strong Cement fasten upon the uppermost squares of the three-square piece about twenty small pieces of Looking-glass and paint all the sparewood between them of a very bright red colour which in the continual motion and turning about will give such a glorious reflection that the wanton Birds cannot forbear but will play about it with admiration till they be taken Now both these Stales are to be placed in the very midst between the two Nets and about two or three foot distant one from another so that in the falling of the Nets the Cords may by no means touch or annoy them Neither must they stand one before or after another but in a direct Line one over against another the glass being kept continually moving and the Bird very oft flickering When you have thus placed your nets Giggs and Stales you shall then go to the further end of your long drawing Lines and Stale-lines and having a little Hassock made of Sedge about a foot or better high you shall place it within a yard or little more of the end of the same And then sitting down upon the Hassock lay the main drawing Line with a strong button of wood made fast in the same upon your thigh and with your right hand continually draw the grass-Line and with your left the Stale-line and when you shall perceive the Larks or other birds to play near and about your Nets and Stales swooping near and to the ground you shall then with both hands pull the Net over and cover and take your prey If the weather be good be not too hasty to pluck at a single bird but stay till you see many playing about your Nets Behind the Seat you sit on lay your spare Instruments and Implements which you are to use about the whole Work as Spare-stakes Poles Lines Packthread Knitting-pin and Needle your Bag with Stales a Mallet to knock
one bird their fear will not suffer them to argue or dispute the object or stay till everyone have beheld the thing suddenly affrighting them but away they all fly at the very first apprehension in an instant And therefore if you find any staggering or dismay among them presently cease and lie still as though you were dead till the fear be over and they gaze no more about them but gathering themselves together do begin to peep and cluck one to another and rejoyce among themselves and then you may fall to your work again §. III. Of taking Pheasants with the Lime-bush or Lime-rods YOur Rods must be twelve or at least ten Inches long well limed down to the middle and no further Your Lime-bush must contain not above eight twigs at most being the top-branch of some young Willow with a handle about a shaftment long sharpned so as either you may stick it gently into the ground or prick it into any shrub or bush where-through the Peasants usually trace or on any small tree where they use to pearch Place two or three of these bushes there Then make use of your Call and you will quickly have all the Pheasants within hearing about you and it is a chance but some of them will be toucht and if but one be limed she will go near to lime all her fellows for what by her strugling amongst them and they coming to gaze some will be smeared by her and some will light on other bushes And if some one or two escape by mounting and get to the Pearch and there as is the natural quality of them sit prying to see what becomes of their fellows it is ten to one but they will be taken by the Lime-bushes placed on the Pearch Old Pheasants when you call oftentimes will not come on the ground especially in Winter but mount and come flying from Pearch to Pearch till they come to that next you ever prying and peeping to find him out that calleth where they will probably be taken It very requisite to keep an exact account of all your Lime-bushes and Rods and when you have gathered up your Pheasants see what bushes or rods you have missing for if you miss but one of them you may be assured that there are some limed which you have not found And therefore never be without a Spaniel that will lie close at your foot and that will fetch and carry and neither break nor bruise flesh nor feather to hunt out and bring you all the birds that shall so lie hid The Lime-rods may be placed not only upon bushes and shrubs by Pheasants tracks but also upon the ground in open places between thicks in such order as is directed above neither too thick and apparent so as to breed affright nor so thin as to let any escape leaving about the length of a Rod or less between Lime-rod and Lime-rod The Season for using of Lime is from the beginning of November till the beginning of May for during that time the twigs of trees on which Birds pearch are void of leaves and like to Lime-twigs The time for the use of Nets is from the beginning of May till the latter end of October during which time the trees are covered with leaves The Pheasant-net would be made of the best twined double Housewives thread died green or blue the Mash almost an Inch between knot and knot It would be in length at least three fathoms in breadth seven foot or better verged on each side with a strong small Cord and as it were surfled thereon the Net being placed not streight but thick and large that at any time when it is extended it may lie compass-wise and hollow The two ends likewise should be verged with small Cord yet that more for strength than any particular use The great Nets which some use are cumbersom and hardly manageable and therefore if occasion be it is better take and use a couple of ordinary size CHAP. VII §. I. How to make the best Birdlime according to G. Markham TAke at Midsummer of the Bark of Holly so much as to fill a reasonable big Vessel and boil it in running water till the grey and white bark rise from the green which will take up a whole day or better Then take it from the fire and after the water is very well drained separate from it the barks Take all the green and lay it on the ground in a close place and on a moist floor as in some low Vault or Cellar and cover it allover a good thickness with Docks Hemlock Thistles and the like green weeds or else make it up in a heap with Fern S S S that is first a layer or bed of Fern then a layer of Bark then a layer of Fern again and so on interchangeably and so let it lie for the space of ten or twelve days in which time it will rot and turn to a slimy matter Then pound it in a large Morter till it come to be one uniform substance or paste that may be wrought with the hand like dough without discerning any part of the Bark or other substance Which done take it out of the Morter and carry it to a swift running stream and there wash it exceedingly not leaving any mote or filth in it Then put it up in a close earthen pot and let it stand and purge for divers days together three or four at least not omitting to skum it as any foulness arises and when no more will rise put it into a clean Vessel and cover it close and keep it for use Now when you have occasion to use it take thereof what quantity you shall think sit and putting it into an earthen Pipkin with a third part of Hogs grease or which is better Capons grease or Goose grease set it on a very gentle fire and there let them melt together and stir them continually till they be both incorporated together and become one entire substance Then take it from the fire and cool it stirring it till it be cold When it is well cooled take your Rods and warming them a little over the fire wind about the tops of them some of it so prepared then draw the Rods one from another closing them again do this several times continually plying and working them together till by smearing one upon another you have bestowed upon every Rod a like quantity of Lime keeping the full breadth of your hand at least free and without any Lime at all ever and anon warming the Rods before the fire to make the Lime spread on them the better and to make it lie smoother and plainer that the Fowl may not perceive it and take affright at it As for the liming of straws it must be done when the Lime is very hot and in such manner as the Rods are done before the fire only you must not do a few but a great heap together as big as you can well gripe in your hands for so
point of the hook somewhat longer than in other Eagles in proportion to the bigness of the Bird. The Pupil of the eye very black the Iris yellow The crown of the head and all the neck of a pale Chesnut inclining to an Ash-colour the tips of the feathers being more black The back and upper part of the Wings are covered with dark ferrugineous and blackish feathers as also are the Belly and Thighs for the most part The Tail from the Rump to the end is wholly white whence the name of Albicilla was not undeservedly by Gaza imposed upon it Howbeit two of the smaller feathers I suppose he means the two middlemost which lie upon and cover the other greater and principal ones have black tips The Legs are almost wholly bare of feathers and both Legs and Feet intensely yellow both being all over covered with square Table-like Scales The Talons very sharp The former Pygargus of Bellonius seems to be nothing else but the male of the Ringtail called in English the Henharrier §. V. * Of the Eagle called Morphnos or Clanga and Anataria THat Bird which by Gesner and out of him by Aldrovandus is figured and described under this title being again nothing else but our Bald Buzzard as Turner himself acknowledges who sent the description to Gesner under the title of Morphnos I shall omit it here referring it to its proper place among the wild Hawks it being as I said before of a lesser size than to deserve to be ranked with Eagles In stead of the true Morphnos which Aldrovandus professes himself not to know I shall here give you the description of that Bird which he calls Morphno Congener It is saith he of about the height and bigness of a large Dunghil-Cock From the tip of the Beak to the end of the Train three spans and an half long The Beak was pretty long hooked and tending almost directly downward joyned to the head by a yellow Membrane I suppose he means the Sear The colour of almost the whole Plumage was ferrugineous saving that at the ends of the Wings towards the belly it was beautified with many oval spots scattered up and down and moreover that the utmost tips of the beam-feathers were white as also the beginning of the Tail and the extremities of all its feathers and the lower part of the Rump The Legs were all over feathered down to the beginning of the toes and besprinkled also with whitish Ash-coloured spots The Feet were yellow the Toes above toward the Leg covered with Scales toward the Talons with annulary Tables The bottoms of all the feathers white The Pupil of the Eye black encompassed with a cinereous circle It would very greedily devour flaid Mice Bellonius for the Morphnos of the Ancients gives us the Jer-falcon whose opinion Aldrovandus disallows This Bird took the name Morphnos from the spots of the feathers whence also it may in Latine not unfitly be called Naevia Others will have this name to be derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Preterperfect Tense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being changed into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 short and the letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 interposed and so to signifie rapacious It is called Clanga both by the Greeks and Latines from the sound of its voice §. VI. * The crested Eagle of Brasil Urutaurana Brasiliensium Marggrav THis Bird is of the bigness of an Eagle It hath a black Bill the upper Chap whereof is hooked yellow near its rise or Base The Eyes of a lovely Gold-colour with black Pupils which it can cover with an ash-coloured skin Periophthalmium though it shut not the Eye-lids It hath an Eagle-like head but compressed or plain above flat-crowned in the top whereof it hath two black feathers about two inches long with two small ones on each side These it can when it lists setup an end and again let down flat The Wings reach but little beyond the bottom or rise of the Tail It hath a broad Tail like an Eagle The Head above is covered with dusky feathers having yellowish edges The uppor part and sides of the neck with brown ones rather cinereous or terreous like a Partridges The whole throat and lower part of the neck is white yet so that the white is variegated at the sides with black feathers The whole breast and lower belly the upper and lower legs down to the very feet are covered with white feathers wherewith black ones are mingled scalewise The Wings and Tail are of a dusky colour shaded having the utmost borders or edges white The feet have four Toes yellow of colour with dusky crooked Talons It s cry is Geb Geb like to that of a Chicken which hath lost its Dam we express that voice by Yelp yelp If you cast a bird to it whether alive or dead it catches it in its Talons and with its Bill handsomly plumes it and then tearing it in pieces swallows down both flesh and bones I kept one of these alive a long time in the Fort Mauritius by the River of St. Frances §. VII * The Brasilian Urubitinga of Marggrave very like our Pygarg or White-tail'd Eagle THis Bird is like an Eagle of the bigness of a Goose of six months old It hath a thick hooked black Beak a yellowish skin about the Nosthrils Great sparkling Aquiline Eyes A great Head Yellow Legs and Feet Four Toes in each foot disposed after the usual manner crooked long black Talons Large Wings A broad Tail It is all over covered with dusky and blackish feathers yet the Wings are waved with ash-colour The Tail is nine Inches long white for six the end for three Inches being black howbeit in the very tip there is again a little white This is a stately Bird of tall stature Egregiae staturae It doth in many things approach to that described by us under the title of Pygargus save that the upper part of the tail-feathers in that of ours was white the lower black whereas in this on the contrary the upper is black and the lower white Mr. Willughby mentions another variety or difference of the Pygargus in which the Tail-feathers from the middle downwards were white the upper half being black which seems to be altogether the same with that here described by Marggrave §. VIII * Of the Vulturine Eagle of Aldrovandus called Percnopteros Gypaëtos and also Ovipelargus THough Aldrovandus makes this Bird a sort of Eagle entitling it Perknopteros yet he confesses it to have nothing Aquiline beside the name being ignoble sluggish and deformed and therefore deserving to be set behind not only Eagles but also Vultures We take it to belong to the family of Vultures as will appear from its description compared with the general notes of Vultures Of this sort of Birds Aldrovandus gives us three figures and three descriptions besides that of Bellonius which whatever it be
seems to be a Bird of another kind The first was of a Vulturine Eagle brought out of Spain in these words It was of eminent Magnitude yea not much less than the Chrysaëtos but of an unusual and ridiculous shape the Beak not as in other Eagles bending from the root to the tip by a continual declivity but streight almost to the middle toward the point bowed into a remarkable hook after the same manner as in Vultures white toward the Head the rest of it being black the lower Chap wholly white The mouth within-side Oris rictus of a Chesnut-colour The Irides of the Eyes not as in other Eagles of a fiery colour but whitish the Pupil black The whole Head whitish inclining to dusky fuscum The upper part of the Neck about half way down almost bald beset with very few and those small feathers of a white colour At the end of this bald part almost in the middle of the Neck grew small feathers like certain rough curled hairs standing up above the rest of the Plumage as it were very fine slender long bristles the like whereto it had in the beginning of the back and breast in places just opposite to one another and also on the Rump below On the Back was as it were a kind of hood reaching to the middle thereof ending in a sharp peak and resembling a Triangle The colour of the whole body was a dark Chesnut inclining to black The Tail long the Feet and Legs white the Claws dusky The second was of one taken by Country men on the Alpish Mountains of the Town Giulia as follows From the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail it was by measure three spans long The Bill was long but for the most part covered with a skin or membrane so that about an inch only of the tip remained bare the hooked end small and slender The Head was bald or destitute of feathers to the hind-part so that the feathers standing up behind the crown resembled a Monks hood put back and leaning on his neck when he goes with his head uncovered The colour of almost all the feathers of the whole body was dusky inclining to a dark Chesnut Only interrupted by a continued Series of whitish feathers on the lower part of the neck making an acute Angle the point running down the middle of the back which was as it were the acuminated part of the Monks hood hanging from the shoulders down the middle of the back Also another series not unlike this of whitish feathers terminating in an acute Angle about the middle of the back covered all the lower part of the back toward the complications of the Wings somewhat resembling a Clock The Tail was broad and of a mean size The Feet dusky and all over covered with Scales The Beak and Talons were of one and the same dusky horn-colour The feathers on the thighs reached not lower than the knees It would without difficulty suffer it self to be touched or handled whence you may note its sluggishness and cowardise Being angred it cried like a Kite The third is Gesners This Eagle saith Gesner whose figure we here present you with if it be not the Gypaëtos i. e. The Vulturine Eagle or Oripelargus i. e. the Mountain Vulture yet seems to be bred at least of one Parent of this kind For in Beak it resembles a Vulture in colour a Stork being ignoble and sluggish It was unknown to our Fowlers being never that I know of taken with us But in the year of our Lord 1551. on Septemb. 29. there falling an extraordinary Snow a Bird of this kind her Wings being wet and heavy fell down into a narrow place in the open Air adjoyning to one of our Citizens houses It did for shape and colour wholly resemble a Stork It was Carnivorous yet would not touch Fish impatient of cold The body intensely hot so that the cold hands of them that touched it were presently warmed thereby It would sit stark still in the same place for four or five hours and sometimes look upon the Sun when it shone out Hens and other birds scorned despised and neglected it as harmless and innoxious I kept it at my house above a month and gave it meat with my hand the smaller gobbets whereof it would swallow the greater pieces it tore asunder with its Claws Though it drank not yet from its Beak drops of water distilled In the Year 1664. we saw at Venice in the Palace of a certain Nobleman of the City standing upon the Grand Channel a bird of this kind which we thus described For bigness it equalled or exceeded any Eagle we have seen The Head and Neck were destitute of feathers only covered with a white down From the Bill to the Eyes the skin was bare and of a blue colour Almost all the feathers of the body were of a pale ferrugineous colour On the lower part of the Neck below the Down there was as it were a kind of Collar or Ruff of long white feathers The prime feathers of the Wings and Tail were black The Bill was large more like a Gulls than an Eagles the tip of it white The Nosthrils were covered with a black membrane The Irides of the Eyes of a reddish hazel colour The Nosthrils turned directly downward and from them constantly dropped a liquid humour or water It was feathered down a little below the knee The Feet were of a Lead colour the Claws black lesser and not so crooked as an Eagles The middle Toe much longer than the rest The outmost joyned to the middle by a membrane as far as the first joynt or further The inside of the Legs white The Craw hung down from the body before like a bag It stood almost always with the Wings stretcht out like the figure of the Vultur Leporarius of Gesner These three descriptions I suspect to be of one and the same Bird differing only in Age or Sex For the first of Aldrovandus in most notes agrees with ours excepting the Triangular spot in the back which either was not in ours or not observed by us which yet I scarcely believe and that he makes no mention of any humour dropping from the nose of his perchance because it was seen and described after it was dead Aldrovandus confesses his second to be in many things not unlike to Gesners But that Gesners and ours are the same Bird that one note of the water distilling from the Nosthrils is sufficient to evince notwithstanding the difference of colour I judge the first of Aldrovandus and ours described at Venice to be of the same Sex likewise the second of Aldrovandus and that seen and described by Gesner to be of the same Sex but different from that of the other two But herein I dare not be very positive and confident CHAP. IV. Of VULTURES in general THe Characteristic
Eiasse-Hawks which being taken out of the Nest or brought away in the Nest before they can fly are brought up by hand 2. Ramage-Hawks or Branchers which are taken when they are fledg'd and got out of the Nest but depart not far from it flying only from bough to bough and following their Dams not being able yet to prey for themselves from Ramus signifying a bough However they be taken after they have preyed for themselves the first year while they retain their Chicken-feathers they are called Sore-hawks from the French word Soret signifying a dusky colour The second year when they have changed their feathers they are called Entermewers from the word muto to change The third year they are called White Hawks for what reason I know not The fourth year when they are come to their full growth and perfection they are called Hawks of the first coat the fifth year Hawks of the second coat the sixth year Hawks of the third coat and so on as long as they live Some of them if they be well tended and favoured while they are young will hold out twenty years The feathers of all by age gradually grow whiter as mens hairs grow grey so that by how much the older they are by so much the whiter are they The outmost feather of the Wing is by our Falconers called the Sarcel by the number of the dents whereof they pretend to know the age of the Hawk as by the number of cross bars in the tail the age of a Pheasaant But of the manner of feeding training up reclaiming and curing the diseases of Hawks those that have written of Falconry are to be consulted CHAP. VII Of Long-winged Hawks LOng-winged Hawks may be divided into the more sluggish and indocile which we call wild Hawks and the more generous such as use to be trained up for Fowling Those we call wild Hawks are the Bald Buzzard the Common Buzzard the Honey-Buzzard the Ring-tail the Kite or Glead and the Moor-Buzzard Of which in order CHAP. VIII ¶ Of the several sorts of wild long-winged Hawks and first §. I. Of the Bald Buzzard THis Bird is by Aldrovandus twice put among Eagles 1. Under the title of Haliaeetus Lib. 2. Cap. 3. 2. Under the title of Morphnos in the seventh Chapter of the same book The Bird we described weighed fifty six ounces and an half If herein Mr. Willughby be not mistaken I see not but this Bird might well enough pass for an Eagle But I suspect an error in the weight It s breadth or the distance between the extremities of the wings extended was sixty Inches The Beak from the point to the Angles of the mouth an inch and half long black hooked covered from the Base as far as the Nosthrils with a blewish skin or Sear bunching out between the Nosthrils and the hooked part The Nosthrils themselves are oblong and oblique The Angle of the lower Chap i. e. which the legs thereof make round The Tongue broad soft and like a mans The Irides of the Eyes yellow the Pupils great It hath both an upper and lower Eye-lid but the lower much greater The Eyes are not so sunk in the head or withdrawn under prominent brows as in the Common Buzzard but more extant The Bird itself seems to be much stronger and more valiant than the Buzzard with which it agrees in the colour of the upper part being black and ferrugineous The feathers on the crown of the head are white whence it took the name of Bald Buzzard The throat breast and belly white but above the Crop the feathers are ferrugineous The Legs are cloathed with white and soft feathers The prime or flag-feathers in each Wing are about twenty eight from the seventeenth they end in sharper points The greater are the blacker The four outmost have the lower half of their interiour Vanes twice as broad as the upper The interiour Vanes of all are variegated with white and black alternately indented like the teeth of a Saw The feathers under the shoulders are white marked with black spots toward the tips The third and fourth row of those that cover the roots of the flag-feathers underneath are elegantly marked toward the tips with dusky spots having their edges ferrugineous The lesser feathers above these are white the greater beneath them dusky or brown The Train is made up of twelve feathers of equal length having their borders party-coloured of white and ferrugineous indented as in the Wings The Legs are long The Feet thick and strong of a pale blue or Verdigrease colour The middle Toe the biggest the outermost somewhat bigger than the inner the back-toe as in all the least all armed with great semicircular black round Talons The feet scaly and uneven The sole of the foot rough that it may more easily hold its prey when it hath once caught it The Toes are so disposed that the outmost of the fore-toes may bend or turn backwards as in Owls Parrots c. The Liver Heart and Gall are large The Spleen round and of a black or sordid colour In the Stomach and Craw opened we found many fish-bones and scales The Surface of the Echinus or ante-stomach was full of many carneous Globules The Guts were long slender or small having many revolutions It haunts Rivers Lakes and great Pools of water as also the Sea-shores At Pensans in Cornwal we saw one that was shot having a Mullet in its Claw For it preys upon fish which seems very strange and wonderful sith it is neither whole-footed nor provided with long legs or neck It builds upon the ground among Reeds and lays three or four large white Eggs of a figure exactly Elliptical lesser yet than Hens Eggs. It casts an ill strong sent and is much infested with Lice It differs from the Sea-Eagle of Aristotle in that the neck is not thick and big but for the bulk of the body slender and small What Aldrovandus hath delivered of Eagles viz. that the right foot is bigger than the left doth not agree to this for its feet are equal It is distinguished from the common Buzzard 1. By its weight and bigness wherein it exceeds that 2. That its Wings are longer 3. By this most sure mark that the outmost of the fore-toes in this may be turned backward but not in the common Buzzard 4. By the angular processes of the upper Chap of the Beak 5. By the blue colour of the legs and feet §. II. Of the common Buzzard or Puttock called in Latine Buteo IT is about the bigness of a Pheasant or young Pullet It s weight was thirty two ounces It s length from the tip of the Beak to the end of the tail twenty one inches Its breadth the Wings being stretched out fifty two inches The Head great The Crown broad and flat The Beak short hooked and of a dark blue A yellow skin covers the upper
Chap from the root beyond the Nosthrils The Bridle of the mouth or the skin of the corners is also yellow The Nosthrils are round yet in one Bird of this kind we observed them long and bending It gaped wide It s Tongue was thick fleshy blunt as in the rest of this kind Being angry it opened its mouth and held its Tongue stretched out as far as the end of its Bill The roof of the mouth hath in it a hollow equal to the Tongue The Angle of the lower Chap is circular The Eyes are great the Irides or circles encompassing the Pupil white with a dash sometimes of yellow sometimes of red sometimes they are of a whitish colour without mixture of any other The lower Eye-lid downy The Membrane for Nictation blue The colour of all the upper part a dark fulvous approaching to black or a ferrugineous black In some birds of this kind we observed many white spots in the covert feathers of the Wings which in the Wings spread made a kind of white line The like white spots it had in the long feathers springing from the shoulders which cover the whole back The edges of these feathers were of a dirty yellow The lower side of the body was of a dilute yellow or yellowish white the breast stained with oblong ferrugineous spots not transversely placed but tending downwards in each feather drawn according to the length of the shaft The Chin is of a ferrugineous colour the shafts of the feathers being black Between the Eyes and Nosthrils grow long black bristles On the middle of the back grow no feathers but only down for the scapular feathers cover the whole back The flag-feathers in each Wing are about twenty four in number The outmost of which is shortest the third and fourth counting from it longest The tips of the four outmost are blacker and narrower than those of the rest For the tips of the rest are white The interiour webs of all are variegated with broad transverse dusky and whitish strakes or bars after the manner of those of a Woodpecker or Woodcock The under-side of the Wings excepting the tips of all the flags and the third part of the five outmost feathers is white varied with transverse parallel lines The Wings closed reach almost to the end of the Train The Train is nine or ten inches long made up of twelve feathers not forked but when spread term inating in a circular circumference The utmost tips of its feathers are of an ash-colour then follows a transverse black line of an inch breadth the remaining part being varie gated with black and cinereous transverse spaces or bars only the bottoms of the feathers white The Thighs are long strong and fleshy The Legs short thick and strong feathered down a little below the Knees The Legs and Feet yellow and covered with Scales The outmost toe joyned below to the middlemost by a membrane for some space The Talons strong long and black that of the outmost fore-toe the least that of the back-toe the biggest The Liver is divided into two lobes having a large Gall The Spleen of an Oval figure It hath but two Testicles The stomach is large not musculous but membranous that is not fleshy like the Gizzard of a Hen or Turkey c. but skinny like those of beasts It feeds not only upon Mice and Moles but also upon Birds For out of the stomach of one that we opened we took a small Bird entire and out of the stomach of another even a Thrush It is a great destroyer of Conies Yet for want of better food it will feed upon Beetles Earth-worms and other Insects The heads of these Birds are said to grow cinereous with age and the feathers of their backs white But whether it come to pass by reason of Sex or Age or other accident certain it is they differ very much one from another in this respect For whereas some have no white feathers neither in head back nor wings others have very many Buzzards Eggs are white stained with a few great reddish spots yet sometimes all over white without spots That sort of Hawk as Pliny witnesseth which the Romans named Buteo was by the Grecians called Triorches from the number of its stones Aldrovandus also saith that in a Buzzard dissected he had observed three stones The third stone appeared not to us though we diligently sought it Aldrovandus also himself saith that he would not very much contend with him that shall obstinately deny that third glandulous body which besides the two stones he had noted adjoyning to them to be a true Testicle §. III. The Honey-Buzzard FOr bigness it equals or exceeds the common Buzzard is also like it in figure or shape of body unless perchance it be somewhat longer It weighed thirty one ounces The length from Bill-point to tail-Tail-end was twenty three Inches to the points of the Talons not more than nineteen It s breadth or the distance between the ends of the Wings spread fifty two Inches It s beak from the tip to the Angles of the mouth was an inch and half long black and very hooked bunching out between the nosthrils and the head The Basis of the upper Chap covered with a thick rugged black skin beyond the Nosthrils which are not exactly round but long and bending The mouth when gaping very wide and yellow The Angle of the lower Chap as in other Hawks semicircular The Irides of the Eyes of a lovely bright yellow or Saffron colour The head is ash-coloured The Crown flat broad narrow toward the Beak The bottoms of the Plumage in the head and back white which is worthy the noting because it is common with this to many other Hawks The back is of a ferrugineous colour or rather a Mouse-dun The tips of the flag-feathers as also those of the second and third rows in the wings white The Wings when closed reach not to the end of the tail The number of flags in each Wing twenty four The Tail consists of twelve feathers near a foot long variegated with transverse obscure and lucid or blackish and whitish spaces rings or bars The very tips of the feathers are white below the white is a cross black line under that a broad dun or ash-coloured space or bed the like whereto also crosses the wings which differ not much from the tail in colour As for the lower side of the body the feathers under the chin and tail are white the breast and belly also white spotted with black spots drawn downward from the head toward the tail The Legs are feathered down somewhat below the knee short strong yellow as are also the feet The Talons long strong sharp and black The Guts shorter than in the former The Appendices thick and short In the stomach and guts of that we dissected we found a huge
number of green Caterpillars of that sort called Geometrae many also of the common green Caterpillars and others It builds its Nest of small twigs laying upon them wool and upon the wool its Eggs. We saw one that made use of an old Kites Nest to breed in and that fed its Young with the Nymphae of Wasps For in the Nest we found the Combs of Wasps Nests and in the stomachs of the Young the limbs and fragments of Wasp-Maggots There were in the Nest only two young ones covered with a white Down spotted with black Their Feet were of a pale yellow their Bills between the Nosthrils and the head white Their Craws large in which were Lizards Frogs c. In the Crop of one of them we found two Lizards entire with their heads lying towards the birds mouth as if they sought to creep out This Bird runs very swiftly like a Hen. The Female as in the rest of the Rapacious kind is in all dimensions greater than the Male. It differs from the common Buzzard 1. In having a longer tail 2. An ash-coloured head 3. The Irides of the Eyes yellow 4. Thicker and shorter feet 5. In the broad transverse dun beds or stroaks in the wings and tail which are about three inches broad The Eggs of this Fowl are cinereous marked with darker spots It hath not as yet that we know of been described by any Writer though it be frequent enough with us §. IV. Of the Ring-tail the Male whereof is called the Henharrier THe Female though lean weighed sixteen ounces From the point of the Beak to the end of the tail it was by measure twenty inches long From tip to tip of the wings extended was forty five inches The Bill from the tip to the corners of the Mouth an inch and half long Above the Nosthrils and at the corners of the Jaw grow black bristles reflected forward From the hind part of the Head round the Ears to the Chin a ring or wreath of feathers standing up having their middle dusky and their edges of a reddish white encompasses the head as it were a Crown From this wreath hangs down a naked skin covering the ears The back is of a dark ferrugineous colour the edges of the neck feathers reddish In the crown of the head less red The bottoms of the feathers in the hind-part of the head white Under the Eyes is a white spot The belly and brest of a dilute reddish colour or white with a Tincture of red marked with long dusky spots tending downward along the shaft of the feather The middle of the throat of a dusky or dark ferrugineous colour the edges of the feathers being red The Rump hath some white feathers marked in the middle along their shafts with oblong ferrugineous spots The number of flag-feathers in each wing was twenty four the exteriour webs whereof were of the same colour with the back the interiour being variegated with transverse black and white stroaks alternately situate In the exteriour and greater feathers the white stroaks are bigger and broader in the interiour and lesser the black In the inmost the whole web is dusky the white by degrees growing darker and darker till at last it comes to be wholly brown or dusky The tips of the exteriour feathers in the second row are white of the interiour red the rest of them being of the same colour with the back The Tail is ten Inches long made up of twelve feathers The tips whereof are of a reddish ash-clour to which succeed alternately red and black bars the black being much the broader In the two middle feathers the red doth altogether disappear the feathers being wholly black A yellow skin covers the upper Chap reaching from the root of the Bill beyond the Nosthrils Else the Bill is black hooked and prominent The lower Mandible streight The Mouth wide when gaping In the Palate is a Cavity equal to the Tongue The Tongue broad fleshy and undivided Both Tongue and Palate black The Angle of the lower Chap as in others of this kind round The border of the Eye-lids round the Eyes yellow The Feet yellow the Talons black The outmost Toe for some space from the divarication is joyned to the middlemost by an intervening membrane The middle Toe longest the inmost shortest but the Claw of the outmost least The Legs long It hath a great Craw Small round tumid blind Guts A large Gorge in that we opened full of feathers and bones of birds A Gall joyned to the Liver Its Eggs were as it were besmeared over with red the white here and there appearing from underneath it The Male or Tarcel of this kind differs very much from the described not only in magnitude but also in colour It is called in English the Henharrow or Henharrier The head neck and back are of an Ash-colour like that of a Ring-dove The long feathers growing on the shoulders are somewhat dusky The Rump not so white as in the Female The Breast white with some transverse dusky spots The two middle feathers of the Tail cinereous from the middle to the outmost the colour is more languid and dilute inclining to white all but the middle ones marked with transverse blackish bars The exteriour flag-feathers of the Wings are black the tips being ash-coloured and the bottoms white The outside of the rest is cinereous only their inner limbs or borders white The covert feathers of the upper side of the Wings cinereous of the nether side white the shafts of the interiour being black The first row of the covert feathers of the inside of the Wing have transverse dusky spots The Legs are long and very slender beyond the proportion of other Hawks In other points it agrees for the most part with the Female We suppose this Bird may be the Pygargus of Bellonius I suspect that Aldrovandus makes of this Hawk differing in Age or Sex two or three Species The description of that carnivorous Bird he calls Palumbo similis agrees exactly to this The description also of Lanarius in the Fifth Book eleventh Chapter of his Ornithology answers in most particulars And therefore we have taken the figure thereof for it §. V. The Kite or Glead Milvus caudâ forcipatâ IT weighed forty four ounces It s length from the point of the Beak to the end of the Tail was twenty eight inches The Wings extended were equal in breadth to sixty four Inches The Beak from the tip to the corners of the mouth was two inches long The upper Chap hung down half an Inch. The Head and Chin are of a pale ash-colour varied with black lines along the shafts of the feathers The Neck red the middle part of the feathers being black The Back dusky or brown like a Buzzards The feathers next the Tail of the same colour with it having their middle parts or shafts black The
lesser rows of Wing-feathers are party-coloured of red black and white the middle part of each feather along the shaft being black The long Scapular feathers covering the Back have black lines like the flags The feathers covering the inside of the Wing are red with black spots in their middles The Plumage of the lower side hath the edges ash-coloured then follows red the middle part being black The black part is by degrees less and less from the Chin to the Tail so that under the Tail only the shafts of the feathers are black The red colour is also more dilute toward the Tail The flag-feathers of the Wings are in number twenty four of which the five outmost are black the next six are of a dark cinereous colour all the rest to the last are again black the last are particoloured of red white and brown All but the five or six exteriour feathers have in their outward webs black transverse lines the spaces between the lines being whitish especially from the sixth to the eleventh The foremost of the second row of Wing-feathers are black as also the bastard Wing The Wings closed are longer than the middle feathers of the Tail shorter than the outmost The Tail is forked the middle feathers being eleven Inches long the outmost fourteen The colour red ruffus The extreme feathers blackish All but the two middlemost have black cross lines the middle spaces or distances being whitish The tips of all are white The Bill is black having scarce any tooth-like Appendices The Tongue broad and thick as in other carnivorous Birds In the Palate there is a Cavity equal to the Tongue The Sear or skin about the Nosthrils is yellow In the roof of the mouth is a double cranny or hole The Eyes are great The Irides of a pale but lovely yellow The Legs and Feet yellow The outmost foretoe joyned to the middle one by a Membrane reaching almost half way The Talons black that of the back-toe being the greatest The Talon of the middle toe hath a sharp edge on the inside It hath a great Gall a large Craw. The streight gut below the Appendices is much dilated as in other of this kind Spreading its Wings it so ballances it self in the Air that it can rest as it were immovable a long time in the same place yea without at all or but rarely moving its Wings it glides through the Air from place to place whence perchance it took its English name Glead By the figure of its Tail alone it is sufficiently distinguished from all other Birds of prey we have hitherto seen This sort of Birds saith Pliny seems to have taught men the Art of steering a Ship by the turning of their Tails Nature shewing in the Air what was needful to be done in the Deep For hence as Aldrovandus goes on it is probable that men learned to apply a Rudder viz. When they saw the Kite by turning her Tail sometimes this way sometimes that way to direct or vary her course and turn about her body at pleasure they also attempting somewhat like added the Helm to the Ship by winding and turning whereof to and fro they could direct and impel it whither they pleased which otherwise would be driven uncertainly and at random by the Winds and Tides Kites they say are Birds of passage shifting places according to the seasons of the year When I was once saith Bellonius on the shore of the Euxine Sea on Thraceside about the latter end of April on a certain very high Hill near to that Pillar which is at the mouth of the Bosphorus where a Fowler had spread Nets for catching of Sparrow-Hawks which came flying from the right side of the Sea we observed Kites coming thither in flocks and that in so great numbers that it was a miracle to us For being as it were astonished at the strangeness of the spectacle we could not conceive where such a multitude of Kites could get themselves food For should they for but fifteen days space fly continually that way in such numerous squadrons I dare confidently affirm they would exceed the number of men living upon the Earth Howbeit with us in England they are seen all the year neither do they fear or fly our Winters Pliny writes that Kites feed upon no other meat but flesh But Bellonius affirms That in Cayro a City of Egypt he hath seen them light upon Palm-trees and eat the Dates But no question they do so only being compelled by hunger and for want of their natural and familiar food They are very noisom to tame birds especially Chickens Ducklings and Goslings among which espying one far from shelter or that is carelesly separated a good distance from the rest or by any other means lies fit and exposed to rapine they single it out and fly round round for a while marking it then of a sudden dart down as swift as Lightning and catch it up before it is aware the Dam in vain crying out and men with hooting and stones scaring them away Yea so bold are they that they affect to prey in Cities and places frequented by men so that the very Gardens and Courts or Yards of houses are not secure from their ravine For which cause our good Housewives are very angry with them and of all birds hate and curse them most The Grecians call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but more commonly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 §. VI. The More-Buzzard Milvus Aeruginosus Aldrov an Circus Bellonii IT is lesser than the Buzzard of about the bigness of a Crow The Head is not so great nor the Crown so flat and broad as in a Buzzard It s length from the point of the Bill to the end of the Tail is more than twenty Inches The distance between the tips of the Wings spread fifty Inches The Beak about an Inch and half long hooked covered at bottom with a yellowish green skin or Sear else black The Nosthrils not round but long of the figure of a Guiny Bean or Kidney The Mouth withinside partly black partly blewish The Tongue broad fleshy soft as in other birds of prey The hole or cleft in the Palate wide and open The Eyes of a mean size having yellow Irides in the bird that I described at Rome But Mr. Willughby writes that they are between an Ash and Hazel colour The Crown of the head is of a kind of clay colour of a pale fulvous or between yellow and ruffus variegated with black lines viz. the shaft of each feather being black The colour of the whole body as well lower as upper side is a dark ferrugineous only at the middle joynt of both Wings there is a spot of the same reddish clay-colour ex sulvo albicans with the head and the feathers at the root or rise of the tail are fulvous The Wings closed reach
blue In the Train of the Male we described were only five cross pale-red bars as we said before the intermediate black spaces being broader The Train was five Inches long the whole bird thirteen The Merlin though the least of Hawks yet for spirit and mettle as Albertus truly writes gives place to none It strikes Partridge on the Neck with a fatal stroke killing them in an instant No Hawk kills her prey so soon They fly also Heath-pouts with it CHAP. X. Of short-winged Hawks §. I. The Goshawk Accipiter Palumbarius IT is bigger than the common Buzzard Of a dark brown or Buzzard colour on the head neck back and upperside of the Wings The whole Breast and Belly white with transverse black lines standing very thick The Thighs are covered over with reddish feathers having a black line in the middle down the shaft The Legs and Feet are yellow the Talons black The Beak blue and the Sear of a yellowish green The Wings when closed fall much short of the end of the Train by which note alone and its bigness it is sufficiently distinguished from all other Hawks The Train is long of a cinereous or dun colour with four or five cross blackish bars standing at a great distance each from other In each feather of the Breast there is a black circular line near the top running parallel to the edges of the feather and in some also the shaft and middle part of the feather is black It takes not only Partridge and Pheasant but also greater Fowl as Geese and Cranes Sometimes also it catches Conies Our English Authors who have written of Falconry make this the same with the French Autour or Astur although Aldrovandus would have the Astur which he takes to be the Asterias of Aristotle to be a different bird But I suppose the Goshawk was not well known to Aldrovandus §. II. The Sparrow-hawk Accipiter Fringillarius seu Nisus Recentiorum IT is almost as big as a Pigeon It s length from Bill-point to Tail end about fourteen inches The distance between the tips of the Wings extended twenty six Inches It s Beak is short hooked blue black toward the tip The Basis of the upper Chap covered with a yellowish green skin which they call the Sear or rather Cere from the Latine word Cera signifying wax because it is for the most part of a Wax-colour having an angular Appendix or tooth on each side under the Nosthril The Nosthrils are oblong the Palate blue the Tongue thick black and a little cleft The Eyes of mean size with yellow Irides over-hung by brows prominent like the Eaves of a house The Crown of the head is of a dark brown Above the Eyes and in the hinder part of the head sometimes are white feathers The bottoms of the feathers in Head or Neck are white The rest of the upper side Back Shoulders Wings Neck are of the same dark brown excepting some feathers of the Wings which are spotted with white In another bird the Head and Wings were of a dark ash-colour or blue The colour of the underside viz. the Neck Breast Belly Sides and Wings various of white and blackish or russet Russet waved lines thick-set crossing the whole Breast and Belly and indeed each single feather the white intermediate spaces are broader than the russet lines The feathers under the Chin and by the Legs of the lower Mandible are white only their middle parts about the shaft especially toward the tip brown or russet The Wings when closed scarce reach to the middle of the Tail The flag-feathers are twenty four in whose under sides appear on the interiour webs of each dark transverse marks or spots The Tail is almost two Palms long consisting of twelve feathers having five or six cross black bars The tips of the feathers are white The Thighs are strong and fleshy as in all birds of prey the Legs long slender yellow the Toes also long the outmost as in other Hawks being joyned to the middlemost by a Membrane below The Talons black It lays about five white Eggs spotted near the blunt end with a Circle as it were a Coronet of bloud-red speaks It feeds only upon Birds as our Fowlers affirm never touching Beetles or other Insects For its bigness it is a very bold and couragious Bird and is frequently trained up and made for hawking Bellonius acquaints us with a common and familiar way of taking this kind of Hawks about the Streight of Propontis in these words Not far distant saith he from the outlet of the Euxine Sea at the entrance of the Streight leading to the Propontis having climbed up a very high Hill that is there by chance we found a Fowler on the top intent upon the catching of Sparrow-hawks Whereas it was now past mid-April at which time all sorts of birds are wont to be very busie in breeding or building their Nests it seemed to us wonderful strange and unusual to see such a multitude of Kites and Hawks coming flying from the right side of the Sea This Fowler did with such industry and dexterity lay wait for them that not so much as one escaped him He took at least twelve Hawks every hour The manner thus He himself lay hid behind a little bushet before which he had levelled a square plat or floor about two paces long and broad being two or three paces distant from the bushet In the borders of this floor he had pitcht down or thrust into the ground six stakes at due distances of about the thickness of ones thumb the word is Pollicis and may possibly signifie an inch-thick of a mans height two on each side On the top of each on that side which respected the floor was a nick cut in upon which was hung a Net made of fine green thread In the middle of the floor stood a Stake a Cubit high to the top of which a Cord was bound which reached as fas as the Fowler who lay behind the bushet To this same Line lying loose were many little Birds fastned which picked up grains of Corn on the floor Now when the Fowler saw a Hawk coming afar off from the Sea-coast shaking the Line he made these birds to flicker up and down Which the Sparrow-hawks as they are notably sharp-sighted espying at least half a League off came flying full speed and rush'd upon the Nets with that force to strike at the birds that being entangled therein they were taken The Hawks being allured into the Nets and caught by this Artifice the Fowler thrust their whole wings up to the shoulders into certain linnen clothes sown up for that purpose which our Falconers call mayling or trussing of Hawks Thus mayld or trust up he left them upon the ground so unable to help themselves that they could not stir nor struggle much less disengage or deliver themselves No man could easily
imagine whence such a multitude of Sparrow-hawks should come For in two hours time that we were spectators of that sport we saw more than thirty taken by this deceit whence one may conjecture that one Fowler in the space of one day might take more than an hundred These Hawks do not usually stay so long in one place as Falcons but are often changing place whence it is more difficult to take them with a Net For they will not readily give a Fowler time to spread a Net over them unless they be deceived in that manner Bellonius hath set down CHAP. XI Of Butcher-Birds or Shrikes called in Latine Lanii or Colluriones THe new name of Lanius or Butcher was by Gesner imposed on this bird because he thought it agreed to no description of the Ancients and because it is wont to prey on other Birds Bellonius would have it to be the Collurio of Aristotle Of the Europaean Rapacious birds it is the least having a streight Bill only a little hooked at the point a Tail like that of a Mag-pie viz. with the outmost feathers shortest the rest in order longer to the middlemost whence the French do not without reason call it the Grey Pie Turner suspects it to be the Tyrannus of Aristotle In English it is called a Shrike §. I. The greater Butcher-bird or Mattagess Lanius cinereus major THis Bird in the North of England is called Wierangle a name it seems common to us with the Germans who as Gesner witnesseth about Strasburgh Franckfort and elsewhere call it Werkengel or Warkangel perchance saith he as it were Wurchangel which literally rendred signifies a suffocating Angel In other parts of Germany it is called Neghen-doer that is Nine-killer Enneactonos because it kills nine birds before it ceases or every day nine Our Falconers call it the Mattagess a name borrowed from the Savoyards which is by Aldrovandus interpreted a murthering Pie. It is for bigness equal to the common Black-bird or the Song-Thrush It weighs three ounces It s length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail is more than ten inches Its Breadth fourteen inches It s Bill from the tip to the Angles of the mouth is above an inch long black hooked at the end and furnished with an Angle or Tooth on each side like that of the Kestrel Sparrow-hawk and lesser birds of this kind Aldrovandus affirmeth that his greater Italian Lanius which they commonly call Regestola wants these angular Appendices of the Bill wherein it differs from ours The Tongue is slit or forked at the end and rough In that described by Aldrovandus the tip of the Tongue is multifidous or jagged ending in many sharp Fibres as it were hairs which perchance saith he is so framed by Nature for the striking of Insects In the Palate is a sissure or cleft and about the cleft a hollow Cavity equal to the Tongue The Nosthrils are round above which grow stiff black hairs or bristles From the corner of the Mouth on each side through the Eyes to the hind part of the head is drawn a black stroak The Head Back and Rump are ash-coloured The Chin and Belly white The Breast and lower part of the Throat varied with dark transverse lines It hath in each Wing eighteen prime feathers the tips of all which excepting the four outmost are white The second and third have also their exteriour edges white Moreover the first or outmost feather begins to be white at the bottom In the rest in order as far as to the tenth the white part increaseth so that more than the lower half of the tenth feather is white From the tenth in the following feathers the white diminishes again yet in their interiour edges it runs up to the top in the last that is those next to the body it fails quite Else both the Beam-feathers and the first row of covert-feathers are black The Tail is made up of twelve feathers of which the middlemost are the longest by measure four inches and a quarter the rest in order shorter to the outmost which are but three inches and an half The outmost feathers are all over white the two middlemost have only their tips white the rest of the feather being black in the intermediate feathers the black part gradually diminisheth to the outmost Whence saith Aldrovandus when it flies the white part of the Tail shews like a Crescent In the greater Lanius of Aldrovandus the four middle-feathers of the Tail are wholly black and not two only The Legs and Feet are black The outmost Toe at the bottom joyned to the middlemost The Testicles are round and little That we dissected had in the stomach Caterpillars Beetles and Grashoppers In Germany between Heidelberg and Strasburgh about a Village called Linkenom we killed this bird It is also common elsewhere in Germany Moreover we are told that it is found in the mountainous parts of the North of England as for instance in the Peak of Derbyshire where as we said it is called Wierangel Gesner reports that the Lanii of Switzerland do for the most part haunt and abide among thorny shrubs sitting upon the highest twigs of dwarf-trees and bushes setting up their tails as they sit In them also they build making their Nests of Moss Wool and certain downy herbs But the bottoms thereof of Heath upon which they lay withinside the soft and tender stalks of hay Doggs-tooth and other like herbs In this Nest in summer time are to be found six Young so unlike to the old ones that they scarce resemble them in one mark their Bills Legs and Feet only excepted yea rather on the contrary the bottoms of all their downy feathers which are as yet nothing else but certain rudiments of their future Plumage incline somewhat to green Although it doth most commonly feed upon Insects yet doth it often set upon and kill not only small birds as Finches Wrens c. but which Turner affirms himself to have seen even Thrushes themselves Whence it is wont by our Falconers to be reclaimed and made for to fly small birds as we have before noted Gesner besides this we have described sets forth another sort of great Butcher-bird like to this but twice as big so that it is double the magnitude of a Black-bird It is of the same nature shape of body and colour except that the Wings are red §. II. The lesser Butcher-Bird called in York-shire Flusher Lanius tertius Aldrov IT is of the bigness of a Lark and hath a great head The Cock weighed two ounces and an half From the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail it was seven Inches and an half long to the end of the Claws but six inches and an half from tip to tip of the Wings spread twelve inches and an half broad The Bill was an inch long black and strong The tip of the upper Chap hooked near
round the World with falshood and lying because after his return from that long Voyage giving the first notice of this Bird to the Europaeans in the Diary of his travel he attributes to it slender Legs a Palm long For my part though hitherto I confess I have been in the same erroneous opinion with them in thinking these birds to be footless contrary to the sentence and judgment of Aristotle who affirms that no bird wants feet because those which I hapned to see both in my Spanish Voyage stopping two months at Lisbon and also in the Low Countries in the Cabinets of sundry persons delighted in such exotic things were all without feet and exenterated yet at that time to say the truth I was not at all curious in observing whether there were any difference between them But the last Voyages of the Hollanders into India have made me without difficulty to change my opinion it being certain that there have been some brought over entire and retaining still their legs and feet And by those who saw them I understood that their Legs were very like those of a Magpie but weaker and not so thick differing also in colour as not being black but tending to a Chesnut Notwithstanding I had a great desire my self to see them and if I could have got but one presently to have taken a draught thereof that I might expose it to the view of the Reader and confirm the truth and faithfulness of Pigafeta But they having been for their rarity presently bought up and carried away to Francfurt on the Main and one of them thence to the Emperour Rudolphus the second of that name his Majesty being as I hear greatly delighted in these kind of strange forein things and in the knowledge of all the wonders of nature I was frustrated of my hope But if it happens that there be any entire ones brought over and that I get seasonable notice of it I will do my endeavour to procure one at least to borrow it that I may set forth its figure to confute and extirpate the commonly received opinion or conceit that these birds want feet Howbeit the Mariners that brought these Birds though they went not to those Islands where the birds themselves breed and live yet were informed as I was assured by those of whom they bought them that they were all furnished with Feet and did both walk and fly like other Birds But that the Inhabitants so soon as they take them do exenterate them and cut off and cast away their Legs and then expose them to the Sun that they may dry the more readily and so dried either keep them to sell or fasten them to their Helmets instead of Plumes of feathers They added moreover that those birds lived in Woods and were wont to fly thirty or forty together in flocks accompanied with their King or Captain who always flies high above the rest and which seems to be fabulous if they be thirsty use to send out one of their company first to the water to make trial of it which if it receives no harm from drinking it then the whole flock fly thither and drink But if it returns sick or indisposed the rest avoid that water and fly away to seek out some other They further added that the Islanders were wont to taint and infect this water for to catch these Birds after this manner When they espy a flock of Birds they mark diligently whither they betake themselves and as soon as they see the bird that was sent out after it hath drank flown back again they presently cast poyson into that water which the whole flock coming to drink of is infected and becomes their prey Besides that these Birds were wont sometimes to be shot with Arrows And if their King happens to be killed and fall down the rest that are in that flock fall together with him and yield themselves to be taken as refusing to live after they have lost their King Furthermore they made two kinds of those Birds The one of the Greater which were more beautiful and the other of the Lesser which wereless beautiful Affirming that both kinds have their peculiar King and different in colour That the birds of the greater kind whose King is of an elegant and beautiful colour were found only in the Isle Aru or Arou for so that Vowel u is to be pronounced But that the Isles called Papuas nigh to the Island Gilolo did produce the birds of the lesser kind and that their King was less handsom covered with black feathers for bigness equal to a Starling and having some feathers like horse-hairs Perchance this black King may be the fourth Species set forth by Aldrovandus Those that sold these Birds being asked by the Mariners how they were called by the Inhabitants answered Boëres that is Birds For so they called all Birds neither did they know how to distinguish them by peculiar names Now having seen a very elegant Bird of the greater sort and bigger also than the rest of this kind in the house of the famous Peter Paroias Doctor of Physick and primary Professor in the University of Leyden I took care to get the figure thereof cut that I might set it forth subjoyning a short History as faithfully taken as I could which should by right have taken up the first place in the fifth Book of Exotics But seeing the six first Books are already printed off I thought fit to insert it with some other things I afterward got into this Auctarium §. IX * A Bird of Paradise of the greater sort Clus THe bulk of the body of this bird came near for bigness to that of a Swallow From the top of the Head to the Rump it scarce exceeded five inches length The Crown from the Bill to the Eyes and Neck was covered with very thick-set short little feathers resembling filaments or thrums of Silk their upper parts or ends being of a yellow colour the lower where they are inserted into the skin dusky The under-part of the Head next to the lower Chap of the Bill was very thick-set with thrums rather than feathers being very short and like to Velvet of a deep black from the Eyes as far as the Throat The Throat as low down as the Breast was adorned with the like feathers or rather silken thrums and those of a deep green so beautiful and shining that there cannot more elegant ones be seen in the Neck of the wild Drake or Mallard The feathers covering the Breast were also exceeding fine and small but longer and very soft of a black colour inclining to red so that they seemed to be nothing but ends of Silk The Bill was but small and sharp-pointed an inch and half long black in the part next the Head the top being somewhat whitish In the Head also near the Bill appeared very small footsteps of Eyes The Back Belly and Tail-feathers were of a ferrugineous or dusky red colour The Tail it self
consisted of ten pretty broad feathers and was six inches and an half long above which were two long and round feathers somewhat like to Bow-string or Shoo-makers threads but stiff and dusky of two feet and three or four inches length proceeding from the same original or root or ground viz. the Rump with the feathers of the Tail viz. being joyntly inserted into the Rump These were pretty thick at their rise about their Quills or hollow part from which they were set with frequent thick-standing hairy or downy thrums stamina such as other feathers are compounded of for the space of four inches or a little more on the one side and on the other for their third parts Thence they grew slenderer by degrees to their very ends and though they were destitute of those hairs yet were they rough as if they had been cut off The feathers in the Wings were of various length For some to wit the lowest which stood very thick exceeded not the length of six inches yea some were shorter than so Others were eight or nine inches long others twelve but the longest a foot and half There is also in them great variety of colours for some are of a shining golden colour some especially the narrower in the sides of the Wings were of a dusky red as it were a black sanguine but shining But those that covered the rest were of a pale ash-colour and their sides thinner-set with villose or downy threads In short they were all very beautiful which if I might I would willingly have got cut and set forth in a Table but because they grew so thick it could not conveniently be done without marring the shape of the whole Bird. Another of the same kind I afterwards saw in the hands of that noble and learned Person Joseph Scaliger somewhat lesser in bulk of body as being but four inches and an half long from Head to Rump but yet the feathers of the Tail were of the same length with those of that next above described yet those round and long feathers like to Nerves joyntly springing out of the Rump did not exceed the length of one foot and nine Inches else about their Quils set with the like hairs and downy thrums on the one side to the length of three inches from the Quill on the other to almost five and thence they grew smaller to the very ends and were something rough especially about the ends but not so as those of the precedent The feathers in the Wings were likewise of a different length as in the former Neither was the bird very unlike to that nor the variety of colours diverse from it so that it seemed to differ only in age The Bill was an inch and half long in part dusky the rest being white Besides I saw at his house another somewhat lesser in bulk of body and not so flat having a very little Head the Bill being of almost equal bigness with the precedents but narrower and of a bluish dusky colour having two holes for respiration in the upper part next the Head like the precedent The Crown of the head was cloathed with very short feathers or rather hairs like thrums of silk but not of so elegant a colour as in the precedent but of a kind of sooty yellow Besides the border of feathers compassing the Bill on the upper side was not of that breadth as in those yet in like manner of a black colour The Plumage also wherewith the Throat was covered was of a green shining colour as in the precedent but not exceeding the breadth of ones little finger The Back from the Neck to the Rump was indeed clothed with the like fine slender feathers but of a different colour viz. a yellowish ash-colour But the Breast-feathers were of like colour with those of the precedent The Plumage also of that part next the Rump agreed with theirs Of what colour the Tail-feathers were I cannot tell for that it wanted a Rump For which cause I know not whether it had or wanted those long round Nerves with which as many Birds of this sort as I have yet seen were furnished The Wing-feathers were of different length as in the former Nor were they much unlike to them in colour but those that were the longest had their sides thinner-set with downy filaments and were of a much whiter colour than the feathers of the above described being a foot and half long Now whether that colour of the feathers covering the Back differing from the foregoing makes or signifies diversity of Sex as some think I cannot say but John de Weely told me that this was of the second kind viz. of those that are bred in the Islands Papuae and that such do indeed want those Nerves but not the Tail and for that cause they cannot make the difference of Sex as the Vulgar think A certain Citizen of Leyden had a bird altogether like to this last of Scaliger wanting the Rump and Tail and also those two long Nerves which note whether it did distinguish all Birds of that kind from others was to me unknown because I had only observed these two that had this note as far as I remember Or if I did before happen to see the like they slipt out of my memory because at that time I was not so diligent and curious in taking exact notice of the forms of these and the like birds but as I said a little before John de Weely satisfied me and removed all doubt as to that point Further when I had proceeded thus far in treating of this Bird the same John de Weely a Citizen and Merchant of Amsterdam a very curteous and obliging person who had sold the like Bird entire with its Feet still remaining to it to the Emperour informed me this June Anno 1605. for I had enquired of him the May foregoing that that Bird of Paradise was of the greater kind which have those two Nerves growing out of their Rump and that they have a flatter body and not so round as those that are brought out of the Papuae Islands That its Feet were like a Hawks or a Pullets very foul and unhandsom clapped close to the body of the bird so that the Toes only appeared And that he was of opinion that all Birds of Paradise had the like feet but that the Inhabitants for their ugliness and deformity did together with their Legs cut them off and cast them away The same thing about the end of June he confirmed to me being present by word of mouth §. X. * The supposed King of the greater Birds of Paradise THat little Bird which I understood to be called the King of the greater sort of Birds of Paradise was a very rare one For though as I said before I had often seen Birds of Paradise both at Lisbon and other places and the Holland Pilots and Ship-masters who are now wont to sail yearly into the East Indies coming back from
their Voyages do almost always bring home some of these Birds yet was it never my hap to see a King till the year 1603. viz. at Amsterdam in the hands of a certain Merchant who was wont to buy up such like exotic things among the Mariners returned home that he might make a great profit by selling them again to others But in the beginning of the following year Emmanuel Swerts a very honest man and Citizen of the same City gave me notice that he had the like Whereupon I prevailed with him to lend me the Bird for a few days that I might describe it and get its figure cut in a table And seeing I have mentioned it a little before and no man hitherto as far as I know hath set forth the like I thought my self obliged in this place to propose its description annexing its figure This Bird was less than other Birds of Paradise and of different feathers For from the Head to the Tail it scarce exceeded two inches length It s head was very small which together with its Bill was but an Inch and half long of which length also the Tail was But the Wings were much larger than the whole body of the bird as being four Inches and an half long and reaching two inches beyond the end of the Tail The colour of the Bill was white the upper parts being an inch long was covered half way with elegant short feathers or hairs of a red colour like silken thrums as also the whole forepart of the head The lower part of the Bill was likewise an inch long yet a thought shorter than the upper The middle part of the Head about the Eyes on each side had little black spots impressed The Neck and Breast were covered with fine slender feathers of a deep red or sanguine colour so that they seemed to be no more than certain silken thrums or filaments All the covert-feathers of the Back Wings and Tail were almost of one and the same colour Each Wing consisted of thirteen prime feathers which were on the upper side of a dusky red on the under side of a dusky yellow The Tail contained seven or eight dusky or brown feathers The lower or under side of the body under the Breast was adorned with a kind of ring of the breadth almost of ones little finger consisting of black feathers as it were silken thrums The feathers on the Belly were white but those next the Wings black and of those there were four or five in each side a little longer than the rest viz. equal to two inches and which ended in a broad top of a curious shining green not unlike that of a Mallards Neck Out of the Rump among the feathers of the Tail proceeded two strings as it were horse-hairs slender but stiff seven or eight inches long altogether black only their ends for an inches length were reflected round and on one side set with very fine hairs or downy threads which were on the upper side of a deep shining green beautiful to behold almost like the feathers on a wild Drake or Mallards Neck adding a great grace to the whole body of the Bird but the underside of these feathers was of a dusky colour I understood also that there were some Birds which had those bristly strings crossing one another towards their ends CHAP. XIV The Cuckow Cuculus OUr Bolognese Fowlers saith Aldrovandus do unanimously affirm that there are found a greater and a lesser sort of Cuckows and besides that the greater are of two kinds which are distinguished one from the other by the only difference of colour But that the lesser differ from the greater in nothing else but magnitude We shall give figures of both the greater the lesser we have not yet seen So far Aldrovandus That wich is common with us in England differs from the first of Aldrovandus in that its Bill is liker a Thrushes or Blackbirds than a Ringdoves It s length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail is twelve inches The upper Chap of the Bill somewhat hooked and longer than the lower for the most part of a dark or blackish colour the nether of a pale or whitish yellow The inside of the Mouth and the Tongue are of a deep yellow or Saffron colour The Tongue not divided the tip of it hard and pellucid The Irides of the Eyes not yellow as in Aldrovandus his second sort but of a Hazel colour The Nosthrils round wide extant above the surface of the Bill wherein it differs from all other birds I have yet seen The lower eye-lid is the greater the edges of the Eye-lids yellow The Throat Breast and Belly are white with transverse dark lines which are entire and not interrupted wherein it agrees with Aldrovandus his second Cuckow The black lines are thicker upon the throat and have less white between them The feathers of the Head are of a dark brown with white edges Aldrovandus saith of a cinereous tending to a Chesnut colour that we described had on the Head one or two white spots The feathers on the middle of the Neck and Back and also the long scapular feathers are brown with a tincture of red having their edges whitish The Rump ash-coloured The beam-feathers of the Wings are nineteen in number the greater whereof are the blacker All from the second have their exteriour Vanes spotted with red The interiour Vanes of the outmost have long transverse white spots the tips of all are white The covert-feathers of the Wings are of the same colour with those on the Back only the outmost darker The Tail in that described by Aldrovandus in the second place for Mr. Willughby omitted that in his Description was made up of ten feathers distinguished on both sides the shaft with white marks somewhat resembling the figure of a heart about an inch distant from each other in a decent and lovely order pleasant to behold But the edges of the inner sides of all but the two middlemost and the tops of all were adorned with white spots The Feet and Claws are yellow It hath two back-toes of which the interiour is the least of all the Toes and next to that the interiour of the fore-toes The Claws are something hollowed on the inside especially the greatest The two fore-toes are connected from the divarication to the first joynt In the stomach dissected we found Caterpillars and other Insects The Hedge-Sparrow Curruca is the Cuckows Nurse but not the Hedge-Sparrow only if Curruca be so rightly rendred but also Ring-Doves Larks Finches I my self with many others have seen a Wagtail feeding a young Cuckow The Cockow her self builds no Nest but having found the Nest of some little bird she either devours or destroys the Eggs she there finds and in the room thereof lays one of her own and so forsakes it The silly bird returning sits on this Egg. hatches it and with a great deal
of care and toil broods feeds and cherishes the young Cuckow for her own until it be grown up and able to fly and shift for it self Which thing seems so strange monstrous and absurd that for my part I cannot sufficiently wonder there should be such an example in nature nor could I have ever been induced to believe that such a thing had been done by Natures instinct had I not with my own eyes seen it For Nature in other things is wont constantly to observe one and the same Law and Order agreeable to the highest reason and prudence Which in this case is that the Dams make Nests for themselves if need be sit upon their own Eggs and bring up their Young after they are hatcht What becomes of the Cuckow in the Winter-time whether hiding her self in hollow Trees or other holes and Caverns she lies torpid and at the return of the Spring revives again or rather at the approach of Winter being impatient of cold shifts place and departs into hot Countrys is not as yet to me certainly known Aldrovandus writes that it is by long observation found that she doth in the Winter enter into the hollows of trees or the Caverns of Rocks and the earth and there lie hid all that season Some saith he tell a story of a certain Country-man of Zurich in Switzerland who having laid a Log on the fire in Winter heard a Cuckow cry in it For being of a very tender nature and impatient of cold as Aristotle witnesseth no wonder if to avoid the Winter-cold it hide it self in holes especially seeing at that time it moults its feathers We also have heard of the like stories in England and have known some who have affirmed themselves in the middle of Winter in a more than usually mild and warm season to have heard the voice of the Cuckow But seeing it is most certain that many sorts of Birds do at certain Seasons of the year shift places and depart into other Countrys as for example Quails Woodcocks Fieldfares Storks c. Why may not Cuckows also do the same For my part I never yet met with any credible person that dared affirm that himself had found or seen a Cuckow in Winter-time taken out of a hollow tree or any other lurking-place Since the writing of this reading Jo. Faber his Expositions of the Pictures of some Mexican Animals of Nardi Antonio Recchi I find alleged the testimony of a credible person and an eye-witness one Theophilus Molitor a Friend of Fabers for this lurking of Cuckows in hollow trees Molitor affirmed this to have hapned at his Fathers house His Grandfathers Servants having stocked up in a certain Meadow some old dry rotten Willows and brought them home and cast the heads of two of them into the Furnace to heat the Stove heard as they were in the Stove a Cuckow singing three times Wondring at this cry of the Cuckow in the Winter-time out they go and drawing the heads of the Willows out of the Furnace in the one of them they observed something move wherefore taking an Axe they opened the hole and thrusting in their hands first they pluckt out nothing but meer feathers Afterward they got hold of a living Animal that was the very Cuckow and drew it out It was indeed brisk and lively but wholly naked and bare of feathers and without any Winter-provision of food which Cuckow the Boys kept two whole years in the Stove * Aldrovandus his first sort of Cuckow This differs in many respects from the precedent as first in that the transverse lines on the Breast are not continued but interrupted Secondly In that the covert-feathers of the Neck Back and Wings are almost all parti-coloured of black and ferrugineous Thirdly The Remiges elsewhere black in the middle and round the edges white Fourthly The Tail variegated with three colours black white and ferrugineous The black in each feather consists of two lines concurring in the middle of the feather in an acute angle and standing at equal distances in a certain Series or order to the end of the Tail The ferrugineous takes up the outsides of the intermediate spaces and the white the middle LIB I. PART I. SECT II. Of Nocturnal Rapacious Birds RApacious Nocturnal Birds are of two kinds viz. Eared or horned and such as want Ears To these we shall subjoyn the Goat-sucker which yet we believe not to be Rapacious but to have it self so to Owls as the Cuckow to Hawks Of Rapacious Nocturnal Birds we have in England four sorts besides the Goat-sucker 1. The Horn-Owl in Latine Otus or Asio so called from certain small feathers sticking out on the sides of the head in forms of Horns or Ears 2. The White-Owl called also the Church-Owl or Barn-Owl by Aldrovandus Aluco minor 3. The Brown Owl Screech-Owl or Ivy-Owl Strix Aldrovandi 4. The Grey Owl Strix cinerea CHAP. I. Of Rapacious Nocturnal Birds Horned or Eared §. I. * The great Horn-Owl or Eagle-Owl Bubo OF this Bird Aldrovandus gives us three figures and three descriptions which I suspect to be all of one and the same sort The first is taken out of Gesner the two last were composed by himself of his own observation The first they are Gesners words was as big or bigger than a Goose had great Wings two Feet and three inches long when extended in a right line from their beginning to the end of the longest feather from the top of the uppermost bone of the Wing to the lowest end was in a right line thirteen inches The Head both for shape and bigness was like a Cats for which reason the French do not improperly call it Chat huant q. felis gemebunda Above each Ear stuck out black feathers three inches high The Eyes were great The feathers about the Rump thick and very soft of more than a fingers length or an handful high if my memory fail me not From the point of the Bill to the end of the Feet or of the Tail for they were both equally extended it was two foot and seven inches long The Irides of the Eyes were of a deep shining yellow or Saffron-colour The Bill short black and hooked The feathers being put aside the Ear-holes came into sight which were great and open On both sides by the Nosthrils grew hair-like feathers as it were beards barbulae The colour of the feathers all over the body was various of whitish black and reddish spots The length of the Leg was thirteen inches The part above the knee thick and brawny The Claws black hooked and very sharp The Foot hairy or feathered down to the very Claws the feathers being of a pale red 2. The second saith Aldrovandus for bigness agreed exactly with this but differed in many other particulars For though its Feet were indeed hairy down to the Claws as in that yet shorter and slenderer neither so brawny above the knees nor so thick and strong-shanked The colour of the
the Toes were disposed in like manner as in other Owls For the outmost fore-toe may be turned to stand backward and so imitate a hind-toe and perform the same office Aldrovandus describes two sorts of Asio or the lesser Horn-Owl The description of the former doth in most particulars agree to the Bird we have described See and compare both descriptions Bellonius his Otus is without doubt the same with ours These do for the most part frequent and abide in mountainous places whereas on the contrary our Church-Owl and brown Owl c. delight in lower and plain Countrys §. III. * The little Horn-Owl Scops Aldrovandi THe Bird which the Italians especially about Bononia call Chiuuino is the least save one of all Rapacious Nocturnal Birds bigger than a Thrush and somewhat lesser than a Pigeon full nine inches long It differs from the Bubo only in magnitude and something in colour It s Head is round like a Ball covered with small soft feathers all over of a lead-colour The Bill short hooked and black The Ears or feathers standing up in fashion of Ears scarce appear in a dead bird but are more manifest in a living and consist only of one feather apiece The chief colour of the whole body as far as appears to sight is cinereous having here and there something of plumbeous mingled with it curiously speckled with many white spots more elegantly than any other Nocturnal Rapacious bird In the greater feathers of the Wings and Tail it is marked with transverse white spots All the other feathers besides these transverse marks are distinguished long-ways with a black line running through their middles It is also besprinkled all over with a lovely tincture of red especially about the Neck and the beginning of the Wings The feathers on the Belly are whiter than elsewhere the bottom or lower part of them as also of all the rest being black particularly these are red about the middle else white powdered with very small black specks The Eyes like most other night-birds of a fiery shining Saffron colour The Legs feathered and of a reddish ash-colour The Feet small naked scaly approaching to a dark lead-colour divided into two fore and two back-toes armed with dusky Claws This is common in Italy Of this sort Aldrovandus mentions another found in Germany whiter and having a longer Tail and longer Ears or Horns than the Italian Chiuuino in other respects like CHAP. II. Of Nocturnal Rapacious Birds without Ears or Horns §. I. The common brown or Ivy-Owl Strix Aldrov THe Bird we described was a Cock It was about the bigness of a Pigeon but rounder-bodied and seeming bigger than it was It weighed twelve ounces and an half It s length from the tip of the beak to the end of the Tail was fourteen inches Its breadth or the distance between the extremities of the Wings spread two feet and nine inches The Bill from the point to the angles of the mouth was an inch long or more of a horn-colour or rather a light blue The mouth was wider but the Bill shorter than in the Barn-Owl The Tongue not very fleshy nor broad a little divided at the tip In the Palate was a cavity equal to the Tongue It hath huge Eyes at least twice so big as those of the Barn or white Owl and protuberant It had Membranes for Nictation drawn from above downwards having black edges The borders of the Eye-lids were broader than ordinary and their edges red The Ear-holes were three times as great as in the white Owl and covered with Valves A circle of feathers encompasses the Eyes and Chin like a womans hood as in the Barn-Owl but not standing up so high as in that This circle or hood consists of a double row of feathers the exteriour more rigid variegated with white black and red the interiour consisting of soft feathers of a white mingled with a flame-colour The middle part of the head without the hood is of a dark brown The exteriour circle of the hood compasses the ears the greatest part of the interiour feathers of it where it passes the ears grows out of the covers of the Ears The Eyes in this Bird are nearer to the Ears than in any other Animal I know Beyond the Nosthrils and below the Eyes grew bristly feathers having black shafts The back and upper side of the body was particoloured of ferrugineous and dark brown the black taking up the middle part of each feather and the ferrugineous the out-sides If one curiously view and observe each single feather one shall find them waved with transverse lines cinereous and brown alternately succeeding each other The belly and lower side of the body is of the same colour with the back but more dilute with a mixture of white The bottoms of all the feathers are black In this and other Owls the feathers investing the whole body are longer or taller than in most other birds so that the bird seems to be much bigger than indeed it is The feet are covered almost down to the Claws with a thick dirty-white Plumage sprinkled with small dark specks rather waved with dark lines only two or three of the annulary scales bare The number of flag-feathers in each Wing was twenty four The exteriour pinnulae webs of the outmost whereof were terminated in slender points like bristles separate from each other and standing like the teeth of a fine Comb. The Wing and Tail-feathers were marked with six or seven cross bars of a dirty white tincted in some with ferrugineous and in some with brown The Wings complicated fall very much short of the end of the Tail The covert feathers of the Wings chiefly those about the middle and those long ones springing from the shoulders were spotted with white especially their interiour Vanes The Tail was six inches and an half long made up of twelve feathers the middlemost being the longest the rest in order shorter to the outmost All ending in sharp points whereas in those of the Barn-Owl the tops were blunt The soal of the foot was callous of a horny or blackish colour That of the middle-toe had not the inner edge serrate as in the white Owl All the toes were separate to the very divarication The outmost of the fore-toes is made to turn also backward and supply the room of a back-toe as in the rest of this kind The Guts were thirty inches long and had many revolutions The blind Guts were five inches and an half long toward their ends tumid and full of excrement The Liver divided into two Lobes It had a large Gall great black Testicles The stomach seemed to be more fleshy than in other carnivorous birds and above it a granulated Echinus or ante-stomach In the stomach we found the fur of Mice It differs remarkably from the white Owl in that the extreme feather of the Wing is little and at least a hand-breadth shorter than the
colour partly distinguished with white Through the extreme parts of the Wings especially the prime feathers it hath broad transverse lines or bars of a Chesnut colour On the Belly it hath lines or spots of the same colour drawn longways but inverted the rest of the space or ground the Heralds call it the field being white The Wings when withdrawn and closed reach as far as the end of the Tail The Legs are feathered and rough down to the Feet of a colour compounded of cinereous and Chesnut The Toes are of a dark cinereous bare of feathers two standing each way The Claws black sharp and crooked * The Stone-Owl another sort of Noctua or perchance the same with the precedent This saith he which the Germans call Steinkutz that is Stone-Owl is also about the bigness of a Dove hath the Legs and Toes rough with white feathers but the lower sides of the Toes are bare the Claws black and hooked The colour all over the prone or nether side of the body was a dark brown with a sleight mixture of red dapled with whitish spots The Head in respect of the body very great The Eyes large The Bill short and like an Eagles In the dead bird the upper Chap of the Bill was red which seemed not to be so before while it was living Between the Eyes and the Bill grew certain stiff slender feathers like bristles or beards It had more white on the Belly than the other parts I suppose it lives and frequents chiefly in Mountainous and Rocky places and therefore to defend the cold hath its Feet and Toes feathered like the Lagopus and Grygallus For the other Noctuae have not their Feet rough neither are they of a reddish colour They seem to be less brisk and lively than our Italian Noctuae and almost blind in the day time §. VIII * The Brasilian Noctua called Cabure by Marggrav IT 's about the bigness of a Throstle hath a round Head a short hooked yellowish Bill two Nosthrils fair great round yellow Eyes with a black Pupil Under the Eyes and on each side the Bill it hath many long dusky hairs The Legs are short wholly cloathed with feathers yellow as are also the Feet which are cloven into four Toes standing after the usual manner armed with semicircular crooked sharp Talons The Tail broad nigh the rise whereof the Wings end In the Head Back Wings and Tail it is of a dilute Umber colour and variegated in the Head and Neck with very small in the Wings with greater white spots The Tail is waved with white The Breast and lower Belly are white and variegated with spots of a dilute Umber colour It is easily made tame It can so turn about its Neck that the tip of the Beak shall exactly point at the middle of the Back It plays with men like an Ape making many mowes and antic mimical faces and snapping with its Bill Besides it can set up feathers on the sides of its head that represent Horns or Ears It lives upon raw flesh CHAP. III. §. I. The Fern-Owl or Churn-Owl or Goat-sucker Caprimulgus IT s length from the Bill to the end of the Tail was between ten and eleven inches Its Head great but much lesser than in the Owl-kind Its Bill in proportion to its body the least of all birds and a little crooked It hath a huge wide mouth and swallow In palato appendices nullae sed primùm longa fissura fundo tenui ossiculo seu septo per medium diviso insra eam fissuram alia latior brevior ad hujus fundum linea appendicum transversa These words I do not well understand and therefore have not put them into English On the sides of the upper Chap of the Bill as also under the Chin it had stiff black hairs like bristles The under side of the body was painted with black and pale-red lines transverse but not continued The hinder part of the Head of an ash-colour the middle of each feather being black which colours also reach lower down the Back The Wings are particoloured of black and red The covert-feathers of the Wings are some of them powdred with cinereous The Tail near five inches long made up of ten feathers the outmost whereof are something shorter than the rest the middlemost ash-coloured with very narrow transverse black bars in the rest the cross bars are broader and the intermediate spaces of an ash-colour powdered with black and a little tinctured with red The Legs were very small in proportion feathered on the fore-side half way but the feathers hung down almost to the Toes The Toes were blackish and the Claws black and little the middlemost Toe the longest the inner and outer shorter but equal to one another and joyned to the middlemost by a Membrane from the divarication to the first joynt The interiour edge of the middle Claw is serrate as in Herons The back-Toe if it may be so called standing like one of the fore-toes is scarce a quarter of an inch long In the stomach it had some Seeds and Beetles The Eggs were long and white but a little clouded and spotted with black It is a very beautiful bird for colour more like to a Cuckow than an Owl and it is easily distinguished from all other birds by the structure of its Bill and Feet In another bird of this kind perchance differing only in Age or Sex the three first or outmost great Wing-feathers had a large white spot in their interiour Vanes which in the third feather reached also to the exteriour The tips also of the two outmost feathers of the Tail were spotted with white There was some shew of these spots of a pale yellowish colour in the first described It is found in the Mountainous Woods especially in many places of England as in York-shire Derby-shire Shrop-shire c. §. II. * The American Goat-sucker called Ibijau by the Brasilians Noitibo by the Portugues Marggrav THis is a small bird of the bigness of a Swallow Hath a broad flat Head Great lovely black Eyes with a black shining Pupil of an elliptical figure Outwardly a circle or ring of yellowish white compasses the Eyes It hath a very little Bill not exceeding the thickness of the tooth of a Shrew-mouse and not so long yet hath it patent Nosthrils in the Bill An exceeding wide Mouth which when shut cannot be seen but when she opens her Bill appears slit up to the Eyes so that it is almost an inch wide It hath a very little Tongue White Legs and small for the bigness of the body scarce half an inch long Four Toes in the Feet three standing forward and one backward armed with black crooked Claws Along the Claw of the middle Toe of each foot on the inside it hath as it were a fin much jagged or toothed so that the Claw seems feathered in a manner on the inside But there are no feathers on it
the Western Coast of England about the Cliffs and Rocks near the Sea Its Voice is like that of the common Jackdaw but more hoarse Aldrovandus will needs have the Pyrrhocorax to be a different bird from the Coracias following therein Aristotle Bellonius makes these names Synonyma of the same bird we must needs confess that if there be such a bird as Aldrovandus describes v. g. less than a Crow equal to a Jackdaw having yellow Bill and Feet it is distinct from our Chough But I am sure the Bird frequent on our Western Shores and commonly known by the name of the Cornish Chough is that which Bellonius and Turner make to be the Pyrrhocorax and hath red Legs and Feet Wherefore I take the Coracias and Pyrrhocorax of Gesner and Aldrovandus to be one and the same bird notwithstanding the Bill and Legs in this are said to be yellow which perchance may be so in the Coracias or Chough when young §. VII Bontius his Indian Raven THere is a strange kind of Raven in the Molucca Islands and especially in Banda which resembles our Country Raven in the Bill but in the Temples is coloured like those Meleagrides which the Low Dutch call Kalcoutse hanen It hath a great thick Bill a little pointed and made for Rapine wide Nosthrils great black ill-favoured Eyes The Head and Neck long decently covered or adorned with blackish feathers Its Feet and Toes strong armed with long crooked and very hard or solid Claws It walks after the manner of our Raven But differs from it in nature and disposition in that it feeds not upon Carrion or dead Carkasses but chiefly upon Nutmegs of which it is very greedy making great destruction of that fruit to the no small detriment of the Owners It s flesh is very delicate and being roasted hath a plain aromatical rellish contracted from its food §. VIII The horned Indian Raven or Topau called the Rhinocerot Bird. THis horned Bird as it casts a strong smell so it hath a foul look much exceeding the European Raven in bigness It hath a thick Head and Neck great Eyes the Bill but moderate in respect of the body The longer and more acuminate part bending downward argues the Bill to be made and designed for rapine But the upper part which is shorter thicker and bending upward doth resemble a true Horn both to the sight and touch The one moity whereof viz. that toward the Head is contiguous to the Bill so that both together after the same manner grow to or rather spring out of the end of the Head The other moity is separate from the Bill bending the contrary way viz. upwards so that they seem to be like the forked tail of a Fish It lives upon Carrion and Garbage i. e. the carkasses and Entrails of Animal Aldrovandus describes the Bill thus It is almost twenty eight inches long crooked not after the manner of rapacious birds but like a Bow All the lower part is of a pale or whitish yellow the upper part toward the Head of a red or Vermilion else of the same colour with the lower The upper Mandible only within is serrate or dented after the manner of the Toucan The horn springs out of the forehead and grows to the upper part of the Bill being of a great bulk so that near the forehead it is a Palm broad not unlike the Rhinocerots horn but crooked at the tip The colour both in the upper and lower part is Vermilion in the middle yellow If the rest of the parts of the body are answerable to the Head I am of Cardans and Plinies opinion that this Bird is bigger than an Eagle Of this sort of Bill we have seen three varieties all which we have caused to be engraven and exhibited to the Readers view CHAP. III. Of the Pie-kind §. I. The Magpie or Pianet Pica varia caudata IT weighs eight or nine ounces It s length from the tip of the Bill to the Claws is twelve inches and an half to the end of the Tail eighteen The Bill about an inch and half long black thick and strong the upper Chap being somewhat crooked and sharp-pointed the Tongue cloven at the end and blackish like to that of a Jay The sides of the fissure of the Palate rough with hair-like excrescencies The Nosthrils round and beset with reflected bristly hairs Excepting the whiteness of the Breast and Wings and the length of the Tail this Bird is very like the Jack-daw The Irides of the Eyes are of a pale Hazel colour In the nictating membranes is seen a yellow spot The Head Neck Throat Back Rump and lower Belly are of a black colour the lower part of the Back near the Rump is more dilute and inclining to cinereous The Breast and sides are white as also the first joynt of the Wing The Wings are smaller than the bigness of the body would seem to require The Tail and prime feathers of the Wings glister with very beautiful colours but obscure of green purple and blue mingled only in the exteriour Vanes The number of beam feathers is twenty of which the outmost is shorter by half than the second the second also shorter than the third and that than the fourth but not by an equal defect the fourth and fifth are the longest of all The eleven foremost about their middle part on the inside of the shaft are white the white part from the extreme feather gradually decreasing till in the tenth it be contracted into a great spot only The Tail is made up of twelve feathers of which the two middlemost are the longest being by measure eight and an half or nine inches the next to them above an inch shorter and of the rest the exteriour than the interiour in like proportion The greatest and longest that is the middle feathers of the Tail have their bottoms green their middles blue and their tops purple The Feet and Claws are black The lowest bone of the outmost fore-Toe is joyned to that of the middle The length of the Guts was twenty four inches of the blind Guts half an inch It hath a Gall-bladder and a long Spleen The Stomach not very fleshy and having its Echinus There are sometimes found of this kind all over white but rarely In the King's Aviary in St. James's Park we saw brown or reddish ones This Bird is easily taught to speak and that very plainly We our selves have known many which had learned to imitate mans voice and speak articulately with that exactness that they would pronounce whole Sentences together so like to humane Speech that had you not seen the Birds you would have sworn it had been man that spoke They build their Nests in Trees with that Art and cunning as is admirable fencing them round on the outside both above and below with sharp thorns leaving only one hole and that a
that we know 8. To lay white Eggs. Whether all these marks agree to those American Birds which we have ranked under this head we know not We have referred them to this kind for the like disposition of their Toes two forward two backward especially seeing they belong neither to Parrots nor Owls Albertus writes that all Woodspites build in the hollows of trees which before him Pliny also hath recorded They themselves are said to hew out for themselves a place to build in making such an artificial hole so exactly round that the most skilful and experienced Geometrician could not with his Compass make a rounder They hatch and bring up six or seven Young at once The Eggs of all kinds of them that we have hitherto seen are white The Woodspite is called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from striking or piercing of trees The Latine name Picus some think to be derived from the French and Italian word Becco signifying a Bill or beak of a bird Aldrovandus thinks that it was rather deduced from the Flemmish word Picken signifying to strike or knock with the Bill The word Pick with us is variously applied but originally seems to have the same signification as in Flemmish viz. either to strike with the Bill or gather up with the Bill Hence in the North of England these Birds are called Pickatrees a word exactly of the same signification with the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Woodpeckers will learn to speak I can hardly be perswaded though Albertus Magnus and Scaliger affirm it The Woodpecker was not only by the ancient Latines called Pluviae avis the Rainsowl but is so also by our Country men now adays because by its voice more loud and frequent than usual it is thought to presage rain CHAP. V. Of several sorts of Woodpeckers §. I. The greatest black Woodpecker THe Cock which we described weighed ten ounces and an half being in length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail eighteen inches and an half in breadth between the tips of the Wings spread twenty nine inches and an half It s Bill from the point to the Angles of the mouth was two inches and an half long strong hard triangular as in the rest of this kind Above the Nosthrils a hard wrinkle is produced beyond the middle of the Bill That part of the Bill which is below the wrinkle is white the rest black The Tongue when extended is of a very great length It can shoot it out and draw it back at pleasure which is common to it with the rest of this kind Its Nosthrils are round covered with reflected hairs Its Head very great The Irides of the Eyes are of a pale yellow The colour of the whole body is black excepting the crown of the head which down to the Nosthrils is of a lovely red or Vermilion colour The number of flag-feathers in each Wing is nineteen of which the fifth and sixth are the longest the Sarcel or pinion feather is very short and not greater than those of the second row The Tail is made up of ten feathers of which the outmost are the shortest the rest on both sides gradually longer to the two middlemost which are the longest of all All but the outmost which as we said are the least and shortest are stiff sharp-pointed bending inward about seven inches long upon which in climbing trees they lean and support their bodies The Legs on the forepart are feathered down half way behind no longer than the knees The Feet are of a lead colour It hath two back toes as the rest of its kind The Claws strong and great except that of the lesser back-toe which is very small The Gall of a dark green The Testicles yellowish The Guts seventeen inches long great and lax The stomach also lax and membranaceous full of Hexapods and Ants. It altogether wants the Appendices or blind Guts as the rest of this Tribe This Bird we found in the Market at Ratisbone in Germany to be sold killed not far from that City It is not found in England that we know of §. II. The green Woodpecker or Woodspite called also the Rain-fowl High-hoe and Hew-hole THe Cock weighed six ounces three quarters It s length from the Bill to the Toes was eleven inches to the end of the Tail thirteen and an half The Wings extended were equal to twenty one inches and an half The Bill from the point to the Angles of the mouth was almost two inches long black hard strong triangular ending in a blunt point A reddish dusky circle immediately encompasses the Pupil of the Eye the rest of the Iris being white The Tongue when stretched out is of a very great length ending in a sharp bony substance rough underneath wherewith as with a Dart it strikes Insects The top of the Head is of a Crimson or Vermilion colour spotted with black The Eyes are encompassed with black under the black on each side is another Vermilion spot The Throat Breast and Belly are of a pale green The Back Neck and lesser rows of covert feathers of the Wings green The Rump of a pale yellow or straw-colour as Aldrovandus rightly expresses it The feathers under the Tail are crossed with transverse dusky lines In each Wing are nineteen prime feathers beside the outmost which is very short of a dusky colour and marked with semicircular white spots But more particularly the outer Webs of the interiour flags are green the inner Webs dusky with semicircular white spots The outer Webs of the exteriour flags dusky and painted with white spots the inner Webs of the same colour with the precedent The feathers covering the roots of the flags underneath are of a pale green with transverse dusky lines The Tail consists of ten feathers stiff and bending inwards which by reason the shaft reacheth not to the end of the Webs seem to be forked The two middlemost feathers are the longest by measure four inches and an half have their tips black else they are marked with cross bars above of a dark green and underneath whitish the three next on each side differ not from these Of the two outmost which are blunter than the rest the greater are all over varied with transverse bars of black and dark green alternately placed the lesser or outmost have their tops green and bottoms black The Feet and Toes are of a pale green and sometimes of a lead colour The Claws dusky The Toes placed as in the rest of this kind two forward two backward The lowest bones of the fore toes are joyned together It hath a large Gall an Inch and half long The right Testicle round the left oblong and bent almost into a circle which lest any one should think accidental I observed in three several birds It hath no blind Guts but in their stead the streight Gut is dilated in that place It s Crop was full of Ants and Ants Eggs. It feeds also upon
the body the other seven on each side of a sordid yellow with cinereous tips The Legs below the Knees are bare they have no footstep or appearance of any Spur. Both Legs and Feet are in young ones of a greenish colour but in old ones they grow white The Toes are joyned together with a membrane as in Heathcocks It hath a great Craw a musculous Stomach or Gizzard and a gall-bladder For the taste and wholsomness of its flesh it is deservedly preferred before all other birds It feeds upon Ants and Ants Eggs upon the grains of Corn and also upon the green leaves But in Winter-time when it feeds upon green Corn its flesh is less commendable than in Summer and Autumn when it feeds upon the Kernel or grain The Common Partridge is a multiparous bird laying sixteen or eighteen Eggs ere it sits With us in England it is most frequent The Italians call it Starna as much to say as externa or outlandish and in some places also Pernice It is more rare with them and sells dearer than the red-leg'd Partridge The Partridge understand it of all the several sorts by reason of the heaviness of its body and shortness of its Wings can neither fly high nor long continue its flight howbeit for those short flights it makes it flies very swift and strongly In Winter-time they fly in company For they are of that nature that they breed and bring up fifteen or sixteen young together which company all Winter with the old ones But in the Spring time when they pair together they fly by two and two for then the old ones beat away the Young from them This out of Bellonius Which is true not only of birds of this kind but also of Pheasants Heathcocks c. Bellonius saith that the singing of Partridges is a certain sign of day approaching We have often heard them crying and calling one another after Sun-set Partridges saith Aristotle when any one comes near their Nest cast themselves down before his feet that looks for it running and flying as if they were lame by that means drawing him away from their Nests and enticing him to follow them which when they have done themselves fly away and afterwards call together their Brood which so soon as they hear the voice of their Dams presently run to them §. IV. The Brasilian Partridge called Jambu by Piso OF these in the Woods by the Sea-shore are found two kinds greater and lesser These are lesser than our Europaean Partridge those both for figure and bulk of body and goodness of flesh are equal and like to ours The feathers of both all over the body are of a dark fulvous colour but mingled and spotted with dusky §. V. The Damascus Partridge of Aldrov IN the shortness thickness and roundness and whole shape of its body it approaches to our Partridges The colour is so like to the lesser Partridges that at first you can hardly distinguish them But the Feet in this are in a manner yellow The Bill is also longer though else the Bird be much less §. VI. The Red-leg'd Partridge Perdix ruffa Aldrov called in Italy Coturnice Coturno THe Cock weighed more than thirteen ounces His length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Claws was eighteen inches His breadth between the tips of the Wings extended twenty two The Irides of the Eyes were red The Bill almost an inch long and red The Legs and Feet also red The Claws dusky The Toes as far as to the first joynt connected by a membrane intervening It had small Spurs others had none perhaps these were young ones The soles of the Feet were of a dirty yellow The Head Neck Back and Rump were ash-coloured as also the outer part of the Thighs The lower part of the Neck tinctured with a vinaceous colour The Cheeks under the Eyes and the Chin to the middle of the Throat white Yet in the very angle of the nether Chap was a small black spot A black border beginning from the Nosthrils and produced above the Eyes encompasses this white space The Craw below the black line is cinereous The Breast of a dilute red inclining to yellow The feathers on the sides are painted with very beautiful colours For the tips of some of them are black and next the black they have a transverse line the shorter and nearer to the Head of a whitish colour the longer and more remote of a yellow Below this a black line again Of others the tips are red the colours we have mentioned in order succeeding The bottoms of all are cinereous The beam-feathers in each Wing are in number twenty five the exteriour whereof are dusky the interiour of a dark cinereous But yet the outer edges of the third and succeeding to the fifteenth are of a white tinctured with red The Tail is four inches long the two middle feathers being cinereous the exteriour five on each side having their upper half red their lower cinereous It hath a large Craw a musculous Stomach or Gizzard in which dissected we found Caterpillars and Snails The Back of the Hen is not all out so cinereous but rather inclines to red the middle parts of the feathers being black The line running above the Eyes is somewhat red The Cheeks are of the same colour with the Back Else it doth not much differ from the Cock This kind is a stranger to England Howbeit they say it is found in the Isles of Jersey and Guernsey which are subject to our King It is of a more gentle nature than our common Partridge and easily made and kept tame Whereas the common Partridge can hardly be induced to put off his wild nature and to go out and return home again like tame fowl Yet I have been told by persons of good credit that a certain Sussex man had by his industry and application made a Covey of Partridges so tame that he drave them before him upon a wager out of that Country to London though they were absolutely free and had their Wings grown so that they might if they would have made use of them to fly away That this Bird feeds upon Snails Aristotle hath delivered and our experience confirms Yet not on Snails only but also on Caterpillars Seeds of Wheat and other Grain Partridges to speak of them in general are very salacious birds infamous for masculine Venery and other abominable and unnatural conjunctions The Ancients have left many fabulous things concerning them viz. That the Cocks if they can find them break the Eggs lest the Hens being detained by sitting upon them should not be ready or willing to yield themselves to be trodden for which cause the Hens lay privately concealing their Nests as much as they can from the Cocks That the Cocks when they want the Hens to wit when they have withdrawn themselves to sit do not only manifest their petulancy and salacity by their voices and fighting but also defile one another
promiscuously by that nefarious coition interdicted mankind by no less than a capital punishment Which things Pliny after his manner hath wittily and elegantly comprised in a few words Illae i. e. foeminae quidem maritos suos fallunt quoniam intemperantiâ libidinis srangunt earum ova nè incubando detineantur Tunc inter se dimicant mares desiderio foeminarum Victum aiunt venerem pati That they make two Nests wherein they lay their Eggs half in one and half in the other in one whereof the Female sits and in the other the Male and that both do hatch and bring up their part of Young That the Hens without being ever trodden by the Cocks if they do only stand opposite to them and the wind blow from thence upon them will conceive Eggs and those prolific Of which thing some Modern Writers have indiscreetly indeavoured to give an account before they had any assurance of the truth of the matter of fact That the Hens are so intemperately lustful that contrary to the manner of other birds they cannot abstain from the use of Venery so much as while they are sitting Which particulars also Pliny briefly and ingeniously thus words Neque in ullo animali par opus libidinis Si contra mares steterint foeminae aurâ ab his flante praegnantes fiunt Hiantes a. exertâ linguâ per id tempus aestuant concipiúntque supervolantium afflatu saepe voce tantùm audita masculi Adeoque vincit libido etiam foetûs charitatem ut illa furtim in occulto incubans cùm sensit foeminam aucupis accedentem ad marem recanat revocétque ultro se praebeat libidini That the Cock being overcome in fight dares never so much as come in sight of his Mistris or Mate That the Partridge when her own Eggs are broken or any ways marred or lost steals another Partridges Eggs sits upon them hatches them broods and brings up the Young which yet when they are a little grown hearing their Dams voice that is the voice of that Partridge that laid the Eggs do by instinct presently know it and leaving their Foster Mothers betake themselves to their own Dams That she often turns her upon her back and so lying with her belly upward covers her self with clods and straws and by that means deceives and escapes the Fowlers But it is not worth the while to insist long upon rehearsing or refuting these particulars These Birds saith Aldrovandus in the Feasts and Entertainments of Princes hold the principal place without which such Feasts are esteemed ignoble vulgar and of no account Indeed the Frenchmen do so highly value and are so fond of Partridge that if they be wanting they utterly sleight and despise the best spread Tables and most plentiful and delicate Treatments as if there could be no Feast without this dish As the flesh of Partridge saith Bellonius is very delicate and grateful to the Palate so in like manner is it greatly commended for that it nourishes much is easily digested and breeds good bloud in the body The flesh of the greater kind is more solid and hard though hard only comparatively of the lesser more tender and consequently yields a finer more dissipable and spirituous nourishment is also of easier concoction but yet is not so white as that of the greater Palate-men and such as have skill in eating do chiefly commend the Partridges Wing preferring it much before the Leg as indeed it is much better Hence that English Proverbial Rhythm If the Partridge had the Woodcocks thigh 'T would be the best bird that e're did fly He that desires yet further information concerning the quality and temperament of Partridges flesh let him consult Aldrovand §. VII Bellonius his Greek Partridge or great red Partridge the same with the precedent THe great Partridge which the Grecians following the Italians commonly call Coturno seems to us to be different from the Partridges both of France and Gothland For it is twice as big as our Country Partridge hath red Bill and Legs is spotted on the Breast and sides in like manner as ours of the bigness of a handsom Hen. This kind of Partridge is so frequent in the Rocks of Colme the Cyclades Islands and the Sea-coast of Candy that there is not such plenty of any other bird Their cry is different from that of our Partridge being great and sonorous especially in breeding and coupling time when they express and often repeat the sound of this word Cacabis whence it should seem that the Latines were taught by the Greeks to express the note of a Partridge by the word Cacabare We also borrowed the name Cacabis whereby we in some places call a Partridge from their voice or cry They follow one another on the Rocks Of this kind in my judgment Aristotle is to be understood when he saith If Hens couple with Partridges they generate a different kind They build in an open place without cover or shelter in May-time among certain herbs what time they come down from the Rocks seeking convenient places to build and bring up their Young They lay their Eggs upon the ground under some great stone sometimes eighteen sometimes sixteen more or less like Hens Eggs but less white and speckled thick with small red spots very good to eat as Hens Eggs but their Yolks congeal not After they have hatcht their Young they lead them out into the Champain or open fields to seek their food Wherefore we think this kind of Partridge to be altogether different from ours for in some places of Italy both kinds are found and called by divers names viz. This by the name of Coturno the other by the name of Perdice or Pernice Thus far Bellonius Aldrovandus thinks that this bird differs from the greater red Partridge or Coturnice of the Italians only in bigness and truly I am now wholly come over to his opinion sith Bellonius himself makes them all one What Partridges Bellonius means by the Partridges of Gothia I know not §. VIII The Quail Coturnix IT is the least bird in this kind of a flatter or broader body and not so narrow or compressed sideways as the Land-Rail or Daker-Hen It s length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail is seven inches and an half Its breadth between the extremities of the Wings spread fourteen inches It s Bill from the tip to the corners of the mouth half an inch long its figure more depressed and plain than in the rest of this kind The lower Chap black the upper of a pale dusky The Irides of the Eyes are of a hazel colour The Eyes have a nictating membrane The Breast and Belly are of a dirty pale yellow The Throat hath a little mixture of red ruffi Under the lower Chap of the Bill is a long and broad stroke of black tending downward Above the Eyes and along the middle of the Head are whitish lines The head
is black only the edges of the feathers reddish or cinereous The middle part of each covert-feather of the Back and lower part of the Neck is marked with a yellowish white stroke the rest of the feather being particoloured of black and reddish ash-colour Under the Wings is a bed of white terminated on each side with a border of red mingled with black The beam or quill-feathers of the Wings are dusky crossed with pale red lines The lesser rows of hard feathers in the Wings are almost wholly of one and the same reddish colour The Tail is short not above an inch and half long consisting of twelve feathers of a blackish colour interrupted with pale-red transverse lines The Feet are pale-coloured covered with a skin divided rather into scales than entire rings The soals of the Feet yellow The outer Toes as far as the first joynt are connected with the middlemost by an intervening membrane It hath a Gall-bladder The Cock had great Testicles for the bigness of its body whence we may infer that it is a salacious bird It hath a musculous Stomach or Gizzard and just above the Stomach the Gullet is dilated into the bag which we call the Ante-stomach the interior Superficies whereof is granulated with papillary Glandules For catching of Quails they use this Art The Fowler betimes in the Morning having spread his Net hides himself under it among the Corn then calls with his Quail-pipe The Cock Quail thinking it to be the note of the Hen that he hears comes in a trice with all speed to the place whence the noise comes When the Bird is got under the Net up rises the Fowler and shews himself to him he presently attempting to fly away is entangled in the Net and taken The Quail is a bird no less salacious than the Partridge infamous also for obscene and unnatural lust The Cocks are of high spirit and courage and therefore by some are wont to be trained up and prepared for the combate after the manner of Cocks And Aelian tells us that of old time at Athens Quail-fightings were wont to be exhibited as shews and so grateful and delightful they were to the people that there was as great flocking to them as to a spectacle of Gladiators In some Cities of Italy especially Naples they do also now adays keep fighting Quails as Aldrovandus reports The manner how they induce and provoke them to fight see in him Quails are birds of passage for being impatient of cold when Winter comes they depart out of Northern and cold Countries into hotter and more Southerly flying even over Seas which one would admire considering the weight of their bodies and shortness of their Wings When we sailed from Rhodes to Alexandria of Egypt saith Bellonius many Quails flying from the North toward the South were taken in our Ship whence I am verily perswaded that they shift places For formerly also when I sailed out of the Isle of Zant to Morea or Negropont in the Spring time I had observed Quails flying the contrary way from South to North that they might abide there all Summer At which time also there were a great many taken in our Ship Among the Ancient Greeks and Latines Quails were condemned and banished Tables as an unwholsom dish for being reported to feed upon Hellebore and to be obnoxious to the falling sickness they were thought to produce the like disease in those that eat their flesh But undeservedly for now adays they are eaten without any danger and esteemed a choice dish And being somewhat rare with us in England are sold very dear Indeed their flesh both for delicacy of taste and wholsomness of nourishment is nothing inferiour to that of Partridge or Pheasant Poulterers and such as feed them in Coops do not permit them a high place to be in because leaping up they hurt their heads against the top nay though their Coops be so low that they can hardly stand upright in them yet by striking their heads against the top they will rub off all the feathers as we have observed §. IX The Rail or Daker-hen Ortygometra Aldrov lib. 13. cap. 33. Crex Aristotelis THe weight of that we described was five inches and an half Its length from the point of the Bill to the end of the Claws was fifteen inches to the end of the Tail eleven and an half its breadth between the extreams of the Wings stretch'd out nineteen inches Its Bill 1 ⅛ inch long measuring from the point to the end of the slit The body of this bird is narrow or compressed side-ways and like to that of Water-hens The lower part of the Breast and the Belly are white the Chin also is white else the Throat is of a more sordid or dirty colour On the Head are two broad black lines Also a white line from the shoulders as in the Morehen The middle parts of the covert feathers of the Back are black the outsides of a reddish ash-colour The Thighs are variegated with transverse white lines In each Wing are twenty three quil-feathers The lesser rows of Wing-feathers both above and below are of a deep yellow as also the borders of the prime feathers The Tail is almost two inches long made up of twelve feathers The Bill is like the Water-hens the upper Mandible being whitish the nether dusky The Legs bare above the Knees the Feet whitish In the Stomach dissected we found Snails It is called Rallus or Grallus perchance from its stalking à gradu grallatorio or perchance from Royale because it is a Royal or Princely dish Aldrovandus describes his Rail thus Its Bill is less than a Water-fowls but much bigger than a Quails Its Tail also is very little and next to none Its Legs and Feet in proportion to its body long of a middle colour between Saffron and green The colour of almost the whole Head the Neck Back and also the greater part of the Wings respecting the Back of a testaceous colour in brief very like to that of a Hen-Quail wherefore it is by the Italians rightly called the King of Quails Il re delle Qualie which is as much to say as a great Quail The Wings where they are contiguous to the Belly are red The fore-part of the Neck and the beginning of the Breast are wholly testaceous The Belly and Hips like the Goshawks Accipitris stellarii The Female is all over of a paler colour Bellonius describes this Bird by the title of the other Rail that lives in Broom fields Ortygometrae alterius in genistis degentis It is said to be the Quails Leader or Guide when they go from one place to another In the whole shape of its body it resembles the Water-fowl especially the Morehen Its Legs are long its Body slender its Belly white its Tail short its Bill pretty long all which are marks of Water-fowl Wherefore in my judgment it more properly belongs to that Tribe and ought thither to be referred This if
I much mistake not is the Bird which Dr. Turner takes to be the Crex of Aristotle There is saith he a certain Bird in England with long Legs else like to a Quail save that it is bigger which among Corn and Flax in the Spring and beginning of the Summer hath no other cry than Crex Crex but this it often iterates Which I think to be the Crex of Aristotle The English call it a Daker-hen the Germans Ein Schryck I never saw or heard it any where in England save in Northumberland But seeing as Gesner rightly it is manifest by the testimony of the most ancient Writer Herodotus that the Crex is as big as the black Ibis the English Daker-hen cannot be the Crex Although this Bird be more rare in England yet is it found every where in Ireland in great plenty §. X. The Indian Quail of Bontius THis Bird feeds by Coveys like Partridges in the Woods of Java although it be also made and kept tame and its Female accompanied with her Brood walks up and down the Yards of houses like the common Hen the Cocks also are no less stout and given to fighting among themselves till they kill one another than the Dunghil-Cocks In the colour of their feathers they very nearly resemble the true Quail But their Bill is a little longer They also make such an interrupted noise or cry by intervals as Quails are wont to do but of a far different sound from that of Quails more like to that horrid drumming noise which Bittours make among Reeds in fenny places which in Low Dutch we call Pittoor The longer these Birds continue or draw out that cry the more generous are they thought to be They are of so cold a nature that when shut up in Cages or Coops if you do not expose them to the Sun-beams and strow Sand under them they presently languish and run a hazard of dying And therefore by night after Sunset they shrink up on a heap as the Cuckow doth with us in hollow trees in Winter-time and in the trunks of trees cover themselves with their feathers But when the Sun rises they presently sing and that sound is heard many paces off that you would wonder so little a bird for they do not exceed a common Pigeon or Turtle in bigness should have so deep and loud a cry I have sometimes kept of them in Cages which would give me notice of the approach of Morning or break of day if I had any serious business to do For if any business be to be done it is most commodiously dispatcht either in the Morning or Evening For the day time while the Sun roasts all things with his scorching heat is unfit for action and very unhealthful to stir much in CHAP. XII Wild Birds of the Poultry-kind that feed on Leaves and Berries c. having Scarlet Eye-brows §. I. The Cock of the Mountain or Wood Urogallus five Tetrao major Aldrov called by the Germans Orhun by the Venetians Gallo di montagna FOr bigness and figure it comes near to a Turkey The Cock we measured from the point of the Bill to the end of the Tail was thirty two inches long The Hen but twenty six The ends of the Wings extended were in the Cock forty six inches distant in the Hen no more than forty one It had such a Bill as the rest of this kind an inch and half long measuring from the tip to the angles of the mouth its sides sharp and strong It s Tongue is sharp and not cloven In the Palate is a Cavity impressed equal to the Tongue The Irides of the Eyes are of a hazel colour Above the Eyes is a naked skin of a scarlet colour in the place and of the figure of the Eyebrows as in the rest of this kind The Legs on the forepart are feathered down to the foot or rise of the Toes but bare behind The Toes are joyned together by a membrane as far as the first joynt then they have on each side a border of skin all along standing out a little way and serrate The Breast is of a pale red with transverse black lines the tips of the feathers being whitish The bottom of the Throat is of a deeper red The Belly cinereous The upper side of the body is particoloured of black red and cinereous the tips of the feathers being powdered with specks excepting in the Head where the black colour hath a purple gloss if beheld in some positions The Chin in the Cock is black in the Hen red The Tail is of a deeper red than the other feathers and crossed with black bars the tips of the feathers being white The Tail of the Cock is black the tips of the feathers being white and their borders as it were powdered with reddish ash-coloured specks The middle feathers especially and those next to them are marked with white spots The feathers covering the bottom of the Tail have white tips else are variegated with alternate black and reddish ash-coloured transverse lines After the same manner the whole Back is also painted with black and white cross lines but finer and slenderer The feathers under the Tail are black but their tips and exteriour edges white The Head in the Hen is of the same colour with the back The tips of the Breast-feathers are black Each Wing hath twenty six quill-feathers the greater whereof are of a more dusky and dark colour The rest have their exteriour Vanes variegated with red and black The tips of all beside the ten outmost are white The longer feathers springing from the shoulders are adorned with angular beds of black wherewith a little red is mingled below The lesser rows of hard feathers of the Wings are variegated with dusky red and white their tips being white In the Cock the shoulders and lesser rows of hard feathers above are variegated with red and black lines underneath are white except those under the first internodium which are black The longer feathers under the shoulders are white which when the Wings are closed make a large white spot The Wings under the second internodium are black with transverse lines of white In the Cock the Neck is of a shining blue The Thighs Sides Neck Rump and Belly are in like manner variegated with white and black lines The Head is blacker About the vent it is of an ash-colour It hath very long blind Guts straked with six white lines The Stomach musculous as in the rest of this kind full of little stones The Craw was stuft with the Leaves Tops and Buds of the Fir-tree The skin of the stomach sticking to the muscles is soft and hairy like Velvet But for the knowledge of this Bird and distinguishing it from all others there is no need of so prolix and particular a description of colours which vary much by age and perchance also place and other accidents when as the bigness alone is sufficient for that purpose This Bird is found on high
which in the Hens is very small in the Males much deeper Aristotle and out of him Pliny and Athenaeus write that it is proper or peculiar to Pigeons not to hold up their heads as they drink like other birds but to drink like Kine or Horses by sucking without intermission Albertus sets the twentieth year for the term of a Pigeons life As for tame Pigeons saith Aldrovandus a certain man of good credit told me that he had heard from his Father who was much delighted in Pigeons and other Birds that he had kept a Pigeon two and twenty years and that all that time it constantly bred excepting the last six months which time having left its Mate it had chosen a single life Aristotle assigns forty years to the life of a Pigeon Aldrov Ornithol tom 2. pag. 370. Pigeons are far harder to concoct than Chickens and yield a melancholy juyce They say that the eating of Doves flesh is of force against the Plague insomuch that they who make it their constant or ordinary food are seldom seized by Pestilential diseases Others commend it against the Palsie and trembling Others write that it is of great use and advantage to them that are dim-sighted The flesh of young Pigeons is restorative and useful to recruit the strength of such as are getting up or newly recovered from some great sickness To us it seems to be most savoury and if we may stand to the verdict of our Palate comparable to the most esteemed A live Pigeon cut asunder along the back-bone and clapt hot upon the Head mitigates fierce humours and discusses melancholy sadness Hence it is a most proper medicine in the phrensie headach melancholy and gout Schrod Some add also in the Apoplexy Our Physicians use to apply Pigeons thus dissected to the soals of the Feet in acute diseases in any great defect of spirits or decay of strength to support and refresh the patient that he may be able to grapple with and master the disease For the vital spirits of the Pigeon still remaining in the hot flesh and bloud do through the pores of the skin insinuate themselves into the bloud of the sick person now dis-spirited and ready to stagnate and induing it with new life and vigour enable it to perform its solemn and necessary circuits The hot bloud dropt into the Eyes allays pain and cures blear eyes and discusseth suffusions and bloud-shot and cures green wounds It properly stops bloud that flows from the membranes of the brain and mitigates the pains of the gout Note 1. The bloud of the Cock-Pigeon is best and that taken from under the right Wing because it is of a hotter nature Note 2. The bloudy juyce from the feathers of the Wings may be used for the other bloud and it is best from the young Pigeon The coat of the stomach dried and powdered is good against Dysenteries The Dung is very hot from the nitrous faculty wherewith it is indued and therefore burns discusses and makes the skin red by attracting the bloud Hence it is of common use in Cataplasms and Plasters that rubifie Beaten and sifted and laid on with Water-cress Seeds it is good against old diseases Such as are the Gout Megrim Turn-sick old Headach and pains in the Sides Colics Apoplexies Lethargy c. It discusseth Strumaes and other Tumours laid on with Barley-flour and Vinegar and cures the falling of the hair anointed and Colic in Clysters and discusseth defluxions on the knees applied with salt and oyl Inwardly it breaks the Stone and expels Urine Give from a scruple to two scruples Schrod out of Galen and Fernelius Doves dung as Crescentiensis saith is best of all others for Plants and Seeds and may be scattered when any thing is sown together with the Seed or at any time afterwards One Basket-ful thereof is worth a Cart-load of Sheeps dung Our Country-men also are wont to sow Doves dung together with their grain §. III. * A wild Pigeon of St. Thomas his Island Marggrav IT is of the bigness and figure of our Country Pigeon but its upper Bill hooked the foremost half being of a blue colour mixt with a little white and yellow the hindmost of a sanguine The Eyes are black with a circle of blue The whole body is covered with green feathers like a Parrot The prime feathers of the Wings are duskish as is also the end of the Tail Under the vent it hath yellow feathers The Legs and Feet are of an elegant Saffron-colour but the Claws dusky §. IV. A Turtle-dove Turtur THe Male which we described from Bill-point to tail-Tail-end was twelve inches long from tip to tip of the Wings extended twenty one broad Its Bill slender from the tip to the angles of the mouth almost an inch long of a dusky blue colour without and red within Its Tongue small and not divided The Irides of its Eyes between red and yellow A circle of naked red flesh encompasseth the Eyes as in many others of this kind Its Feet were red its Claws black its Toes divided to the very bottom The inner side of the middle Claw thinned into an edge It s Head and the middle of its Back were blue or cinereous of the colour of a common Pigeon The Shoulders and the Rump were of a sordid red The Breast and Belly white The Throat tinctured with a lovely vinaceous colour Each side of the Neck was adorned with a spot of beautiful feathers of a black colour with white tips The exteriour quil-feathers of the Wings were dusky the middle cinereous the interiour had their edges red The second row of Wing-feathers was ash-coloured the lesser rows black The Tail was composed of twelve feathers of which the outmost had both their tips and exteriour Webs white In the succeeding the white part by degrees grew less and less so that the middlemost had no white at all The length of the Tail was four inches and an half Its Testicles were great an inch long Its Guts by measure twenty six inches It s blind Guts very short It s Crop great in which we found Hemp-seed Its Stomach or Gizzard fleshy Above the stomach the Gullet is dilated into a kind of bag set with papillary Glandules §. V. * The Indian Turtle of Aldrov lib. 15. cap. 9. THe Hen excepting the Feet which are red and the Bill which is black as in the Cock is all over white But the Cock hath his Head Neck Breast Wings as far as the quill-feathers and Back down to the Rump reddish but of a much fainter colour than in our common Turtle and not at all spotted It s bigness is almost the same its note the same Its Bill also like but black In its Eye is a most manifest difference For in this the Iris is of a most lovely shining Saffron or rather scarlet colour which in the common Turtle is only yellow In that we described the Irides of the Eyes were between red and yellow
The ring also is of a different colour for in the Indian Turtles it is slender and black and compasses the Neck round whereas in the common ones it is more than an inch broad parti-coloured and compasses not the Neck The longer feathers of the Wings the Rump and whole Tail are of a dusky colour having their shafts black and edges white The Belly especially near the vent is yellow The Feet red adorned with whitish tables The Claws are dusky inclining to yellow They feed upon Millet Thus far Aldrovandus Of this sort of Bird we have seen many kept by the curious in Aviaries and Cages §. VI. * The Indian Turtle or Cocotzin of Nieremberg the Picuipinima of Marggrave Our least Barbados Turtle IT is a little bigger than a Lark Nieremberg saith than a Sparrow hath a small dusky black Bill like a Pigeons black Eyes with a golden Circle The whole Head the upper part of the Neck the Sides Back and Wings are covered with dark ash-coloured or black and blue feathers having black semilunar borders But the long feathers of its Wings which are seen as it flies are of a red colour and black on one side and in their tips The Tail is of a good length consisting of dusky ash-coloured feathers yet some of them are black and have their exteriour half white The feathers of the Belly are white having their borders black of the figure of a Crescent The Legs and Feet like those of other Doves but whitish These Pigeons are good meat and grow very fat Nieremberg adds that the Head is little the Bill little and black the Neck short the Legs red wherein it differs from Marggraves bird the Claws dusky and little The Mexicans gave it its name from the colour of its Wings and the noise it makes in flying the Spaniards who call it a Turtle from its murmuring voice and the taste and quality of its flesh although it be much less than our common Turtle It cries hu hu affords good nourishment though somewhat hard of concoction It is found in Mountainous places and also near Towns It is native of the Country of Mexico and very common there They say that it will cure a woman of jealousie if you give it her boil'd to eat so that she knows not what she eats There is also another sort of this Bird every way like it save only that the body is fulvous and black and the Head ash-coloured Whence some call it Tlapalcocotli This Bird is either the same with or very like to our least Barbados Turtle which is of the bigness of a Lark being exactly equal to the figure we give of it taken from the live bird §. VII The Ring-Dove Palumbus torquatus THat we described weighed twenty ounces and an half It s length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail was eighteen inches Its breadth thirty It s Bill yellowish covered for some space from the Head with a red or purplish skin wherein are the Nosthrils Above the Nosthrils is as it were a white Dandroof The Tongue is sharp-pointed not cloven but channel'd The circle about the Pupil of the Eye of a pale yellow The Feet were bare of a red colour as in other Pigeons The outmost Toe by a membrane joyned to the middlemost as far as the first joynt The Legs feathered almost down to the foot The upper part of the Neck is adorned with a semicircular line of white which they call a ring and from whence the Bird took its name Ring-Dove Both above and beneath this ring the Neck as it is variously objected to the light appears of various colours The Head and Back are of a dark ash-colour The lower part of the Neck and upper part of the Brest are purplish or red with a certain mixture of cinereous The Belly of a light ash-colour inclining to white In the Cock these colours are deeper than in the Hen. The quill-feathers in each Wing about twenty four of which the second is the longest The ten foremost or outmost were black The second and succeeding as far as the seventh had their utmost edges white The rest of the hard feathers were of a dusky ash-colour At the bottom or rise of the bastard Wing a white spot tending downwards covered the ninth tenth eleventh and twelfth quill-feathers The Tail was seven inches long and made up of twelve feathers the top or end for two inches and an half being black the remaining part cinereous The Liver was divided into two Lobes It had no Gall-bladder but a large Gall-channel to convey the Gall into the Guts These Birds in Winter-time company together and fly in flocks They build in trees making their Nests of a few sticks and straws They feed upon Acorns and also upon Corn and Ivy and Holly berries §. VIII The Stock-Dove or Wood-Pigeon Oenas sive Vinago IT is as big or bigger than a common Pigeon The Cock weighed fourteen ounces and an half was from Bill to Tail fourteen inches long and between the tips of the Wings extended twenty six broad The colour and shape of the body almost the same with that of a common Pigeon The Bill also like and of equal length of a pale red colour The Nosthrils were great and prominent The top of the Head cinereous The Neck covered with changeable feathers which as they are variously objected to the light appear of a purple or shining green no Silk like them The fore-part of the Breast the Shoulders and Wings are dashed with a purplish or red-wine colour whence it took the name Oenas The Wings Shoulders and middle of the Back are of a dark ash-colour the rest of the Back to the Tail of a paler All the quil-feathers except the four or five outmost which are all over black with their edges white have their lower part cinereous and their upper black The Tail is five inches long made up of twelve feathers having their lower parts cinereous their upper for one third of their length black The nether side of the body excepting the upper part of the Breast is all cinereous The Wings closed reach not to the end of the Tail In both Wings are two black spots the one upon two or three quil-feathers next the body the other upon two or three of the covert feathers incumbent upon those quils Both spots are on the outside the shafts and not far from the tips of the feathers The two outmost feathers of the Tail have the lower half of their exteriour Vanes white The Feet are red the Claws black the Legs feathered down a little below the Knees The blind Guts very short It had no Gall-bladder that we could find a large Craw full of Gromil seeds c. It had a musculous Stomach long Testicles and a long Breast-bone §. IX * The Rock-Pigeon THis as Mr. Johnson described it to us hath a small body ash-coloured and red Legs But these two last notes are common to most Pigeons
her young ones with Misselto berries and nothing else as I could perceive having diligently watched them for two or three hours together This I can hardly believe for that the old ones feed upon other berries too and also Insects For Convulsions or the Falling sickness kill this bird dry him to a powder and take the quantity of a penny weight every morning in six spoonfuls of black Cherry water or the distilled water of Miselto-berries The reason of this conceit is because this bird feeds upon Misselto which is an approved remedy for the Epilepsie §. II. The Mavis Throstle or Song-thrush Turdus simpliciter dictus seu viscivorus minor IT is called viscivorous not because its feeds upon Misselto-berries but because it is like the Missel-bird It is lesser than the Fieldfare scarce bigger than the Redwing of three ounces weight from the point of the Bill to the end of the Tail or the Feet for all is one nine inches long The Bill is an inch long of a dusky colour The Tongue viewing it attentively appears to be a little cloven The Mouth withinside is yellow The Irides of the Eyes hazel-coloured In the colour and spots of the Breast and Belly it agrees with the Missel-bird For the spots are dusky the Breast yellowish the Belly white The upper surface of the body is all over dusky with a mixture of yellow in the Wings I should rather call this an Olive-colour from its likeness to that of unripe pickled Olives such as are brought over to us out of Spain This Bird for its outward shape and colour is so like the Redwing that they are hard to be distinguished Only this hath more and greater spots on the Breast and Belly Aldrovandus tells us that it is proper to this kind to be spotted about the Eyes The lesser feathers covering the Wings underneath are of a yellowish red colour The lower covert-feathers have yellow tips The quill-feathers in each Wing are in number eighteen The Tail is three inches and an half long and made up of twelve feathers The Legs and Feet are of a light brown or dusky The soals of the Feet yellow The exteriour toe grows to the middle one as far as the first joynt It hath a Gall-bladder the Stomach or Gizzard not so thick and fleshy as in other birds of this Tribe It s feeding is rather upon Insects than berries It eats also shell-snails which are by most Naturalists reckoned among Insects The Sex cannot be known by the colour It abides all the year and breeds with us in England It builds its Nest outwardly of earth moss and straws and within dawbs it with clay laying its Eggs and Young upon the bare clay it lays at one sitting five or six Eggs of a bluish green colour speckled with a few small black spots thin-set In the Spring time it sits upon trees and sings most sweetly It is a solitary bird like the Shrite But it builds rather in hedges than high trees Moreover it is a silly bird and easily taken For the delicate taste of its flesh it is by all highly and deservedly commended If we stand to Martials judgment the Thrush is the best meat of all birds Inter aves Turdus siquid me judice verum est Inter quadrupedes gloria prima lepus This saith a late English Writer is a rare Song-bird as well for the great variety of his notes as his long continuance in song at least nine months in the year They breed commonly thrice a year in April May and June but the first birds prove usually the best They may be taken in the Nest at fourteen days old or sooner must be kept warm and neat not suffering them to sit upon their dung if it happen to fall into the Nest When they are young you must feed them with raw meat and some bread mixt and chopt together with some bruised Hemp wet their bread and mix it with their meat When they are well feathered put them in a large Cage with two or three Perches in it and dry Moss at the bottom and by degrees you may give them no flesh at all but only bread and hemp-seed Give them fresh water twice a Week to bathe themselves otherwise they will not thrive If he be not clean kept he is subject to the Cramp like other singing birds §. III. The Fieldfare Turdus pilaris IT weighs well nigh four ounces It s length from the point of the Bill to the end of the Tail or utmost Claws for they are equally extended is ten inches and an half Its breadth the Wings being spread seventeen The Bill is an inch long like a Blackbirds yellow save the tip which is black The Bills of the Hens or young birds are darker and less yellow as in Blackbirds the Tongue is rough horny channel'd in the middle The edges of the Eye-lids being yellow make a yellow circle round the Eye The Nosthrils are great In the lower part of the nictating membrane is a black spot The Ears are large The Feet black but the Claws more The outer Toe is joyned immediately to the middle one as far as the first joynt It seems to be somewhat bigger than a Blackbird and the second in bigness of this kind or next to the Missel-bird The Head Neck and Rump are ash-coloured in some of a deep blue The crown of the Head sprinkled with black spots which yet in some birds are wanting The Back Shoulders and covert feathers of the Wings are of a dark red or Chesnut-colour the middle parts of the feathers being black The Throat and upper part of the Breast are yellow spotted with black the black spots taking up the middle parts of the feathers The bottom of the Breast and Belly are white and less spotted The covert-feathers of the sides under the ends of the Wings are white Thence a red or yellow line separates the white from the black On each Cheek it hath a black stroak reaching from the Bill to the Eyes It hath also on both sides at the bottom of the Neck just by the setting on of the Wings a black spot The number of quil-feathers as in the rest is eighteen the outmost of which are black with white edges the inner have something of red The covert-feathers of the inside of the Wings are white The Tail is four inches and an half long composed of twelve feathers of a dark blue or blackish colour Only the tips of the outmost feathers are white and the edges of the middlemost ash-coloured The Liver is divided into two Lobes and furnished with its Gall-bladder The Muscles of the Gizzard are not very thick I found no footstep of the passage for conveying the Gall into the Guts These Birds fly in flocks together with Stares and Redwings They shift places according to the seasons of the year About the beginning of Autumn come over incredible flights of them into England which stay with us all Winter and in the Spring fly all
little gravel in their Cages all times of the year for the reason before intimated THE FIRST MEMBER OR SUBSECTION Of small Birds with slender Birds OF these there are many sorts All besides Swallows may conveniently enough be divided into such as have the feathers of their Tails all of one colour and such as have a particoloured Tail We will first treat of Larks and Swallows by themselves then we will reduce the rest to the now mentioned heads CHAP. I. OF LARKS §. I. Of Larks in general A Lark called by the Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying a Helmet by the Latines also Cassita and Galerita from Cassis and Galea or Galerus of like signification which names do yet properly agree to the crested Lark is distinguished from other sorts of Birds 1. By its long Heel or Claw of the back-toe which is the characteristic mark of this bird 2. By the testaceous or earthy colour of its feathers Which note is not common to all the Birds we comprehend under this title nor proper to this kind fith it agrees to Sparrows and other Birds 3. By its singing as it flies mounting up in the air We have in England observed four sorts of Larks 1. The most common one 2. The Wood-Lark 3. The lesser crested Lark 4. The Tit-Lark §. II. The common Skie-Lark Alauda vulgaris IT is not much bigger than a House-Sparrow yet longer bodied of an ounce and half weight from the tip of the Bill to the Claws or tail-Tail-end for they are equally extended six inches and a quarter The ends of the great feathers in the Wings stretched out were ten inches and a quarter distant The Bill measuring from the tip to the angles of the Mouth was three quarters of an inch long The upper Mandible black or horn-coloured the lower commonly whitish The Tongue broad cloven hard The Nosthrils round It sometimes ruffles up the feathers of its head almost in fashion of a Crest A cinereous Ring or Crown compasses the hind part of the Head from Eye to Eye but more sordid and less conspicuous than in the Wood-Lark The Head is of a testaceous or reddish ash-colour the middle parts of the feathers being black The Back is of the same colour with the Head The Chin whitish The Throat yellow with brown spots The sides of a reddish yellow Each Wing hath eighteen quil-feathers Of these all betwixt the sixth and seventeenth have blunt indented white tips The edges of the four or five outmost are white of those next the body cinereous of the rest reddish The Tail is three inches long consisting of twelve feathers of which the outmost on each side hath both its upper half and also the exteriour Vane of the lower white The next to this hath only its outer Web white the inner being black The three following on each side are black The two middlemost are sharp-pointed of which that that lies undermost when the Tail is shut hath ash-coloured edges That which covers it lying uppermost towards the tip is cinereous toward the bottom blackish The Feet and Legs are dusky The Claws black with white tips The outer toe grows to the middle below as in other small birds The Liver is divided into two Lobes the left much less than the right that there may be room for the Gizzard which in this bird is fleshy and great for the bigness of the bird The flesh is very sweet and delicate In mild Winters it feeds wondrous fat And there are then taken an innumerable number with us in England for the furnishing and adorning of our Tables as Polydore Virgil truly writes It builds upon the ground and lays four or five Eggs at once A late Writer saith three or four and that to his knowledge he never found five in all his life This Bird builds saith Olina in plain open ground under some clod of Earth others say in Corn or thick high grass in Meadows And though in Winter we see great flocks of them yet we find the fewest of their Nests of any birds that are so plentiful He makes his Nest of dried herbs and strings and breeds thrice a year in May July and August rearing his young very suddenly So that if you have a Nest you must take them as soon as they are spoon-feathered or else you run the risco of losing them for they will get them gone of a sudden This bird breeds much later than the Wood-Lark by almost two months for she seldom hath young ones before the middle of May. Young Nestlings may be brought up almost with any meat but if you give them sheeps Heart and Egg chopt together till they are about three weeks old it will not be amiss And when they come to eat alone give them Oatmeal Hemp-seed and bread mixed together with a little Egg. Olina saith to save charges you may feed them with Wheat Oats and Millet These birds that are so young may be brought up to any thing one bird learning another birds Song You must always observe to give them sand at the bottom of the Cage and let them have a new Turf every week placed in a dish of water in their Cage which must be as large as two of the Wood-Larks Cage They need have no Pearches in their Cages The Cock may be known from the Hen according to Olina by having his heel so long that it reaches beyond his knee and having two black spots on his Neck one on each side somewhat in fashion of a Ring or Collar his breast darker and more speckled with black and a grosser body My English Author saith that those you intend to keep for singing were best be taken in October or November and then they will sing a little after Christmas and advises to chuse the streightest largest and loftiest bird and he that hath most white in his Tail for these saith he are the usual marks for a Cock If you find him very wild and buckish tie his Wings for two or three weeks till he is become both acquainted and tame also and then when you perceive him pretty orderly untie his Wings still letting him hang in the same place he did You must feed this old bird with Hemp-seed Bread and a few white Oats for he takes great delight to husk the Oats And when he begins to sing once in a week you may give him a hard Egg or shred him a little boyled Mutton or Veal or Sheeps heart You must observe in this bird as in all others that you give it no salt meat nor bread that is any thing salt §. III. The Woodlark called at Rome Tottovilla THe Cock we made trial in weighed an ounce and a quarter Its length from Bill to Tail was six inches and an half The distance between the ends of the Wings spread twelve inches and an half It is lesser than the common Lark and shorter bodied It s Bill as in the rest of this kind
good way and toward the tip moderately hooked The Claws also are whitish §. X. The Bird called Spipoletta at Florence Tordino at Venice Perchance the Stopparola or Grisola or Spipola secunda of Aldrovand IT is less than a Lark about the bigness of a Beccafigo From Bill point to Tail end 7⅛ inches long Between the tips of the Wings extended eleven three quarters broad It s Bill is small slender about half an inch long streight sharp and cole-black Its Spur or back-claw very long like a Larks It s colour on the top of the Head Neck Shoulders and Back cinereous with a dash of green Mr. Willughby makes the Back to be of an obscure or dusky yellow the Head more cinereous The Breast and Belly are white The Throat spotted The Belly of the Hen-bird is yellowish The Throat Breast and Belly in some are white in others of a lovely yellow But in all generally the Breast is darker than the Throat or Belly and spotted It hath in each Wing eighteen prime feathers I found not in this kind that small short outmost feather which we have observed in the Wings of many small birds of a dark or dusky colour excepting the outer edges which are either whitish or yellowish The feathers also of the second row are of the same colour with those of the first The Tail is about three inches long and consists of ten feathers of which the two outmost on each side have their outward Vanes and tops in the whole above their halves milk-white all the rest are dark-coloured and almost black especially in the Males excepting the two middlemost which round the edges are either yellowish or white Mr. Willughby describes the Tail a little otherwise and perchance more exactly thus The Tail is black but the upper half of the outmost feather on each side and the tip of the next are white the two middlemost from dusky incline to an ash-colour This bird is sufficiently distinguished by the length of its heel from other sorts of birds by the black colour of its Wings and Tail Bill and Feet from other Larks Concerning its manners place nest breeding c. we have nothing further to add We saw it at Venice and Florence in the hands of Country-men and Fowlers among other small birds to be sold in the Markets At Florence they called it Spipoletta whence induced by the agreement of names we guess it to be either the first or second Spipola of Aldrovandus But yet seeing in the descriptions of these birds there is no mention made of the length of the heel which it is not likely so curious a spectatour as Aldrovand should either oversee or through neglect and forgetfulness omit notwithstanding the convenience of names these may perchance be distinct Species And therefore that we may not give the Reader just occasion to to complain that we have rashly omitted any thing in our Ornithology we will annex to this Chapter Aldrovandus his descriptions of Spipolae Stopparolae and other small birds to which we judge this to be the same or very like The first Spipola of Aldrovandus The first Spipola which is greater than the rest in this kind hath an ash-coloured Head Under the Bill a white spot in place of a beard It s Breast is red Its Belly particoloured of red and white Its Tail black above white underneath It s Back ash-coloured Its Wings particoloured of white black and red its Legs and Feet yellow its Claws black Its Bill long slender and dusky coloured This bird if it be exactly described is to us as yet unknown The other Spipola of Aldrovandus This inclines more to an ash-colour than the precedent But differs from it in that it hath not a red Brest but marked with black spots drawn downwards It is also more cinereous above than beneath Moreover the Belly is almost white Behind the Eyes is a great spot approaching after a sort to a ferrugineous colour The master feathers of the Wings and those which cover them are black their sides and ends being cinereous The Legs and Feet are dusky The Tail ash-coloured The third Spipola of Aldrovandus described in the same Chapter This some call Boarina It is a small bird almost all over of a pale or whitish yellow but deeper in the Wings than elsewhere The Bill and Feet are dusky The Stopparola of Aldrovand lib. 17. cap. 27. The Fowlers saith he of our City call this bird Stopparola a name I know not what it signifies nor whence it is derived unless perchance it be from Stubble which our Country men call Stoppia It is if I be not mistaken of the Genus of the Muscicapae hath the Breast and Belly for the most part white the Head which on the Crown is speckled with white spots Neck Back and Tail brown the quill-feathers of the Wings black as are also the coverts but yellowish on the sides The Legs and Feet slender and black The Bill indifferently long sharp-pointed and black A Bird like to Stopparola Magnanina Aldrov in the same place It is of the bigness of a Wagtail hath a long streight sharp Bill yet above having a little declivity black above and of a horn colour underneath The Neck Breast and Belly pale The Eyes small and lively having a black Pupil and a white circle and a dusky spot hardly conspicuous about them The Feet leadencoloured The Grisola of Aldrovandus There is a certain other small bird caught in our fields which the Fowlers call Grisola perchance from its grey or hoary colour although it be not grey but of a dusky ash-colour Or perchance because it cries much keeping alone for we sometimes use the word gridare to signifie lamenting It feeds upon flies and other such like Insects as I gather from the figure and construction of its Bill for it is slender streight and long On the Neck and Breast it is distinguished with oblong brown spots tending downwards The whole Belly is white The Head upper side of the Neck Back and Tail are dusky as are also the Wings the feathers whereof have their sides and ends of a pale ash-colour The Legs and Feet are also dusky or blackish The Glareana or Grien Vogelin of Gesner Hither also for its spotted Breast we will refer the Glareana or Grien Vogelin of Gesner which because the Author described from the inspection of a Picture sent him from Strasburgh we suspect not to differ from the above described although in some particulars it seems to vary We refer the Reader that desires more concerning it to Gesner or Aldrovandus CHAP. II. Of the Swallow in general THe characteristic notes of Swallows are a great Head a short Neck a small short Bill a wide mouth for the more easie catching of Flies and other Insects as they flie to and fro Very long Wings a swift and almost continual flight a long and forked Tail for the more ready and speedy turning their body
and directing their flight White Eggs speckled with ferrugineous spots as Aldrovandus truly observed This bird is the Springs Herald being not seen throughout all Europe in Winter-time Whence that Greek Proverb common to almost all Languages 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One Swallow makes not a Spring We have observed four sorts of Swallows in England and not more elsewhere Those are 1. The common or House-Swallow 2. The Martin or Martinet or Martlet 3. The Sand-Martin or Shore-bird 4. The black Martin or Swift Of this last we have seen a sort painted with the whole Belly white And Julius Scaliger affirms that he hath seen one of this kind as big as a Buzzard No way differing in shape from the common one save in the Legs and Talons and hookedness of the Beak all fitted for prey As for the Physical vertues and faculties of Swallows and their parts Schroder hath thus briefly summed them up 1. Swallows entire are a specific remedy for the Falling sickness dimness of sight blear eyes their ashes mingled with honey and so applied they cure also the Squinancy and inflammation of the Uvula being eaten or their ashes taken inwardly 2. A Swallows heart is also said to be good for the Falling sickness and to strengthen the memory Some eat it against the Quartan Ague 3. Some will have the bloud to be a specific for the Eyes And they prefer that which is drawn from under the left Wing 4. There is a Stone found sometimes though seldom in the stomach of some of the young Swallows called Chelidonius of the bigness of a Lentile or Pease This they will have to help the Falling sickness in Children bound to the arm or hung about the neck Note They report this stone to be found especially in the increase of the Moon and in the first hatch'd yong one Others take it out in August about the Full of the Moon 5. The Nest outwardly applied gives relief in the Squinancy Heals the redness of the Eyes and is good for the biting of an Adder or Viper 6. The Dung heats very much discusses and is acrimonious It s chief use is against the bitings of a mad dog taken outwardly and inwardly in Colic and Nephritic pains taken inwardly put up it provokes excretion Schrod An approved Medicine for the Falling sickness Take one hundred Swallows I suppose here is some mistake and that one quarter of this number may suffice one ounce of Castoreum one ounce of Peiony roots so much White-Wine as shall suffice Distill all together and give the Patient to drink three drachms fasting every Morning This will lessen every fit and perfectly cure them Purge often as the strength of the Patient will bear with Stibium CHAP. III. Of Swallows in particular §. I. The common or House-Swallow Hirundo domestica THe Female weighed scarce an ounce From the Bill to the end of the Tail being seven inches long and measuring from tip to tip of the Wings extended twelve and an half broad It s Bill was short black flat and depressed very broad at the Head but sharp-pointed black also on the inside But the Tongue and roof of the mouth yellow The aperture of the mouth gaping very wide for the conveniency of catching Flies and Gnats as she flies The Tongue short broad and cloven The Eyes great and furnished with nictating membranes The Irides hazel-coloured The Feet short and black the outmost toe growing to the middlemost at bottom The Head Neck Back and Rump are of a very lovely shining but dark purplish blue colour As well above as underneath the Bill that is to say in the Forehead and under the chin is a deep sanguine spot But that underneath is much the bigger The Throat is of the same colour with the Neck The Breast and belly white with a dash of red as are also the interiour covert-feathers of the Wings The Tail is forked consisting of twelve feathers the outmost of which are an inch longer than the next and end in sharp points Of the rest the interiour are also shorter in order than the exteriour but the difference much less All these feathers of the Tail except the two middlemost are black and each adorned with a white spot Which spots cross the Tail in a streight line The two middlemost want the white spot The Wings have eighteen quill-feathers alike black But all the covert feathers are of a deep shining blue In the Stomach of an old bird we found Beetles in the stomachs of the young many small pellucid unequal stones tinctured with a fair Claret colour not far from the Eggs small worms spirally rolled up of three inches length These birds build in Chimneys About the end of September we saw great numbers of them to be sold in the Market at Valentia in Spain when we travelled through that Country Anno 1664. What becomes of Swallows in Winter time whether they fly into other Countries or lie torpid in hollow trees and the like places neither are natural Historians agreed nor indeed can we certainly determine To us it seems more probable that they fly away into hot Countries viz. Egypt Aethiopia c. then that either they lurk in hollow trees or holes of Rocks and ancient buildings or lie in water under the Ice in Northern Countries as Olaus Magnus reports For as Herodotus witnesseth they abide all the year in Egypt understand it of those that are bred there saith Aldrovandus for those that are bred with us only fly thither to winter I am assured of my own knowledge saith Peter Martyr that Swallows Kites and other Fowl fly over Sea out of Europe to Alexandria to winter Swallows sometimes vary in colour as do also many other birds I have saith Aldrovandus often seen House Swallows all over white If any one desires to have white Swallows let him anoint their Eggs while they sit with oyl-olive Aldrov §. II. The Martin or Martinet or Martlet Hirundo agrestis sive rustica Plinii THis being measured from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail was six inches long The Wings being spread ten inches and an half broad It s Head flat Its Bill also very much depressed and flat as in the House-Swallow at its insertion into the Head ⅜ of an inch broad but sharp at the point From the tip to the angles of the Mouth but half an inch long the upper Chap somewhat longer than the nether The Mouth is yellow withinside The Tongue cloven The Circles encompassing the Pupils of the Eyes of a havel-colour The Feet small and Legs short The soal of the foot bare in which appear the bottoms of the exteriour Toes joyned by a membrane The Claws are white The Feet to the very Claws covered with a white Down By which note it is easily distinguishable from all its fellows of the Swallowkind It s Head Neck Back Tail and Wings are of the same colour with the House-Swallows but sadder and not so glossie
belly §. VII * The Chinese Swallow of Bontius whose Nest is edible IN the Sea-coast saith he of the Kingdom of China a sort of small particoloured birds of the shape of Swallows at a certain season of the year viz. their breeding time come out of the midland Country to the Rocks and from the foam or froth of the Sea-water dashing and breaking against the bottom of the Rocks gather a certain clammy glutinous matter perchance the Sperm of Whales or other fishes of which they build their Nests wherein they lay their Eggs and hatch their Young These Nests the Chinese pluck from the Rocks and bring them in great numbers into the East Indies to sell which are esteemed by gluttons great delicacies who dissolving them in Chicken or Mutton broth are very fond of them preferring them far before Oysters Mushromes or other dainty and licorish morsels which most gratifie the Palate We have seen of this sort of Nests in the Cabinets of Athanasius Kircher the Jesuite and other Virtuosi They are as Olaus Wormius reports of a Hemispherical figure of the bigness of a Goose-Egg of a substance resembling Ising-glass Concerning their faculties or vertues saith John de Laet in his Epistle to Wormius reports vary some attributing to them something Venereal others not But he writes that he had been informed by those who commanded in chief in the East Indies that the birds that build them were found upon that part of the Sea-coast that is commonly called Coromandel and chiefly about Patane CHAP. IV. Slender-bill'd birds that have their Tails all of one colour The Hedge-Sparrow Curruca Eliotae An Magnanina Aldrov THis is almost as big as a Titlark or Robin-red-breast It s Bill is slender pretty long and black the Tongue cloven horny and black at the tip The Nosthrils of the figure of a Kidney-bean The Irides of the Eyes hazel-coloured The Ears great and wide The upper side of the body is particoloured of black and dirty-red the middle parts of each feather about the shaft being black the outsides or edges red These colours are so dull and sullen that the bird notwithstanding look'd on at a distance appears but of a brown or dirty colour The Head and Back shew something of cinereous the middle spots being darker The Rump is greenish and void of spots The prime feathers of the Wings dusky with reddish edges The interiour of the second row of Wing-feathers have whitish tips The lesler covert-feathers of the Wings are of the same colour with those on the body This hath that extreme short feather in each Wing which some birds want The Tail is about two inches long made up of twelve feathers all dusky without any variety of colours The nether part of the body is cinercous yet the lower belly whitish but in some birds darker and of a lead-colour The Legs and Feet are of a yellowish flesh-colour the Claws dusky the hind-claw greater and longer than any of the rest The outmost Toe as in other small birds at bottom grows to the middlemost The Cock had large Testicles The blind Guts seemed to us in this to be more round and tumid than in other small birds The stomach was not very fleshy It builds in hedges and lays commonly five Eggs is foolish bird and easily taken Its Eggs are of a fine pale blue or Sea-green colour A late English Writer saith that they are a very pleasant Song-bird singing early in the Spring and having great variety of notes Old or young become tame very swiftly and will sing in a short space after they are taken if you take them in the latter end of January or beginning of February It s weight was three quarters of an Ounce Its measures were from the Bill to the Claws six inches to the Tail end seven from Tip to tip of the Wings spread eight and an half Perchance this may be the Bird which Gesner makes his first Curruca whose figure you have in Aldrovands Ornithology lib. 17. cap. 34. In the Nest of this bird the Cuckow is said to lay her Egg which the foolish bird sits upon hatches and brings up the young one till it be fledg'd and can shift for it self Whence the word Curruca signifies as much in Latine as Cuckold with us in English i. e. one that brings up another mans Child for his own I suppose our word Cuckold came from Cuckow but a man abused in that manner is very improperly so called he that abuses him being indeed the Cuckow that lays an Egg in his Nest Whether or no this Bird doth hatch and bring up the young Cuckow I cannot say of my own experience but I am sure this is not the only Cuckows-nurse for I have known the Water-wagtail and other birds perform that office Aldrovandus describes his Magnanina in these words It is a bird of the bigness of a Sparrow having a slender sharp black Bill On the nether side down to the Belly of a pale ash-colour the belly being white Behind the Eyes it hath a notable spot of almost a Chesnut colour of which colour is also the crown of the head The greater Wing-feathers are black the Tail of a spadiceous but paler than the Back The Legs and Feet yellow the Claws black Some of our Fowlers call it Magnanina as much to say as a Smith or Carpenter-bird perchance because it makes a loud knocking or snapping with its Bill as it catches flies Other call it Passere matto that is a foolish Sparrow perhaps from its colour which approaches to spadiceous or rather because it easily yields it self to be taken CHAP. V. The Beccafigo or Fig-eater perchance the fourth or seventh Ficedula of Aldrovandus to which are subjoyned the descriptions of other small Birds akin to this out of Aldrovand THis is a very small bird scarce so big as the common Linnet short bodied The colour of its Head Neck Back Wings and Tail from ash-colour inclines to green in some dusky with a Tincture of green It hath the same number of Wing and Tail-feathers with all other small birds But the quills of the Wing are of a Mouse-dun with black shafts and green edges The lesser rows of feathers that cover the underside of the Wings are yellow The Tail is about two inches long not forked and all its feathers of a dusky colour The Belly of a white or silver colour The Breast something darker with a tincture of yellow The Bill is short the upper Mandible black the lower bluish The Mouth withinside of a red or flesh-colour The Legs short the Feet bluish and in some of a lead colour This bird is not remarkable for any variety of colours so that it is very hard so to describe it as by certain and characteristic notes to distinguish it from all others In its stomach dissected we found grape-stones and other seeds Mr. Jessop shot this bird in Yorkshire and sent it us by the name of Pettychaps The
in a Cage like the Nightingales lined with bays and having Moss at the bottom And give them sheeps heart and Egg or the Nightingales Paste or Woodlarks meat In a Trap-cage with a meal-worm you may take a dozen in a day The Cock may be known by his Breast being of a deeper red and the red going up further upon the Head He is subject to the Cramp and dizziness For the first give him three or four Meal-worms and Spiders For the latter six or seven Earwigs a week CHAP. IX The Nightingale Luscinia seu Philomela 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Graecis THe Nightingale being the chief of all singing birds is about the bigness of a Goldfinch or Redstard long-bodied of an ounce weight from Bill-point to tail-Tail-end seven inches long and between the extremities of the Wings extended ten and an half broad It s colour on the upper part viz. Head and back is a pale fulvous with a certain mixture of green like that of a Redwing It s Tail is of a deeper fulvous or red like a Redstarts From its red colour it took its name Rossignuolo in Italian It s Belly is white The parts under the Wings the Breast and Throat are of a darker colour with a tincture of green In each Wing it hath eighteen quil-feathers besides the outmost small one the interiour Webs whereof are livid the exteriour fulvous The Tail as we said is red not forked two inches and an half long compounded of twelve feathers The Bill slender streight indifferent long viz. measuring from the tip to the angles of the mouth near an inch of a dusky colour The upper Chap a little longer and blacker than the nether the nether paler and flesh-coloured at the root or rise The Bill for its figure resembles a Thrushes or Blackbirds The Tongue is not very short the mouth yellow within The Irides of the Eyes hazel-coloured The Ears great The colour of the Feet and Claws a deep flesh Olina attributes to the Feet a pale flesh-colour approaching to white But the colour varies according to the age for in young birds it is fainter in old ones fuller The outmost foretoes are very near of equal length one to another which the middlemost doth much exceed both in thickness and length The Heel or Spur is strong but not long as in Larks The outmost Toe beneath is joyned to the middle one The Guts are about ten inches long The blind Guts very small This bird is not remarkable for any variety or beauty of colours but well known from its singing by night And now that mention hath been made of singing I cannot forbear to produce and insert the elegant words of that grave Naturalist Pliny concerning the Nightingales admirable skill in singing her study and contention the sweetness of her accents the great variety of her notes the harmonious modulation and inflection of her voice which because I cannot so render in English but that they must needs lose much of their native Emphasis and Elegancy I shall put down in the Language the Author wrote them Lusciniis saith he diebus ac noctibus continuis quindecim garrulus sine intermissu cantus densante se frondium germine non in novissimum digna miratu ave Primùm tanta vox tam parvo in corpusculo tam pertinax spiritus Deinde in una perfecta musicae scientia modulatus editur sonus Et nunc continuo spiritu trahitur in longum nunc variatur inflexo nunc distinguitur conciso copulatur intorto promittitur revocato infuscatur ex inopinato Interdum secum ipse murmurat plenus gravis acutus creber extensus ubi visum est vibrans summus medius imus breviterque omnia tam parvulis in faucibus quae tot exquisitis tibiarum tormentis ars hominum excogitavit Ut non sit dubium hanc suavitatem praemonstratam Ac nè quis dubitet artis esse plures singulis sunt cantus nec iidem omnibus sed sui cuique Certant inter se palámque animosa contentio est Victa morte finit saepe vitam spiritu priùs deficiente quà m cantu Meditantur aliae juniores versúsque quos imitentur accipiunt Audit discipula intentione magna reddit vicibúsque reticent Intelligitur emendatae correctio in docente quaedam reprehensio Thus Pliny The Rhetorical Harangues of Modern Writers in commendation of the Nightingale I studiously omit sith almost all they have concerning it is owing to Pliny being either repeated in the same words or a few only changed or else composed in imitation of what we have delivered out of him These things though with me they scarce obtain belief yet will they seem very credible if compared with what Gesner from the relation of a certain friend of his delivers concerning the admirable faculty of these birds in imitating of humane speech To these things saith he let me add a story which a friend of mine a very learned and credible person wrote to me Because you are writing of Birds I will tell you something concerning Nightingales imitating mens voice and repeating their discourses which is indeed wonderful and almost incredible but yet most true and which I my self heard with these Ears and had experience of this last Diet at Ratisbone in the year 1546. whilst I lodged there in a common Inn at the sign of the Golden Crown Our Host had three Nightingales placed separately so that each was shut up singly by it self in a dark Cage It hapned that at that time being the Spring of the year when those birds are wont to sing indefatigably and almost incessantly I was so afflicted with the Stone that I could sleep but very little all night Then about and after Midnight when there was no noise in the house but all still you might have heard strange janglings and emulations of two Nightingales talking one with another and plainly imitating mens discourses For my part I was almost astonished with wonder For they in the night-season when all was whist and quiet in conference together produced and repeated whatever they had heard in the day time from the Guests talking together and had thought upon Those two of them which were most notable and masters of this Art were scarce ten foot distant one from the other The third hung more remote so that I could not so well hear it as I lay in bed But those two it is wonderful to tell how they provoked one another and by answering invited and drew one another to speak Yet did they not confound their words talking both together but rather utter them alternately or by course But besides the daily discourse which they had lately heard of the Guests they did chant out especially two stories one to the other for a long time even from Midnight till Morning so long as there was no noise of men stirring and that with that native modulation and various inflection of their notes that no man unless he were very
amiss If they grow melancholy put into their water some white Sugar-candy and if that will not do about six or eight Chives of Saffron continuing withal to give them the Paste and sheeps heart shred very fine and also three or four meal-worms a day and a few Ants and Ants Eggs Also boil a new-laid Egg and chop it small and strew it among the Ants and their Eggs. §. VI. How to provoke a Nightingale to sing TO make Nightingales sing more than ordinarily or at such times as they are not wont give them in Winter-time Paste of Pine kernels pounded and in their drinking-cup a chive or two of Saffron For those two things by heating them render them chearful and brisk without inducing any noxious alteration and so excite them to sing That sympathy also which this bird hath with Music both vocal and instrumental is of exceeding force to this purpose And therefore if in the Chamber where she is kept there be a consort of sweet sounds or voices she is marvelously provoked to sing Many stories we have of Nightingales emulating and striving to out-vie one another and other birds yea and men too in singing Nay that sometimes a bird will strain her note so to exceed that of her Antagonist that she will fall down dead upon the spot with contending and over-straining her self Olina hath the receit of an odoriferous unguent to stir up a Nightingale to sing Take of Civet not sophisticate twenty grains Benjamin and Storax calamitae of each three grains mingle these together in a Mortar in the form of a soft ointment Then diligently observe the bush and particular branch on which the Nightingale is wont to sit and sing and there making as it were a little shelf of the leaves and boughs lay thereon some meal-worms and anoint the branch next to your shelf with this Unguent The Nightingale when he returns from feeding will presently fly up to his bough and finding there the meal-worms will fall a eating of them and senting the odour of the Ointment will begin to sing and being as it were intoxicated with the perfume will not give over nor stir from the place though you take the boughs from about him For as the Nightingale exceeds all other birds in singing so doth he also in the exquisiteness of his sent Wherefore also when wild he doth most willingly haunt where sweet herbs grow And is particularly delighted in Musk so that a grain or two of true Musk put in Cotton and that in a small Reed serving for him to pearch on in his Cage will provoke him to sing CHAP. X. The Black-cap Atricapilla seu Ficedula Aldrov called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Italians Capo Negro THis is a very small bird not weighing above half an ounce Its length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail is six inches its breadth between the ends of the Wings stretcht out nine The top of the Head is black whence it took its name The Neck cinereous the whole back of a dark green The quill-feathers in each Wing eighteen in number of a dusky colour save that their edges are a little green The Tail hath twelve feathers two inches and an half long and almost equal sharp-pointed of a dusky colour with a little tincture of green The nether part of the Neck the Throat and upper part of the Breast are of a pale ash-colour The lower Belly white tinctured with yellow The Bill streight slender black longer and lesser than in the Titmice The Tongue cloven and rough The Feet of a lead colour the Claws black The outmost Toe below is fastned to the middlemost The head of the Female is of a brown or chesnut colour rather than black This bird is frequent in Italy it is also found in England but more rarely Turner in vain contradicting Gesner saith that the first Summer the head of these birds is red and afterward grows black and that in the Cocks only for in the Hens it continues always red The Ancients report that the Black-caps Atricapillae in the beginning of Autumn are changed into Ficedulae or Beccafigos by the mutation of their voice and colour from whom till I be assured by experience I must crave leave to dissent * The fourth Beccafigo of Aldrovand The Beccafico described by Aldrovand in the fourth and fifth place in his Chapter of Ficedulae may perchance differ specifically from our Black-cap On the upper side Head Back Wings and Tail it is of a brown colour inclining to a chesnut The Female on the nether side is all white the Male from white declines to cinereous The quil-feathers of the Wings in the Male are black with some white ones intermixt In the Female they incline to a chesnut colour as doth also the Tail which in the Cock is black Contrariwise the Feet in the Cock incline to a chesnut colour in the Hen are black Beccasigo's abound in Candy as Bellonius witnesses and also in the Island of Cyprus where they are salted up in great numbers and transported into other Countries With us in England they are called by a general name Cyprus-birds and are in no less esteem with our Merchants for the delicacy of their taste than they were of old with the Italians And that deservedly saith Aldrovandus for feeding upon two of the choicest fruits viz. Figs and Grapes they must needs become a more wholsom food than other birds yielding a better nourishment and of more easie concoction Beccafigo's are accounted best and most in season in the Autumn as being then fattest by reason of the plenty of meat that season affords them At which time they are highly prized and coveted by the Italians even now adays CHAP. XI The gloden-crown'd Wren Regulus cristatus Aldrov lib. 17. cap. 1. The Trochilus of Pliny and Aristotle who also calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Others call it by a diminutive word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Tuscany it is called Fior Rancio that is the Marigold Flower from the colour of its Crest THis is the least of all birds found with us in England weighing not more than one single drachm It s length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Claws is four inches and an half to the end of the Tail four and a quarter The breadth of the Wings extended six and three quarters The top of the Head is adorned with a most beautiful bright spot which they call a crest of a deep Saffron or pale Scarlet colour Hence it got those ambitious titles of Regulus and Tyrannus This Crest or Crown if you please so to call it it can when it lists by corrugating its forehead and drawing the sides of the spot together wholly conceal and render invisible It is of an oblong figure and extended directly through the middle of the Head from the Bill towards the Neck
The edges of it on both sides are yellow the whole is environed with a black line The sides of the Neck are of a lovely shining yellowish green colour The Eyes are encompassed with white The Neck and all the Back from a dark green incline to yellow The Breast is of a sordid white In the bird that I J. R. described the Breast and Belly were dashed with a faint green The Wings were concave not much unlike to a Chassinches Wings The quil-feathers of the Wings as in almost all small birds were eighteen all of a dusky colour only their exteriour edges yellowish and their interiour whitish The tips also of the three next to the body were white But what was most especially notable in the Wings of this bird was that the middle quill-feathers or indeed all excluding the five outmost and the three inmost had their exteriour Webs as far as they appear above the covert feathers to a considerable breadth black so that when the Wings are shut they make a black spot of a good bigness about the middle of each Wing The outmost quil-feather was very short and little The covert-feathers of the first row have white tips all together making a white line across the Wing Above also towards the ridge of the Wing is a white spot The Tail is made up of twelve sharp-pointed feathers an inch and half long not forcipate of a dusky colour only the exteriour borders of the feathers are of a yellowish green The Bill is slender streight black half an inch long The feet yellowish and the Claws of a not much different colour The Tongue long sharp and cloven The Irides of the Eyes of a hazel colour The stomach small musculous and full of Insects whence it is manifest as Aristotle rightly saith that it is a vermivorousbird The Female as in most other birds hath not so fair colours We saw of these birds first to be sold in the Market at Nurenberg Afterwards our worthy Friend Mr. Fr. Jessop of Broomhall in Sheffield Parish whom we have occasion often to mention in this Work sent us of them which he had found and caught in the Mountainous Woods about Highloe near Hathersedge in the Peak of Derbyshire The same also found them here in Middleton Park in Warwickshire where he shot them and brought them to us They abide and haunt for the most part on the tops of trees especially Oaks What is spoken of the antipathy and feud between this bird and the Eagle we look upon as an Old Wives Fable Aldrovandus writes that she lays six or seven Eggs together before she sits not bigger than Pease CHAP. XII A little yellowish Bird without name called by Aldrovandus Regulus non cristatus perchance the Asilus of Bellonius or the Luteola of Turner THis is equal to or somewhat bigger than the crested Wren weighs two drachms being in length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail or which is all one the end of the Claws five inches in breadth between the extremities of the Wings extended seven All its upper side save the Wings and Tail is of a dusky or cinereous colour tinctured with green The Rump is greener than the rest of the Back A yellowish line is produced from the Nosthrils above the Eyes almost to the hinder part of the Head The nether side viz. the Throat Breast and Belly is white with a dash of green and sometimes yellow The Wing and Tail-feathers are dusky having their outer edges green The feathers under the bastard-wing and the coverts of the underside of the Wings from green decline to a lovely yellow Each Wing hath eighteen prime feathers the outmost of which is very short and small The Tail is two inches long not forked made up of twelve sharp-pointed feathers It s Bill is slender streight sharp half an inch long the upper Mandible being dusky on the outside but the angles of the Mouth are yellowish The mouth within yellow The Nosthrils are large The Legs and Feet small of a dusky Amber colour The outmost fore-toe at bottom grows to the middle one It s Gizzard is small It sings like a Grashopper and doth much frequent Willow-trees It is much in motion continually creeping up and down trees and shrubs and sings with a querulous note It builds its Nest of moss and straws and a few feathers and hairs within It lays five Eggs all over besprinkled with red specks The birds of this kind vary in colour some being of a paler some of a deeper green or yellow in some the Belly is white without any tincture of green Mr. Jessop set us a bird in all points exactly like that here described and whose note also resembled the noise of a Grashopper but twice as big Now that the Reader may judge whether the Asilus of Bellonius be the same with this bird as we suppose we will subjoyn Bellonius his description thereof The Asilus saith he is of all birds the least except the Regulus and Tyrannus that is according to him the common Wren and the crested Wren at least there is none less than it It is almost always singing It would be like to the crested Wren were not the crest on its Head yellow And yet it is yellow in the folds of its Wings and in their extremities as also upon the Back and about the Tail The Legs Feet Claws and Bill are black but both the extremities of the Bill have something of yellow It is long weak and fit to catch Insects upon which it feeds refusing grain and lives in the shady places of Woods Aristotle mentions a little bird by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gaza renders it Asilus thought to be so called because it is not much bigger than the Insect Oestrus CHAP. XIII The Wren Passer troglodites of Aldrovand by Turner and Bellonius called falsly Regulus IT weighs three drachms being extended from the point of the Bill to the end of the Tail four inches and an half The Wings stretcht out equal to six inches and an half The Head Neck and Back are of a dark spadiceous colour especially the Rump and Tail The Back Wings and Tail are varied with cross black lines The Throat is of a pale yellow the middle of the Breast whiter Below it hath black transverse lines as have also the sides The lower Belly is of a dusky red The tips of the second row of Wing-feathers are marked with three or four small white spots The tips of the covert-feathers of the Tail are alike spotted The number of quil-feathers in each Wing is eighteen The Tail which for the most part it holds erect is made up of twelve feathers The Bill is half an inch long slender yellowish beneath dusky above the Mouth withinside yellow The Irides of the Eyes hazel-coloured The outer Toes are fastned to the middle one as far as the first joynt It creeps about hedges and holes whence it is not
frequents gardens rather than mountainous places It builds like the Wren or more artificially making an arch over the Nest of the same matter and contexture with the rest of the Nest so that the Nest resembles an Egg erected upon one end a small hole being left in the side whereat the bird goes in and out By this means both Eggs and Young are secured from all injuries of the Air Wind Rain Cold c. And that they may lie soft she lines the Nest within with store of feathers and down Without she builds the sides and roof of it of Moss and Wool curiously interwoven Aldrovand in the seventeenth Book and sixteenth Chapter of his Ornithology doth accurately describe the Nest of this bird such as we have more than once seen in these words It was of an oblong figure like a Pine-apple of two Palms length and one broad round built of sundry materials viz. both tree and earth-moss Caterpillars Webs and other like woolly matter and Hens feathers with that order and art that the chief and middle strength of the work or texture of the Walls was of that yellowish green Moss the common hairy Moss that silk-like matter and tough threads resembling those filaments suspended in the Air and flying up and down like Spiders Webs which are accounted signs of fair weather connected and interwoven or rather entangled so firmly together that they can hardly be plucked asunder Of the interiour capacity all the sides it seemed as well as the bottom were covered and lined with feathers for the more soft and warm lying of the Young The outmost superficies round about was fenced and strengthened with fragments of that leavy Moss which every where grows on trees firmly bound together In the forepart respecting the Sun-rise and that above where an arched roof of the same uniform matter and texture with the sides and bottom covered the Nest was seen a little hole scarce big enough one would think to admit the old one We found in it nine Young c. §. IX The Wood Titmouse of Gesner Parus Sylvaticus Aldrov t. 2. p. 724. THis Titmouse is also very little remarkable for a red spot through the midst of its Crown the parts on each side being black the Legs dusky the Wings black and also the end of the Tail The rest of the body green the Belly paler Our people from the Woods in which it lives especially about Fir-trees and Junipers call it Waldmeiszle and Thannenmeiszle others from its note Zilzilperle for it sings Zul zil zalp Mr. Willughby was apt to think that the bird described by Gesner is no other than the Regulus cristatus CHAP. XXIII §. I. * The Brasilian Tangara of Marggrave IT is an elegant bird of the bigness of a Chaffinch It hath a streight pretty thick black Bill Black Eyes Legs and Feet from cinereous inclining to dusky On the forehead above the rise of the Bill it hath a spot of black feathers The whole Head and Neck are covered with feathers of a shining Sea-green A circle or border of black feathers encompasles the beginning of the back like a Collar But below the Wings to the rise of the Tail the Back is covered with yellow feathers The whole lower Belly is of a rare blue The Wings are black and their lateral extremities blue so that when closed they appear wholly blue and their whole ends outsides or borders tota extremitas seem black The beginning of the Wings also externally shines with Sea-green feathers and in the ridge or upper lateral extremity of each Wing are yellow feathers intermixt It hath a Tail about an inch and half long of black feathers but whose lateral extremities or borders are blue The end of the Tail is black It is kept shut up in Cages and cries Zip zip like the Rubrica called by the Germans Gympel It is fed with meal and bread This description is conceived in such obscure words that I do not well understand the meaning of the Author and therefore the learned Reader would do well to consult the Latine §. II. The second kind of Tangara IT is of the shape and bigness of our common Sparrow Hath a Bill from yellow inclining to dusky somewhat broad sharp-pointed the nether Chap much shorter than the upper Black Eyes The whole Head is covered with feathers of a rare scarlet colour All the rest of the body with the Wings and Tail of a shining black The Thighs are covered with white feathers and in their exteriour sides have an oblong scarlet spot as if they were stained with bloud The Legs and Feet are ash-coloured and have four Toes disposed after the usual manner The Tail is short of an inch length and the Wings end near its rise i. e. when withdrawn or closed reach no further than the rise of the Tail BOOK II. PART II. SECT II. MEMB. II. Small Birds with thick short strong Bills commonly called Hard-bill'd Birds CHAP. I. Of the Gros-beak or Haw-finch called by Gesner Coccothraustes §. 1. The common Gros-beak Coccothraustes vulgaris THis Bird for the bigness of its body but especially of its Bill in which it exceeds all others of this kind doth justly challenge the first and chief place among thick-billed birds The French from the bigness of its Bill do fitly call it Grosbec the Italians Frisone or Frosone Hesychius and Varinus of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 write only that it is the name of a bird but what manner of bird they do not explain Gesner observing that name exactly to fit this bird imposed it upon it It is bigger than a Chaffinch by about one third part short-bodied Its Head bigger than for the proportion of the body It s Bill very great hard from a broad base ending in a sharp point of the figure of a Cone or Funnel half an inch long having a large cavity within of a whitish flesh-colour almost like that of the interiour surface of the mother of Pearl shell only the tip blackish The Eyes are grey or ash-coloured as in Jackdaws The Tongue seems as it were cut off as in the Chaffinch The Feet are of a pale red The Claws great especially those of the middle and back-toes The middle Toe is the longest the outer fore-toe and the back-toe are equal one to the other At the base of the Bill grow Orange-coloured feathers between the Bill and the Eyes black The lower Chap in the Males is compassed with a border of black feathers The head is of a yellowish red or rusty colour The Neck cinereous The Back red the middle parts of the feathers being whitish The Rump from yellow inclines to cinereous The sides and Breast but especially the sides are of a mixt colour of red and cinereous Under the Tail and in the middle of the Belly the Plumage is whiter In another bird the Back was of a grey or ash-colour tinctured with red The Head and Throat greenish The sides and
the Wing it hath less yellow and without no Orange colour In brief it is every where more discoloured The interiour quil-feathers of the Wings are red the inmost of all black with red edges Beginning from the fourth seventh or eighth of the subsequent feathers have a white spot on the outside their shafts by the tips of the feathers of the second row Underneath also their exteriour edges are whitish else the quil-feathers are all black The Plumage near the base of the Wing underneath is of a lovely yellow above of an Orange colour The Tail is four inches ⅛ long compounded of twelve feathers of a black colour but the exteriour Web of the outmost feather on both sides is white and sometimes also the interiour The tips and edges of the two middle feathers are of a reddish ash-colour At Venice we found great numbers of these birds in the Poulterers shops in Winter time whence we infer that they are common in the Country thereabouts at least in that season of the year They are found also in England but more rarely These birds also sometimes vary in their colours Hence in Aldrovandus we have three figures and descriptions of Montifringillae Of which that in the second place is of a paler colour and hath its head wholly white The third is altogether like the first save that under the Bill it hath no black And besides that second yellow stroak which is in others in this was far more conspicuous §. III. The great pied Mountain-Finch or Bramlin Montifringilla calcaribus Alaudae seu major IT is equal in bigness to the common Lark from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail being five inches and a quarter long and between the extremes of the Wings stretched out twelve and three quarters broad It s Bill is half an inch long of a yellow colour with a black tip The end of the Tongue is divided into filaments The top of the Head of a fulvous red darker toward the Bill Mr. Johnson attributes to the Head and upper part of the Neck a dusky red or chesnut colour The upper side of the Neck the Rump and sides are also red So is the Breast but paler the rest of the under side Throat Belly Wings c. is white The underside of the Neck the Back and scapular feathers are elegantly variegated with black and a reddish ash-colour the middle part of each feather being black and the outsides red The black spots appear of a triangular figure In the upper part of the Wings and bottom of the Back there is more of red Each wing hath eighteen prime feathers of which the eight outmost or longest are black yet their bottoms as far as they are hidden by the second row except the outer edge of the outmost feather are white Moreover the very tips or rather edges of the tips of all excepting the two outmost are white The seven next which take up the middle part of the Wing are wholly white save that near the tip on the outside each feather hath an oblong black spot The remaining three or four next the body are black having their uppermost edges red All the covert-feathers of the Wings excepting those next the body and two or three which make up the bastard Wing are white those excepted being black But Nature as I see observes not an exact rule in the colours of this birds Wings For in the bird described by Mr. Willughby the covert-feathers of the black quils were for the most part black of the white ones white Yet in general in all birds that we have seen there were large white spaces in each Wing The Tail is somewhat forked two inches and an half long made up of twelve feathers the two outmost whereof on each side being wholly white save a very little of the outer edge toward the tip which is black more in the outmost less in the next The outward Web of the third on each side almost from the top quite down to the bottom is white The remaining six are black having only their edges about their tips white The Legs Feet and Claws are cole-black The back-Claw or Spur is longer than the rest as in Larks of about half an inch The outmost Toe for a good space from the divarication is joyned to the middle one as in most small birds This Bird Mr. Willughby found and killed in Lincolnshire Mr. Johnson sent us the Bird it self and the description of it out of the Northern part of Yorkshire The same Mr. Johnson sent also the description of another bird of this kind by the name of The lesser Mountain-Finch or Bramlin together with the case of the Bird which by the case I took to be only the Female of the precedent he from its difference in bigness place and other accidents rather judges it a distinct species I shall therefore present the Reader with his description of it It is of the bigness of a yellow Finch hath a thick short strong Neb black at the very point and the rest yellow All the forehead of a dark chesnut almost black growing lighter backwards about and under either Eye lighter chesnut The back of the Neck ash-coloured which goes down the Back to the Tail but there more spotted with black Under the Throat white but Breast and Belly dasht or waved with flame-colour at the setting on of the Wing grey The first five feathers blackish brown all the rest white save a little dash of brown near the point of each feather The Tail consists of twelve feathers the three outmost on either side white save a little small dash of dark brown The rest dark brown The Feet perfectly black The hind-claw as long again as any of the rest CHAP. VII * The Brasilian Sayacu of Marggrave TO what tribe of small birds this is to be referred we do not certainly know But because the Author saith it is of the bigness of a Chaffinch we have placed it here The whole body is covered with feathers of a colour mingled of cinereous and Sea-green But in the Wings and Back the Sea-green is so mixt that exposed to the Sun they shine marvellously The Bill is black The Eyes also wholly black CHAP. VIII * The Brasilian Tijeguacuparoara of Marggrave IT is of the bigness of a Lark hath a short thick Neb dusky above white underneath The top and sides of the Head the Throat and lower side of the Neck are covered with yellow feathers spotted with sanguine This Bird was a Female for in the Male the Plumage of these parts is wholly sanguine The upper side of the Neck and whole Back with ash-coloured ones somewhat shaded The Wing-feathers are dusky with white borders As also the Tail But the covert-feathers of the Wings are cineous The Back for the most part excepting the ends of the feathers the sides of the Neck the Breast and whole Belly with the Thighs are covered with white feathers The Legs and Feet
are dusky Four Toes in each placed after the usual manner It hath black Eyes CHAP. IX * The Brasilian Guiraperea of Marggrave THis is also of the bigness of a Lark Hath a short thick black Bill The upper part of the Head and Neck the whole Back and lower Belly have feathers of a dark yellow colour like yellow Wax The lower side of the Head and Neck the Throat and Breast black ones Of which colour there are also a few in the Belly intermingled with the yellow The Tail is two inches long and reaches further than the Wings Both Tail and Wings are made up of dusky and blackish feathers every one of which hath its side-edges of a Sea-green so that the Wings appear brown straked with green And in like manner the Tail The Thighs are of a Wax-colour The Legs and Feet of a dark grey or ash-colour It hath four Toes disposed according to the usual manner armed with black Claws CHAP. X. §. I. The Goldfinch or Thistle-finch Carduelis THis Bird in the opinion of Aldrovandus and Bellonius is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Aristotle by the later Greeks called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is less than the House-Sparrow of an ounce and half weight five inches and an half length from Bill-point to Tail end nine and a quarter breadth between the utmost tips of the Wings spread out It s Head for the bulk of the body is of the biggest Its Neck short Bill white but in some birds black at the very point little more than half an inch long thick at the head ending in a sharp point of a Conical figure Its Tongue sharp Eyes hazel-coloured A ring of scarlet-coloured feathers encompasses the basis of the Bill From the Eyes to the Bill on each side is drawn a black line The Jaws are white The top of the Head black from which a broad black line produced on both sides almost to the Neck terminates the white The hinder part of the Head is white The Neck and forepart of the Back are of a fulvous or reddish ash-colour The Rump Breast and sides are of the same colour but paler The Belly white The Wings and Tail black Yet the tips of the principal feathers in both are white Besides the Wings are adorned with a most beautiful transverse stroak of yellow If you exactly view each quil-feather you will find the first or outmost wholly black all the rest tipt with white and besides the lower half of the outward Web of every feather from the second to the eleventh inclusively of an elegant yellow which together make that yellow bed across the Wing we now mentioned whence this bird is supposed to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The interiour covert-feathers of the Wings are also yellow The Tail is two inches long composed of twelve black feathers of which the two outmost have a great white spot on their tips the next a lesser The third none the fourth again a little one and the fifth a greater The Legs are short the Back Toe strong armed with a Claw longer than the rest The lower of the outer foretoe grows fast to that of the middle toe The blind Guts as in other small birds are very short and little It hath also a Gall-bladder The Hen-bird hath a smaller note than the Cock and sings not so much and the feathers on the ridge of the Wing are dusky or cinereous whereas in the Cocks they are cole-black and these saith Aldrovandus are constant and infallible marks by which the Sexes may be distinguished Goldfinches are gregarious birds for the elegancy of their colours and sweetness of their singing every where well known and highly esteemed They are of a mild and gentle nature as may even thence appear that presently after they are caught without using any art or care they will fall to their meat and drink nor are they so scared and affrighted at the presence of a man as to strike their Bills and Wings against the sides of the Cage as most other birds are wont to do Nor are they very much troubled at their captivity and imprisonment in a Cage Nay if they have continued there a good while they like it so well that though you let them loose they will not fly away as saith Aldrovand I my self have observed to whom I refer the Reader They feed upon the seeds of Thistles in Winter times from whence they took their name and not of Thistles only but of Teasel and Hemp and Dock and Poppy as Albertus tells us The Goldfinch kept in a Cage will with its Bill draw up a little pot of water hanging upon a string and putting its foot sometimes under the string when it can reach the Pot will drink out of it and quench its thirst which other small birds also will learn to do Besides that little Thistle-finch saith Turner adorned with a golden fillet I know another spinivorous bird of a green colour which in like manner as the Goldfinch out of two pots one going up the other mean time going down will take meat out of the one and drink out of the other The same doth also the Millet-bird which our Country men call a Linnet The same likewise will imitate any tune you whistle to it So then not only that bird which is in Greek called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Latine by Gaza rendred Carduelis will do what you bid it and use its Bill and Feet for a hand but many others also All which things saith Aldrovandus daily experience proves to be most true It builds its Nest in thorns and trees Gesner affirms that it lays seven Eggs Bellonius eight The difference is not great and it may lay sometimes the one sometimes the other number The Goldfinch by reason of age sex or other accidents varies sometimes in its colours Aldrovandus sets forth four varieties 1. One not full grown which had no red at all on its Head 2. One with white Eye-lids 3. A white one with a red head 4. A whitish one which yet on the forepart of the Head and under the Chin had something of red Besides which he describes also a bird of kin to the Goldfinch which perchance was a bastard kind in these words In bulk of body it exceeds a Goldfinch being equal to a Chaffinch A circle of a lively Saffron colour encompasses the Bill Its Eyes are like a Goldfinches but bigger It s Head except the Saffron ring now mentioned and its Back are of the same colour viz. blackish The Breast is of a black green as are also the small feathers covering the ridges of the Wings Whose quil-feathers are black and much more varied or distinguished with white than in other birds of this kind That part which in other Thistle-finches is yellow in this is of a pale colour The Tail of as deep a black as in others but in the two outmost Tail-feathers on each side when extended appeared something of white which
of the feathers are black This Bird grows very tame and gentle as Gesner reports and will live many years thirteen or fourteen shut up in a Cage * The Brasilian Teitei which they call also Guiranhemgeta and Guraundi Marggrave It is a small bird of the bigness of a Robin-red-breast It is kept in Cages for a singing bird but it only chirps like a Redstart Rubrica called by the Germans Gimpel It feeds upon Paco and Mamao It hath a short thick black Bill The Head upper side of the Neck Wings whole Back and Tail are invested with black feathers with which something of blue is mixt so that they shine like polished Steel The Throat lower side of the Neck the Breast the whole lower Belly and Thighs are yellow At the rise of the upper Bill behind the Nosthrils it hath a spot of yellow feathers The Legs and Feet are of a dusky colour And this is the Cock. The Hen in proportion of body and magnitude agrees exactly with the Cock hath the same Bill and Legs But differs much in colour For it is green like the Acanthis called by the Germans Zyschen The Wings and Head with the upper side of the Neck are somewhat dusky with blue mingled These birds delight to live together five or six in a Cage CHAP. XV. The Anadavad Bird brought from the East Indies having a Finches Bill and Larks Claws IN bigness it scarce exceeds the Golden-crown'd Wren It s Bill is for shape like a Goldfinch or Chaffinches for colour red the upper Mandible above being black The upper side of the body is of a dusky colour in some birds lighter in others darker only the feathers growing about the Rump are of a scarlet or deep Orange The quil-feathers of the Wings and those of the Tail are black The Tail it self is an inch and half long made up of twelve feathers the middlemost being the longest and the exteriour in order shorter The quils and covert-feathers of the Wings are spotted with small round white spots scattered up and down in no order in some birds more in some fewer In some birds the upper part of the Breast is of a scarlet red in others it is wholly black as is the rest of the Breast and Belly in all In one Bird which was paler than the rest that we saw and almost of the colour of a Robin-red-breast on the Back not only the Wings but also the side-feathers and those scarlet ones incumbent on the Tail were marked with white spots The Legs and Feet are white The Claws very long like those of Larks but more crooked The figure of the body is rather long than round In the year of our Lord 1673. I saw many of these birds in the house of a certain Citizen of London that had been brought out of the East Indies kept all together in the same Cage Being introduced by my worthy friend Thomas Allen Doctor of Physic who also gave me the first notice and information of them CHAP. XVI A Bird called by the Bolognese Petronia Marina by Aldrovand Oenanthae congener THe length of this Bird taken from the tip of the Bill to the end of its Claws was little less than seven inches Its breadth between the extremes of the Wings distended twelve and a quarter It s Bill strong sharp-pointed like that of a Chaffinch from the tip to the angles of the Mouth somewhat more than half an inch long The upper Chap black the lower about the angle yellow The angle itself is round The sides of the Bill sharp-edged The Head is of a dusky ash-colour but for the most part through the middle of the crown is a line drawn of a whiter colour The Neck is ash-coloured Below between the Shoulders the feathers have their outer edges of a pale ash-colour their inner black The Rump from dusky inclines to green but the tips of the feathers next the Tail are white The prime feathers in each Wing are in number eighteen of which the first or outmost is shorter than the second the second equal to the third and longest of all These three feathers are of a dark brown or blackish only their outmost edges of a pale green The second third and fourth rows of Wing-feathers have white tips but else are black The Plumage on the base or ridge of the Wing is of a sordid green The feathers covering the underside of the Wing are white The Breast is of a sordid white The feathers next the Tail have pale yellow tips else they are brown The Tail is two inches and an half long and made up of twelve feathers This sort is distinguished from all other small Birds 1. That it hath a very fair lovely yellow spot about the middle of its Throat 2. That all the feathers of the Tail on the interiour Web near the tip are marked with one great round white spot being else all black save the edges which are greenish The outer half of the outmost feather on each side is also white 3. It is distinguished from the Hortulane by a most certain note that its Bill is far bigger and stronger and equal to a Greenfinches Bill We saw many of these Birds at Bologna in Italy to be sold The Bird which Aldrovandus saith is called Petrone at Bologna and Petronello at Genua and describes under the title of Alaudae congener seems to be no other bird than the Emberiza alba of Gesner or our Bunting as will appear to him that shall take pains to compare the descriptions CHAP. XVII The Hortulane kind whose characteristic is a hard knob in the upper Chap of the Bill §. I. The Bunting called by Gesner Emberiza alba I take it also to be the Calandra of Aldrov and Bellonius moreover the Alaudae congener of Aldrovand and the Cenchramus of Bellonius The Strillozo of Olina IT weighs about an ounce and half Its length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail was seven inches and a quarter and so much to the end of the Claws It s breadth between the tips of the Wings spread eleven inches and an half It s Bill is great and thick having a hard knob or eminency in the upper Mandible or Palate wherewith it is thought to bruise Wheat Oats and other Grain The sides of the lower Chap rise up in an angle on each side as may be better represented by a figure than expressed in words and incline to one another under the Tubercle of the Palate The Tongue is sharp and slit in two The Claws are of a pale dusky colour The back-toe is great armed with a lesser and more crooked Claw than in Larks The outmost fore-toe is equal to the inmost and grows fast to the middlemost at bottom as in other birds This birds Head somewhat resembles a Rails The colour of the whole body testaceous or earth-like The Chin Breast Belly are of a yellowish white The Throat hath oblong black spots The quil
on which the Nest is built and shake out the young ones but sometimes Nest and all down to the ground §. II. * Tlauhquechul or the Mexican Spoon-bill of Hernandez It is a Bird of a strange Palate It feeds only on living fish and will not touch dead ones It delights in ravin In shape of body is like to the Spoon-bill or Pelecan but almost all over of a most beautiful scarlet or pale red colour It s Bill is broad round toward the end and of an ash-colour The Pupil of its Eye black the Iris red and wrinkled Its forehead like that of a Turkey or Aura Its Head almost void of hairs or feathers of a white colour with near the whole Neck and part of the Breast A broad black ring distinguishing the Head from the Neck It lives about the Sea-shores and Rivers §. III. * The Brasilian Spoon-bill called Aiaia and by the Portughese Colherado Marggrav the same I suspect with the precedent IN figure it agrees with the European Platea differing only in colour Of the bigness of a Goose Its Bill broad like a Spoon and white Its Neck long Its Feet broad It is all white save that the Back and Wings are of a pale carnation colour It s flesh is edible It is very common about the River of St. Francis and elsewhere in Fenny places Probably this Bird is the same with the precedent We have a Bill of I suppose one of these American Plateas which is almost twice as big and long as that of the common European BOOK III. PART I. SECTION III. Water-fowl not Piscivorous with very long slender streight Bills CHAP. I. §. I. The Woodcock Scolopax Aldrov tom 3. pag. 472. IT is somewhat lesser than a Partridge The upper side of the body particoloured of red black and grey very beautiful to behold From the Bill almost to the middle of the Head it is of a reddish ash-colour The Breast and Belly are grey with transverse brown lines Under the Tail it is somewhat yellowish The Chin is white with a tincture of yellow A black line on each side between the Eye and Bill The back of the Head is most black with two or three cross bars of a testaceous colour The prime feathers in each Wing are about twenty three black crossed with red bars The feathers under the Wings are curiously variegated with grey and brown lines The Tail is 3 ⅜ inches long consisting of twelve feathers the tips whereof are cinereous above and white underneath their borders or outsides as it were indented with red the remaining part black The Bill is three inches long or more dark brown toward the end near the Head paler or flesh coloured The upper Mandible a very little longer than the nether The Tongue nervous The Palaterough The Ears very great and open The Eyes stand higher or nearer to the top of the Head than in other birds that they be not hurt when she thrusts her Bill deep into the ground The Legs Feet and Toes are of a pale brown or dusky colour The Claws black The back-toe very little having also but a little Claw The Liver divided into two Lobes having a Gall-bladder annexed The Guts long slender and having many revolutions The blind Guts very short not half so long as that single blind gut the remnant of the Yolk-funnel These are Birds of passage coming over into England in Autumn and departing again in the beginning of the Spring yet they pair before they go flying two together a Male and a Female They frequent especially moist Woods and Rivulets near hedges They are said both to come and to fly away in a Mist At Nurenberg in Germany I saw of them to be sold in August whence I suppose they abide thereabout all the year On the Alps and other high Mountains they continue all Summer I my self have flushed Woodcocks on the top of the Mountain Jura in June and July Some straglers by some accident left behind when their fellows depart remain also in England all Summer and breed here Mr. Jessop saw young Woodcocks to be sold at Sheffield and others have seen them elsewhere Their Eggs are long of a pale red colour stained with deeper spots and clouds Of two that I described one was a Male and the other a Female the Female was heavier than the Male by an ounce and half the Female weighing eleven ounces and an half the Male but ten The Female also was of a darker colour The flesh of this Bird for the delicacy of its taste is in high esteem The Leg especially is commended in respect whereof the Woodcock is preferred before the Partridge it self according to that English Rhythm before recited in the Chapter of the Partridge If the Partridge had the Woodcocks thigh 'T would be the best bird that ever did fly The length of this Bird measured from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail was thirteen inches and an half The breadth between the tips of the Wings extended twenty six inches Among us in England this Bird is infamous for its simplicity or folly so that a Woodcock is Proverbially used for a simple foolish person §. II. The Snipe or Snite Gallinago minor THis weighs about four ounces It s length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Toes is thirteen inches to the end of the Tail eleven and an half The Wings spread were seven inches and an half wide A pale red line divides the Head in the middle longways and on each side parallel thereto a list of black and without the black over the Eyes another line of the same colour with that drawn along the middle of the Head Between the Eyes and the Bill is a dusky brown line The Chin under the Bill is white The Neck is mingled of brown and red The Breast and Belly are almost wholly white The long feathers springing from the shoulders reach almost to the Tail having their outward halfs from the shaft of a pale red the inner black and glistering their tips red which colours succeeding one another make two lines down the Back The covert-feathers of the Back are dusky with transverse white lines Those incumbent on the Tail are red crossed with black lines The greater covert-feathers of the Wings are dusky with white tips the lesser are particoloured with black red and grey The inside coverts are curiously variegated with brown and white lines The Quil-feathers are in each Wing about twenty four in number of which the outer edge of outmost is white almost to the tip of the succeeding the tips are something white but more clearly from the eleventh to the twenty first else they are all brown But the last five are variegated with transverse black and pale-red lines The Tail is composed of twelve feathers two inches and an half long It seems to be shorter than it is because it is wholly covered and hid by the incumbent feathers The tips of its
outmost feathers are white the rest of the feather varied with cross bars or lines of brown and grey or pale red colour The following to the two middlemost are of like colour with these outmost save that their tips are less white their bottoms more black and the uppermost cross bar reddish Of the two middle feathers the tips are white next beneath the white is a brown bar under the brown a red one with some dusky spots in the middle The rest of the feather is black save that in the outer Webs are sometimes seen one or two reddish spots I suppose the colours of the Tail vary and are not exactly alike in all birds The Bill is almost three inches long black at the tip and somewhat broad and chamferd The Tongue sharp The Irides of the Eyes hazel-coloured The Legs are of a pale green the Talons black The Toes long and separated from the first rise without any connection or cohesion The back-toe is very small The Liver is divided into two Lobes with a large Gall appendant The Stomach not very fleshy It s flesh is tender sweet and of an excellent rellish It lives especially on the fatty unctuous humour it sucks out of the earth but feeds also upon Worms and other Insects Some of these Birds abide with us all the Summer and build in our Moors and Marshes laying four or five Eggs at a breeding time The greatest part leave us and fly into other Countries It seeks its food in moist and fenny places and in Rivulets and Gills of water where also it hides it self so that it is very hard to find or espy it §. III. The Gid or Jack-Snipe or Judcock Gallinago minima seu tertia Bellonii IT weighed two ounces Its length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Claws was ten inches and a quarter to the end of the Tail eight and a half It is about half so big as a Snipe whence it is called by the French Deux pour un as Bellonius witnesses The colour of the Rump is a shining bluish purple like the feathers on a Stares back the tips of the feathers being white The scapular feathers covering the Back have their outward border yellow the middle part brown with red spots their inner border of a shining blue yet without any mixture of purple The Neck is particoloured of brown white and pale red The top of the Head black with a red tincture Above either Eye passes a broad line of a pale yellow The Throat is of a pale red painted with white and brown spots The Breast and Belly white Between the Eyes and Bill is drawn a black line or border The Males in this kind differ from the Females neither in colour nor in magnitude The prime feathers of the Wings were in number twenty four of which the first or outmost ten were brown or dusky The tips of the next ten white The three last or inmost on the outside the shaft were straked with red and black The tips of the greater covert-feathers are white The lesser rows of Wing-feathers are black but partly tipt with red The Bill is almost two inches long The upper Chap a little longer than the nether toward the end broad and rough with points chamfered yet the very utmost tip smooth The Legs bare somewhat higher than the Knees pale-coloured with a dash of green The Toes divided to the bottom The back-toe small The Claws black It hath a Gall-bladder a musculous Stomach The single blind Gut or Appendiz being the remainder of the Umbilical funnel conveying the Yolk into the guts shrunk up It feeds upon Beetles and other Insects It hides it self among Rushes not rising sometimes till you are just ready to set your foot upon it It is a simpler bird than the Snipe and less frequent with us I sometimes following the vulgar error thought it not to differ from the Snipe in kind but only in Sex taking it to be the Cock-Snipe But afterward being advised by Mr. M. Lister I found it to differ specifically For dissecting several of these small ones some proved to be Males some Females §. IV. * The Brasilian Guarauna of Marggrave Rusticula aquatica Brasiliensis IT is of the bigness of the Jacu hath a streight Bill a little inclining downward yellow but dusky at the tip four inches and an half long It s body is also of the same length The upper Legs are feathered down half way six inches long Each Foot hath four Toes so disposed as is usual the middle of which is three inches long the rest shorter The whole bird is covered with brown feathers mingled with much shade The Head and all the Neck are indeed of the same colour but besides speckled with white as in the Jacu It is pretty good meat CHAP. II. §. I. The Godwit called in some places the Yarwhelp or Yarwip in others the Stone-Plover The Barge or Aegocephalus of Bellonius as I take it An Fedoa Gesneri An Rusticula Aldrov IT is like and equal to a Woodcock or a little bigger From point of Bill to the Claws seventeen inches and an half long Between the tips of the Wings spread twenty eight and an half broad The feathers of the Head are grey or cinereous with some tincture of red their middle parts being black above the Eyes white The Neck and Throat are reddish The Breast of a sordid white The Back is particoloured of red black and white the middle parts of the feathers being black the edges of a pale red In the Cock the Throat and Breast are crossed with black lines In the Hen the Throat and Neck are grey or ash-coloured The whole rump almost is white powdered with blackish specks In the Bird that I described a triangular spot of white took up the Rump or lower part of the Back the vertex respecting the birds Head The great feathers of the Wings are black with white shafts The rest of the first row as also those of the second row have reddish ash-coloured tips and edges The lesser covert-feathers of the Wings are of like colour with the body The Tail-feathers are in number twelve all crossed alternately with black and white lines the middlemost which are the longest of 3 ⅛ inches length The rest on each side in order somewhat shorter the exteriour than the interiour The Bill is white at the Base black toward the point longer for the bigness of the bird even than the Snipes or Woodcocks the upper Mandible a little longer than the lower The Tongue sharp The Nosthrils oblong The Ears great The Legs are not very long naked to the middle of the second joynt The Claws black The Claw of the middle fore-toe on the inside is thinned into an edge The outer Toe is joyned to the middle one from the rise to the first joynt by a pretty thick membrane of a dusky or dark green colour It lives and seeks it food on the sandy
of its long legs as we said before CHAP. IV. §. I. The greater Plover of Aldrovand The Venetian Limosa of Gesner As also the Glottis of the same Gesner and Baltner Called at Venice Totano a name it should seem common to this and the following bird IT weighs near seven ounces In length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Claws it exceeds seventeen inches to the end of the Tail fourteen in breadth from tip to tip of the Wings expanded it is about twenty four and an half It s Bill is black yet at the angle of the lower Mandible red slender streight two inches and an half long It s colour on the upper side of the Head Neck Wings Shoulders and forepart of the Back is mixt of brown and whitish we commonly call it grey On the Head the outer borders of the feathers are white the middle parts black A white line passes above the Eyes The under side of the body is all white and also the lower part of the Back or Rump The quil-feathers of the Wings are in number about twenty six all dusky or dark brown The five outmost darker than the rest their interiour Webs being powdered with white specks The inner quils are paler speckled with white The Tail is three inches long composed of twelve feathers waved with cross lines or bars of brown and white alternately placed Its Legs are very long bare of feathers for two inches above the first joynt or Knees of a middle colour between green and livid or plumbeous The back-toe small The Claws black The outmost Toe joyned to the middle at bottom It s Stomach small less fleshy than in granivorous birds This bird seemed to me in bigness to exceed the Redshank Its Legs are also longer Gesners description of the Limosa which you have in Aldrovands Ornithology lib. 20. cap. 28. answers in all points exactly to this bird The description also of the Glottis in Gesner and its figure in Baltner agree to it I believe also that this is the bird which the French call Chevalier aux pieds verds or the green-leg'd Horseman from the length and colour of its Legs At Venice in Italy we saw many of them §. II. The other Totano perchance Gesners Totanus Aldrov lib. 20. cap. 24. An Callidrys rubra Bellonii WE saw and described at Venice another bird we think different from the precedent though the main difference were in the colour of its Legs which were of a pale yellowish-red It s Bill also seemed to be something shorter We take this to be the bird the French call Chevalier aux pieds rouges the red-leg'd Horseman the precedent as we said before that they denominate Chevalier aux pieds verds And perchance they may differ only in Sex for this was a Male that a Female For in other birds also of this kind as for example the Erythra of Gesner which he puts among the Water-hens the Female differs from the Male both in bigness and in the colour of the Legs The red Callidrys of Bellonius is either the same with this or very like it It differs in that the Neck and feathers under the Wings and Rump are ash-coloured and that on the Temples on each side it hath two black spots which give as it were a shadow to the Eye-brows which themselves also are marked with a white spot His figure of the red Callidrys doth not answer to the description for the Bill and Legs are drawn too short CHAP. V. §. I. The Redshank or Pool-Snipe Gallinula Erythropus major Gesneri Aldrov Totanus of the same Gesner as it seems to us Aldrov tom 3. pag. 439. An Bellonii Pardali congener longiore rostro IT is of a middle size for bigness between a Lapwing and a Snipe approaching to the quantity of a Plover The Head and Back are of a dusky ash-colour spotted with black In some I observed the Back to be of a dusky or brown colour in lining to green The middle of the Neck is more cinereous The Throat particoloured of black and white the black being drawn down longways the feathers The white colour seems to have something of red mingled with it The Breast is whiter with fewer spots and those transverse The Tail and feathers next to it are variegated with transverse waved lines of white and black alternately The number of Tail-feathers is twelve the length of the Tail two inches three quarters The quil-feathers in each Wing are twenty six of which the first is brown only its shaft white The five next of a black brown on the inner side white and as it were sprinkled or powdered with white The tip of the seventh is white with one or two transverse black lines In the following feathers the white spreads it self further till in the nineteenth it takes up the whole feather The foremost covert-feathers are black the middle varied with white lines The other rows of covert-feathers are of the same colour with the Back that is of a dark ash-colour The Bill is two inches long slender and like a Woodcocks of a dark red at base black toward the point The Tongue is sharp slender and undivided the upper Mandible longer and something crooked at the very tip The Eyes hazel-coloured The Nosthrils oblong The Legs of a fair but pale red The Claws small and black The back-toe is very small having a very little Claw Of the fore-toes the inmost is the least All are connected by a membrane below but the outmost with a larger extending to the second joynt It is common on the sandy shores about England every where It breeds in Marshes and if any one comes near its Nest it flies about making a great noise like the Lapwing It differs from the Totanus of Aldrovandus 1. In that it is much less 2. That it hath shorter Bill and Feet 3. In the dusky colour of its Back 4. In the red colour of its Legs and Feet The figure of the greater red-leg'd Water-hen in Gesner and Aldrovand doth not agree well to this bird For the Bill is drawn too short and thick at the Head Gesners description of his Totanus doth so well agree to it in almost all particulars that I doubt not but it is the same bird Only in the length of the Bill and Legs and in the bigness of the body is some diversity §. II. The Gambetta of Aldrovand THe Gambetta of Aldrovand is also near of kin to the Redshank which he thus describes It s Head Neck and Breast are cinereous all over sprinkled with many brown spots greater on the Back lesser on the Neck and Breast least of all on the Head The master-feathers of the Wings are black The body cinereous on the Wings and Back inclining a little to red The Belly white The Bill black The Irides of the Eyes of a yellowish green encompassed with a black circle The legs and feet from yellow incline to red
Claws little and black It hath a Gall. The flesh also of this Bird is very tender savoury and delicate and in no less esteem than that of the former CHAP. III. The Dottrel Morinellus Anglorum THe Males in this kind are lesser than the Females at least they were so in those we hapned to see For it might fall out to be so among them by some accident The Female was almost ten inches long the Male but nine and an half the Female nineteen inches and an half broad the Male but eighteen three quarters The Female weighed more than four ounces the Male scarce three and an half The Bill measuring from the tip to the angles of the mouth was an inch long The Head elegantly variegated with white and black spots the middle part of each single feather being black Above the Eyes was a long whitish line The Chin whitish The Throat is of a pale cinereous or whitish colour with oblong brown spots The Breast and underside of the Wings of a dirty yellowish colour the Belly white Each Wing hath about twenty five prime feathers of which the first or outmost is the longest the tenth the shortest from the tenth to the twentieth they are almost equal The rest to the twenty fourth are again longer the foregoing than the following The first or Pinion-quil hath a broad strong white shaft The three outmost are blacker than the rest which are of a dusky or brown colour having the edges of their tips whitish The lesser rows of the Wing-feathers are brown with yellowish white tips but those next the quils blackest The middle of the Back between the Wings is almost of the same colour with them The Rump and Neck are more cinereous The Tail is composed of twelve feathers two inches and an half long but the middlemost something the longer The bottoms of all are cinereous the tips white the remaining part black In the outmost feather the white part is broader in the middle ones narrower The edges also of the outmost feathers are whitish The Legs are bare for a little space above the Knees of a sordid or greenish yellow the Toes and Claws darker coloured than the Legs The inner Toe joyned to the middle only at bottom the outer by a thick membrane as far as its first joynt It wants the back-toe wherein it agrees with the green Plover from which yet it is sufficiently distinguished by its colour magnitude and other accidents It s Bill is streight black and in figure like that of the Plover It hath a fleshy stomach in which dissected we found fragments of Beetles c. Its guts were fourteen inches and an half long The Cock and Hen can scarce be known asunder they are so like in shape and colour It is a very foolish bird saith Dr. Key in his Letter to Gesner but excellent meat and with us accounted a great delicacy It is taken in the night time by the light of a Candle by imitating the gestures of the Fowler For if he stretches out an Arm that also stretches out a Wing if he a Foot that likewise a Foot In brief whatever the Fowler doth the same doth the Bird and so being intent upon mens gestures it is deceived and covered with the Net spread for it I call it Morinellus for two reasons first because it is frequent among the Morini And next because it is a foolish bird even to a Proverb we calling a foolish dull person a Dotterel Of the catching of Dotterels my very good Friend Mr. Peter Dent an Apothecary in Cambridge a Person well skill'd in the History of Plants and Animals whom I consulted concerning it wrote thus to me A Gentleman of Norfolk where this kind of sport is very common told me that to catch Dotterels six or seven persons usually go in company When they have found the Birds they set their Net in an advantageous place and each of them holding a stone in either hand get behind the Birds and striking their stones often one against another rouse them which are naturally very sluggish and so by degrees coup them and drive them into the Net The Birds being awakened do often stretch themselves putting out a Wing or a Leg and in imitation of them the men that drive them thrust out an Arm or a Leg for fashion sake to comply with an old custom But he thought that this imitation did not conduce to the taking of them for that they seemed not to mind or regard it CHAP. IV. The Sea-Lark Charadrius sive Hiaticula IN bigness it somewhat exceeds the common Lark From the point of the Bill to the end of the Tail or Legs for they are equally extended being eight inches and an half long a line of black compasses the base of the upper Bill This black line from the corners of the mouth is produced through the Eyes as far as the Ears and then turns up and passes cross the middle of the Head encompassing a broad bed or fillet of white drawn from the inner corner of one Eye to the inner corner of the other The hinder part of the Head is ash-coloured The Chin white The Neck encompassed by a double ring or collar the upper white which underneath reaches as far as the Bill and under the Chin is dilated almost to the Eyes the lower black which is broader in the middle and takes up part of the Breast before also runs out toward the Bill The Back and lesser covert feathers of the Wings are ash-coloured The Breast and Belly white The outmost of the quil-feathers of the Wings is black on the middle of the shaft only spotted with white which colour spreads it self gradually and continually more and more in the following feathers insomuch that the twentieth and twenty first are wholly white Those next the body are of the same colour with the Back The feathers of the second row have white tips excepting the foremost or outmost Hence and from the white of the first row arises a long transverse white line in the Wings The outmost feather of the Tail on each side is white as also the tip and exteriour half of the next of the three following only the tips The two middlemost are of the same colour with the Back or a little darker The Tail is two inches and an half long made up of twelve feathers of which the outmost are the longest of the rest the interiour are a little shorter in order than the exteriour The Tail-feathers in divers birds vary in colour for in some the two outmost feathers are wholly white and the tips also of the middlemost The Bill is short scarce an inch in length of two colours For beneath toward the Head it is of a deep yellow or gold-colour more than half way toward the point black The upper Mandible a little longer and somewhat crooked In others perhaps they were young ones we observed the whole Bill to be black The Tongue is not
the sides The Tongue is pretty broad not cloven rough at the end The Irides of the Eyes are red The lower Eye-lid is not feathered In the young birds neither the Bill nor the bald spot in the forehead are red The Legs are green The Claws of a dark brown near black indifferently long The Toes long as in the Coot the middle the longest next the outmost all broader and plainer below than in the other cloven-footed birds for the use of swimming The back-toe broad as in Coots serving them perchance as a Rudder to steer and direct their course The Legs are feathered almost down to the knees between the feathers and the joynt marked with a red spot From the Shoulders or setting on of the Wing all along its base or ridge and to the very ends of the feathers runs a line of white The longer feathers under the Wings are curiously adorned with white spots or lines tending downwards The Breast is of a lead-colour The Belly inclining to grey or ash-colour Under the Tail are white feathers as it swims or walks it often flirts up its Tail and shews the white especially when it puts down its head to pick up any thing The Back and lesser rows of Wing feathers approach to a ferrugineous colour Else it is all over blackish In the Male the feathers under the Tail are whiter the Belly more cinereous and the Back more ferrugineous It s Liver is small Gall-bladder great the Gall within being of a greenish black colour It will feed very fat It s flesh is well tasted and even comparable to that of Teal It gets its food on grassie banks and borders near Waters and in the very Waters especially if they be weedy Feeding I suppose upon the water-Insects it finds among the weeds It builds upon low trees and shrubs by the water side breeding twice or thrice in a Summer and when its young ones are grown up it drives them away to shift for themselves Its Eggs are sharp at one end white with a tincture of green spotted with reddish spots It strikes with its Bill like a Hen It sits upon boughs but those only that are thick and near the water It lives about Motes and great Pools of water near Gentlemens houses It flies with its Feet hanging down §. II. The other green-footed Water-hen of Aldrovand perchance our Water-Rail THis Bird from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail is almost eighteen inches long It hath a Bill two inches long both above and underneath for some space yellow the remaining part being black The Neck and Head are black The Back and upper part of the Wings of a chesnut-colour The nether part of a dark cinereous Only the extremes of the Wings are white The lower Belly also is almost all white On the sides towards the Wings it is covered with thick feathers The Tail ends sharp being above of a chesnut-colour underneath white The Thighs are covered with ash-coloured feathers varied lightly with transverse white borders not altogether down to the Knees The Legs are green The Toes long furnished with Claws a little crooked broad and plain underneath perhaps that it may swim with them when there is need or occasion The Female is in all parts paler than the Male. This Bird if it be not our Water-Rail is I confess to me unknown I do indeed suspect it to be the Rail though to say the truth the marks do not agree Wherefore I would not omit its description that the Reader comparing it with that of the Rail may himself judge §. III. Another green-footed Water-hen of Bellonius like to a Coot perchance our Grinetta WE have necessarily separated the Water-hen la Poulette d'eau from the lesser and greater Coot de la Poule Macroule because it swims not in the water nor is Web-footed We have imposed the name of Water-hen upon this Bird from its likeness though it be much less yet is it bigger than a Rail so that it seems to partake of both The Fowlers to whom we shewed it seeing it to be like a Coot would needs perswade me that it differed only in bigness being not yet come to its full age and growth Whereupon I did more diligently search out some discriminating notes Among which this was the chief that this Water-hen had green Legs and Feet not unlike to a Bitterns and not so plain nor having such broad appendant membranes as in a Coot The Tail also of this Water-hen is longer and the bare spot upon its forehead less In colour it is indeed like to a Rail but tending to that of a Coot Wherefore at first sight I took it to be a Rail but viewing it more carefully I observed that it had white Eye-lids which neither Rail nor Coot have In the Tail were two white feathers one on each side Under the Breast it inclined a little to blue The Back is of a deep chesnut colour Some also are blacker than others and have the folds of their Wings white and moreover another white line in the lesser Wing which its first feathers longways of the quil or shaft compose The same meat was found in its Stomach as in the Rails and Coots It hath a Breast-bone and a Hip-bone different from other Birds yea even from the Coot It s flesh is like that of the Morehen tender and of easie digestion Its bones easie to be broken Its Liver also brittle It s Craw large Its Guts and Entrails as in a Coot When roasted also it is of the same taste with a Coot It builds breeds and brings up its young like the Rail This Bird in many things resembles our Grinetta or Gallinula poliopus minor of Aldrovand so that I doubt not but it is the same Howbeit I thought fit to insert its description in this work that I might leave the Reader to the freedom of his judgment §. IV. The Water-Rail called by some the Bilcock or Brook-Ouzel Rallus aquaticus Aldrov i. e. Ortygometra Bellonii Also the Gallinula chloropus altera Aldrov And perchance the Gallinula Serica of the some So of one species he makes three IT is like the common Water-hen but less bigger than a Quail of a slender narrow or compressed body From point of Bill to the end of the Claws sixteen inches long to the end of the Tail but twelve According to our usual way of measuring sixteen inches broad It s Head is small narrow or compressed sideways It s Bill like the Ruffs about two inches long streight compressed likewise sideways red especially the lower Mandible and lower part of the upper for toward the top or point it is black smooth and hard The Tongue reaches to the very end of the Bill and is white and rough at the tip It hath a round black bald spot or naked skin in the forehead but much less than that of the Coot so
is great divided into two Lobes having also a large Gall. The blind guts are nine inches long their ends for an inches space being reflected or doubled backwards It builds its Nest of grass broken reeds c. floating on the top of the water so that it rises and falls together with the Water The Reed among which it is built stop it that it be not carried down streams This Bird in the figure and make of its body resembles a Water-hen to which genus it ought without all doubt to be referred It seldom sits upon trees The flesh of it with us is accounted no good meat In Italy it is more esteemed §. II. Bellonius his greater Coot called by the French Macroule or Diable de mer. IT always dives in fresh waters and is of a colour so exquisitely black as if it were laid on with a Pencil The white bald spot on the Head is broader than in the common Coot And it is somewhat bigger-bodied It draws up its Legs and hath broad Toes divided from each other like the common Coot SECTION II. Whole-footed long-leg'd Birds CHAP. I. The Flammant or Phoenicopter Phoenicopterus IT hath extraordinary long Neck and Legs The Bill is broad of singular strange unusual figure For the upper Mandible is flat and broad crooked and toothed The lower thicker than it The tip of the Bill black else it is of a dark blue The Neck and body are white The quil-feathers of the Wings black The covert-feathers are wholly died with a most beautiful bright purple or flame-colour whence it took the names Phoenicopter and Flammant It is whole-footed as Gesner rightly hath it from whom Aldrovandus deceived I guess by the Picture of it dissenting affirms the contrary viz. that it is cloven-footed In Winter-time in hard weather it comes over to the Coast of Provence and Languedoc in France and is often taken about Martiguez in Provence and Montpellier in Languedoc We saw several cases of it dried at Montpellier The French call it Flambant or Flammant rather from the flammeous colour of its Wings and Feet than because it comes from Flanders in the Winter-time to the Coasts of Languedoc For I believe there was scarce ever seen about Flanders a bird of this kind so far are they from being common there and flying from thence into other Countries Howbeit the Provencals might perchance through mistake think so Whence it comes or where it breeds is to me unknown It feeds upon Periwinkles and fishes The Ancients reckon the Phoenicopters Tongue among the choicest dainties Apitius the most profound gulph of gluttony and riot as Pliny relates wrote that a Phoenicopters Tongue is of an excellent taste and rellish CHAP. II. * The Trochilus commonly called Corrira Aldrov THis Bird hath long Legs yea the longest of any whole-footed Fowl except the Avosetta Wherefore because it runs very swiftly they call it Corrira Courier whence I conjecture it to be the Trochilus which as they write runs along the shores with that celerity many times that its running is swifter than its flying It is a particoloured Bird hath a streight yellow Bill black at the tip A wide slit of the mouth black Eyes compassed about with a white circle which is environed by another spadiceous one Underneath on the Belly it is white Two white feathers which yet have black tips cover the Tail The upper side Head Neck Back and Wings are mostly of a ferrugineous colour It hath as I said long Legs short Thighs Toes joyned together by membranes Having not seen this Bird we have no more to add concerning it It s figure somewhat resembles a Larus Aldrovandus is mistaken in that he writes his Trochilus hath the longest Legs of any whole-footed bird but the Avosetta For the Phoenicopter hath much longer Legs than the Avosetta it self But Aldrovandus is herein to be excused for that he held the Phoenicopter to be a cloven-footed bird CHAP. III. The Avosetta of the Italians Recurvirostra IN bigness it somewhat exceeds a Lapwing weighing ten ounces and an half being extended in length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Toes twenty three inches and an half to the end of the Tail but eighteen In breadth taken between the tips of the Wings spread it is full thirty one inches The Bill is three inches and an half long slender black flat or depressed reflected upwards which is peculiar to this Bird ending in a very thin slender weak point The Tongue is short not cloven The Head is of a mean size round like a ball or bullet black above save that the fore part of the Head is sometimes grey which colour also takes up the upper side of the Neck extending to the middle of it The colour of the whole under side of the body is a pure snow-white of the upper side partly white partly black viz. the outmost quil-feathers of the Wings are above half way black the rest white as are also the feathers of the second row The rest of the covert-feathers almost to the ridge of the Wing are black which make a broad bed of black not directly cross the Wing but a little oblique On the Back again it hath two black strakes beginning from the point of the Shoulder or setting on of the Wing and proceeding transversly till in the middle of the Back they do almost meet being thence produced streight on to the Tail The whole Tail is white three inches and an half long made up of twelve feathers The Legs are very long of a lovely blue colour bare of feathers for almost three inches above the Knees The Claws black and little It hath a back-toe but a very small one The blind guts are slender almost three inches long The whole length of the Guts is three foot It hath a Gall-bladder emptying it self into the Gut by its own proper duct or channel and a Gall-pore besides The Stomach is small in which dissected we found nothing but little stones so that thence we could not learn on what it feeds Indeed the Bill being so slender weak long and of so inconvenient a figure turning upwards one would wonder how it could gather its food be it what it will Mr. Willughby describes the Wings thus The interiour scapular feathers are black which make a long black spot in the middle of the Back The covert-feathers of the upper part of the Wing from the setting on thereof to the first joynt are white from the first to the second joynt the lesser covert-feathers are black from the second joynt to the roots of the greater quil-feathers white again The first quill or pinion feather is wholly black the succeeding have by degrees less and less black till in the eight only the exteriour tip remains black We saw many of these birds both at Rome and Venice They do also frequent our Eastern Coasts in Suffolk and Norfolk in Winter time But there needs no great pains be
back-feathers are black The Tail and covert-feathers of the Wings are of a dusky ash-colour as in Geese The ends of the quil-feathers black The Tail is about seven inches long made up of twenty or twenty two feathers of almost equal length save that the outmost are a little shorter than the middlemost Each Wing hath twenty eight quil-feathers The Bill toward the Head is of a Lead-colour the end being yellowish The upper Mandible broad and flat the nether as it were two long ribs or spars joyned at one end with a thick yellow skin interceding which reaches backwards to the Throat beyond the Bill At the end of the Bill is a little knob or protuberance but the utmost tip of the Bill is hooked The Nosthrils are situate at the base of the Bill near the Head above the cranny or furrow running along the length of the Bill as in the Soland-goose and are round The Eyes are of a yellowish ash-colour or rather whitish The Legs and Feet of a lead colour The shanks bare above the knees All the four toes are web'd together as Aldrovand hath rightly observed We saw and described this Bird in the Royal Aviary in St. James Park near Westminster The Emperour of Russia by his Embassadours sent to his Majesty in the year 166â— among other rarities presented the King with two birds of this kind Franciscus Stellutus in a Letter to Jo. Faber at Rome describes a Pelecan he saw at Fabriano thus This Bird is much bigger than the biggest Goose yea equal to or bigger than a Swan That which Gesner described weighed twenty four pounds of twelve ounces the pound Of Aldrovands two one weighed eighteen pounds the other twenty five Of a whitish colour yet not purely white but clouded with something of dusky or red Nor is this colour uniform all the body over for the Wing-feathers are darker than of the rest of the body Its Feet are made up of three Toes joyned together by a membrane and a Heel behind Here by inadvertency I suppose Stellutus is mistaken for all four toes are web'd together The Bill almost as long as ones arm but not toothed The tip of the upper Chap is bent downward with a hook like the claw of some bird I could not see any Tongue neither could Faber who saw this same bird afterward at Rome find the Tongue though he searched diligently for it but where the root of the Tongue was fixed I observed certain perforate bodies On the crown of the Head there stood up some feathers elevated above the rest imitating a Crest The bag which hangs down under the Bill and which makes the Pelecan greatly different from other birds is membranaceous which it sometimes contracts and draws up so to the Bill that it is scarce conspicuous other times it suffers to be so dilated as to receive and contain many Faber saith thirty pounds of water The membrane being so stretcht and distended that it appears transparent many fibres and veins running up and down through it I wondered most they are Fabers words when the Bill being opened very wide I saw the whole head of a man of great stature received in that vast gulf of the Craw. In the Head I discovered two manifest but small holes reaching to the brain which served for smelling Wanting a Tongue it must make that uncouth sound like the braying of an Ass by the help of its Larynx only I heard not this but the Keeper of this Bird that carried it up and down to shew when he provoked it striking it on the Bill and the Bird seemed angry and ready to peck or strike with its Bill so that it would sometimes catch hold of his hand it made a noise somewhat like the cry of a Goose and that a small and hoarse one The noble Lord Jo. Carolus Schaad related to me that a great while since there were three Pelecans shot in the River Danow running through Bavaria two of which were kill'd the third brought alive to the Duke of Bavaria's Court where it lived forty years It was much delighted in the company and conversation of men and in Musick both Vocal and Instrumental For it would willingly stand by those that sung or sounded the Trumpet and stretching out its Head and turning its Ear to the Musick listened very attentively to that sweet harmony though its own voice is said to be like the braying of an Ass This confirms what we read in Aldrovand of the age of the Pelecan which was kept fifty years at Mechlin and was verily believed to be eighty years old Thus far Faber It is singular in this Bird that its bones are pellucid solid without any marrow at all within and that the division of the Wind-pipe into two branches is near about the middle of the stomach which I never observed in any other bird saith Aldrovand This bird feeds upon fish as do all the rest of this kind Faber saw it swallow two fresh Hakes that weighed about four pounds whole Many of them frequent the River Danow but breed not there Bellonius saith he saw flocks of Onocrotali in Egypt Olaus Magnus writes that they are frequent in the Northern Countries Oviedus reports that there is often seen a great flock of them about Panama in the West Indies where they breed on the adjacent Rocks and Islandr There are said to be of them likewise on the Caspian Sea Of old time it seems they have frequented the Coast of Italy about Ravenna for Martial hath it Turpe Ravennatis guttur Onocrotali Matthiolus makes them very common in the Sea-coasts of Tuscany especially about the Cape Argentaro being frequently found about Port Hercole and the Lake of Urbicello where the Inhabitants call them Agrotti What credit this deserves saith Faber I know not this I know that many of Matthiolus his Country men have scarce ever seen so much as the Picture of an Onocrotalus which if they were so common there would not sure be accounted such strange things as to be carried about to shew at Rome and in other places of Italy CHAP. II. The Soland Goose Anser Bassanus IN bigness it equals a tame Goose It is by measure from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Feet thirty four inches long To the end of the Tail thirty nine Its Wings are of an extraordinary length for being extended their extreme tips are seventy two inches distant It s Bill is long streight of a dark ash-colour a little crooked at the point having on each side not far from the hook an angular Appendix or tooth like the Bills of some rapacious birds Beyond the Eyes the skin on the sides of the Head is bare of feathers as in the Cormorant The Palate and all the inside of the Mouth is black The slit of the Mouth huge wide At the angle of the Upsilon-like bone is a very small Tongue The Ears of a mean size The Eyes hazel-coloured In another bird
time of which the one is always addle They feed their young ones wondrous fat The old ones early in the morning at break of day leave their Nests and Young and the Island it self and spend the whole day in fishing in the Sea never returning or once setting foot on the Island before Evening twilight So that all day the Island is so quiet and still from all noise as if there were not a bird about it Whatever fish or other food they have gotten and swallowed in the day-time by the innate heat or proper ferment of the stomach is as they say changed into a certain oyly substance or rather chyle a good part whereof in the night-time they vomit up into the mouths of their Young which being therewith nourished grow extraordinarily fat When they are come to their full growth they who are intrusted by the Lord of the Island draw them out of the Cony-holes and that they may the more readily know and keep account of the number they take they cut off one foot and reserve it which gave occasion to that Fable that the Puffins are single-footed They usually sell them for about nine pence the dozen a very cheap rate They say their flesh is permitted by the Romish Church to be eaten in Lent being for the taste so like to fish Gesner and Aldrovand following him from the relation of a certain English man write that they want hard feathers being covered only with soft feathers or a kind of down Which is altogether false they being furnished with sufficiently long Wings and Tail and flying very swiftly They say it is a foolish bird and easily taken We are told that they breed not only on the Calf of Man but also on the Silly Islands Notwithstanding they are sold so cheap yet some years there is thirty pounds made of the young Puffins taken in the Calf of Man Whence may be gathered what number of birds breed there CHAP. III. * The Brasilian Maiaguè of Piso MAiaguè also received into the number of whole-footed edible but Sea wild-fowl is of the bigness and shape of a Goose not unlike to those great black diving birds of our Country having in like manner the end of their Bills hooked and fitted for ravin So that it seems to resemble Gesners Corvus aquaticus It hath a thick round Head shining Eyes a long Neck decently bowed like a Swans The whole Bird is of a dusky and blackish colour only the forepart of the Neck adorned with yellow feathers It lives in the Sea about the mouths of Rivers But builds its Nest and lays its Eggs on the shore It is a swift bird swims and dives well and cunning in avoiding and escaping the snares of the Fowlers It s flesh is esculent and good meat especially if it be young but because it feeds always upon fishit is disapproved and rejected by some Whether this Bird hath all its four toes web'd together or not Piso doth not tell us therefore we have subjoyned it to those which have the back-toe loose although we suspect that it doth rather belong to the former genus CHAP. IV. The Shear-water OUr learned and worthy friend Sir Thomas Brown of Norwich among the designs and Pictures of many other birds sent us also that of this with a short history of it as followeth The Shear-water is a Sea-fowl which fishermen observe to resort to their Vessels in some numbers swimming swiftly to and fro backward forward and about them and doth as it were radere aquam shear the water from whence perhaps it had its name It is a fierce and snapping fowl and very untractable I kept two of them five of six weeks in my house and they refusing to feed I caused them to be crammed with fish till my Servant grew weary and gave them over And they lived fifteen days without any food So far Sir Thomas This Bird according to the Picture of it hath a great head like a Gull It s upper part Head and Back were of a dark brown or blackish Its Chin Throat and Breast white Its Feet of a flesh-colour Its Bill long round hooked at the end like a Cormorants and blackish Its Wings long when gathered up reaching to the end of the Tail SECTION IV. Of whole-footed Birds with the back-toe loose having a narrow Bill hooked at the end and toothed called DIVERS in Latine MERGI CHAP. I. The Goosander Merganser Aldrov Harle Bellonii IT s weight was almost four pounds Its length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail or Claws for they were equally extended twenty eight inches Its breadth the Wings being spread forty It is long-bodied It s Back broad and flat The Head and upper part of the Neck is of a very deep shining green almost black The lower half of the Neck is of a glossie white Yet the upper side of the bottom of the Neck the middle of the Back and the interiour scapular feathers are black the exteriour are white The lower part of the Back is of a pale ash-colour On both sides near the Rump and on the very Rump and Thighs the feathers are variegated with transverse dusky lines The Tail is made up of eighteen feathers wholly cinereous Each Wing hath about twenty six prime feathers the ten outmost black the four next also black but tipt with white The five succeeding white with their bottoms black The remaining six or seven next the body white with their exteriour edges black In the second row of the Wing those incumbent on the white quil-feathers are white from their tips to the middle beneath black Thence as far as the bastard Wing all are white But between those white ones and the long scapular feathers some black ones intervene Whence if you take the long scapular feathers which cover the Back for part of the Wing the Wings will be as Aldrovandus describes them black toward the back next white with a certain paleness then black again but more remissly after that again white the extreme feathers at last being black The whole under-side of the body excepting the Wings which are white underneath of a faint yellow or Isabella colour The exteriour feathers of the Thighs are elegantly varied with transverse waved lines of a whitish and blackish colour alternately placed The Bill measured from the tip to the corners of the mouth exceeds the length of a mans middle singer The lower Mandible black the upper along its middle or upper part black on the sides red the tip being black and hooked both upper and lower toothed on both sides like a Saw the teeth inclining inward The Tongue and Palate are yellow It hath not a Crest properly so called on the Head but the feathers are more loose and stand more staring upwards than ordinary whence also the Head seems to be bigger than indeed it is The Ears are round the Nosthrils large the Irides of the Eyes of a sanguine
of Aldrovand lib. 19. cap. 52. BOth Mandibles of the Bill where it joyns to the Head are tinctured with a Saffron-colour The Head is black on the crown beneath cinercous which colours meet near the ends of the Eyes which are yellow From the back of the Head hangs down a tuft of black feathers The upper part of the Neck is also black the remaining part of a middle colour between ferrugineous and rose The Breast and Belly are of a whitish ash-colour The Back and Wings black but of these the ridges and extremes are white It hath no Tail at all The Rump from cinereous is black The Legs Feet and Claws are of the same make and shape as in the former §. III. Of the Water-Hare or crested Mexican Doucker of Hernandez THat kind of Duck so he calls it which Aristotle calls Colymbus but Gaza renders Urinatrix the Mexicans are wont to call Acitli or the Water-hare This would be altogether the same with that described and delineated by some of the later Writers were not the Head adorned with a greater and black crest the Belly of a shining silver colour and the Neck beneath of a pure white above of a dark brown It frequents Lakes either swimming in the water or abiding near it For it can neither fly nor conveniently walk on the Land its Thighs being so joyned and as it were united to the body that they serve only for swimming not for walking It feeds upon the fishes it catches and they are its sustenance It breeds up its young among rushes and reeds and exceeds not the bigness of our common Ducks The Male is somewhat longer-bodied and hath a larger neck and crest The Bill of the Female is shorter black and on both sides near the Eyes covered with fulvous feathers whereas the Males is with white This is that Bird which the Indians fabulously report to call forth or conjure up winds when he perceives the Fowlers aim to catch him which blowing trouble the waters so that their Canoes are overturned and the men drown if they do not happen to kill him in the shooting of five arrows out of a bow They fancy that in his heart dissected is or may be found a Jewel useful for many things and highly prized not to be consecrated to any but God But these are idle stories and lies proceeding from the credulity of these people It s flesh is not pleasant nor very wholesome like that of other fenny birds and therefore not to be used for food by any one of a critical palate Between this and the precedent Doucker there is so little difference that I scarce doubt but they are the same §. IV. The grey or ash-coloured Loon of Dr. Brown THis Bird differs from the common Doucker as well crested as not crested in the grey colour of its body being much rarer with us The Picture represents the feathers on the crown of the Head standing up in form of a crest or toppin §. V. The greater crested and horned Doucker IT is something less than that described in the first place but hath a thicker and longer Bill approaching to a ferrugineous colour It is both crested and horned having long feathers standing out about the crown of the Head and upper part of the Neck black above and red on the sides The Chin and space about the Eyes is white bounded with red The Neck is not so long as in the first kind The upper or backside of the Neck is partly blackish and partly shews something of red The Breast and Belly are almost of the same colour with the spot we mentioned encompassing the Eyes viz. white with a mixture of red On the Back some long downy feathers of a cinereous and a reddish colour are mingled with the black ones The Wings are longer in proportion than in the first their ridges and almost all their quil-feathers being whitish else of a sooty colour In the Bird we saw the Wings were of a dusky or brown colour but the lesser quil-feathers were white as also those small feathers on the base or ridge of the Wing The Legs are not situate so backward as in the first §. VI. The Didapper or Dipper or Dobchick or small Doucker Loon or Arsfoot Colymbus five Podicipes minor FOr the shape of its body it is like to a Teal but lesser by almost a third part Of the weight of six ounces From the tip of the Bill to the end of the Claws ten inches and an half long between the tips of the Wings distended sixteen broad It s Bill from the point to the angles of the mouth is one inch streight sharp almost like a Thrushes Bill thicker at the Head and lessening by degrees to the point The upper Chap black excepting only its very tip and sides which are of a white or pale yellow as is also the whole lower Mandible The Tongue is long sharp like the Bill and cloven The Nosthrils are a little remote from the feathers The Eyes great with hazel-coloured Irides The whole body is invested with a thick and soft Plumage or down especially on the under-side It s colour on the Back is a dusky or dark brown on the Belly a white or rather silver-colour The Chin white The Head and Neck darker than the Belly lighter-coloured than the Back The Throat and sides of the Neck are a little red The lower Belly of a sordid dusky colour The Thighs have a little mixture of red The Neck is slender scarce an hand-breadth long Its Wings are small and concave Each having about twenty six quil-feathers The twelve outmost are of a Mouse-dun or black brown the interiour to the twenty third particoloured the outer Webs being dusky the inner partly white the white part being in the nearer to the body broader in the more remote feathers narrower As for the lesser rows of Wing-feathers those above are black those beneath white It hath no Tail at all but yet hath the rump-glandules though lesser than ordinary out of which also springs a brush or tuft of feathers as in other Birds The Legs are situate very backwards at the end of the body made rather for swimming than walking so that it cannot walk but with the body erect almost perpendicularly compressed or flat of a sordid green colour serrate behind with a double row of asperities The soals of the feet are black The Feet are divided into three broad Toes finned on each side with lateral membranes having thin broad blunt Claws like humane nails Yet are the Toes joyned together by intervening membranes from the divarication to the first joynt It hath also a small back-toe finned in like manner on each side Two blind guts of a moderate length No Labyrinth on the Wind-pipe A membranaceous stomach Strong musculous Thighs by the help whereof it swims very swiftly diving down to the bottom and rising again at pleasure From the make and conformation of its parts it moves with more
ease and expedition under water than either upon the surface of the water or upon the Land So soon as it is risen above water it holds up its Head looks about it and with wonderful celerity plunges it self under water again It can hardly raise it self up out of the water but when it is once gotten upon the Wing it can hold out flying a long time The stomach of that we dissected was full of grass and weeds Bellonius saith that it feeds most willingly upon fishes Being rosted it smells very strong Both Gesner and Aldrovand describe two kinds of small Douckers but they differ so little one from the other that I suppose the diversity is rather in Age or Sex than in Species CHAP. III. Whole-footed Douckers with Tails §. I. The greatest speckled Diver or Loon Colymbus maximus caudatus Mergus max. Farrensis five Arcticus Clus THis is a singular kind of Bird and as it were of a middle nature between whole-footed birds with four fore-toes and with three In bigness it exceeds a tame Duck coming near to a Goose It is long-bodied hath a round Tail and a small Head The upper part of the Neck next to the Head is covered with feathers so thick set that it seems to be bigger than the very Head it self The colour of the upper part viz. the Neck Shoulders covert-feathers of the Wings and whole Back is a dark grey or dusky pointed or speckled with white spots thinner set on the Neck and thicker on the Back These white spots are bigger upon the long scapular feathers and coverts of the Wings and smaller in the middle of the Back The lower part of the Neck the Breast and Belly are white In a bird I saw that was killed in the Isle of Jarsey the Head was black and also the Neck which had a white or rather grey ring about the middle of an inch or inch and half broad consisting of abundance of small white specks We counted in the two outmost joynts of each Wing thirty quil-feathers but they are short all black or of a dark brown It hath a very short Tail of the figure of a Ducks made up of at least twenty feathers It s Bill is streight sharp like that of the Guillem almost three inches long the upper Mandible black or livid covered with feathers to the very Nosthrils reflected a little upwards the nether is white The Nosthrils are divided in the middle by a skin hanging down from above It is whole-footed and hath very long fore-toes especially the outmost The back-toe is very short and little Its Legs are of a mean length but flat and broad like the ends of Oars the exteriour surface being brown or black The interiour livid or pale-blue The Claws broad like the nails of a man The Legs in this bird are situate almost in the same plain with the Back so that it seems not to be able to walk unless erected perpendicularly upon the Tail It hath no Labyrinth upon the Wind-pipe The Liver is divided into two Lobes and hath a bladder to contain Gall Above the stomach the Gullet is dilated into a kind of Craw the interiour surface whereof is granulated with certain papillary glandules The Throat is vast loose and dilatable The guts large especially towards the stomach The stomach less fleshy and musculous than in granivorous birds The Bird described was shot on the River Tame in Warwickshire I have seen four of them 1. One at Venice in Italy 2. One in Yorkshire at Dr. Hewleys shot near Cawood 3. A third in the Repository of the Royal Society 4. A fourth in the house of my honoured friend Mr. Richard Darley in London taken in the Isle of Jarsey They differ something one from another in colours For some of them have a ring about their necks their Back Neck and Head blacker and painted with little white lines Others want the ring and have the upper side of their bodies more ash-coloured or grey varied with white specks and not lines Perchance these are the Hens those the Cocks §. II. * Gesners greatest Doucker Colymbus maximus Gesneri IN the Lake of Constance I hear there is taken though but seldom a certain bird congenerous to the aforesaid but bigger than a Goose called Fluder from its uncouth fluttering motion on the surface of the water for that it can neither fly well nor walk conveniently unless it leans both upon Feet and Wings as do also the other Douckers by reason of the position of the Legs so turned backwards That it hath a long sharp Bill A loud shrill cry of a singular kind That it dives exceeding deep so that it is sometimes taken twenty yards deep under water viz. with a Net or an Iron-hook baited with a fish that they are commonly sold for two drachms and an half of silver a piece Leonard Baltner a Fisherman of Strasburgh describes this bird thus In bigness it equals a Goose Its length from the point of the Bill to the end of the Toes is one Strasburgh yard and an half It s Bill from the point to the Eyes is five inches long The Legs from the Claws to the feathers that is the bare part ten inches The space of the Wings extended two yards and a quarter The Stomach small It feeds upon fish The Bill sharp The Feet broad the toes web'd together The upper side of the body is cinereous and black the under-side white The Tail three inches long It dives very far a Pistol-shot before it rises again It s flesh is commended for good meat and is of no unpleasant taste This Bird if it be different from the above described is I confess hitherto to me unknown Mr. Johnson in his Papers sent us writes that he hath seen a bird of this kind without any spots in its Back or Wings but yet thinks it not to differ specifically but accidentally §. III. * Wormius his Northern Doucker called Lumme IT is common among the Norwegians and Islanders who in their own Country Language call it Lumme Carolus Clusius mentions it in his Auctarium pag. 367. It is an elegant bird of the bigness of a Duck with a black sharp Bill two inches long It s Head and Neck are covered with grey cinereous feathers ending in a sharp point as if it had a Monks hood on its Back It s Back and Wings are black sprinkled over with square spots of white which yet are bigger on the Back than the Wings Under the Neck is a square oblong black spot like to a shield five inches long and two broad compassed on all sides with feathers variegated of black and white as with a Girdle The whole Belly and lower parts of the Wings are white The Legs are stretcht forth beside the Tail as if they grew out of the Vent fitted not so much for walking as for swimming not slender but flat and broad Each foot hath three Toes that are black and joyned together with black
else white The seventh had only a black spot near the tip All the rest were white In brief the ridge upper or fore-part of the Wing extended was all along black which colour near the Back was dilated into a large and broad stroak or spot The Bill was more than an inch long something arcuate or bending downwards especially toward the point which is sharp of a black colour The lower Mandible not far from the tip bunched out into an angle underneath as in the rest of this kind Its Legs and Feet were of ash or livid colour Its Claws black It hath some rudiment of a hind-toe rather than a perfect toe for it is only a carneous knob without any Claw The Legs also are destitute of feathers for about the length of an inch above the knees The colour of the Mouth within and the Tongue is like that of an Assyrian Apple as Bellonius hath observed The Tail is five inches long made up of twelve almost equal feathers The number of quil-feathers in each Wing twenty eight or twenty nine This Bird is easily known and distinguished from all others of this kind that we have hitherto observed by its wanting the back-toe It is common on our Sea-coasts §. VI. The Pewit or Black-cap called in some places The Sea-Crow and Mire-Crow Larus cinereus Ornithologi Aldrov Also the Larus cinereus tertius Aldrov The Cepphus of Turner and Gesner IT is about the bigness of a tame Pigeon That which we described weighed about ten ounces Its length from tip of Bill to end of Tail was fifteen inches Its breadth thirty seven It s Bill was of a sanguine colour bending something downwards from the point to the angles of the Mouth two inches long The Palate was of a red-lead colour The Eyes hazel-coloured The edges of the Eye-lids red Both upper and lower Eye-lids towards the hind-part of the Head were compassed with white feathers The Head and Throat were black but dilute The middle of the Back ash-coloured The Neck Tail Breast and Belly white The number of quil-feathers in each Wing twenty nine The tip and extreme edges of the first were white the rest of the feather black the following feathers to the tenth had black tips yet with some diversity in several birds else the whole Wings were ash-coloured The Tail all snow-white of about five inches length not forked consisting of twelve feathers The Wings gathered up reach beyond the end of the Tail The Legs were of a dark sanguine colour The back-toe small The Claws little and black The Males differ little from the Females in colour or outward appearance Near Gravesend a huge number of these birds frequent the River Thames We saw and described at Chester a Bird of this kind which there they called the Sea-Crow which differed from the precedent in some accidents of less moment viz. The crown or top of its Head only was black not its Throat Each Wing had twenty eight quil-feathers the outmost of which had its tip and exteriour edge black the three next in order had their outer Webs white their tips and interiour edges black the three succeeding had only their tips black The third fourth and fifth and in some also the second feathers have a spot of white on their tips Of this kind also are those birds which yearly build and breed at Norbury in Staffordshire in an Island in the middle of a great Pool in the Grounds of Mr. Skrimshew distant at least thirty miles from the Sea About the beginning of March hither they come about the end of April they build They lay three four or five Eggs of a dirty green colour spotted with dark brown two inches long of an ounce and half weight blunter at one end The first Down of the Young is ash-coloured and spotted with black The first feathers on the Back after they are fledg'd are black When the Young are almost come to their full growth those entrusted by the Lord of the soil drive them from off the Island through the Pool into Nets set on the banks to take them When they have taken them they feed them with the entrails of beasts and when they are fat sell them for four pence or five pence apiece They take yearly about a thousand two hundred young ones Whence may be computed what profit the Lord makes of them About the end of July they all fly away and leave the Island Some say that the crowns of those Birds are black only in Spring and Summer A certain friend of mine saith Aldrovand did sometime write to me from Comachio that the feathers on their Heads grow black in March and that that blackness continues for three months viz. so long as they are breeding and rearing their Young and that the other nine months of the year they are white Which thing if it be true for to me indeed it seems not probable no wonder that of one and the same Species of Bird described at several times of the year there should be three or four made Aldrovandus writes that the description of Gesner agrees in other things to his ash-coloured Gull disagreeing only in the colour of its Bill and Feet But perhaps saith he the colour of the Bill and Feet may vary in birds of the same species which I will not easily grant unless they differ in Age or Sex §. VII * The greater white Gull of Bellonius which we judge not to be specifically different from our Pewit IT is saith he lesser than the ash-coloured Mew and a veryhandsom bird as fair to see to as a white Pigcon though it seem to be bigger-bodied and yet being stript of its feathers it hath far less flesh It is as white as snow yet under the Wings it hath somewhat of ash-colour The Eyes are great and encompassed with a black circle Near the region of the Ears on both sides is a black spot It is well winged for the Wings exceed the Tail in length Its Legs and Bill are red which they are not in the ash-coloured Gull It stands streight upon its Legs carrying the hinder part of the body more elevated so that the lower parts seem to be bent like a bow The Bill is round and sharp-pointed the ends of the Wings black This Bird in most things approachòs to our Pewit last described it differs in the colour of the crown and in the black spots about the Ears Aldrovandus makes the lesser white Larus of Bellonius to be the same with the Cepphus of Turner that is our Pewit I rather think it to be the Sea-Swallow because he writes that it frequents fenny places and thò banks of Rivers CHAP. II. Great brown and grey Gulls §. I. Our Catarracta I suppose the Cornish Gannet Skua Hoier Clus THe skin of this stuft was sent us by our learned and worthy friend Dr. Walter Needham who found it hung up in a certain Gentlemans Hall The Bird it self living or newly
spotted in the middle with brown The Chin is white Each Wing hath thirty quil-feathers all black The tips of the lesser rows of Wing-feathers in some are black in some cinereous The Tail is six inches and an half long consisting of a dozen feathers the outmost tips of which are white then succeeds a cross bed or bar of black of about two inches broad The lower part is varied with transverse bars of white and black the white also spotted with black The Bill is almost three inches long all black the upper Chap bending a little downward and as it were hooked The lower between the angle and the tip underneath bunches out into a knob The Nosthrils oblong The Eyes grey The Neck short The Head great which in walking or standing still it always draws down to its shoulders as do also other Gulls so that one would think they had no necks of a whitish grey colour Its Legs and Feet are white or white with a little duskishness The hind-toe small The Claws black that of the middle toe sharp on the inside It hath a huge Liver divided in two a Gall annexed to the right Lobe The Stomach more musculous than in carnivorous birds The blind guts short and little yet turgid and full of Excrement The Cornish men related to us for a certain truth that this Bird is wont to persecute and terrifie the Sea-Swallows and other small Gulls so long till they mute for fear and then catches their excrements before they fall into the water and greedily devours them as a great dainty This some of them affirmed themselves to have seen The Larus albo-cinereus torque cinereo of Aldrovand is very like to if not the same with this On the Breast and Belly it is of a colour from white inclining to cinereous as also on the upper side of the Wings It hath a very great Head encompassed with a kind of ash-coloured wreath which yet reaches not to the Neck behind but turns up to the middle of the crown Along the Neck and Back it declines from grey to blue The covert-feathers of the Wings are of a colour mixt of white and cinereous The longer quil-feathers are black reaching an inch further than the Tail The Tail is ash-coloured and black at the end The Legs Bill and Eyes red yet the tip of the Bill black §. IV. The Winter-Mew called in Cambridge-shire the Coddy-moddy Larus fuscus five Hybernus IT weighs well nigh seventeen ounces In length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Claws or Tail it was by measure eighteen inches and better The extremes of the Wings extended were forty five inches distant The lower part of the Throat about the Craw is a little dusky else the under-side of the body is all white The Head is white spotted with brown The Neck brown The middle of the Back cinereous The long scapular feathers varied with brown spots The Rump is white The Tail more than five inches long made up of twelve feathers The extreme tips of the Tail-feathers are white then succeeds a black bar an inch and an half broad the rest of the Tail being white The outmost quil-feather of the Wing is of a dark brown or black colour the second ash-coloured on the inner side In the following the black part is lessened by degrees till in the sixth and seventh the tips only remain black The tips of the eighth and all the following are white The eleventh feather is wholly cinereous yet in the middle of the shaft not far from the tip darker In the two next is a brown spot The succeeding have also their exteriour edges black In the twenty third the blackness disappears again so that the twenty fourth and twenty fifth are wholly cinereous Of the last or those next the body the one half is black The lesser covert-feathers in the upper part of the Wing are of a mixt colour of cinereous and black Those on the underside of the Wing are white The Bill is more than two inches long from the Nosthrils to the end whitish The upper Mandible longer and crooked the nether underneath bunches out into an angle or knob as in other great Gulls The Tongue white cloven reaching to the end of the Bill The Eyes hazel-coloured and furnished with nictating membranes The Ears great The Legs and Feet of a dusky or greenish white The back-toe little armed with a small Claw the inner fore-toe the least The Claws black that of the middle Toe sharp on the inner side The Guts were long twenty eight inches having many spiral revolutions The stomach musculous The Liver divided into two Lobes The Gall-bladder large It frequents moist Meadows Fens and Rivers and sometimes plowed Lands too many miles distant from the Sea This Bird in many things comes near to the Larus major of Aldrovand but differs from it in the colour of the Eyes Bill and Feet the Bill and Feet in Aldrovands bird being yellow But the description of this greater Gull Larus major in Aldrovand answers exactly to that bird which Leonard Baltner hath painted under the title of Ein Winder-Meb wherefore we will here subjoyn his description §. V. * The Larus major Greater Gull of Aldrovand called by Leonard Baltner Ein Winder-Meb that is A winter Mew FRom the point of the Bill to the end of the Wings it was almost two spans long Had a very great and thick Head particoloured of white and cinereous Also a large full Breast of the same colour but more dilute especially towards the lower belly A thick yellowish Bill black at the tip and very sharp in the upper Chap whereof are long Nosthrils It gapes very wide The Pupil of the Eye is black the Iris yellow or shining like gold the yellow is encompassed with a circle of black the black with a white and lastly the white with a grey or ash-colour The Wings are of a colour mingled of white grey and brown or chesnut to the quils which on the outside are dusky or blackish on the inside for the most part cinereous and exceed the Tail by an hand-breadth The longest of them are more than a span The Tail it self is four inches and an half long and better all cinereous except a cross bar or border of black near the end of more than an inch broad The Thighs are cinereous and near the Legs bare of feathers The Legs of a good length and slender as became a light bird of a pale yellow colour The Feet Toes and intervening membranes also yellow The Claws black short and crooked The back-toe conspicuous enough armed also with a claw §. VI. * Baltners great grey Sea-Mew the same perchance with ours described in the third place FRom the point of the Bill to the end of the Wings it was 1⅛ of a Sirasburgh Ell long Between the tips of the Wings extended two Ells broad It weighed scarce a pound The length of its foot from the feathers
think that it ought rather to be referred to the Gulls to which I have subjoyned it SECTION VII Of Whole-footed Birds with broad Bills THese may be divided into the Goose-kind and the Duck-kind The marks of the Goose-kind of which we shall first treat are a bigger body Large Wings a long Neck a large and round-ended train A white ring about the Rump A rounder Back not so flat and depressed as in the Duck-kind A Bill thicker at the base slenderer toward the tip and not so flat and broad at the end as in Ducks To which might be added shorter Legs MEMB. I. The Goose-kind CHAP. I. Of the Swan De Cygno §. I. The tame Swan Cygnus mansuetus THis Bird is much the biggest of all whole-footed Water-fowl with broad Bills An old one we made trial of weighed twenty pounds From the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail was fifty five inches long to the end of the Feet fifty seven The distance between the tips of the Wings extended was seven foot and eight inches The whole body is covered with a soft delicate Plumage in the old ones purely white in the young ones grey The quils of the greater Wing-feathers in this Bird are greater than in the wild Swan The Bill in the young ones of the first year is of a lead colour having a round nail as it were at the tip and a black line on each side from the Nosthrils to the Head From the Eyes to the Bill is a triangular space bare of feathers of a black colour the base whereof respects the Bill the vertex the Eyes In old ones the Bill is red the hook or nail at the end being black Above at the base of the Bill grows a great Lobe of tuberous flesh of a black colour bending forward or downward The space under the Eyes always continues black The Tongue is indented or toothed The Feet of a lead colour bare a little above the knee The inmost Toe hath a lateral membrane appendant The Claws are black The stomach is furnished with thick and strong muscles The Guts have eight or nine revolutions and are large The Wind-pipe in this kind enters not the Breast-bone Wherefore Aldrovand doth not rightly infer that Aristotle never dissected this Fowl because he makes no mention of this ingress and of the strange figure of the Wind-pipe For this is proper to the wild Swan not common to both kinds we having not observed such a conformation of the Wind-pipe in any of those tame Swans we have dissected Aldrovandus therefore thinking there was but one kind of Swan viz. that which he dissected did erroneously attribute what was proper to that one kind to the Swan in general We have opened two wild Swans and in both have observed the Wind-pipe so to enter the cavity of the Breast-bone and to be there so reflected as Aldrovandus hath expressed both in words and figures Of tame Swans we have anatomized many and in all have observed the wind-pipe to descend streight down into the Lungs without any such digression or reflection It is a very long-lived fowl so that it is thought to attain the age of three hundred years Which saith Aldrovandus to me seems not likely For my part I could easily be induced to believe it For that I have been assured by credible persons that a Goose will live a hundred years or more But that a Swan is much longer-lived than a Goose if it were not manifest in experience yet are there many convincing arguments to prove viz. that in the same kind it is bigger That it hath harder firmer and more solid flesh That it sits longer on its Eggs before it hatches them For that I may invert Plinies words Those creatures live longest that are longest born in the Womb. Now incubation answers to gestation For the Egg is as it were an exposed Womb with the young enclosed which in viviparous Animals are cherished and as I may so say hatched within the body in oviparous Animals without the body by the warmth of the old one sitting upon them The Swan feeds not upon fish but either upon herbs growing in the water and their roots and seeds or upon Worms and other Insects and shell-fish Albertus writes truly that its flesh is black and hard As the Bird it self is far bigger than a Goose so its flesh is blacker harder and tougher having grosser fibres hard of digestion of a bad and melancholic juice Yet for its rarity serves as a dish to adorn great mens Tables at Feasts and entertainments being else in my opinion no desirable dainty It lays seven or eight Eggs and sits near two months before its young ones be hatcht They make use of the skin the grosser feathers pluckt off and only the Down left and so drest as a defensative against cold especially to cover and cherish the Breast and Stomach §. II. A wild Swan called also an Elk and in some places a Hooper IT weighs less than a tame Swan not exceeding two hundred sixty five ounces or sixteen pound three quarters Its length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Feet was sixty inches to the end of the Tail fifty six The figure of the body is the same with the tame Swans The colour white yet not all over so white as the tame Swans For the middle of the Back and the smaller covert-feathers of the Wings are cinereous Sometimes also here and there a brown feather is mixt with the white ones in the Back Each Wing hath thirty eight quils The first feather of the bastard-wing is longer than ordinary as in the tame Swan The quils much less than in that The Bill towards the tip and as far as the Nosthrils is black Thence to the Head covered with a yellow membrane Mr. Willughby describes the Bill a little differently thus The upper Mandible is moveable from the Eyes to the Nosthrils bare and of a fair yellow colour beyond the Nosthrils black The lower Mandible is black but the membrane under the Chin yellow The Legs are bare of feathers a little above the knees of a dusky yellow as are also the Feet The Wind-pipe after a strange and wonderful manner enters the Breast-bone in a cavity prepared for it and is therein reflected and after its egress at the divarication is contracted into a narrow compass by a broad and bony cartilage then being divided into two branches goes on to the Lungs These branches before they enter the Lungs are dilated and as it were swoln out into two cavities On the sides of the Rump grow two huge glandules out of which by a light pressure may be squeezed a certain glutinous substance like to ear-wax wherewith she anoints and composes her feathers But these glandules are not peculiar to this Bird though perchance greater and more remarkable in her but common to all The Bird we described was a Female The knot or bunch of Eggs was situate far within the
Mr. Johnson at Brignal in Yorkshire of the Bernacle in Sir William Fosters Hall at Bamburgh in Northumberland Mr. Jessop also sent us them both out of Yorkshire This is the Bird whose figure Aldrovandus gives us in the third Tome of his Ornitho-logie Chap. 37. which Brancion sent him painted out of the Low-Countries The whole Head and Neck besides a certain imperfect white circle in its upper part the Back and inside of the Thighs were black the Eyes yellow The Bill shorter than in that of Bellonius our Bernacle and thicker where it joyns to the Head The Wings from ash-colour inclined to brown Both the description and the figure of the Ring-Duck Anas torquata of Bellonius agree in all points to this Bird of ours so that I doubt not but they are the same See Aldrovands Ornithologie Book 19. Chap. 37. It is painted and described by Leonard Baltner under the title of Baumganss that is Tree-Goose and perchance may be also the Baumgansz of Gesner Mr. Johnson in his Letters lately sent us writes as if he thought that this were only the Female of the precedent induced chiefly by this argument that the Fowlers observe these to company and fly together with them as themselves told him §. V. The Swan-Goose Anser cygnoides Hispanicus seu Guineensis THe Back as in other Geese is of a dark grey The Belly white The Throat and Breast of a reddish brown A line or list of dark brown runs all along the ridge of the Neck from the Head to the Back The Bill is black from the root whereof arises a knob or bunch over-hanging it which in the Males and old Birds is bigger than in the Hens and Young A line or fillet of white between the Eyes and Bill adorns the Head The Tail is of the same colour with the Back and Wings the tips of the feathers being whitish The Feet are red and in some the Bill too The back-toe is little It is a stately Bird walking with the Head and Neck decently erected §. VI. The Gambo-Goose or Spur-wing'd Goose IT is for shape of body like to the Muscovy Duck and of equal bigness Hath long red Legs A white Belly the Back of a dark shining purple colour It s Bill is red Its Cheeks and Chin white It s Head hath a red Caruncle But what is most remarkable in it is a strong Spur proceeding from the first joynt of the Wings The like whereto Marggrave hath observed in four or five sorts of Brasilian Birds But no Europaean Fowl that I know of hath them §. VII The Canada Goose IT s length from the point of the Bill to the end of the Tail or of the Feet is forty two inches The Bill it self from the angles of the mouth is extended two inches and is black of colour The Nosthrils are large In shape of body it is like to a tame Goose save that it seems to be a little longer The Rump is black but the feathers next above the Tail white The Back of a dark grey like the common Gooses The lower part of the Neck is white else the Neck black It hath a kind of white stay or muffler under the Chin continued on each side below the Eyes to the back of the Head The Belly is white The Tail black as are also the greater quils of the Wings for the lesser and covert-feathers are of a dark grey as in the common tame Geese The Eyes are hazel-coloured the edges of the Eye-lids in some I know not whether in all white The Feet black having the hind-toe The title shews the place whence it comes We saw and described both this and the precedent among the Kings Wild-fowl in St. James's Park §. VIII The Rat-Goose or Road-Goose Brenthus fortasse MR. Johnson who shewed us this Bird at Brignal in Yorkshire thus describes it It is less by half than a tame Goose about two foot long its Bill scarce an inch black of colour as are also the Feet The top of the Head and part of the Neck black The feathers next the Bill the Throat and Breast brown The rest of the under-side white The upper-side grey but the ends of the feathers from grey darken into a brownish colour the edges changing into white as is usual also in the common tame Goose The quils of the Wings and the Tail are black but this hath white feathers on each side The Rump is also white It is a very heedless Fowl contrary to the nature of other Geese so that if a pack of them come into Tees it is seldom one escapes away for though they be often shot at yet they only fly a little and suffer the Gunner to come openly upon them SECTION VII MEMB. II. Broad-billed Birds of the Duck-kind CHAP. I. Of the Duck in general THe Duck-kind have shorter Necks and larger Feet in proportion to their bodies than Geese Lesser bodies Howbeit the biggest in this kind do equal if not exceed the least in that They have shorter Legs than Geese and situate more backward so that they go wadling A broader and flatter Back and so a more compressed body and lastly a broader and flatter Bill Their Tongue is pectinated or toothed on each side which is common to them with Geese These are of two sorts either wild or tame The wild again are of two sorts 1. Sea-Ducks which feed most what in salt-water dive much in feeding have a broader Bill especially the upper part and bending upwards to work in the slem a large hind-toe and thin likely for a Rudder a long train not sharp-pointed 2. Pond-Ducks which haunt Plashes have a streight and narrower Bill a very little hind-toe a sharp-pointed Train white Belly speckled feathers black with glittering green in the middle Wing with a white transverse line on either side For this distinction of Sea-Ducks and Pond-Ducks we are beholden to Mr. Johnson CHAP. II. Of Sea-Ducks §. I. * Wormius his Eider or soft-feathered Duck. THere hath been brought me saith Wormius from the Ferroyer Islands a certain sort of Duck they call there Eider What name the Latines give it I know not I have thought fit to intitle it Anas plumis mollissimis The Cock differs from the Hen in many things though the lineaments of the body are much what the same The Cock in figure or shape exactly resembles a tame Drake or Mallard hath a flat black Bill coming nearer the figure of a Gooses than a Ducks perforate in the middle with two oblong holes serving for respiration of the length of three inches pectinated on the sides From the Nosthrils through the crown of the Head above the Eyes two very black spots or strokes consisting of soft feathers tend to the hinder part of the head divided by a narrow white line ending in the upper part of the Neck which from green inclines to white The whole Neck the lower part of the Head the Breast the upper side of the
mixture of Isabella colour The Plumage on its Rump is mingled of black and white Out of the end of the Rump spring four sharp black feathers two of which are nine inches long the other two of the same colour and figure being but one third of the former in length The underside of the Neck and the Belly half-way are black the other half and the sides so far as covered by the Wings white The feathers on the upper surface of the Wings are of a purplish black on the under side cinereous The Bill is broad like the common Ducks toothed the tip and the part next the Head black the middle part of an elegant red-lead-colour It is small and proportioned to the body The Feet are brown the Claws and membranes between the Toes black The fourth which stands backward and resembles a Spur hath a broad membrane annexed §. VI. The Swallow-tail'd Sheldrake of Mr. Johnson THe Bill is short and simous black at the root to the Nosthrils and at the end the rest red The Head and Neck all white which colour reacheth to a good part of the Breast but further on the Back almost to the Scapulae save that there and behind the Ears there is a mixture of dusky Plumage The Back and Wings black as is the Breast to the mid-belly but the Wings are lighter than the Back especially the middle Pens which incline to a russet On either side the Back from the Scapulae go down divers long sharp-pointed white feathers which make an area of about four inches long and one broad The rest of the Belly and under the Tail is all white The Tail hath sixteen pens the two outmost all white the four middle all black and two of those longer than the rest by three inches at least and very sharp-pointed the rest black on the out edge and white on the inner the Legs whitish blue with black Webs She is a great diver and of the size of a Wigeon I should have taken this to be the Male and that described by Wormius the Female Havelda in respect of some common notes in Tail and Neb but that the Female was with this of mine as may be presumed a pair only feeding together several days in Tees River below Barnards-Castle and did not much differ in colour Thus far Mr. Johnson I am almost perswaded that it is specifically the same with Wormius his Havelda differing only in Age or Sex or perhaps both §. VII The great red-headed Duck Seen and described at Rome IT is full as big or bigger than the tame Duck weighing two pounds and ten ounces Roman It s Bill is broad as in the rest of this kind thicker and broader at the base slenderer and narrower toward the point streight of a light sanguine colour Each Mandible is pectinated or toothed with low teeth The Tongue is thick broad as is usual in Ducks of a flesh colour cut in on each side with black teeth like those of a Sickle The Head seems greater and thicker than in proportion to the body The crown of the Head is covered with a curious silken Plumage of a pale red colour These feathers are longer than ordinary and more erect so that they appear like a great crest or tuft The Eyes are red like the Bill or rather of a red-lead colour Beneath the Eyes on each side and under the Throat the feathers are of a deep red The whole Neck the Breast Shoulders and whole Belly are black The sides under the Wings and the interiour surface of the Wings white with a very sleight tincture or dash of red Each Wing had twenty six quils of the same colour also above excepting only the six next the body which are grey or ash-coloured Yet the tips of all are black and in the four or five outmost the exteriour Webs also In the middle quils the extreme tips are again white All the covert feathers are grey excepting a white line in the uppermost ridge of the Wing The middle of the Back is of a grey or ash-colour with a light tincture of red Of the same colour are those long feathers growing at the setting on of each Wing and covering the Back Above which appear in the Back two broad white spots of the figure of the segment of a circle The hinder part of the Back to the very Tail is black The Tail it self very short composed of sixteen feathers their upper sides grey their under white with a light tincture of red The Legs and Feet as in other birds of this kind red yet here and there especially about the joynts clouded with sable The membranes connecting the Toes and all the soals of the Feet black The Bird I described was a Cock and had a Labyrinth at the divarication of the Wind-pipe The Wind-pipe it self was greater at the head slenderer in the middle and above the Labyrinth again swoln into a greater tube It s Stomach or Gizzard very large and provided with very thick and strong muscles filled with very small stones mingled with grass It s Liver pale Gall-bladder little blind guts long This Bird I found in the Market at Rome shot I suppose upon the Sea-coast I never hapned to see it else where neither do I find any description of it or so much as any mention made of it in any book Where it lives and breeds I know not §. VIII The Scaup-Duck Perchance the Fuligula of Gesner IT is somewhat less than the common Duck about two foot long It s Bill is broad and blue the upper Mandible much broader than the nether The Head and part of the Neck are of a black green The Breast and underside of the Neck black the lower part of the Neck hath something of white mingled The Belly is white with a sprinkling of yellow in its lower part about the Vent of black The upper part of the Back is of a sooty or sable colour the middle white waved with transverse lines of brown the lower together with the Tail brown The Tail is scarce two inches long The Wings brown adorned on the upper side with white spots having also a cross line of white The Legs and Feet together with the Web and Claws are of a dusky blue colour This Bird is called the Scaup-duck because she feeds upon Scaup i. e. broken shel-fish She varies infinitely in colour especially in Head and Neck so that among a pack of forty or fifty you shall not find two exactly alike A thing not usual in this kind This Bird we have not as yet seen We owe this description and history of it to Mr. Johnson §. IX The tusted Duck Anas Fuligula prima Gesneri Aldrov Mergus cirratus minor Gesn Querquedula cristata five Colymbis Bellonii Aldrovand p. 210. as we think Capo negro at Venice THe Bill from the tip to the corners of the Mouth is about two inches long broad of a pale blue colour all but the tip
the Shoulders Breast and whole Belly are white The space between the Shoulders and all the lower part of the Back are black The Wings particoloured of black and white viz. the middle feathers both quils and coverts are white the outer and inner black To speak more exactly The fourteen outmost Quils are black the seven next white the four inmost again black The covert-feathers above the seven white ones are white all but those near the ridge of the Wing But the bottoms of those of the second row are black half way up The long scapular feathers are also mixt or particoloured of black and white The Tail is three inches and an half long made up of sixteen feathers from the outmost by degrees longer yet is not the Tail sharp but rather round-pointed all of one uniform black colour The Legs are very short of a Saffron or yellowish red colour as are also the Feet The Toes are long dusky about the joynts the outmost the longest the inmost hath a broad appendant membrane The membranes connecting the Toes and the Claws are black The back-toe is small having also a broad appendant membrane or sin The Wind-pipe hath a labyrinth at the divarication and besides above swells out into a Belly or puff-like cavity It s weight was about two pounds its length from Bill to Claws nineteen inches its breadth thirty one These Birds are very common at Venice in Italy and not rare upon our Sea-coasts Our smaller reddish-headed Duck which it seems is no other than the Female of the precedent Perchance the Anas Schollent of Gesner or the Anas fera fusca alia of Aldrovand p. 222. It is about the bigness of the Anas fuligula prima of Gesner Weighs twenty four ounces is from Bill to Claws seventeen inches long It hath a great Head of a fordid red colour A short Neck of a grey or hoary A white Breast and Belly It s Back Tail most of the covert-feathers and ten outmost quills of the Wings are of a dark brown or black The quil-feathers from the tenth to about the twentieth are white In the lesser rows of covert-feathers is also a great spot of white The second row of Wing-feathers as many as are incumbent on the white quils are white but tipt with black In the lesser rows of wing-feathers there is also a large white or ash-coloured spot So that in some the whole Wing almost seems to be white The Wings are small for the bigness of the Bird their feathers being short The Tail is made up of sixteen feathers and is for this kind long The Bill is shorter and narrower than that of the tufted Duck thick at the head sharper toward the tip the extreme hook or nail being black and encompassed by a broad yellow space very elegant to behold the rest of the Bill black The Eyes were of a lovely yellow or gold-colour The Feet large situate backwards of a yellowish red colour the Web of the Feet dusky the soal black I observed no labyrinth on the Wind-pipe It hath a small Gall-bladder of an oval figure In the Craw we found a Crab-fish Since the finishing of the Latine History we have been informed that this Bird is no distinct kind but only the Female Golden-eye And truly the shape of the body the make of the Bill the length number of feathers figure and colour of the Tail the fashion and colour of the Feet and other accidents induce us to think so neither is there more difference in weight than is usual between different Sexes Besides that this was a Female the want of the labyrinth proves but in the next Article I shall shew some reason to doubt whether of the Golden-eye or not Mr. Willughby also was suspicious that it might be the Hen Golden-eye §. XIV The greater reddish-headed Duck perchance the same with the last described or the Male thereof An Anas Schellent dicta Gesnero Aldrov p. 223. IT weighed twenty four ounces being in length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail eighteen inches and an half to the end of the Toes nineteen in breadth the Wings being spread out thirty The Bill two inches long yellow not only about the tip like the precedents but also of a fordid or dark yellow all along the middle beyond the Nosthrils The Irides of the Eyes are of a bright lovely yellow The Head of a fordid red the Neck grey For that chesnut or red colour of the Head extends not to the middle of the Throat The Back and whole upper side are of a dark brown or black The Throat Breast Belly to the very Tail white but at the Vent is a cross bar of brown Each Wing hath about twenty six quils of which the outmost ten are black the tip of the eleventh white in the succeeding the white increases till after three or four it reaches to the bottom The twentieth or twenty first hath its exteriour half white its interiour black There is some variety in several Birds in the colours of these feathers The feathers immediately above the white feathers are also white Besides in the lesser covert-feathers is a great spot of white in some birds of grey in others The Legs and Feet are of an obscure fordid yellow but about the joynts black The web of the Foot is also black The Legs are situate backwards as in the rest of this kind feathered down almost to the knees the Shanks short but the Feet large The inmost Toe hath a membrane bordering on the outside of it The hind-toe hath also its membrane annext The Tail is three inches and an half long made up of sixteen feathers of the same colour with the Back I should take this Bird to be the very same with the precedent not only in Species but in Sex notwithstanding its difference in bigness were it not that it had a labyrinth on the Wind-pipe which I suppose is proper only to the Males So that either this is the Male of the precedent and both different in species from the Golden-eye Or which I rather incline to believe this must be a young Cock-Golden-eye that had not moulted its chicken-feathers and the precedent an old Hen-Golden-eye And so these two supposed Species are reduced to the Golden-eye they being all three the same §. XV. The Shoveler Anas platyrhynchos altera sive clypeata Germanis dicta Taschenmul Aldrov Anas latirostra major Gesner Aldrov p. 227. Breitschnabel Germanis IT is something less than the common tame Duck weighs twenty two ounces being in length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail twenty one inches It s Bill is three inches long coal-black much broader toward the tip than at the base excavated like a Buckler of a round Circumference At the end it hath a small crooked hook or nail Each Mandible is pectinated or toothed like a comb with rays or thin plates inserted mutually one into another when the mouth
is shut The Tongue is fleshy thick broad especially toward the tip but the tip it self is thinner and semicircular The Eyes are of a deep yellow The Legs and Feet of a Vermilion colour The Claws black The hind-toe little The membrane connecting the Toes serrate about the edges The Feet are less than inothers of this kind The Head and Neck almost half-way are of a fair blue In the Bird which I described at Rome and in another which Mr. Willughby saw at Crowland it was very dark lightly tinctured with a deep shining green The under-side of the Neck and region of the Craw are white the upper-side and Shoulders particoloured of white and brown The rest of the Breast and the whole Belly to the Vent are red Behind the Vent the feathers under the Tail are black The Back is brown with a light dash of a shining green blue or purple colour The feathers covering the outside of the Thighs are adorned with transverse dusky lines as in many others The number of quils in each Wing is about twenty four The ten or twelve outmost whereof are wholly brown The next nine have their outer edges of a deep shining green The four next the body are varied in the middle and about their edges with white lines The feathers of the second row incumbent on the green quil-feathers have white tips which together taken make a cross line of white in the Wing The lesser covert-feathers of the Wing excepting those on the outmost bone are of a pleasant pale blue inclining to ash-colour The Tail is about three inches and an half long consists of fourteen feathers particoloured of white and black the outmost feathers being wholly white the middlemost except the extreme white edges wholly black the rest black in their middle parts white about the borders or outsides At the divarication of the Wind-pipe it hath a small labyrinth A large Gall Oblong Testicles A small musculous Stomach or Gizzard Guts many times reflected very long The Female in respect of colours both in the Head and Neck and also in the whole body upper-side and under-side excepting only the Wings is very like to a wild Duck. The Wings are of the same colours with the Wings of the Male but more dull and not so bright and pleasant The Fowlers affirm that these Birds change their colours in Winter Gesner and Aldrovand set forth this kind twice or thrice under several titles It is sufficiently characterized and distinguished from all others of this kind by the breadth and bigness of its Bill §. XVI The broad-bill'd red-footed Duck of Aldrovand which I take to be the Hen-Shoveler THe Legs and Feet wholly are of a deep red The Bill is almost three inches long very broad and turning up after the fashion of a Buckler of a dark chesnut colour yet the lower Mandible which almost enters the upper being received into it is in some places of a spadiceous colour and hath a remarkable strake running through its middle long-ways The Bill hath such teeth on both sides as Gesner attributes to his Muggent The colour of the feathers almost the whole body over comes near to that of pulveratricious birds Partridge and Quail c. called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is testaceous or pot-sheard colour Their pots were paler than ours now adays The whole Head and middle of the Neck were of a Weasel colour sprinkled with greater and lesser spots partly white and those very small and scarce conspicuous partly brown and those most in the crown and hinder part of the Head The Neck underneath is of a pale whitish cinereous colour with semilunar brown spots The same spots but greater are dispersed over the fore-part of the Back the Breast the Belly the Rump and the Tail all which parts are of the same colour with the Head or yellowish The middle and lower part of the Back are covered with feathers of a dark spadiceous colour only white about the outmost edges The ridges of the Wings are of a Woad colour A line of the same colour crosses the middle of the Wings above which is likewise seen a transverse white line The remaining parts of the Wings are of a dark spadiceous colour §. XVII * A broad-bill'd Duck with yellow Feet of Aldrovand IT differs little from the precedent in magnitude unless perchance it be somwhat bigger It s Bill is partly brown partly yellowish Over the whole body which is of a yellowish ash-colour are brown spots disseminated thick-set and little in the Head greater and thinner or more scattering in the Neck Breast Belly Rump and Tail but much greater yet and thicker in the whole Back The Wings to the middle part are brown A white line crosses them in the middle after which is seen a square blue spot three angles whereof end in a black line To this succeeds a white line Its Legs are yellow its Toes also yellow but connected by dusky membranes This seems to be some Hen-bird of the Duck-kind not hitherto observed by us CHAP. III. Pond-Ducks frequenting chiefly fresh waters §. I. The common wild Duck and Mallard Boscas major Anas torquata minor Aldrov IT weighs from thirty six to forty ounces being about twenty three inches long measuring from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail The Wings stretcht out reacht thirty five inches The Bill is of a greenish yellow from the angles of the mouth produced two inches and an half of about an inch breadth not very flat The upper Mandible hath at the end a round tip or nail such as is seen in most Birds of this kind The lower Eye-lids are white The Legs and Feet of a Saffron-colour the Claws brown but that of the back-toe almost white The inmost fore-toe is the least The membranes connecting the Toes are of a more sordid colour than the Toes The Wind-pipe at its divarication hath a vessel we call a labyrinth The Legs are feathered down to the Knees In the Mallard the Head and upper part of the Neck are of a delicate shining green then follows a ring of white which yet fails of being an entire circle not coming round behind From the white ring the Throat is of a Chesnut colour down to the Breast The Breast it self and Belly are of a white ash-colour bedewed or sprinkled with innumerable dark specks as it were small drops Under the Tail the feathers are black The upper side of the Neck from cinereous is red sprinkled in like manner with spots The middle of the Back between the Wings is red the lower part black and still deeper on the Rump with a gloss of purple Thesides under the Wings and the longer feathers on the Thighs are adorned with transverse brown lines making a very fair shew In them the white colour seems to have a mixture of blue The lesser rows of Wing-feathers are red The long scapular feathers are silver-coloured elegantly
It s Head is slender its Neck long for this kind Its Bill from the tip to the angles of the mouth two inches and an half of equal breadth almost throughout the nether Mandible wholly black the upper partly blue partly black viz. black in the middle on the sides beneath the Nosthrils blue Black also at the corners of the mouth at the very tip and in the lower edges near the tip The colour of the Plumage on the whole Head is ferrugineous or brown behind the Ears tinctured with a light purple Beyond the Ears on each side from the hinder part of the Head begins a line of white which passes down the sides of the Neck to the Throat All the feathers between or adjacent to these lines are black Under the black the Neck is ash-coloured then curiously varied with transverse black and white lines as is also almost the whole Back The long scapular feathers are black in their middle parts but the exteriour have their outer Webs almost to the shafts black their inner which are much the narrower varied with white and black brown lines All the nether part Neck Breast Belly to the very Vent is white Yet in the lower Belly the white is a little darkned with a mixtue of cinereous The feathers under the Tail are black As for the Wings the ten outmost quils and most of the covert-feathers are of a dark cinereous In some Birds the interiour edges of the seventh eighth ninth and tenth quils are white The second decad of quils is particoloured for the tips of all are white or from white red then in the outer Web succeeds a black line the remaining part thereof as far as appears beyond the incumbent feathers being of a glistering purple or purplish blue colour The interiour Webs of all are of the same colour with the rest of the feathers Of the following the exteriour Webs are cinereous the interiour black The covert feathers of the second row immediately incumbent on the second decad of quils have their tips of a fair red or Lion-colour The long feathers covering the Thighs are elegantly varied with black and white transverse lines beneath which the Plumage is yellow The Tail is made up of sixteen feathers all ash-coloured excepting their exteriour edges which are whitish The two middlemost run out into very long and sharp points being produced two inches and an half beyond the rest Whence also this Bird is in some places of England called the Sea-pheasant Its feet are of a lead-colour darker about the joynts It hath a small Labyrinth and a great Gall. The Hen is like in colour to the common Wild-Duck but fairer and variegated with more full and lively white and brown colours The Wing-feathers agree in colour with those of the Cock save that they are duller and less lively The Belly is reddish the middle part of each single feather being black The Chin is white with a tincture of red The Back of a dark brown with transverse lines and beds of a pale red The Breast of a sordid white and the Belly yet darker This Bird may be distinguished from all others of the Duck-kind by the length of the middle feathers of its Tail as by certain and characteristic note §. VI. The Teal Querquedula secunda Aldrov p. 209. THis next to the Summer-Teal is the least in the Duck-kind weighing only twelve ounces extended in length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Feet fifteen inches in breadth measuring between the ends of the Wings spread twenty four It s Bill is broad black at the end something reflected upwards The Eyes from white incline to hazel-coloured The Nosthrils are of an oval figure The top of the Head Throat and upper part of the Neck of a dark bay or spadiceous colour From the Eyes on each side to the back of the Head is extended a line of a dark shining green Between these lines on the back of the Head a black spot intervenes Under the Eyes a white line separates the black from the red The feathers investing the lower side of the Neck the beginning of the Back and the sides under the Wings are curiously varied with transverse waved lines of white and black The region of the Craw in some is yellowish elegantly spotted with black spots so situate as somewhat to resemble scales The Breast and Belly are of sordid white or grey colour Under the Rump is a black spot encompassed with a yellowish colour Each Wing hath above twenty five quils Of these the outmost ten are brown the next five have white tips under the white the exteriour Web of the Feather is black In the sixteenth begins the green and takes up so much of the feather as we said was black in the precedent three The exteriour Web of the twenty third is black with some yellowness on the edges The covert-feathers of the black quils have white tips of the green ones have tips of a reddish yellow Else the Wings are all over brown dusky The Tail is sharp-pointed three inches long made up of sixteen feathers of a brown or dusky colour The Legs and Feet are of a pale dusky colour the membrane connecting the Toes black The inmost Toe the least The Back-toe hath no fin annexed The Wind-pipe in the Cock is furnished with a Labyrinth in the Hen we found none The Female differs from its Male in the same manner almost as the wild Duck does from the Mallard having neither red nor green on the Head nor black about its Rump Nor those sine feathers variegated with white and black lines on the back and sides This Bird for the delicate taste of its flesh and the wholsom nourishment it affords the body doth deservedly challenge the first place among those of its kind §. VII The Garganey Querquedula prima Aldrov t. 3. p. 209. Kernel at Strasburgh IN bigness it something exceeds the common Teal yet that Mr. Willughby described weighed no more than the common Teal viz. twelve ounces It s length from Bill to Claws was seventeen inches Its breadth from tip to tip of the Wings extended twenty eight For the shape of its body it was very like to the common Teal Its Bill also black Its Legs and Feet livid with a certain mixture of green Mr. Willughby hath it from dusky inclining to a lead-colour The back-toe small The crown of the Head is almost wholly black but the Bill besprinkled with small reddish-white specks From the inner corner of the Eye on each side begins a broad white line which passing above the Eyes and Ears is produced to the back of the Head till they do almost meet The Cheeks beneath these white lines and the beginning of the Throat were of a lovely red colour as if dashed with red wine having white spots or lines along the middle of each feather about their shafts Under the Chin at the rise of the lower Mandible is a great black spot The whole
between the Wings are something crooked and of the colour of the Claws The feathers of this Bird are highly esteemed among the Indians and preferred even before Gold it self the longer ones for crests and other ornaments both of the head and whole body both for War and Peace But the rest for setting in feather-works and composing the figures of Saints and other things which they are so skilful in doing as not to fall short of the most artificial Pictures drawn in colours For this purpose they also make use of and mingle and weave in together with these the feathers of the humming bird These Birds live in the Province of Tecolotlan beyond Quauhtemallam towards Honduras where great care is taken that no man kill them Only it is lawful to pluck off their feathers and so let them go naked yet not for all men indifferently but only for the Lords and Proprietors of them for they descend to the Heirs as rich possessions Fr. Hernandez in some pretermitted annotations adds concerning the manner of taking these Birds some things worth the knowing The Fowlers saith he betake themselves to the Mountains and there hiding themselves in small Cottages scatter up and down boil'd Indian Wheat and prick down in the ground many rods besmeared with Birdlime wherewith the Birds intangled become their prey They fly in flocks among trees on which they are wont to sit making no unpleasant noise with their whistling and singing in consort They have by the instinct of nature such knowledge of their riches that once sticking to the Birdlime they remain still and quiet not strugling at all that they may not mar or injure their feathers The beauty whereof they are so in love with that they chuse rather to be taken and killed than by endeavouring to get their liberty do any thing that may deface or prejudice them They are said to pick holes in trees and therein to build and breed up their Young They feed upon Worms and certain wild Pinnae of that sort which the Mexicans are wont to call Matzatli They love the open air nor hath it been yet found that ever they would be kept tame or brought up in houses They make a noise not much unlike Parrots But they have a chearful and pleasant whistle and they sing thrice a day to wit in the Morning at Noon and about Sun-set Next to the Quetzaltototl the Tzinitzian is most esteemed It is a small bird almost as big as a Dove clothed with feathers of many colours with which the Natives compose Images and Figures of wonderful subtilty and curiosity For from this artifice they are become known and famous all the world over These they use and make shew of on Feast days in War in their Temples and public Merriments and Dancings It s Bill is short crooked and pale its Head and Neck like a Doves but covered with green and shining feathers It s Breast and Belly are red excepting that part which is next the Tail For that is died with blue and white promiscuously It s Tail green above and black underneath Its Wings partly white and partly black The Iris of its Eye is yellow but inclining to scarlet The Legs and Feet cinereous It lives in hot Countries near the Southern Ocean It is nourished up in Cages and fed with fruits It is as beautiful and lovely a Bird as any is but neither doth it sing nor is its flesh that I know of good Totoquestal also as Antonius Herrera writes is a lesser-sized bird than a Pigeon all over green The feathers of its Tail are very long highly prized and a special commodity used in commerce It was a capital crime to kill this bird wherefore they only pluckt it and let it go Of the Thrushes of Chiappa and Artisicer-Sparrows THere is a sort of Thrushes found in Chiappa which they call Artisicer-Sparrows They are black only on the Breast and red on the Head They feed only upon Acorns With their Bill they perforate the barks of Pine-trees and in each hole fitly accommodate or stick in an acorn so that by the hand it cannot be pluckt out and so very elegantly set the Pine-tree round with Acorns Then sticking to the bark with their Feet they strike the A corn with their Bill and devour the kernel Of the long bird or Hoitlallotl HOitlallotl or the long bird is more taken notice of for its running than for its feathers From the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail which also is a span long it is extended nine inches It s Bill is black above cinereous underneath three inches long and moderately thick It s Tail is green but with a purplish splendour The feathers of the whole body from white tend to fulvous but toward the Tail from black to the same colour Yet the feathers on the upper side of the body are black sprinkled with white spots It flies near the ground and makes but short slights but runs so swiftly that it far exceeds the speed of the fleetest horses It lives in hot Countries and yields no very desirable nourishment Of Indian Quails THose of New Spain call Quails Colin These are like our Country Quails though they be without doubt to be referred to the kind of Partridges There are found many sorts of them in New Spain Some brown and crested which they call Quauhtzonecolim of a moderate bigness and a remarkable but mournful cry Others brown in like manner but without crests and a little less Others the biggest of all of a fulvous colour but their Heads varied with white and black the ends extremis of their Wings and Back white their Bill and Feet black They are all as I said like to the Spanish Quails very good and pleasant meat provided you kill them two or three days before they be rosted and served up Physicians allow sick persons to eat of their flesh Neither is there any Fowl among the Indians next to tame Poultry whose flesh is to be preferred before it either for wholsomness or taste They have a tune like our Quails and some a more pleasant one than others They are kept in Coops and fed either with common or Indian Wheat and are common in many parts of this Country The same Author Fr. Hernandez of the Coyolcozgue or sounding Quail in another place writes thus It is one among many other sorts of Colin or Mexican Quails of which we shall speak singly like to our Quails for bigness note feeding flight and conditions but of a different colour above mingled of fulvous and white underneath only fulvous yet the crown of the Head and the Neck are set with black and white feathers which make seams or strakes on each side from the Neck to both Eyes The Eyes are black and the Legs fulvous It is native of this Country and frequent in the open fields as is the common Quail and yields a like nourishment coming next to the Spanish Partridge of which it is
the Hern or do give her over then never fly your Falcon again at a Hern unless with a Make-Hawk well entred for the coward by this means seeing another fly at the Hern and bind with her takes fresh courage And if they kill the Hern flying both together then must you reward them together while the Quarry is hot making for them a Soppa as aforesaid This is the only way to make them both bold and perfect Herners §. XV. Of mewing of Hawks FAlcons may be flown with till St. Georges day then they must be set down And be sure to search them for Lice and if they have any pepper them well Scowr them also before you cast them into the Mew There are two sorts of Mewing 1. At the stock or stone 2. Loose or at large 1. For the Stock the place should be a ground-room far from all noise or concourse of people Place therein upon Tressels two or three foot high a Table for length according to the number of your Falcons and five or six foot broad with little thin boards of four fingers high nailed along the sides and ends Fill the Table with great sand that hath small pebble stones in it and in the middle place some great free-stones a cubit high made taper-wise but plain and smooth above Then take a Cord of the bigness of a large Bow-string put it through a ring and bind it about the stone in such sort that the ring or swivel may go round the stone without any let And thereunto tie the Lease of the Falcon. If you mew more Hawks than one you must set your stones at that distance that when they bate they may not reach one another for crabbing The great stones for their coolness the Hawks will delight to sit on The little gravel-stones are for them to swallow The sand is of use that when they bate they mar not their feathers and for the better cleansing their mewts The Cord and Ring that when the Hawks bate this way or that way they may never tangle the Ring still following them All day let your Falcons stand hooded upon the stone only when they would feed you must take them on the Fist At night off with their Hoods To avoid and remedy all ill accidents and inconveniences it were well that the Falconer had his bed in the Mew 2. If you would mew at large you can mew but one in a room unless it be so big that you may divide it into several partitions Twelve foot square is scope enough for one Falcon with two Windows a foot and an half broad apiece each fitted with its shut one toward the North for cool air the other toward the East for the heat and comfort of the Sun If your Hawk be a great bater your Mew were best be a ground-room which if it be you must cover the floor with gross sand four fingers thick and thereupon set a stones as aforesaid Besides you must make her two handsom Pearches near each Window one that sitting on the one she may have the comfort of the Sun on the other the benefit of the fresh air Every Week or at least every Fortnight set her a Bason of water that your Hawk may bathe if she desire it and if she doth then take it away the night following Your Mew must also have a Portal with a little hole below to convey in the device whereon their meat is served called among Falconers the Hack. And that must be made on this fashion Take a piece of thick board a foot and half long and a foot broad or thereabout under the which fasten two little Tressels three or four fingers high Let them be fast pinned or nailed to Then bore two holes on each side thereof and through each of these put a short Cord of the bigness a Bow-string with the ends downward and knots fast knit on them under the button of the board so streight that you cannot raise the Cord above the board above a fingers breadth or thereabouts And when you would give your Hawks meat take a little stick somewhat longer than the Hack and as big as your finger but let it be of strong wood as Crab-tree Holly or such like and upon that stick bind your Hawks meat and put the ends of the stick under the cords upon the Hack and so convey it into the Mew to your Hawks that the Hawk may not truss or drag away her meat into the Mew but and as soon as she hath fed and gorged her self take it away again It is good to keep one set hour of feeding your Hawk for so she will mew sooner and better This Author prefers mewing at the stock or grate before mewing at large His reason is because in that kind of mewing we take our Hawks on the Fist every day and so may see in what state they be and if they fall into any sickness or infirmity may give them proper medicines which cannot be done when you mew at large Besides if we happen upon Hawks that have preyed for themselyes it will be needful to bear them often in the cool air in the morning till mid July or thereabout yea and to call them to the Lure and to ride abroad with them sometimes an hour or two Mr. Latham is of opinion that it is better to mew at large and disapproves mewing at the stock For saith he when she is at large she hath the exercise of her Wings in flying up and down which must needs be good for her Also she may go to the water if she be disposed and takes stones at her pleasure She may do all things at her own liking whereas she can do nothing at the stock when she would Neither can you give her that is fitting to her own content but by guess and imagination wherein we are many times deceived And truly upon these considerations I am of his opinion that it is better to mew at large than at the stock or stone CHAP. VI. Of the Haggard Falcon. §. I. Something of the name and nature of the Haggard Falcon. HE makes the Haggard Falcon to be the same with the Peregrine and is of opinion that the Falcon-gentle and Haggard are also of one and the same kind the only difference being that the former is the Eyass or Ramage Hawk the latter the same taken wild after she hath preyed for her self making the word Haggard to signifie as much as wild opposite to gentle or tame The word Haggard is borrowed of the French Hagar and signifies as Robert Stephen interprets it an old Falcon of five or six years having its pens worn short or otherwise harmed and so taken for a price set on its head Aldrovandus makes the word Hagar to be originally Dutch and to signifie a bunch whence the Germans call this Falcon Ein Hager-falck or rather Hogerfalck that is a gibbous or bunch-backt Falcon. But this gibbous Falcon he makes to be a species distinct
in your Stakes with and a nimble little Hatchet to make new Stakes with or sharpen them There may be other devices to move the Stales besides these here described by Markham but these being as commodious as any I shall forbear to trouble the Reader with the mention of more These Nets may be made use of as well upon Hills and rising grounds as upon Plains provided the Area on which they lie be level and even near waters also and in high ways and walks of Gardens c. Olina describes the manner how these Nets are to be employed for taking of Starlings Having observed saith he where those birds haunt most provide your Nets six paces long and eight Roman Palms deep of a small Mash having their drawing Line of fifteen paces Moreover you must get a Cage of five Palms high with a middle floor in the upper Story whereof you shall put about one hundred live Stares and in the lower others which are to serve for Stales Those in the upper room are to call the wild Stares and they must have their meat put all in one Vessel and their water in one Cup and that so strait that they can drink but one at a time likewise the day before they are to be used they should have no meat of two hours before night that so being hungry and striving to get to the meat and drink they may make the greater screaming noise and cry The live Stales four in number must be tied by the tails each with a string and by that string fastned one by one to a couple of sticks joyned together across between the Nets to which cross a Cord is fastned that reaches to the Fowler by the plucking whereof he may at pleasure move the Stales In this manner of fowling are also to be used about twenty or twenty five Jackdaws or such like birds-cases stuft and set out like live birds and these placed in order between the Nets for dead-stales the four live-stales being next the Fowlers Cabbin Let the dead stales be placed with their heads to the wind that it do not ruffle and discompose their feathers The same Author gives us also an account of the manner how they take Lapwings with the Day-nets The Nets for this use are to be of ten paces length of a large Mash having a drawing Line fifteen paces long Between the Nets are to be placed fifteen or twenty dead Stales that is Lapwings dried or the Cases of Lapwings stuft and set out as if they were alive And besides those two live-stales which must be used and set as the Starling-stales and have meat given them to eat Observe in like manner to set the heads of your dead Stales against the wind To entice the Birds you must counterfeit their note or cry by a Lapwing-call §. III. How to take Larks with Nets called by the Italians Pantiere THese Nets are about four Roman yards deep or a little more of the same Mash with the ordinary Day-nets strung on the upper side on a Cord upon which they run with a row of little Rings whereby they may be drawn out or run up together as one pleases These Nets are supported by two or three Stakes or more according to the wideness of the place where they are set They are to be put in order two hours before Sun-set for the Evening-driving and for the Morningdriving before break of day in stubble-fields About Musket-shot from the Nets two men on foot holding a rope of twenty or twenty five yards long one at one end the other at the other must begin and walk towards the Nets drawing the Rope over the stubble and so raising the Larks that lie scattered up and down the field the which will not take wing but run forward before the rope till at last they come within the Nets which being not stretcht out streight but easily running up the more they struggle and fly about the more they are entangled §. IV. How the Italians take small Birds with a Net called Ragna THe place for using these Nets is a Grove called from the Nets Ragnaia which ought to be remote from high ways and defended from the North-wind which is very disagreeable and distasteful to the Birds especially Thrushes and Beccafigos besides the danger of the Woods being wholly or in part blasted by it Wherefore it should be situate insome Valley or on the side of a little Hill exposed to the South Through it or beside it should run some River Brook or other stream of water issuing from a quick Spring that fails not in Summer If it be so situate as to be encompassed on all sides with cultivated fields in which grow some scattering Fig-trees it will be the better This Grove is wont to be made six eight ten or twelve times so long as it is broad according as the place will permit In it long-ways must be drawn three five or seven walks as it is broader or narrower In case it hath not a natural fence or hedge you must make an artificial one which must be tall and thick to keep beasts out and birds in and even on the top The Grove within must be planted with Juniper Bays Mastic-tree Lime-trees Oaks Elms and many other trees but especially Fig-trees At the roots of such trees as cast their leaves plant Vines Many other instructions and directions he hath about the Plantation which who so pleases may see in him The Nets are exactly like those described Section I. Chap. I. § II. only the Mash somewhat less they being for small birds The two out-side Nets or false Nets along their upper edge must have Iron or Horn-rings and by them be put upon a strong Cord. The middle or true Net must also be verged with a Cord. These Nets one two or more of them must be placed in the middle of the Grove and crossing it fastned by the top-cords to two great Poles or Pillars made with winding steps round to mount up them and on their tops having little rundles to draw the Lines nimbly and stretch out the Nets The bottom of the Nets or that side next the ground must have many strings hanging down from it two or three Palms distant one from another which are to be tied down to certain Pegs fastned in the earth The middle Net which must be the deeper will fall down sufficiently in a lump or furl between the two side-ones therefore with a Cane you must draw it gently through the Mashes of the false Nets especially about the middle of the Nets making in each Mash a kind of purse or pouch that when any Bird strikes against it it may more readily run through the Mashes of the false net and so catch the Bird as it were in a Bag. The time for catching is either in the Morning early before the Birds are gone out to feed or at Even when they come to roost At each end of the Grove in every walk one person must
is acquired by practice and exercise by diligently observing the true colour of the Partridge how it differeth from the ground and also the manner of their lying This is the easier done because when you have once as you think apprehended them with your eye you may walk nearer and nearer till you are absolutely sure you see them provided you be ever moving and stand not still or gaze at them for that they will not abide else they are soslothful and unwilling to take wing that till you be ready to set your foot upon them they will not stir Others find them by the haunts and places where they last coucht which they know partly by their dung there left which if new will be soft and the white part of it colour their fingers and partly by their padlings or treadings which if new will be soft and dirty and the earth new broken of a darker colour than the mould about it and being very new indeed the place where they sate will be warm and the ground smooth and flat with some small feathers or down scattered upon it If you find such a haunt you may be confident the birds are not far off Therefore look carefully about you especially down the Lands walking leisurely and in a short time you will espy them which as soon as you do you shall presently wind off from them and by no means look towards them and so fetch a large circumference round about them keeping an ordinary round march making your compass less and less till you have discovered the whole Covey Others find them by going early in the Morning or at the close of the Even which are called Juking times into their haunts and there listning for the calling of the Cock-Partridge which will be very loud and earnest to which after some few calls the Hen will make answer which as soon as they hear they listen till they meet which they shall very well perceive by their chattering and rejoycing one with another Then they take their range about them drawing nearer and nearer as before till they discover the whole Covey But the best safest easiest and most pleasant way of finding them is by the Partridge-call Having learnt the true and natural notes of the Partridge and being able to tune every note in its proper key and knowing the due times and seasons for every note so as fitly to accommodate them go forth either Morning or Evening to their haunts and having conveyed your self into some close place so as to see and not be seen listen a while if you can hear the Partridge call If you do answer them again in the same note and ever as they change or double or treble their note so shall you likewise plying still your Call till you find them draw near to you For this calling is so natural and delightful to them that they will pursue it as far as they can hear it Having drawn them within your view cast your self flat upon your back and lie without moving as if you were dead and you shall then see them running and pecking about you without any fear so as you may take a full view of them and if you please count their number §. II. How to take Partridge with Nets THese Nets may be made in all points like the Phesant-nets only the Mash somewhat smaller but they would be much better were they something longer and broader Having found the Covey draw forth your Nets and taking a large Circumference about them walk a good round pace with a careless eye rather from than toward the Partridge till you have fitted your Nets and then draw in your Circumference less and less till you come within the length of your Net where as you walk about for no stop or stay must be made prick down a stick of about three foot long and to it fasten one end of the Line of your Net Then letting the Net slip out of your hand spread it as you go and so carry it and lay it all over the Partridges If they lie stragling that one Net will not cover them draw out another and do in like manner and alike with a third if needs be Then rush in upon them and with an affrighting voice force them to spring up and presently they will be entangled in the Nets §. III. 3. How to take Partridges with Lime TAke of the largest and strongest Wheat-straws or for want thereof Rie-straws and cutting them off between knot and knot the lowest joynts are the strongest and best Lime them well over and coming to the Partridge-haunts after have called a little and find that you are answered prick down your straws round about you in rows as above directed for Lime-twigs not only cross the Land but the Furrows also taking in at least two or three Lands and that not very near but at a pretty distance from you yet so as to discern when any thing toucheth them Then lie close and call again not ceasing till you have drawn them towards you whither they cannot come but they must pass through the limed straws which they shall no sooner touch but they will be entangled and by reason they come flocking together like so many Chickens they will be so besmear and dawb one another that if there be twenty hardly one will escape This way of taking Partridge can only be used in Stubble-fields and that from August to Christmas If you would take them in Woods Pastures or Meadows with Lime you must use the ordinary Lime-rods before described and prick them down and order them in all points like as is directed for your Lime-straws §. IV. How to drive Partridges and Quails and take them in tunnelling Nets FIrst provide you a stalking Horse or an Engine made like a Horse or Oxe such as we have described Sect. 1. Chap. 4. Then go with your Nets to the Partridges haunts and having found the Covey pitch your Net in the secretest and likeliest place so as to drive them down the wind Lay not your Net flat on the ground but set it slopewise and so over-shadow it with boughs shrubs weeds or some other thing that groweth naturally on the ground it standeth on that nothing may perceive it till it be entangled Then having covered your face with some hood of green or dark blew stuff stalk with your Horse or Engine toward the Birds by gentle and slow steps and so raise them and drive them before you for it is their nature to run before a Horse or Beast out of fear lest it tread on them If they chance to run any by-way or contrary to what you would have them then presently cross them with your stalking Horse and they will soon recoil and run into any track that you would have them and at last into your Net The Net they use in Italy for this purpose is called Butrio or Cuculo and made with two wings and a tunnel stretcht with hoops See Figure
one and the same Bird. Neither do I much matter the descriptions of the Ancients who in delivering the notes of Animals are wont to be less curious and exact But whatever the Ancients called the Sea-Eagle certain it is that the title of Sea-Eagle may be very fitly attributed to this Bird. For if we admit the Bald Buzzard for the Sea-Eagle which to speak the truth agrees better to the descriptions of the Ancients we take away all note of distinction between Eagles and Hawks which as we said before consists only in difference of magnitude The Ossifrage then or Sea-Eagle is thus described by Aldrovandus From the point of the Beak to the end of the train or Talons for the ends of both when extended were coincident it was three feet and four Inches long From tip to tip of the Wings stretched out nine spans broad It weighed eleven pound The Bill was very hooked so that the hooked part alone was an Inch long the whole two Inches broad and an hand-breadth long of a blackish or dusky horn colour somewhat approaching to a dark blue The Tongue was very like to a mans with a broad top and hooked hard and horny Appendices on both sides tied down to the lower mandible by a thin Membrane where it regards the chin a horny Membrane compasses the end or tip of it The lower mandible was hollowed like a channel I suppose he means the sides of it the edges or borders of which channel enter the Palate on both sides and are enclosed within its edges In the middle of the Palate is a chink by which a pituitous humour distils from the head The head and all the neck are cloathed with long narrow and rigid feathers From the Chin hang down small feathers like hairs imitating a beard whence perchance by Pliny and also Bellonius it is denominated the bearded Eagle And I from that note chiefly suppose it to be called Harpe by Oppian The feathers of the whole body singly are particoloured and that with three colours whitish duskish and ferrugineous The flag-feathers of the Wings are almost wholly black something tending to Chesnut The twelve feathers of the Train have little or nothing of red but are only spotted with black and white viz. whitish on the outside dusky on the inner The two middlemost being besprinkled promiscuously with white spots are for the most part dusky The ends or tips of all are black The feathers growing on the rump which immediately cover these are almost wholly white sprinkled with a little black save that their tips are black Their Legs are almost wholly covered with dusky feathers somewhat inclining to fulvous so that there is only two inches to the feet remaining bare Besides the feathers the whole body underneath is covered with a white and soft down as it were a delicate fleece after the same manner as the skin of a Swan The lower part of the Legs which as we said for the space of two Inches is destitute of feathers and the feet are of a deep yellow The toes extended are a full span the length of the middlemost is equal to a Palm The Talons were very black in so much that they shone again and so hooked that they did exactly represent a Semicircle They observed this proportion one to another the hindmost being the biggest was two Inches long the first of the fore ones lesser than it but bigger than the middlemost and the last the least of all The substance of the Talons was inwardly white and bony covered over outwardly with a dusky bark The leg and foot were for the most part covered with round scales of unequal bigness but the fore-part of the Leg and upper part of the toes had Semicircular Tables like the Chrysaetos Clusius sent to Aldrovandus the Picture of this Bird drawn in colours to the life by the title of the Sea-Eagle writing thereof in this manner This Haliaeetus which our Countrymen living in the Sea-coast call Zee Aren that is Sea-Eagle was shot the last Winter c. That this Eagle feeds only on Fish I my self can witness for in the stomach thereof dissected we found nothing but Fish some remaining yet entire some half consumed c. That this Bird is the same which our Seamen and Fowlers call the Osprey and affirm to have one flat or webbed foot to swim withal after the manner of a Goose or other Water-fowl the other being divided after the manner of other Birds of prey I do not at all doubt But what is reported concerning the feet is most certainly false and fabulous although by some affirming it with great confidence even the best Naturalists have been deceived among the rest Aldrovandus himself not daring rashly to contradict Albertus Magnus English men and Burgundians eye-witnesses For saith he the Natives of each Country are most likely best to know what things are peculiar to their own Country either by Land or Sea Well I my self am an English man yet have I never yet met with any credible person who would affirm himself to be an Eye-witness of this matter although the Vulgar be so confidently persuaded of it that scarce any body doubts its truth What gave the first occasion and rise to this Error was I suppose a presumption of the necessity of such a structure of the feet For whereas the Mariners and Fishermen did see and observe this Bird much to frequent the Sea and great Lakes of water and to prey upon Fish yea sometimes to fly forth very far from Land so that it hath been often seen out at Sea a hundred Leagues distant from shore flying up and down over the water and intent upon fishing they imagined it altogether necessary that it should be furnished with one flat foot for swimming and another cloven for striking catching and carrying away of Fish It being one would think impossible that a bird should abide upon the Wing so long without rest But that even small birds short-winged and less fit by far for flight than Eagles will venture to fly over wide Seas is evident in those we call birds of passage And who knows but where those Fowl are usually seen there may be some Rocks in the Sea not far off on which they may rest themselves But for the same reason this conceit was first started it was readily entertained and without examination greedily believed Not less fabulous is that which is reported of the oyl or fat which this bird hath in her rump and which hanging in the air she lets fall drop by drop into the water by the force whereof the Fishes being stupefied and as it were Planet-strucken become destitute of all motion and so suffer themselves without difficulty to be taken though some are so vain as to put Oyl of Osprey into their receipts or prescriptions for taking Fishes by the smell whereof the Fishes being allured rather than stupefied by
almost to the end of the Tail The number of flag-feathers in each Wing is twenty four These are blacker than the rest of the feathers The outmost is above a hand-breadth shorter than that next to it The covert-feathers of the underside of the Wing are particoloured brown and fulvous The Tail is about nine Inches long made up of twelve feathers of equal length when it is spread terminated in a circular Circumference being particoloured of a dark and light fulvous or bay The Legs are about an hand-breadth long feathered down a little below the knee longer and slenderer for the bigness of the bird than in others of this kind The Legs and Feet yellow the Talons black The outer Toe in joyned to the middle by an intermediate Membrane reaching from the divarication up almost half way The Talon of the middle Toe is thinned on the inner side into an edge The Gall is large The blind Guts short and small The Stomach membranous in that we dissected full of the limbs of Birds and other flesh The Bird here described we suppose to be that called in England the More-buzzard common to be seen in Heaths and Wasts sitting upon small trees and shrubs With long slender yellow Legs The whole Body of a dark colour the interiour Remiges being paler or whitish and which is said to build in Fenny places I take this Bird to be the same with that Bellonius describes under the title of Circus as will appear to any one that shall compare the descriptions although Aldrovandus makes them to be distinct Species treating of them in several Chapters This Bird is sufficiently characterized by its uniform brown-bay or ferrugineous colour all the body over §. VII * The Brasilian Kite called Caracara and by the Portuguese Gaviaon Marggrav IT is a kind of Nisus of the bigness of a Kite hath a Tail nine Inches long The length of the Wings is fourteen Inches which yet do not reach to the end of the Tail The colour of the whole Plumage is tawny with white and yellow specks The Tail is particoloured of white and brown It hath a Hawks Head a hooked Bill of a moderate bigness and black colour It hath yellow Legs Hawks Feet semicircular long sharp black Talons It is very noisom to Hens I had saith he another of the same magnitude and colour with the precedent save that the breast and belly were white The Eyes of a gold colour and the skin about them yellow The Legs yellow For the bigness colour and preying upon Poultry we have subjoyned this to the Kites notwithstanding Marggravius maketh it a kind of Nisus or Sparrowhawk CHAP. IX Of long-winged Hawks used to be reclaimed for fowling §. I. Of the Peregrine Falcon. MR. Willughby having left no description of a Falcon and it having not been our hap since his decease to see any Hawk of that kind lest the Ornithology we set out should be defective and imperfect in this particular we have borrowed of Aldrovandus the descriptions of the several sorts of Falcons without omitting any We are not a little troubled that we cannot give any light to this Genus For we vehemently suspect that Species are here multiplied without necessity Aldrovandus assigns the first place to the Peregrine Falcon for its courage and generosity It took its name either from passing out of one Country into another or because it is not known where it builds its Nest having not been any where found Of this kind Belisarius makes two Species Carcanui four the difference being taken from the colour A Peregrine Falcon every way compleat must have these marks Broad and thick shoulders long Wings reaching to the end of the Train the Train long narrower by little and little and sharper toward the end like a Sparrow-hawks made up of large thick round feathers the tip not altogether white the shafts running along the middle of the feathers of a lovely red the Feet of the same colour with those of a Bittour viz. of a pale green or between a yellow and lead-colour the Toes slender the Talons large black and very sharp the colour of the Feet and Beak the same the Thighs long but the Legs short the Beak thick the Mouth wide the Nares large and open the Eye-brows high and great the Eyes great and deep sunk the Head arched the Crown being gently elevated and round As soon as it can fly it should shew certain little bristly feathers standing out as it were a beard Let the Neck be long the Breast broad and about the Shoulder-blades where it joyns to the Neck somewhat round Sitting upon the Fist it must bend its body a little backward being brisk mordacious and greedy Let its Eye-brows and Cheeks be white with a little mixture or dash of red The Eyes black encompassed with a Circle or Iris that is sometimes blue the Head ash-coloured like that of a Sacre The Back of somewhat a livid colour almost like that of a Goose covered with round and broad feathers The marks of the Wings agree to the second Peregrine Falcon of Belisarius which he makes to be of a Copper Aeneo colour For the first kind which he saith is blacker hath neither an ash-coloured Crown nor a yellow and hath its throat spotted with long direct black lines and its Thighs marked with transverse ones Its Legs also are of a Saffron colour but more dilute Aldrovandus describes a Bird of this kind taken in the Mountains of the Territory of Bononia in these words From the top of the Head to the end of the Tail it was seventeen Inches long The Crown of the head flat and compressed The Beak an Inch thick of a lovely sky-colour bending downward with a sharp hook short strong joyned to the head with a yellow Membrane of a deep colour which compasses the Nosthrils the Eye blue the edges of the Eye-lids round yellow The Head Neck Back Wings of a dark brown almost black sprinkled with black spots in almost every feather the great feathers being crossed with transverse ones The Throat was of a yellowish white the lower part thereof being stained with black spots as it were drops drawn out in length from the corners of the Mouth on each side a black line was drawn downwards almost to the middle of the Throat or Gullet The Breast Belly and Thighs white crossed with broad transverse black lines The tips of the Wings when closed reached almost to the end of the Train The Train less dusky marked also with black cross bars The Legs and Feet yellow the Thighs long the Shanks short the Toes slender long covered with scales as are also the Legs the Talons black and very sharp Aldrovandus thinketh this black Peregrine Falcon not to differ at all from the black Falcon simply so called or the Falconarius of the Germans
with yellow spots the which themselves also appeared white unless one heedfully and intently beheld it The Wings were like those of other the most beautiful Hawks but purely white and without spots The Tail had twelve feathers alike white and spotted with yellow the sight whereof the uppermost feather which was wholly white and covered the rest hiding them as it were in a sheath took away The Beak also was rather white than blue The Feet after the manner of other Hawks yellow The Eyes yellow and black And that yellow nothing deeper than in a Hawk not yet mew'd which we commonly call a Sore although I cannot believe that this was a Sore For it might so come to pass that it might retain that yellowness from a certain temper of body peculiar to this kind Otherwise it would after it was mewed necessarily incline to whiteness It was of a tall stature a great and stately bird It eat not but with its Eyes usually shut and that with great greediness It killed Pullets §. VIII * The Stone-Falcon and Tree-Falcon Falco Lapidarius Arborarius OF the figure of the Stone-Falcon these few things occur in Albertus Magnus It was of a middle quantity and strength between the Peregrine and Gibbose or Haggard Falcon. A full description of the Tree-Falcon we have in Gesner which as Mr. Willughby thinks agrees well to the Hobby The Tree-Falcon saith he is a gallant and generous bird not unlike to a Sparrow-Hawk From the Bill to the end of the Tail it was four Palms or sixteen Inches long The Feet were of a pale colour mixt as it were of yellowish and green The Back black But the tips of the feathers of the Head and Back especially the lower part of it were compassed with reddish Semicircles The feathers of the Wings were blacker And the inside of the Wings that which is toward the body spotted with great pale-red spots The Breast varied with whitish and brown spots Certain yellowish white feathers made up spots behind the Ears and in the Neck The Eyes were black the colour of the Bill blue The Tail-feathers all but the two middlemost marked with spots §. IX * The Tunis or Barbary Falcon. THis Bellonius describes thus This Barbary Falcon is large approaching to the shape and likeness of a Lanner For it hath like feathers and not unlike Feet but it is lesser-bodied Besides it flies more and keeps longer on the Wing It hath a thick and round Head It is good for Brook-hawking and stoutly soars on high in the Air But for the Field it is not so fit as the Lanner The Falcon which our Falconers call the Barbary is lesser than the rest of this kind viz. The Peregrine Mountain and Gentile If those do specifically differ which we do not think §. X. * The Red Falcon. IT is called red not because it is all over red but because those spots which in the rest are white in this kind are red and black but not so disposed as in others neither in the Back nor in the outward part of the Wing But it doth not appear to be red but only when it stretches out its Wings For then the dark red shews it self in them It is said to be lesser than a Peregrine Falcon. But this and whatever else Albertus and others have delivered concerning the red Falcon are of that nature that they leave us altogether uncertain whether there be any such Falcon or no specifically distinct from the rest of this kind §. XI * The red Indian Falcons of Aldrovandus THe first of these which we suppose to be the Female hath a greater head than the latter a broad and almost flat Crown without any rising in the hinder part of the head as is seen in some The head is of an ash-colour tending to brown as is also the Neck the whole Back and the outside of the Wings The Beak very thick next the Head both above and below all yellow having a moderate ash-coloured hook of which colour is also all that fore-part which is bare beyond the Sear or investing Membrane The Pupil of the Eye is of a deep black the Iris brown or of a dark Chesnut-colour The edges of the Eye-lids round about yellow From the exteriour and lesser corner of the Eyes on both sides is drawn a long stroak of the same colour with the Breast The whole Breast and also the upper part of the inside of the Wings the Belly moreover and the Rump the Hips and Thighs are all fulvous or red of a pale Vermilion colour But the Chin in this red colour is marked with a long cinereous spot produced downwards The Breast also before is besprinkled with small scattering specks of the same colour The sides that are covered with the middle part of the Wings closed are tinctured with the same dark cinereous colour The Wings are very long their tips reaching much further than the middle of the Tail crossing one another about the lower end of the Back The Train is long each feather whereof is varied with alternate spaces of black which are the narrower of a Semicircular figure and of ash-colour which are the broader The Legs and Feet are yellow pretty thick and strong The Talons black and very sharp The other which we believe to be the Male is less by near a third part for variety of colours almost the same with the former and those in the same parts save that as we hinted also before the red colour in this is deeper and more evident Likewise the same coloured Membrane as in the former I suppose he means that about the Eyes Those parts also which in the former are coloured with a dark cinereous in this are altogether black viz. the upper side of the Wings the Head Back and Tail Yet may we take notice of some marks peculiar to this wherein it differs from the other For the Bill in this is wholly blue excepting a small yellow membrane covering the Nosthrils having uneven borders as it were serrate The Chin or beginning of the Throat in this is of a little paler red something inclining to cinereous but not marked with any spot as in the former The interiour flag-feathers of the Wings are white only crossed at due intervals with many transverse brown marks The rest of the upper side of the Wings is of a very deep fulvous colour like red Oker The upper side of the Tail is also adorned with a double variety of transverse spots to wit white and ash-coloured inclining to blue alternately disposed The Feet and Legs are of a more dilute yellow or Wax colour Both came out of the East-Indies What is delivered by Albertus and others concerning the blue-footed Falcon and bastard Falcon I omit as being only general and uncertain referring the curious and those that desire to know such things to the Authors themselves or to
Bontius in the fifth Book and twelfth Chapter of his natural and medic History of the East-Indies where we have to this purpose It is so far from being true that these birds of Paradise are nourished by the Air or want Feet that with their crooked and very sharp Claws they catch small birds as Green Linnets Chaffinches and the like and presently tear and devour them like other birds of prey No less untrue is it that they are not found but only dead whereas they sit upon trees and are shot with Arrows by the Tarnacenses whence also and from their swift reciprocal flying they are by the Indians called Tarnacensian Swallows We truly before we had read these things in Bontius had subjoyned these birds to the Rapacious kind because they did seem to us in their Bill and crooked Claws very nearly to resemble them and consequently in all likelihood to prey upon littlebirds Hence also it appears how rashly some have believed that they took their rest hanging by those two cirri which run out as it were two long strings beyond the rest of the feathers twined about the boughs of trees For those Cirri are nothing else but the naked shafts of feathers having neither the structure nor use of Muscles It were to be wished that those who travel to those parts of the East Indies where these Birds are found would diligently enquire of the Inhabitants where and how they build And what those long feathers serve for which springing in great numbers from both sides of the breast do both run out in length beyond the Tail and also are spread out far in breadth and especially what may be the use of these two long naked shafts of feathers before mentioned which to say the truth is to us as yet unknown These most beautiful birds as Aldrovandus reports are called by the inhabitants of the Molucca Islands Manucodiatae that is Gods birds and had in great esteem and veneration They are called Birds of Paradise both for the excellent shape and beauty of their bodies and also because where they are bred whence they come and whither they betake themselves is altogether unknown sith they are found only dead upon the earth so that the Vulgar imagine them to drop out of Heaven or Paradise But this mistake we have before out of Bontius rectified CHAP. XIII Of the several sorts of Birds of Paradise §. I. * Aldrovandus his first Bird of Paradise FOr bigness and shape of body beheld singly it comes near to a Swallow The feathers investing it are of several colours very beautiful and lovely to behold The Head like that of a Swallow and great for the smalness of the body the feathers covering its upper part from the first Vertebre of the Neck to the beginning of the Bill were short thick hard close-set of a bright glistering yellow colour shining like burnished Gold or the Sun-beams The rest which covered the Chin were of an admirable bluish green such as we see in the heads of Mallards when exposed to the Sunshine The Bill was longer than that of a Swallow The Wing-feathers for shape like those of Herons only slenderer and longer of a shining dusky colour between black and red which together with the Tail being spread round represent the likeness of a Wheel For they are absolutely immovable sticking in the skin like so many darts Besides which there are also other small feathers and those verily not a few which spring up just by the originals of the greater feathers that make up the Wings and cover the lower parts of them These are half red or Scarlet-coloured half of a shining Saffron or Gold colour and by reason of that remarkable and singular disparity of colours contribute much to the beauty and elegancy of this bird All the rest of the body was covered with fulvous feathers inclining to red ruffum yet so that still one might observe some difference between them For those on the Breast and Belly which stood thicker and were likewise broader being of two or three inches breadth were of a fulvous or rather liver colour and that very bright and resplendent Those on the Back stood thinner and were fewer gaping moreover with large divisions after the manner exactly of those growing on the backs of Herons I suppose he means the several threads or filaments which compose the web of the feather stood thinner or at greater distances as in those of a Peacocks Tail Neither do they attain that eminent breadth or match them in that excellent liver-colour but are rather of a purple resembling flesh or somewhat more obscure Those two filaments which spring out of the back are in a manner black §. II. * Aldrovandus his second Bird of Paradise THis differed from the rest especially in that it had in its Rump two very long feathers exceeding the rest about two palms length The Head was almost white besprinkled with yellow and golden spots The eyes likewise yellow the hairs of the Eye-lids red The Bill of a middle colour between yellow and green two inches long the upper part a little crooked The Tongue red long sharp not unlike that of Woodpeckers very fit to strike Insects The Breast was somewhat red The Belly Back and Wings were white Yet were their upper sides all over and their ends ferrugineous The Back at first seemed to incline somewhat to yellow but about the Rump it changed to a red or ferrugineous In the length of the Wings which equalled five Palms it exceeded the first species The Tail feathers at their insertion into the back were white else ferrugineous longer than in the first Species This Bird wanted those two threads which as I said before grow out of the backs of all this kind Wherefore it is to be thought that either by reason of the length of the journey or continuance of time they fell away and were lost not that it is therefore to be called a Female as the Vulgar have been hitherto falsly perswaded The use of the two forementioned long feathers may perchance be for swifter flight §. III. * Aldrovandus his third Bird of Paradise THis for the length of its body we thought good to call Hippomanncodiata As being from the point of the Bill to the end of the Tail and Wings twenty seven inches long and two Palms broad when the Wings are closed The Bill was well hooked especially the upper part three inches long the lower part a little shorter The whole bird was white except the Neck and Belly which were of a Chesnut-colour The upper part of the Head was ferrugineous to which succeeded a yellow and to the yellow a green colour Near the Back the feathers were very prominent viz. the length of two or three inches This Bird had only one string and that rough and very flexible Wherefore we think that the other was by some accident lost §. IV. * Aldrovandus his
outwardly though great is only the Iris. For the whole bulb or ball of the Eye when taken out somewhat resembles a hat or Helmet the Iris being the Crown the part not appearing and extending it self good way further the brims The interiour edges of the Eye-lids round about are yellow The Eyes are altogether fixt and immovable The Bird is described by Marggravius under the title of Tuidara of Brasil so that it seems it is common with us to the New World §. IV. * Aldrovandus his former Aluco THis is bigger than the precedent but saith my Author lesser than the Otus or Horn-Owl This is peculiar to them all that they cover the Eye only by drawing the upper lid over it downward It hath a circle as it were a Crown made up of feathers which encompass the whole face passing above the Eyes like tall Eye-brows descending on both sides by the Temples and meeting under the Chin somewhat like a womans black hood The Eyes are great wholly black without any diversity of colour sunk as it were in a deep cavity made by this circle of erected feathers The prone side viz. the Breast and Belly spotted with indifferently great black spots The Bill white very much hooked as also the Claws The Legs covered with white feathers but the Feet only with hairs The Back is of a Lead-colour variegated with whitish specks The whole body covered with a deep and thick-set Plumage which makes it appear to be of the bulk of a Capon whereas when pluckt it is scarce so big as a chicken The Wings are large and reach beyond the end of the Tail This out of Aldrovandus §. V. * Aldrovandus his grey Owl Ulula Aldrov as also Gesners Ulula Gesn THe Bird signified by the name Ulula in Latine Owl or Howlet in English Hulot in French Ul or Eul in Dutch was doubtless so denominated from the howling noise that it makes Howl in English and Dutch signifying the same that Ululo or ejulo in Latine Wherefore the Bird which Aldrovandus exhibits under this title sith it makes a noise like a Chicken he will not confidently aver to be the Ulula but if it may be referred to any of the Species of Night-birds mentioned by the Ancients he knows not whither more commodiously than to this From the Bill to the end of the Tail it was eighteen inches long The Head Back Wings and Tail were of an ash-colour speckled with whitish and black spots Under the Belly it was white variegated with blackish spots The Head was very great enormously thick round full of feathers The Eyes being wholly black and encompassed round with white soft feathers within the ring or Ambit whereof at the borders of the Eye-lids was seen as it were a red circle In winking the Eye was covered only with the upper Eye-lid The Bill was hooked and greenish The Nosthrils great and patent The Wings very large eighteen inches long reaching to the very end of the Tail The Legs were hairy down to the Claws which were ash-coloured hooked and exceeding sharp It had four Toes two standing forward and two backward Aldrovandus kept this bird three months at his house This seems to be the same with our Grey Owl before described by the title of Strix cinerea Gesner describes his Ulula in these words It was as big as a Hen or bigger the colour red sprinkled with black The Bill white short as in other Night-birds hooked so that the upper Chap is much longer than the nether The Eyes great black the Pupil being of an obscure red The edges of the Eye-lids were red Moreover the Eyes were covered with a nictating Membrane Between the Eyes and Back it was thick-feathered of an ash-colour The Neck was very agile so that she could turn her head much backward The Legs were whitish sprinkled with livid specks rough down to the Feet The Toes stood two forward two backward It hath not been our hap as yet to see a Bird of this kind if it be distinct from our Grey Owl For that bird which by us in England is called Owl and Howlet and Madge-howlet is the Aluco of Gesner and Aldrovandus Although Owl be with us a general name attributed to all Night-birds §. VI. The little Owl Noctua THe Bird we described of this kind we bought in the Market at Vienna in Austria where they called it Schaffilt It was a Cock scarce so big as a Blackbird It s length from the Bill to the end of the tail was almost seven inches Its breadth the Wings being extended more than fourteen inches The Bill was white and like to that of other Owls The Tongue a little divided as in the rest of this Tribe The Palate below black having a wide or gaping cleft and below it a round hole The Nosthrils oblong The Ears great The Eyes lesser and handsomer than in other Owls The wreath or circle of feathers encompassing the face beyond the Ears lesser and less easily discernable The upper part of the body was of a dark brown with a mixture of red having transverse whitish spots The Tail was 2 ¾ inches long compounded of twelve feathers exactly equal having five or six transverse white bars The feathers about the Ears were more variegated with black and white The Chin and lower part of the belly white The Breast marked with long dusky spots The number of beam-feathers in each Wing was twenty four their interiour webs were spotted with round white spots It was feathered almost down to the Claws excepting two or three annulary scales The Feet were of a pale yellow It had two back-toes and as many fore-ones The soals of the Feet were yellow the Claws black The inner side of the middle Claw is thinned into an edge It had a great Gall the length of the Guts was ten Inches of the blind Guts one inch and a quarter It is found in the Woods of Austria but rarely resembles much Gesners figure of Noctua which therefore we have taken for it Afterwards we saw it exposed to sale at Rome They use it for catching of small birds See the manner in Olina Aldrovandus saith that it was told him that the Germans do sometimes take in their Country a sort of little Owl which when come to its full growth is no bigger than a Lark which they call by a diminutive name Keutzlin but however Aldrovandus hapned not to see it the same bird is doubtless also found in Italy for we observed them at Rome standing on Pearches to be sold and we can hardly believe they brought them so far as out of Germany §. VII * Aldrovandus his Noctua THat which Aldrovandus hath described and figured for the Noctua is about the bigness of a Dove nine inches long hath a great Head flat above large grey Eyes The feathers of the whole body are partly of a pale Chesnut
but a certain skinny rough matter It hath a handsom Tail two inches long which it can spread wide to the end whereof the Wings reach In all the lower part of the body the feathers are mixt white and black as in a Sparrow-Hawk In the Head Back Wings and Tail they are black white being interspersed with a grateful variety and something also of yellow mingled with the white In a word it is black and speckled here and there with white There is also found another Species of this of the same colour and make with this but as big as an Owl The mouth opened will easily admit a mans fist §. III. * Marggravius his Brasilian Guira querea approaching to the Goat-sucker or Swift IT is of the bigness of a Lark but because it hath long Wings and a Tail much longer it seems greater It hath a broad flat and pretty great Head great black Eyes A small triangular compressed Bill the upper Chap being hooked A wide Mouth much wider than the Bill and which being opened represents a Triangle At each end of the upper Mandible on both sides for the length of an inch in either it hath about ten or twelve thick bristles like Swines stretched forth both forward and sideways It s body is not long but almost round Each foot hath four Toes standing after the usual manner the middle whereof is longer than the rest and furnished with a Claw finely serrate or toothed like a Comb. All the Claws are black It hath long Wings viz. half a foot The Tail eight inches long having in the outsides two feathers longer than the rest The whole Bird is of a dusky ash-colour with dark yellow or whitish spots intermingled after the manner of a Sparrow-Hawk Round the Neck behind the Head it hath a ring of a dark golden colour The Legs are cinereous or dusky The Toes connected by a little skin not so broad as in Ducks for it is no water-fowl This latter Bird doth more resemble a Swallow than a Goat-sucker The former also is not unlike the Hirundo apus or Swift Indeed the Goat-sucker and Swift agree in many particulars as the smalness of the Bill the wideness of the Mouth the shortness of the Legs and situation of the Toes BOOK I. PART I. SECT III. Of Frugivorous Hook-bill'd Birds or Parrots CHAP. I. Of Parrots in general THe Parrot hath a great Head a hard Beak and Skull But why Nature gave it a hooked Bill whereas it is rather a Frugivorous than a Carnivorous or Rapacious Bird Aldrovandus gives this reason Because for the weakness of the Feet descending or climbing up boughs or grates it could not commodiously sustain the weight of its body were not the Bill of that crooked semicircular figure that it can as it were with a hook or grapple catch hold of whatever is near For the Parrot in climbing Walls or Trees first catches hold with her Bill as it were with a Hook then draws up her body then fastens her Feet then reaching up higher claps on her Beak again and so puts forward her body and feet alternately The Parrot alone with the Crocodile moves the upper Jaw as all other Animals do the lower The Tongue is broad which is common to it with other Rapacious birds of the figure of a Gourd-seed as Scaliger notes Hence it is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both because its Tongue resembles a mans and also because it imitates humane speech The Feet are of a singular fashion for they have not three Toes standing forward and one backward but two each way like Woodpeckers Jo. Faber in his Expositions of Nardi Antonio Recchi his Animals found in New Spain hath noted and observed concerning the Toes of Parrots something not mentioned by any Author viz. That when they walk climb up or descend down the sides of their Cages they stretch two of their Toes forward and two backward but when they take their meat and bring it to their mouths they make use of three Toes to hold it till they have eaten it up Yea which may seem wonderful they do so dexterously and nimbly turn the greater hind-toe forward and backward that on sight of it you would confess your self not to know whether it were given them by Nature to be used as a fore-toe in feeding or a back-toe in walking So that it seems in this respect they resemble Owls It hath crooked Claws wherewith it holds its meat like Rapacious birds and brings it to its mouth after the manner of men For taking it in its Toes it lifts it up to its mouth not turning the foot inward but outward after a fashion not only usual and ridiculous but one would think also incommodious It doth not only first of all with its Bill as it were with Teeth break or divide entire Almonds but rolling them up and down within the Cavity of its Bill doth as it were champ and chew them softning them before it swallows them Parrots while they are yet wild and at liberty do eat all sorts of grain and pulse And this is peculiarly observed of them above other creatures that as Swallows feed upon Hellebore and Starlings upon Hemlock so do they upon the seed of Bastard Saffron which to man is a purgative not only without receiving harm thereby but growing fat with it Moreover they eat all sorts of fruits as well such as are covered with a soft rind as those with a hard shell viz. Nuts c. and are greatly delighted in them They do not only imitate mans voice but in wit excell all other birds as Aldrovandus proves by many Histories and examples I shall not think much to set down one very pleasant story which Gesner saith was told him by a certain friend of a Parrot which fell out of King Henry VIII his Palace at Westminster into the River of Thames that runs by and then very seasonably remembring the words it had often heard some whether in danger or in jest use cried out amain A Boat a Boat for twenty pound A certain experienced Boatman made thither presently took up the Bird and restored it to the King to whom he knew it belonged hoping for as great a reward as the Bird had promised The King agreed with the Boatman that he should have as the Bird being asked anew should say And the Bird answers Give the Knave a Groat They are very frequent in both Indies as well East as West They breed not in cold Countries for they are impatient of cold so that they can hardly bear our Winters unless they be kept in Stoves or hot places And whereas in their own Country to wit the Indies they are much upon the Wing with us by reason of the inclemency and sharpness of the Air they grow torpid and unactive and less fit for flight They are said to be very long-lived They breed in hollow trees witness Marggravius Lerius and Piso where they make a round hole
comparing the descriptions I find that this is the very same bird with Aldrovandus his first Macao §. V. * The former Brasilian Maracana of Marggrav IT is a Bird altogether like a Parrot of which also it is a Species but bigger All its feathers of a bluish grey It cries like a Parrot It loves fruit especially Murucuja §. VI. * The other Maracana of Marggrav THis is also a sort of Arara he means by this word a Maccaw for so it seems the Brasilians call Maccaws but lesser about the bigness of a Parrot It is of the shape of a Maccaw Arara hath such a long Tail a like Bill and skin about the Eyes The Bill is black the skin about the Eyes white and speckled with black feathers The Eyes yellowish the Pupil black The whole Head Neck and Wings are of a deep green as in Amurucurica The top of the Head is more dilute and in a manner inclining to blue The Tail consists of feathers above green underneath of a deep red having their ends blue The Wings likewise are read on the inside green on the outside having their ends blue At the rise of each Wing it hath a red spot At the rise of the Bill above it hath a dusky spot The Legs and Feet are dusky It cries Oe Oe Oe. CHAP. III. Of middle-sized Parrots properly called Parrots and Poppinjayes §. I. * The white cresled Parrot of Aldrovandus IT was about thirteen inches long as big as an ordinary young Pullet or the greatest sort of tame Pigeon N. B. I here measure the length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Wings for measuring to the end of the Tail it is about eighteen inches It s Tail contrary to the manner of other Parrots is not stretched out directly backwards in length but erected after the fashion of the common Dunghill-Cock and Hens It hath an ash-coloured Bill inclining to black having wide open Nosthrils near the Head and rising up with a round ridge or bunch between them The Tongue is broad and red The Irides of the Eyes yellow the Pupil black The whole body cloathed with white feathers The crown of the Head is adorned with fair feathers a handful and half high bending somewhat backward ending in sharp points again reflected forwards ten in number as it were a crest The Tail in like manner is erected on high consisting of a great many white feathers nine inches long such as are seen in the Tails of Dunghil-Cocks The Legs and Feet are yellowish The Claws small scarce hooked and black §. II. The most common green Parrot having the ridge of the Wing red Aldrov THis is nothing less if not bigger than the white crested Parrot almost fifteen inches long of the bulk of the greatest tame Pigion or a Pullet of the first year With us they are not ordinarily so big The upper Chap of the Bill is black at the point then bluish the remainder being red the lower Chap white The Iris of the Eye of a Saffron colour or rather red the Pupil black The crown of the Head yellow All the rest of the body is green the under side more dilute and yellowish the Back and Wings darker and the greatest and outmost Pinion feather inclining somewhat to blue Only the uppermost ridge of the Wings is red as also the Tail which is but short In the lower part on each side it is marked with a long red spot but above it is yellow The Legs and Feet are ash-coloured The Claws black and not much hooked This kind is the most common of all with us In those I described at London there was a white circle about the Eyes and the upper Chap of the Bill had on each side a tooth-like process or Appendix to which answered a dent or nick in the lower §. III. * Aldrovandus his Parrot with a particoloured Bill FRom the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail it was eighteen inches long The upper Chap in the upper part was of a bluish green of a yellow Oker colour in the sides the tip-crossed with a white spot The lower Chap of the Bill of a lead-colour round about and yellow in the middle the crown of the Head adorned with yellow or golden feathers The rest of the body was for the most part green the Back darker the Belly and Breast lighter with a gloss of yellow the roots or bottoms of the feathers being every where cinereous The flag-feathers on their outer webs toward the belly were first green then by little and little growing blue terminate in a purplish colour being elsewhere black The second row of Wing-feathers were wholly yellow Those which grew about the middle of the Wings at their beginning on the outer web which respects the belly were first green then of a dark red then green again and lastly at their tips partly of a violet colour partly black with so great variety The Tail is composed of twelve feathers of which four on each side at their rise or beginning are first green on the exteriour web yellow on the interiour then of a red or Scarlet colour thirdly green again and lastly yellow The four remaining middle feathers are wholly or all over green only at their very ends shew something of yellow The Feet are of a lead-colour having four toes two standing forward and two backwards as in Woodpeckers the interiour being much shorter than the exteriour The Claws crooked as in Rapacious birds The Legs not above an inch long but pretty thick §. IV. * The black-billed green Parrot of Aldrovandus THis is thirteen inches long hath a great thick Bill like the rest but wholly black At the beginning of the Bill on the Crown and under the Throat it is of a blue colour tending to green The Iris of the Eye is of a dark Saffron the Pupil black The rest of the Head and the Breast yellow The Belly of a middle colour between yellow and green as also the upper side of the Tail The Neck and all the Back with the Wings are of a deep green So that it would be almost wholly green but that the very extreme ridge of the Wing where it is joyned to the body is of a Scarlet red and then follows a black feather in the outside or extremity of the Wings which respect the belly and lastly the tips of the flag-feathers are red Besides these also the lower part of the Rump is tinctured with a Scarlet red The Feet are dusky The Talons black and somewhat crooked The Tail is about a Palm long more or less §. V. * The white-headed Parrot of Aldrovandus IT is ten inches long The Bill white and two inches thick That part of the Head next to the Bill is also white The Pupil of the Eye black the Iris ferrugineous The forehead and crown of the head are white variegated with black spots The hinder part of the Head Neck Back Wings and Rump above are tinctured with
a dark green The Throat and uppermost ridge of the Wings with a Vermilion red The Breast and Thighs again are green The part of the Belly lying between the Thighs and the Breast is of a dusky colour obscurely red or of that the Painters call Umber terrae Umbriae Some of the covert-feathers of the Wings viz. the outmost are blue but with some mixture of white The lower part of the belly next the Rump yellow The Tail is red in the middle the sides being variegated with red yellow and blue Almost all the feathers have their utmost tips black but else are green The Legs and Feet cinereous This Bird from the great variety of its colours might well be called the particoloured or many-coloured 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Parrot it being of no less than seven several colours of which yet the chief is green Mr. Willughby doth thus briefly describe either this same Parrot or one very like it It is of a green colour lesser than a Pigeon The Irides of the Eyes of a Hazel colour The Bill is white From the Bill to the middle of the crown it is also white Under the Eyes and the under Chap it is of a Vermilion colour The middle of the Breast and Belly between the Legs is reddish The outer webs of the Tail-feathers to the shaft are of a flame-colour Towards the crown of the Head the edges of all the feathers are dark or blackish The outmost flag-feathers are bluish The exteriour border of the tail-Tail-end is bluish A dark spot covers the Ears The lower part of the Belly is of a yellowish green §. VI. * The red and blue Parrot of Aldrovandus THis bird is nine inches long sufficiently corpulent The Bill not so great as in the precedent blackish The Head Neck and Breast are blue The top of the crown remarkable for a yellow spot The region of the Eyes white the Pupil black the Iris dusky The sides of the Belly under the tips of the Wings yellow The Belly green The Thighs white with a shadow of green The Rump yellow The top of the back of a pale blue The covert feathers of the Wings particoloured of green yellow and rosie The end of the back or region of the loins yellowish The Legs and Feet are ash-coloured the rest of the body is of a rose-colour or bluish §. VII Aldrovandus his ash-coloured or bluish Parrot THis according to Aldrovandus is ten inches long Of the bigness of a tame Pigeon or the common green Parrot The Bill is black The Nosthrils near to one another in the upper part of the Bill next to the Head which part is covered with a naked white skin we afterwards observed the same figure and situation of the Nosthrils in all other Parrots The whole body is of an uniform colour viz. a dark cinereous Yet the lower part of the Back and Belly and the Rump are paler than the rest of the body and almost white The Tail is red of a Vermilion colour very short and scarce reaching further than the ends of the Wings The region of the Eyes sides of the head round the Eyes is white and bare of feathers The feathers of the Head and Neck are shorter than the others They say that all of this kind are brought from Mina an Indian City of St. Georges We have seen many of them at London §. VIII * The red and white Parrot of Aldrovandus IT is equal to an indifferent great Capon seventeen inches long The Head and Neck thick The whole body white but moderately shaded with dusky so that it seems to be ash-coloured It s Bill is black the hooked part being longer than in others The hinder part of the Back the Rump the whole Tail and prime feathers of the Wings are of a Scarlet colour Miniaceo colore The Feet as in others blackish In bigness of body it gives not place to that greatest sort which are less vocal called Maccaws In this only it is inferiour to them that it hath a shorter Tail For which cause notwithstanding its magnitude we have placed it in this Classis or rank §. IX * Marggravius his middle-sized Parrots THe first Species called AJURUCURAU is a very elegant bird Above the Bill on the head it hath a tuft or cop of a lovely blue The throat sides and upper part of the Head are cloathed with feathers of a delicate yellow The whole body of pleasant green In brief it is elegantly variegated The Tail is green but when it spreads it appears edged or fringed with black red and blue The Legs and Feet of an ash-coloour The Bill more dusky The Eyes black with a golden circle about the Pupil The Tongue of all is broad and thick The second Species is like to the former a little differing in the variegation of the colours viz. On the top of the Head it hath a yellow cop wherewith white is mingled Above the Eyes and under the Throat it is of a clear or bright yellow About the upper Bill is a Sea-green spot The third Species called AJURUCURUCA hath a tuft on its Head of a colour mingled of blue and a little black and in the middle of the tuft a yellow spot Below the Eyes is a yellow and on the Throat a blue spot The Breast is green as are also the Wings and Back but somewhat deeper or darker the ends of the Wings and the Tail again being more dilute the tips of the Wing-feathers are yellow and red mingled with blue The Tail underneath is particoloured of green and yellow above of a pale green The Legs of a bluish ash-colour The Bill above cinereous in the extremities black The Claws black PARAGUA is a black Parrot of the bigness of Ajurucariu The Breast Back and anteriour half of the belly remarkably red The Eyes black encompassed with a red circle or Iris The Bill dusky or of a dark ash-colour The TARABE of the Brasilians is a green Parrot bigger than a Paragua with a red Head and Breast of which colour is also the beginning of the Wings The Beak and Feet are of a dark ash-colour AJURUCATINGA of the Brasilians is a Parrot of the bigness of a handsom Pullet All green with red Eyes and the skin about the Eyes white The Bill and Legs white It hath a long green Tail This in colour and length of the tail agrees with the Parakeet but differs from it in bigness AJURUPARA agrees in all respects with the precedent only it is less CHAP. IV. Of the lesser sort of Parrots called Parrakeets §. I. * The Ring-Parrakeet or Psittacus of the Ancients Aldrov THis was the first of all the Parrots brought out of India into Europe and the only one known to the Ancients for a long time to wit from the time of Alexander the Great to the Age of Nero by whose searchers as Pliny witnesseth Parrots were discovered elsewhere viz. in Gagaude an Island of Aethiopia It is fourteen inches long hath
a thick Bill all over red A yellow Iris or circle encompasses the Pupil of the Eye which is as in most birds black The head and all the body besides is green but the neck breast and whole underside more dilute or pale the upper side deeper-coloured From the lower Chap of the Bill under the Chin a black line is drawn downward as far as the beginning of the Breast which then divides and goes away to each side of the neck till it meet with that red circle or ring which compasseth the backside of the Neck This ring is behind of the breadth of ones little finger but grows narrower by degrees towards the sides The belly is of so faint a green that it seems almost to be yellow The outmost feathers of the Wings next the belly are of a dark dusky green about the middle in the upper part distinguished with a red mark The Tail which is about two Palms long is also of a yellowish green The Legs and Feet ash-coloured Whence Solinus doth not rightly affirm that it hath no difference of colour but only the ring of red about the Neck Nor Apuleius that the out-sides of the feet are red extimas palmulas rubere they being cinereous Unless we can think they described another bird of this sort §. II. * The wholly green Parrakeet of Aldrovandus THis is of equal length with the former but less-bodied being not bigger than a Throstle or Mavis The Bill is red especially the upper part for the edges acies and lower part are blackish the Pupil of the Eyes black the Irides of a red and Saffron colour The rest of the body is of a pleasant grass-green yet the belly more pale the master-feathers of the Wings of a deeper colour The Tail narrow ending almost in a point near nine inches long The Feet and Legs of a different colour from all other Parrots viz. a red or carneous This is peculiarly by a distinct name called Scincialo in Hispaniola an Island of America where it is found The Italians for its small stature and bulk call it Parochino and the Frenchmen as Bellonius saith Perroquet The red and yellow or pale green Parrakeet of Aldrovandus described by the Picture thereof sent with many others out of Japan to Pope I suspect to be fictitious at least in many particulars as are doubtless the rest of those Pictures therefore I have omitted it referring the Reader who desires further knowledge of it to Aldrovandus §. III. * The crested red and green Parrot of Aldrovandus THe Wings Tail and Crest of this bird were red the rest of the body green It s Crest resembled that of the crested Parrot above described It had very fair Eyes with a black Pupil and red Iris. The Crest consisted of six feathers three greater and as many less §. IV. * Marggravius his Parrakeets called by the Brasilians Tui THe first Species is of the bigness of a Swallow all over green Having a very long long Tail and a black hooked bill This may be the second sort The second Species called TUIAPUTEJUBA is also all over green the Wings darker the rest of the body paler save the belly which is yellowish The Tail is very long The Bird is of the same bigness with the former Hath great blackish Eyes A circle of yellow feathers about the Eyes and above the Bill which is black and hooked On the head it hath a great spot of orange-coloured feathers The third called TUITIRICA is somewhat bigger than those of Guiny of a green colour all over which for the most part is deeper in the Back and Wings paler in the other parts The Bill crooked of a Carnation colour The Eyes black the Feet bluish The Tail reaches a little beyond the ends of the Wings These become very tame so that they will take meat out of ones mouth and permit one to stroke and handle them They learn also to talk like Parrots The fourth is of the bigness of a Stare of the same colour with the second Species but having a shorter Tail The fifth called JENDAYA is of the bigness of a Blackbird or Throstle hath a black Bill and Legs black Eyes with a golden Iris or circle encompassing the Pupil outwardly white The Back Wings and Tail as also the lower belly are covered with green feathers with which a Sea-colour is mingled The extremity of the Wings is in a manner black The whole Head Neck and Breast are of a yellow colour partly deeper and partly paler The sixth called TUIETE is of the bigness of a Lark The whole body of a light green But the beginning of the Wings of a bright blue The borders also of all the feathers of the Wings are blue so that when they are closed these borders altogether make an appearance of a long green stroke near the outsides of the Wings In the back also at the rise of the Tail there is a blue spot The Tail is short the Bill hooked of a Carnation colour The Legs and Feet cinereous The seventh called TUIPARA by the Tupinambi is also of the bigness of a Lark and all over of a pale green The Tail shorter so that it ends with the Wings being equally extended The Bill of a Carnation colour the Legs grey or grisled Near the rise of the Bill in the forehead it hath a Scarlet spot of a semilunar figure as it were a Crown The following words corrupted I suppose by the errour of the Transcribers or Printers not understanding I have omitted They build in Ant-heaps left by the Ants which are found in trees ANACA of the Brasilians is again of the bigness of a Lark It s Bill dusky and hooked The feathers on the top of the head are of a Liver-colour On the sides of the Head about the Eyes of a brown The Throat is ash-coloured the Neck above and the sides green The Belly hath reddish brown feathers The back is green and hath a spot of a light brown The Tail is also of a dilute brown In the beginning of the Wings is a crimson spot or border The rest of the Wings green the ends only of a Sea-water colour The Legs above covered with green feathers below bare and of an ash-colour having black Claws In fine it is a very elegant bird QUIJUBATUI is all yellow of the bigness of Tuiapara with a hooked grey Bill and black Eyes The end of the Wings is of a dark green The Tail long and yellow It easily becomes very tame §. V. The Scarlet Parakeeto with green and black Wings IT is bigger than a Blackbird The whole body of a Scarlet colour The covert feathers of the Wings green the prime feathers black having their exteriour webs green above and of a Crimson colour underneath The ridges of the Wings yellow The Tail a Palm long consisting of twelve feathers whose lower halves are red the upper being green or yellow The Bill yellow very much hooked hanging down
care and industry brought one alive as far as Amsterdam which though it were not of the choicest yet might have been sold for one hundred and seventy Florens or Gilders of that Province that is somewhat more than seventy Dollars as I find recorded in the Diary of that Voyage That bird by the way had learned to pronounce many Holland words which it had heard of the Mariners and its Master had made it so tame that it would put its Bill into his Mouth and Ears without doing him any harm and would put in order the hairs of his beard if discomposed And if any one else offered to touch him it would presently snap or peck at him as if it had been some Dog Furthermore saith he in the year of Christ 1605. Jacob Plateau sent me the figure of a certain Parrot drawn to the life in colours the like whereto seeing I have not as yet seen nor remember to have met with any where described I thought fit to subjoyn the figure of it Printed in this Auctarium to my History of Exotics He wrote that he had kept it above two years that it was of the bigness of a Pigeon That it had a Head almost like a Hawks to wit covered with such coloured feathers Sparkling Eyes The Neck and Breast were beset with particoloured feathers which when it was angry or any one molested it by bringing any Animal near to the Cage in which it was shut up it would set an end so that it seemed to be in a manner crested Those feathers were of a reddish colour and in the outward part I suppose he means round the borders or edges of a most elegant blue The feathers of the Belly were almost of like colour yet moreover clouded with dusky The feathers of the Back were green and the master-feathers of the Wings bluish The Tail was composed of many green feathers but not long I could not neglect to propose to the Readers view a small sort of Parrot brought these last years from Aethiopia and the places bordering on Manicongo by the Holland Skippers with the figure of the Male but the Female is much more elegant for there was one brought of both Sexes The bulk of the body was equal in bigness to a Chaffinch That is was two inches and an half long from the bottom of the Neck to the Rump All the feathers covering the body were of a green colour among which yet there appeared a manifest difference For those on the Back were deeper coloured those on the Belly paler The flag-feathers of the Wings were three inches long and though on the upper side on that side the shaft which hath the shorter Villi as far as they cover one another they were tinctured with a deep green yet on the other side which hath longer Villi and on all the under-side they were dusky or brown The feathers of the Tail were most elegant well nigh two inches long little less than half an inch broad on that part next the Rump of a green colour mingled with yellow next of an elegant red then of a black and last of all of a green And these three last colours were distinct from one another as is to be seen in the Tail-feathers of some green Parrots of the great kind called Maccaws But these feathers are scarcely seen unless when she spreads her Tail because they are covered with others of the same length which are wholly green The Neck is short and thick The feathers covering the Head very short and green except those on the crown above the Bill and on the whole throat for they are of a lovely florid red colour I speak of the Male for the feathers of the Female were of a paler red and did not take up so large a space as in the Male The Eyes were very black the Bill thick and strong the upper Chap hooked and sharp-pointed as in other sorts of Parrots Its colour reddish The Legs short scarce attaining the length of half an inch covered with ash-coloured scales as the feet of other common Parrots and those divided into four Toes of which two stood forward and were of unequal length two backward and they also unequal The shorter which were the inner having two joynts the longer which were the outer three The Claws were white and of a good length I observed it to have a very small voice and only to peep like a Chicken It delights in company When it eats it doth not hold its meat in one foot like other Parrots but picks up its meat with its Bill by jobbing But its meat for the most part is Canary seed for I observed it to feed more willingly upon that than any other kind of Seed I saw some that were so taught that they would pick up crums of bread dipt or moistned with water It s drink is water I observed further in this bird that the Females when they grew old would scarce eat any meat but what had been pickt up by the Male and kept a while in his Crop and there mollified or macerated the which they received with their Bills as young Pigeons are wont to be fed and nourished by the old ones §. VII * Bontius his small Parrakeet IT is of the bigness of a Lark hath a hooked Bill grey of colour as is also the throat black Eyes encompassed with a silver circle I suppose he means the Iris. The Tongue is like a Parrots with solid ligaments It can set up specious feathers on the crown of its Head like a Crest Its Legs and Feet are of an ash-colour It hath a very long Tail reaching about ten inches beyond the ends of the Wings Both the Belly underneath and also the Head Neck and Tail above are of a beautiful red colour But the Breast and lower feathers of the Tail are of a pale rose-colour which Tail-feathers end in a lovely blue or colour mingled of white and green The Wings are chiefly green but interwoven with red feathers the one half whereof is so variegated on each side with yellow and rose colour that exposed to the Sun it represents a thousand varieties of shining colours and can hardly be expressed by a Painter So that this bird deserves to be highly prized by great persons These Parrots are found chiefly in the midland Countries They roost and build on the highest trees They fly in companies and with a great noise as doth the whole tribe of Parrots They are also garrulous and learn to pronounce some words if they be kept tame §. VIII * Marggravius his Brasilian Ani of kin to the Parrots THis Bird is of the bigness of a Throstle or Mavis wholly black Wings Bill Eyes and Feet It hath a long erect Tail of six inches length It s Bill is high broad an inch long or something more the lower part almost streight the upper high broad of a semilunar figure and compressed so that above it is almost edged The Legs and Feet slender
rest of the Tail-feathers is of a shining black The Feet and Claws are black The outmost Toe as in the rest of this kind is joyned to the middlemost at the bottom It hath a Gall its Guts were eighteen inches long The blind Guts half an inch The Testicles small It feeds on Nuts c. It hath a note or voice something like a Magpie We found this Bird in the Mountainous part of Austria near the way leading from Vienna to Venice not far from a great Village called Schadwyen where there is a very steep difficult and craggy ascent up the neighbouring Mountains whereupon there stand always ready there certain Yokes of Oxen to draw the Coaches or Waggons of such as travel that way up the craggy Cliffs and Rocks which Horses could not at all or with great difficulty climb and struggle through drawing a Coach after them §. VII * The Bohemian Chatterer Garrulus Bohemicus Aldrov eidem Ampelis IT is almost as big as a Blackbird but bigger than the Hawfinch It s length from Bill-point to tail-Tail-end nine inches Its breadth viz. the Wings being spread four Palms Whence it is manifest that Gesner is mistaken in that he writes that for shape and size of body and colours it approaches to the common Garrulus It s Bill is of a deep black of the bigness of a House-Sparrows Gesners figure represents it too long and too crooked The Nosthrils are encompassed with hairs of the same colour which make as it were a transverse black spot In which are included the Eyes that are round and of a most beautiful colour to wit Vermilion resembling that of the Chalcedonian Carbuncle commonly called the Granate Which perchance gave occasion to some to believe that they shine in the Night It s Head is after a sort compressed being by Gesner represented too round of a Chesnut or ferrugineous colour adorned with a crest or tuft bending backward after the manner of the crested Lark The colour of the Crest toward the Bill is a delayed Chesnut but backward cinereous inclining to dusky not unlike to the colour of Umber The Neck is short black in the fore and hind part red on the sides near the Bill white The Breast is of a chesnut or ferrugineous colour but dilute and inclining to rosie The whole Belly is ash-coloured except towards the vent where are some white feathers whose roots or lower parts v. g. from the middle to the flesh are black and softer than their upper parts The Back inclines to a chesnut or bay but toward the Rump it is cinereous or dun The outer feathers of the Wings are black the inner ash-coloured but declining to black The outer Wing-feathers are marked with spots very pleasant to behold Some of these feathers viz. the first seven in number are white their Appendices being red like to Cinnabar or Vermilion Gesner was told by a certain person I know not who but untruly that these feathers were horny I suppose he meant their shafts Yet are they pretty hard and solid long and after a sort Cartilagineous To these succeed other feathers adorned in like manner with spots but of a pale yellow resembling in some measure the figure of the Letter L Which are so disposed that in some feathers appear seven in some six and in some but five only Again the last feathers have white spots which by how much they are situate nearer the outside by so much do they become less conspicuous so that of the last feathers of all sometimes three sometimes two and sometimes only one is so spotted The covert feathers are also tipt with white Concerning the yellow spots it is to be noted that in the Females they are white and that over against them are to be found other white spots I have learned by inspection that the Tail of the Cock consists of ten feathers only the Tail of the Hen of twelve which near their roots are of a dark cinereous or Mouse dun but above are black The end of the whole Tail is yellow but more resplendent in the Male than in the Female Near the vent are some other feathers of a Chesnut-colour making as it were another Tail but far less The colour of the Legs is dusky inclining to blue The shape and bigness of the Feet answer to those of a Hawfinch The colour differs being black in the Garrulus flesh or rose-coloured in the Hawfinch It hath black and crooked Claws See the description of the Entrails and Bowels in Aldrovandus This Bird is said to be peculiar to Bohemia It feeds upon Fruit especially Grapes of which it is very greedy Wherefore it seems to me not without reason to be called by that name Ampelis It is a Bird of a very hot temperament and exceedingly voracious flies in companies and is easily tamed What else Aldrovandus hath of its disposition and manners food flight use c. See in his Ornithology It is wonderful and to me scarce credible what he saith he learned by ocular experience to wit that the Tail of the Cock is made up of ten feathers the Tail of the Hen of twelve CHAP. IV. Of Woodpeckers in general TO Woodpeckers if under this name we comprehend the Nuthatch the Wall-creeper the great Reed-Sparrow and the Ox-eye creeper there are very few notes common viz. to climb or run up trees sticking to their bodies or boughs and for that purpose to have strong and musculous thighs But if we exexclude the foresaid Birds and restrain the name to Woodspites properly so called there are many and remarkable notes whereby they may be distinguished from all other kinds of birds As for example 1. To have a streight hard strong angular and sharp Bill very fit and proper to pierce and bore holes in trees 2. A Tongue of a very great length round ending in a sharp stiff bony thorn dented on each side to strike Ants Cossi and other Insects withal This Tongue they can at pleasure put forth to a great length thrusting it deep into the crannies holes and clefts of trees to stab and draw out Insects lurking there 3. Short Legs but very strong 4. Toes standing two forwards and two backwards Which is common to these and Parrots Such a disposition of Toes as Aldrovandus rightly notes Nature or rather the Wisdom of the Creator hath granted to Woodpeckers because it is very convenient for the climbing of trees Their Toes also are close joyned together that they may more strongly and firmly lay hold on the tree they climb upon 5. All of them unless perchance you except the Wryneck have a hard stiff Tail bending also downwards and its feathers ends often broken and their shafts almost bare on which they lean and so bear up themselves in climbing Their Tail consists of but ten feathers 6. To feed only upon Insects 7. To want the blind Guts which is peculiar to this kind agreeing to no other bird or beast beside
It feeds not only upon Insects but also upon Nut-kernels It is a pretty spectacle to see her fetch a Nut out of her hoard place it fast in a chink and then standing above it with its head downwards striking it with all its force breaks the shell and catches up the Kernel This bird is by Aristotle called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who makes two kinds of it a greater and a lesser Gaza retains the same name calling it in Latine Sitta Later Writers stile it Picus cinereus i. e. the ash-coloured Woodpecker because like them it climbs and runs up the bodies and boughs of trees It is called by some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it moves and flirts up the Tail §. II. * The Wall-creeper or Spider-catcher Picus murarius Aldrov l. 12. c. 37. IT is somewhat bigger than a House-Sparrow almost as large as a Stare The colour of the whole body is best seen when the Wings are spread It hath a long slender black Bill The Head Neck and Back cinereous The Breast white The Wings partly cinereous partly red viz. toward the Belly The Tail short The long feathers of the Wings the lower part of the Back the Belly and Legs which after the manner of Woodpeckers are short black The Toes long three standing forward and one backward though Bellonius attributes to it two fore-toes and so many back ones Wherefore it is to be suspected that either he knew not the Wall-creeper or else set forth one different from ours which I do not believe because the rest of the description he gives of it agrees exactly to our Bird. Thus far Aldrovandus who writes that this Bird is frequent and obvious enough in the Territory of Bologna in flying like to the Hoopoe almost always shaking its Wings like that never resting in one place By later Writers it is called Picus murarius because as Woodpeckers cling to trees and hang on them so this sticks to all Walls especially those of Towers and seeks Insects in their chinks Whence in Winter-time it is often seen in Cities It is a brisk and chearful bird and hath a pleasant note It flies alone and sometimes two in company It builds its Nest in the holes of trees They say it is found in England but we have not as yet had the hap to meet with it §. III. The greater Reed-Sparrow Junco Aldrov Cinclus Turneri THe Cock which we described was for bigness not much inferiour to a Thrush The Bill was great somewhat crooked from the tip of the Angles of the mouth more than an inch long The upper Chap of a dusky colour the lower whitish The Tongue cloven and divided into many filaments The inside of the mouth of a deep yellow or Saffron colour The Nosthrils are round and great The Irides of the Eyes of a red hazel colour Not far from the Angles of the mouth in the upper Mandible grow four or five black hairs The Throat Belly and Breast are white with a kind of yellowish tincture more yellow about the vent The supine or upper side of the body of a dusky yellowish colour Above each Eye is a whitish line The number of prime feathers in each Wing is eighteen The Plumage covering the roots of these feathers underneath is yellow The Tail is three inches and a quarter long I mean the middle feathers for the extreme are but two and three quarters They have a strong shaft and are stiff like those of a Woodpecker The Legs and Feet are great strong and musculous which is especially remarkable in this bird It hath but one back-toe which toward the root or rise of it is broad and torose The outer fore-toe is joyned to the middlemost at the bottom It had a yellow Gall large Testicles a shorter Breast-bone than Woodspites short blind Guts Reed-Beetles in the stomach It is always conversant among Reeds and sings sweetly It sticks to and climbs up Reeds as Woodpeckers do up trees The Alcedo vocalis of Bellonius seems to be the same either with this or the lesser Species the description whereof see in Aldrovandus lib. 20. cap. 62. §. IV. The lesser Reed-Sparrow An Cannevarola Aldrovandus An Ficedula cannabina Olinae IT is equal to or somewhat less than a Redstart It creeps and sings among Reeds From the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail was five inches three quarters From tip to tip of the Wings extended eight inches The Bill measuring from the point to the Angles of the mouth was three quarters of an inch long The lower Chap almost white the upper blackish the Mouth within yellow The Tongue cloven and divided into filaments the Irides of a hazel colour The Back toward the Rump is of a dark olive or dusky green toward the Head more cinereous The middle of the Breast is white the Throat and lower Belly have a mixture of yellow The sides are of a dirty greenish colour The prime feathers of the Wings are in number eighteen of which the second is the longest They are of a dark brown or dusky colour as in the Redstart and other small birds The Tail is 2⅛ inches long and composed of twelve feathers The soles of the Feet are of a greenish yellow The outmost Toe adheres to the middlemost below as in others The Bill and Feet in this Bird are greater than the proportion of the rest of the body seems to require The Female differs little or nothing from the Male Annot. This Bird I bought in the Market at Florence where they call it Beccasigo which name they give to many small birds that feed fat I suppose it is that described and figured in Olina by the title of Beccasigo Cannabino My description differs something from this of Mr. Willughby but not considerably viz. The Back was of a pale green inclining to yellow which just above the Tail was more yellow The feathers of the Wings and Tail were of a Mouse-dun having their edges of the same colour with the Back The Tail when spread terminated in a circular Circumference The Breast Belly and Throat were white dashed with yellow The Bill long streight flat or depressed The lower Chap of a horn-colour the upper more dusky but not black The Legs long and of a light blue with a little dash of yellow The Mouth within yellow The soles of the feet yellow It is common in the Low Countries among the Reeds Another Bird of this name but different in kind we shall describe afterwards §. V. The Creeper Certhia IT is a very small bird scarce bigger than the copped Wren It hath a long slender sharp Bill bending downwards like a Bow The upper Chap of a dark colour the nether white at the base and black at the tip The Tongue not longer than the Bill wherein it differs from the Woodspites yet hard and stiff at the point and sharp like a Goad The Irides of the Eyes of a dark hazel
are of an ash-colour on the sides ferrugineous near the shafts adorned with black spots in the longest feathers in both Webs opposite one to another in the lesser in one Web only or if there be any mark in the interiour Web it is more obscure and scarce observable The Wings closed are nine inches long spread eighteen inches broad The Wing-feathers that are next the body are variegated with the same colours as those on the middle of the Back The subsequent are liker those on the lower part of the Back Yet the ridges of the Wings resemble those of the common Partridge whose colour the prime feathers or quils of the Wings do almost exactly represent viz. being of a dusky ash-colour and all over spotted with whitish spots The Breast and Belly whereabout the Gizzard lies and that part thereof which the Wings cover glister with the same colours wherewith the Neck is beautified but more obscure and the feathers here are much bigger Near the vent and on the Thighs it is of a dark ferrugineous The Legs Feet Toes and Claws are of a horn colour yet the Toes and Claws are darker than the Legs A thick membrane and perchance not unfit for swimming connects the Toes The like whereto that I know of is not found in any other pulveratricious bird The Legs are armed with Spurs shorter than in a Cock but sharp and of a black colour The Hen is nothing so beautiful as the Cock almost of the colour of a Quail It lives in the Woods and feeds upon Acorns Berries Grain and Seeds of Plants It frequents rather Coppice Woods than where there are only Timber-trees The Books of all Writers of Animals Ancient and Modern celebrate the Pheasant for the goodness of its flesh assigning to it the first place among birds at Table Physicians make it the standard wherewith they compare and accordingly judge of the temperament and goodness of other meats saith Longolins as he is cited by Aldrov Aldrovandus by many arguments proves that Pheasants are better meat than Pullen which who desires to know may consult him in the Thirteenth Book and Fifth Chapter of his Ornithology At last he thus concludes Pheasants therefore as well because they are rare as because they are of a most delicate taste and yield so excellent a nourishment as we have proved seem to be born only for great mens Tables and have been always had in highest esteem of all Birds Pheasants Partridges Quails and some other Birds are taken in great numbers with a Net they call commonly Expegatorium by the help of a Setting-dog trained up for this sport who finds out the birds and when he sees them either stands still or lies down on his belly not going very near them least he should spring them but looking back on the Fowler his Master wags his Tail by which the Fowler knows that the Birds are near the Dog and so he and his Companion run with the Net and cover both Birds and Dog That all Birds but particularly Pheasants Partridge and Quails are far more savoury and delicate when killed by a Hawk than if they be caught in snares or by any other fraud many have written and most think And indeed there is no doubt but by this means their flesh becomes more short and tender For that violent motion of the bloud occasioned by their flight and its fervent heat consequent thereupon macerates the flesh and disposes it to corruption but that it thence becomes more savoury and delicate all men now-adays are not agreed But the old rule forbids me to dispute about tastes Boterus reports that Ireland wants Pheasants and Partridges §. II. The Brasilian Jacupema of Marggrave IT is a sort of Pheasant something less than a Pullet It s Head is not great like a Hens as is also the Bill The Eyes are black the Neck about seven inches long The length of the body from the bottom of the Neck to the rise of the Tail about nine inches Of the Tail which is broad a whole foot The Legs are long which he divides into upper and lower the upper five inches long the lower three or a little more In each Foot four Toes like those of Hens of which the middle of the three foremost is two inches long The whole bird is clothed with black feathers with which something of brown is mixed The feathers of its Head it can erect in form of a Crest and those black feathers I suppose he means those on the Head which make the Tuft or Crest are encompassed with other white ones The Throat under the Head and for an inch and half down the Neck is bare of feathers and covered with a red skin The whole Neck below is variegated with white feathers dispersed among the black ones as also all the lower Belly and the hindmost half of the Wings The upper Legs and the Tail are wholly black without the admixture of any brown The lower Legs and Feet are of an elegant red colour They are made tame and their flesh is good This bird took its name from its voice for it cries Jacu Jacu Jacu This might as well have been ranked among the Domestic birds §. III. The common Partridge Perdix cinerea THe Cock weighed fourteen ounces and a quarter the Hen thirteen and an half The length of the Cock from the Bill to the Claws was fourteen inches and a quarter to the end of the Tail twelve and three quarters The Bill from the tip to the corners of the aperture of slit of the mouth three quarters of an Inch to the Eyes an inch The breadth was twenty inches The Bill in young Partridges is of a dusky colour but in old ones it grows white The Irides of the Eyes are a little yellowish Under the Eyes are certain red excrescencies The Chin and sides of the Head are of a deep yellow or Saffron-colour The Cock hath on his Breast a red mark of a semicircular figure resembling a Horse-shooe The Hen hath not so much red on her Breast Below the Chin as far as the Horse-shooe mark it is of a blue cinereous adorned with transverse black lines Beneath the mark the colour fades into dirty or yellowish cinereous The longer feathers on the sides of the Breast and Belly have each of them a great transverse red spot their shafts being white The upper side of the body is particoloured of red cinereous and black This Naturalists call a testaceous or potsheard colour The Prime feathers in each Wing are about twenty three in number of which the foremost are dusky with transverse yellowish white spots The longest feather is five inches and a quarter The interiour covert-feathers of the Wings and the long feathers springing from the shoulders have their shafts of a yellowish white The Tail is composed of no less than eighteen feathers and is in length three inches and an half The four middle feathers are of the same colour with the rest of
Mountains beyond Seas and as we are told in Ireland where they call it Cock of the Wood but no where in England At Venice and Padua we saw many to be sold in the Poulterers Shops brought thither from the neighbouring Alps. I take the Grygallus major of Gesner and Aldrovandus who also calls it the Tetrax of Nemesianus to be the Female of this Bird. For the Females in this kind of Birds in variety and beauty of colours excel the Males Whereas Gesner taking it for granted that the Females do in no kind of creature excell the Males in variety of colours being deceived by this presumption took and described for different Species the different Sexes in both these kinds viz. the Cock of the Mountain and the black game And so of two Species made four to wit 1. Urogallus major 2. Grygallus major 3. Urogallus minor 4. Grygallus minor The second and fourth being the Females of the first and third Moreover being himself mistaken he thought Turner to be so Who makes the Male Morehen that is the lesser Tetrao or lesser Urogallus of Gesner to be black the Female all variously spotted so that if it were not bigger and redder than a Partridge it could hardly be distinguished from it Aldrovandus follows Gesner making the Grygallus major of Gesner that is the Female of the Urogallus major the Tetrax of Nemesianus without cause reprehending Longolius who indeed was of the same opinion whereas he himself erroneously makes the Male and Female of the Cock of the Mountain Urogallus major diverse or distinct kinds So then the case stands thus 1. Cock of the Mountain the Male 1. The greater Urogallus Gesn Aldrov Cock of the Mountain the Female 2. The greater Grygallus Eorund 2. Black game or Grous the Male 3. The lesser Urogallus Eorund Black game the Female 4. The lesser Grygallus Eorund The flesh of this bird is of a delicate taste and wholsom nourishment so that being so stately a bird and withal so rare it seems to be born only for Princes and great mens Tables §. II. The Heathcock or Black game or Grous called by Turner the Morehen Tetrao seu Urogallus minor THe Cock weighed forty eight ounces was in length from the point of the Bill to the end of the Tail twenty three inches The Hen was but nineteen inches long It s breadth thirty four inches the Hens thirty one The Cock is all over black but the edges of the feathers especially in the Neck and Back do shine with a kind of blue gloss His Legs are grey The Female is of the colour almost of a Woodcock or Partridge red with black transverse lines The Breast and Belly are hoary The Wings underneath and the long feathers are white as in the Cock The middle of the Back is of a deeper red The Rump and edges of the feathers on the Throat are hoary The feathers under the Tail white In each Wing are about twnety six beam-feathers In the Cock the bottom of the fifth of these is white of the eighth and succeeding to the twenty sixth the whole lower half Of the eleventh and following feathers to the two and twentieth the tips are also white The long feathers under the shoulders are purely white In the Hen the ten outmost feathers are dusky the rest of the same colour with the body saving their tips which are whitish The bottoms of all but the first six are white Moreover those great quil-feathers which as we said are dusky have something of white in the outer borders The Wings underneath and those longer feathers in both Sexes are white which when the Wings are closed appear outwardly on the Back in the form of a white spot The Tail consists of sixteen feathers and is in the Cock near seven inches long Understand this of the exteriour feathers for the interiour do not exceed four inches In the Cock the three exteriour feathers on each side are longer than the rest and stand bending outward the fourth on each side shorter and less reflected In the Female the outmost feathers are indeed longer than the rest but not reflected The Tail is of the same colour with the body only the tips of the feathers of a hoary white The Bill is black and crooked the upper Chap somewhat prominent and gibbous Under the Tongue is a kind of glandulous substance In the Palate a Cavity impressed equal to the Tongue The Tongue is undivided soft and somewhat rough The Eyebrows bare and red The Ears great both in Male and Female The Legs rough with feathers growing on their fore-part The Toes naked and connected by a membrane as far as the first joynt On each side the Toes are the like borders of skin as in the precedent Fowl standing out from the Toe and pectinated The Claw of the middle Toe is on the inside thinned into an edge It hath no spurs Its Guts are fifty one inches long It s blind Guts which is strange twenty four striate with six lines The Craw large They feed upon the tops of Heath Acorns c. The Pouts do a long time accompany their Dams even after they be come to their full growth as do young Partridges They are infested with Lice and Ticks This kind is frequent in the sides of high Mountains sometimes it descends into the plains not rarely occurring in the lower Heath-grounds The Male differs so strangely from the Female that to one unacquainted with them they might well seem to be of different kinds yea to Gesner himself they seemed so as we shewed in the foregoing Chapter This is Turners Morehen which he thinks to be so named from the colour of the Cock which is black as in Moors though he is mistaken in that he writes that it hath on its Head a red fleshy Crest and about the Cheeks two as it were red fleshy Lobes or Gills for it hath no other red flesh about the Head but the Eye-brows which all the rest of this Genus have See Aldrovand lib. 14. cap. 15. Gesner calls it Gallus Scoticus Sylvestris that is The wild Scotch Cock. I suspect also that the Gallus Palustris Scoticus of the same Gesner is no other than this Bird. The Histories of these Birds you have in Aldrovands Ornithology lib. 14. cap. 15 16. §. III. * The Attagen of Aldrovandus called by the Italians Francolino IN bigness and the whole habit and fashion of its body it approaches to a Pheasant It hath a short black Bill crooked at the end The colour is various almost the whole body over The Head especially hath a very beautiful aspect a yellowish Crest variegated with black and white spots being erected in the middle of its Crown The Pupil of the Eyes is black the Iris yellow It hath Eye-brows like the Heathcock of naked scarlet-coloured skin Under the Bill and in the beginning of the Throat hangs down as it were a beard of very fine feathers It s Neck
the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail or Feet for they are equally extended is about sixteen inches long between the extremities of the Wings spread twenty four inches broad The Bill short black like a Hens but less The upper Chap longer and more prominent The Nosthrils are covered with feathers springing out of a skin on the lower side the holes Above the Eyes in the place of the Eyebrows is a naked skin of a scarlet colour and of the figure of a Crescent In the Cock-birds a black line drawn from the upper Chap of the Bill reaches further than the Eyes towards the Ears which in the Hens is wanting All the rest of the body excepting the Tail is as white as Snow Each Wing hath twenty four prime feathers of which the first or outmost is shorter than the second the second than the third The shafts of the six outmost are black The Tail is more than a Palm long compounded of sixteen feathers the two middlemost whereof are white the outmost on each side without the shaft also white all the rest black Those that I J. R. described in Rhoetia had the two middle feathers of their Tails only white all the rest black The feathers next the Tail incumbent on it are of equal length with the Tail it self so that they do wholly cover it The Legs Feet and Toes to the very Claws are covered with soft feathers thick-set like Hares feet whence it took the name The Claws are very long not unlike the nails of some Quadrupeds as for example Hares of a dark horn or lead colour It s back-toe or heel is small but its Claw great and crooked The fore-toes are joyned together by an intervening membrane as in the other fowl of this kind The Claw of the middle Toe is something hollow all along the middle the edges of this furrow or channel being sharp Under the Toes grow long hairs very thick The Craw is great and in that we dissected full of the tops and leaves of Fir Heath Bill-berry c. The Stomach or Gizzard musculous The Guts forty inches long The blind Guts long great and striate In the Alps of Rhoetia and in other high Mountains which are for a great part of the year covered with Snow it is frequently found Wherefore Nature or the Wisdom of the Creator hath fenced its Feet against the sharpness of the cold with a thick covering of feathers and down These Birds for the excellency of their flesh are commonly called White Partridges and thought to be so by the Vulgar whereas indeed the Partridge and Lagopus are far different Birds Yet the Savoyards and other Alpine people who are not ignorant of their difference call them so still at first perchance by mistake from their agreement in figure and magnitude they began to be so called and now they continue the old name §. VI. * The other or particoloured Lagopus of Gesner THere is another sort of Lagopus found on the Mountains of Switzerland The Bird we described of this kind was a Male. Its Belly white its Wings also milk white Yet on the hinder part were some feathers partly dusky partly spotted The Head Neck and Back particoloured with dusky and spotted feathers The Neck underneath had a great deal of white and but a little black above was covered partly with pied partly with white feathers Above each Eye was a semicircular skin of a red colour It s Bill was very short and black the upper Chap whereof was crooked and received within its edges the nether which was channelled The Tail was five inches long consisting of twelve black feathers and two white ones in the middle and three or four particoloured ones The Legs and Feet down to the very Claws were covered with white feathers growing very thick and close together so that nothing at all appeared bare but the black Claws Only the soal of the Foot and inner part of the Toes were without feathers Yet might the Toes be wholly covered with the hair-like feathers meeting underneath It was as big as a Pigeon or something bigger The length of the whole about five Palms I suppose this Bird is called in Italian about Trent Otorno about the Lake called by the Ancients Verbanus now Maggiore or the greater Colmestre Our Country-men the Switzers Stein-hun or Stone-hen as some do also the precedent Others for distinction sake add the bigness I guess this second kind to be a little the bigger As for the former kind I doubt not but it is the first Lagopus of Pliny white c. But this second although perchance it may be doubted whether it be the second Lagopus of Pliny which as he writes differs from Quails only in bigness yet ought by all means to be referred to the same Genus with the first Thus far Gesner I am of opinion that this Bird is not only generically but even specifically the same with the former or first Lagopus of Pliny For except some marks and spots on the upper side of the body it agrees perfectly therewith But those are not sufficient to infer a difference of kind Seeing that the first Species also is said to change colour in Summer and become dusky Yea those which ascend not up the Mountains are reported not to be white no not in Winter But I dare not pronounce any thing rashly referring the matter to the determination of the learned and curious that live in those Countries or have opportunity of travelling and sojourning there §. VII The Red Game called in some places the Gorcock and More-cock Lagopus altera Plinii IT is near half as big again as a Partridge for the figure of its body not unlike Somewhat yea considerably bigger than the Lagopus Its Feet and Claws exactly like his It s Bill is short and blackish Its Nosthrils elegantly covered with feathers as in the Lagopus But especially remarkable are the scarlet-coloured naked skins above each Eye of the figure of a Crescent in place of Eye-brows which in the Cock are much broader and have in their upper Circumference a border of loose flesh snipt as it were a fringe or Crest In the Cock the Plumage about the basis of the Bill is powdered with white specks and at the basis of the lower Chap on each side is a pretty great white spot but not so in the Female Moreover the Male differs from the Female in that it is much redder than she So that in the Throat and upper part of the Breast it hath no mixture at all of any other colour All the upper side of the Body Head Neck Back and covert-feathers of the Wings are particoloured of red and black each single feather being painted with red and black transverse wayed lines Howbeit in the Cock the red exceeds the black yet hath he in the middle of the Back and on the Shoulders great black spots which the Female hath not In each Wing are twenty four quil-feathers all dusky
Perchance this may be the Columba Saxatilis of Aldrovand called by the Bolognese Sassarolo It is saith he bigger than the Stone-Pigeons of Varro of a livid colour having a red Bill and is altogether wild It is sometimes taken in the Territory of Bologna §. X. * The Dove called Livia by Gesner IT is in shape very like a House-Dove but a little less having red Feet a whitish Bill with something of Purple about the Nosthrils The feathers investing the body are all over cinereous But the extreme feathers of the Tail are black the middle have something of red The Neck above and on the sides is covered with feathers partly purple partly green as they are diversly exposed to the light shining with this or that colour The lower part of the Neck is of a colour compounded of cinereous and purple The four longer feathers of the Wings are black with somewhat of red the least Wing-feathers are cinereous the middle partly cinereous partly black in their ends the last of them towards the Back are reddish The length of this Bird from the Bill to the end of the Tail was almost fourteen inches It differs from the Ring-Dove in that it is much less and hath no white spots about the Neck and in the Wings like that This Bird if it be different from the next above described is to us unknown as also to Aldrovandus who borrows the figure and description of it of Gesner CHAP. XVI Of Thrushes in general UNder this title we comprehend also Blackbirds and Starlings The marks common to all are A mean bigness between Pigeons and Larks A Bill of a moderate length and thickness a little bending downwards The Mouth yellow within-side a long Tail Promiscuous feeding upon Berries and Insects Most of the Birds of this sort are canorous and may be taught to imitate mans voice or speak articulately This Genus comprehends under it three Species 1. Thrushes strictly and properly so called having an ash-coloured Back and a spotted Breast 2. Blackbirds so called from their colour 3. Starlings whose characteristic is a broader and flatter or more depressed bill than that of Thrushes or Blackbirds That Latine Proverb Turdus malum sibi ipse cacat spoken of those who are the cause of their own destruction took its original from that ancient conceit that the parasitical Plant called Misselto of the Berries whereof in old time Birdlime was wont to be made sprang from the Seed voided by the Thrush Misselto saith Pliny sow it how you will springs not unless cast forth in the Excrements of Birds especially the Ring-Dove and Thrush Such is its nature that unless ripened in the belly of Birds it will not grow But that Misselto comes not at all of seed may be proved by many arguments of which the principal is that sometimes it grows on upright boughs and on the underside or that respecting the earth He that desires further information concerning this matter may consult Aldrovandus and Scaliger There are four kinds of Thrushes common and well known in England Two abide all the year and build with us viz. 1. The Missel-bird or Shrite 2. The Mavis or Song-Thrush Two are Birds of passage coming in the Autumn continuing here all Winter and going away next Spring never breeding with us to wit 1. The Feldefare 2. The Redwing Of Blackbirds or Ouzels England breeds and feeds three kinds 1. The common Blackbird 2. The Ring-Ouzels 3. The Water-Ouzel of which we treat in another place among the Piscivorous Land-birds The Rock-Ouzel of Darbyshire is if I mistake not the Female of the Ring-Ouzel although it hath not the least shadow or appearance of a ring We know but one sort of Stare The Stone-Ouzel or greater Redstart as also the Solitary Sparrow and Witwal which we have seen beyond Seas are strangers and unknown to England To this Tribe we have subjoyned some exotic Birds out of Marggravius for their agreement in bigness or colour c. CHAP. XVII Thrushes properly so called having a spotted Breast §. I. The Missel-bird or Shrite Turdus viscivorus major THis Bird is the biggest of this kind weighing four ounces and an half It s length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail was eleven inches It s breadth eighteen It s Bill is streight like a Blackbirds or for the bigness a little shorter The upper Chap dusky somewhat longer than the lower The Tongue hard channel'd and slit at the tip horny and pellucid The inside of the Mouth is yellow The Nosthrils great almost of an Oval figure The Irides of the Eyes hazel-coloured The Legs and Feet yellowish the Claws black The outer fore-toe sticks to the middlemost as far as the first joynt no membrane intervening The Head is of a dusky cinereous or lead-colour the middle part of each feather being blacker The Back Tail and Rump have some mixture of yellow In Summer it changes colour and becomes more cinereous The colour of the Head Back Wings and Tail in a word of the whole upper side seemed to me to approach to that of Spanish Olives pickled while yet immature such as are usually brought over to us The underside of the body from the Bill to the Tail is speckled with pretty great blackish spots The upper part of the Breast the Sides and feathers under the Tail are yellow the middle of the Belly white The number of quill-feathers in each Wing is eighteen whereof the second being the longest is by measure five inches The tips of the feathers next incumbent on the quills are white The Tail is four inches and an half long and made up of twelve equal feathers It hath no Craw The Gizzard is not very thick or fleshy therein we found Maggots Caterpillars c. though the Bird was killed in January The Guts were great but short The blind Guts very little and short It had a pale-coloured Liver and a Gall bladder Sitting upon the tops of high trees as Oaks Elms c. in the Spring time it sings rarely well It abides the year round with us in England and breeds here It is a solitary Bird accompanying and flying only with its Mate It is the worst meat of all its kind In Winter time it feeds much upon Holly-berries And which is strange the birds of this kind are observed each to take possession of his tree and to be always near it and not to permit other birds to feed on it but to beat and drive them away Which quality of theirs is the occasion that they are easily taken A late English Writer saith that this bird makes as large a Nest as a Jay and lays as big an Egg Builds commonly with rotten twigs the outside of his Nest the inside with dead Grass Hay or Moss that he pulls from trees It seldom lays above five Eggs but four most commonly breeds but twice a year and hath three young ones never above four that I could find She feeds all
streight slender sharp-pointed above half an inch long somewhat flat of a dusky colour Its Tongue broad cloven The Irides of its Eyes hazel-coloured Its Nosthrils round Its Feet of a pale yellow inclining to flesh colour Its Claws dusky that of the back-toe longest The outmost fore-toe sticks to the middle below near the divarication The Breast and Belly are of a pale whitish yellow the Throat deeper coloured both spotted with black in the middle parts of the feathers The Head and Back are particoloured of black and reddish yellow the middle of each feather being spotted with black The Neck is ash-coloured A white line encompasseth the Head from Eye to Eye like a Crown or Wreath The Rump is of a yellowish red or tawny Each Wing hath eighteen prime feathers the outmost being much shorter than the rest The next five are half an inch longer than the rest having their points sharp and their outer edges white The rest have blunt points indented as it were in the middle having yellow edges The feathers of the bastard wing are dusky with clay-coloured tips and at its root is a white spot The small feathers on the ridge of the Wing are ash-coloured The Tail was two inches long consisting of the usual number of feathers viz. twelve not forked yet the middle feathers were something shorter than the rest and ended in sharp points being between green and a sordid red or fulvous colour The four next on each side had blunt points were whitish at tips the outmost most the rest in order less else blackish It hath no Craw In the Stomach we found Beetles Caterpillars Gromil-seed c. The stomach was provided with strong and thick muscles The blind Guts in this kind as in all other small birds that we have observed are very short The Gut below these appendants is larger These birds fly many together in company singing as they fly with a note not much unlike a Blackbirds It is distinguished from the common Lark by the following marks especially 1. Whistling like a Blackbird 2. A Circle of white feathers encompassing the Head from Eye to Eye like a Crown or Wreath 3. The first or outmost feather of the Wing being much shorter than the second whereas in the common Lark it is near equal 4. The outmost feathers of the Tail having white tips 5. That it sits upon trees 6. It is lesser than the common Lark but hath a shorter and thicker or rounder body for its bigness Aldrovandus makes no mention of this bird that I know of Olina figures and describes it in his Uccelleria under the title of Tottovilla The Woodlark is comparable to the Nightingale for singing and by some preferred before it He will also emulate the Nightingale and hath great variety of notes It is a very tender bird and yet breeds the soonest of any in England My Author saith that he hath had a Nest of young birds ready to fly by the sixteenth of March That it builds most commonly in lays where the grass hath been pretty rank and is grown russet under some large Turf to shelter its Nest from the wind and weather He could never bring up a nest of young ones because they either had the cramp or fell into a scouring in less than a weeks time after he had taken them Nor could he ever hear of any who had kept them so long as till they sung So that they are never bred from the Nest The Seasons of taking Woodlarks and which best to keep There are three seasons of taking Woodlarks 1. The first is in June July and August when the Branchers are taken having not yet moulted These birds sing presently but continue their singing but little for they soon fall a moulting They are commonly very familiar birds as being taken young 2. The next season for taking them is in the latter end of September which my Author calls the general flight-time when they rove from one Country to another By this time they have all moulted their feathers and you can hardly distinguish a young bird from an old The birds taken at this season are brave strong and sprightful and prove well at Spring if they be well kept all Winter otherwise they will be lousie and quite spoiled They usually begin not to sing till after Spring and continue till July 3. The third season is from the beginning of January to the latter end of February when they are paired and have parted with their last years Brood These sing within three or four days or a week at furthest if they be well conditioned birds and will soon become tame For your fearful wild buckish birds seldom prove good For upon every turn they bolt against the sides of the Cage and bruise themselves and so are apt to leave off singing Therefore if you have a bird that is a good bird and wild have a Net knit French Meash and put it in the inside of the Cage sowing it close to the sides and strait that when he bolts or flirts he may take no harm Birds taken at this season for the most part prove the best they being in full stomach and singing in a very short time after and being also more perfect in their song than those taken at other seasons How to order a Woodlark when taken In the first place you must have a Cage with two pans one for mixt meat and another for Oatmeal and whole Hemp-seed First boil an Egg hard Then take the crum of a half-peny white-loaf and as much Hemp-seed as the bread Chop your Egg very small and crumble your bread and it together Then bruise your Hemp-seed very small with a rolling pin or pound it in a Mortar mingle all together and give it him 2. You must put red gravel sifted fine at the bottom of his Cage for he delights to bask himself in the sand which if he doth not pretty often he proves lousie and then seldom comes to any thing If you leave gravel-stones in the sand he will be apt to break his feathers in basking him Shift this sand twice a week otherwise he will be subject to clog his feet with his dung 3. Be sure that his meat be not too stale for he will never thrive upon it when dry or mouldy 4. Have a great care to shift his water oft thrice a week at least for it stinks sooner than any birds water because throwing about his meat some falls into it which causes it immediately to stink 5. Line your Pearch in the Cage with some green bays or else make a Pearch of a Mat which I have found them very much to delight in Note 1. If your bird be very wild when he is taken keep him three or four days from company till he begins to eat his meat Strew some of the Hemp-seed and Oatmeal upon the sand and some of his mixt meat also because sometimes they find not the Pan till they be almost famished Note 2. If he
be very poor at the beginning of the Spring give him every two or three days a turf of three-leaved grass and boil him a sheeps heart and mince it small and mingle it with his meat and it will cause him to thrive exceedingly Note 3. If you would have your bird sing very lavish feed him all the time of his song with some sheeps heart mixt with his Egg and bread and Hemp-seed and put in his water two or three slices of Liquorice and a little white Sugar-candy with two or three blades of Saffron do so once a week and it will cause him to be long winded How to know a Cock from a Hen. The surest way to know a Cock from a Hen is 1. The largeness and length of his call 2. The tall walking of the bird about the Cage 3. At Evenings the doubling of his note which we call Cudling as if he were going to roost But if you hear him sing strong you cannot be deceived for Hen-birds will sing but little The use of this is chiefly to know those birds that are taken at flight-time because those taken at other seasons sing soon after they are taken or not at all The Woodlarks Diseases and their Cures Their diseases are 1. The Cramp caused by dung clogging and numbing their Feet if their gravel be not often shifted or by hanging them out abroad in the rain so wetting the sand they sit upon This is helpt by lining their Pearch that they may delight to sit upon it and giving them fresh sand anointing them as the Nightingale 2. Giddiness in the Head occasioned by feeding upon much Hemp-seed is helped by giving them some Gentles or Maggots or else Hog-lice or Ants and their Eggs And putting three or four slices of Liquorice in their water 3. Lousiness and Scurf Cured by smoaking his feathers with Tobacco and giving him fresh Gravel and setting him in the Sun For if he hath strength to bask in the sand he will immediately rid himself of the Vermine §. IV. The Tit-Lark Alauda pratorum Aldrov IT seemed to us less by half than the common Lark weighing scarce an ounce having a long body and a small head A slender sharp Bill of half an inch long the upper Mandible black more flat and depressed toward the Head The tip of the Tongue is jagged the Circle about the Pupil hazel-coloured The colour on the top of the Head Shoulders and middle of the Back various of a yellowish green and black the middle parts of the feathers being black the outsides or edges of a yellowishgreen The lower part of the Back or Rump is only green without any mixture of black The upper side is of the fore-mentioned various colour the single colours being less conspicuous by reason of a small mixture of cinereous As for the underside of the body the Breast and sides under the Wings were of a sordid yellowish white spotted with black the lower belly and Throat under the Chin white without any black spots The quil-feathers of the Wings were dusky their exteriour edges being of a yellowish green The middle feathers of the first row of coverts have their tips and exteriour edges white and the middlemost of the second row theirs still of a lighter white The rest of the covert-feathers of the Wings are almost of the same colour with the scapular feathers I suppose it is peculiar to this kind to have the four first quill-feathersequal The Tail is made up of twelve feathers the two outmost of which on each side are particoloured of white and brown In the outmost feather about the one half and that the uppermost is white the white dividing the feather obliquely Of the next feather the tip only is white The rest of the feathers are of a dark brown having their exteriour edges of a yellowish green Of the two middlemost the edges round about are of the same yellowish green not so even and trim as those of the other feathers but as it were jagged or fringed The Tail when folded up is a little forked near three inches long The Feet are yellow The Claw of the back-toe as in the rest of this kind very long and dusky The Gizzard not so musculous as in other Larks wherein we found Beetles and Insects like to meal-worms The blind Guts are something longer than in the common Lark It hath also a Gall-bladder This bird sits also upon trees In general it is less than the common Lark greener and not so finely coloured In length from the point of the Bill to the end of the Claws or Tail for they are equally extended six inches In breadth between the tips of the Wings spread out ten and a quarter Mr. Jessop suspects that there is yet another different sort of this bird which may be called the lesser field-Lark which is 1. A little bigger than that here described 2. Less green 3. Having paler Feet And 4. much shorter Spurs The Titlarks Nest I once saw in a Furze-bush not far from the ground It was built outwardly of Moss inwardly of straw with a little horse-hair She lays five or six Eggs. In this kind the Cock is all over more yellow than the Hen but especially under the Throat on the Breast Legs and soals of the Feet The Titlark saith a late English Writer sings most like the Canary bird of any bird whatsoever whisking curring and chewing But his Song is short and hath no variety in it He comes with the Nightingale about the beginning of April and goes about the beginning of September The Young are to be fed when first taken after the same manner as the Nightingale The old one if taken in like manner to be at first cram'd When he will feed himself give him Woodlarks meat or almost any other Before his going away he is apt to grow fat like the Nightingale but will eat though never so fat He is a hardy bird and long-lived if preserved with care not subject to colds or cramps §. V. The Titlark that sings like a Grashopper Locustella D. Johnson IT is lesser than the Rogulus non cristatus hath a pretty long streight Bill yet having a little declivity above the upper Chap black the nether of a horn colour The upper side of the body is of a dusky yellow besprinkled with blackish spots the underside of a pale yellow The Tail is of the longest of a brown or dusky colour when spread ending in a circular circumference On the lower Belly the Thighs and under the Tail it hath brown spots tending downwards It hath long slender dusky-coloured Legs crooked Claws and a very long Spur or heel It feeds upon flies It hath a note like a Grashopper but louder and shriller When it sings it commonly sits upon a bush with its mouth open and streight up and its Wings disshevel'd §. VI. The Calandra which perchance is no other than the Bunting THis bird Olina describes in this manner It is a
sides and upper part of the Breast from red incline to yellow The Breast in some is variegated with black spots From the Nosthrils above the Eyes to the hinder part of the Head is drawn a pale whitish line Under the Bill also on each side is a white line The intermediate space between these lines in some birds is black In one Bird of this kind I observed a white spot behind each Eye The quil-feathers of the Wings are brown with yellowish edges or of a feuille-mort colour From the ninth the tips of the eight following are white The covert-feathers next above the quils are black with red edges In which two white spots do mark or characterize each Wing one under the bastard Wing the other at the first joynt by which note this Bird may be easily distinguished from all others of its kind The middle quil-feathers towards the bottom are white The Tail is two inches and an half long consisting of twelve feathers of all which excepting the two middlemost the lower half is white the upper black the utmost edges being red The two middlemost in some birds are wholly black in all for the greater part having red or feuille-mort edges They all end in sharp points The feathers next to the incumbent on the Tail both above and beneath reach further than its middle so that they wholly hide its white part It s Bill is slender streight short black not only without but also within The Irides of the Eyes hazel-coloured The Legs slender The Feet Toes and Claws black The lower joynt of the outmost Toe sticks fast to that of the middle one In the Female those white spots of the Wing scarce appear and the whole body is of a duller colour It frequents banks and ditches feeding upon Beetles and other Insects Nature sometimes sports her self in the colours of this Bird For in some birds the two middle feathers of the Tail are wholly black excepting the edges which are reddish in others their bottoms are white c. It differs from the following bird chiefly by these notes 1. That the upper side of the body is more beautifully coloured the feathers having their middle parts about the shaft black and their borders red 2. That in each Wing they have two white spots 3. That the lower part of their Tails is white 4. That the feathers immediately incumbent on the Tail both above and beneath run out as far and further than the middle of the tail so that they wholly hide the white part thereof 5. In the white lines reaching from the Bill to the back of the Head The Bird which Aldrovand saith is called commonly Spipola which perchance may be the Anthus or Florus of Aristotle is near of kin to if not the same with this It is of near the same bigness Lives about Rivers and Fens especially in moist meadows and if it be driven away by Horses feeding there it flies away with a certain chattering wherein it seems after a fashion to imitate the neighing of a horse Whether it be dim-sighted or no I know not but I hear that it flies with difficulty As for its colour that is rather to be called beautiful than otherwise on the upper side throughout the Neck Back and Wings being of a dusky red and varied with semilunar spots The Head above is of the same colour but hath not those spots The prime-feathers of the Wings and those that cover them are black having their sides and tips yellowish The Bill is sit to catch Insects being neither slender nor thick of a white colour tinctured with yellow The nether side from the Bill to the Tail is of the same colour but variegated with spots some long some round and some of another figure Its Feet are black This differs from our Whin-chat in the colour of its Bill and in the place where it lives sith our Chat abides especially in heaths and among Furze-bushes §. III. The Stone-smich or Stone-chatter or Moor-titling Oenanthus nostra tertia Muscicapa tertia Aldrov The Rubetra of Bellonius as we judge which Gesner makes the same with his Todtenvogel or Flugenstecherlin IT is of the bigness of a Linnet or thereabouts Of half an ounce weight From Bill-point to tail-Tail-end five inches long It s Bill is slender streight black as well within as without The upper Chap a thought longer than the nether and a little crooked The Tongue cloven the Irides of the Eyes hazel-coloured The Legs Feet and Claws black the outer Toe grows to the middle one below as in other small birds The Head is great in the Cock almost wholly black as is also the Throat under the Bill In the Hen it is particoloured of black and a dirty red The upper part of the Neck is black on each side it is marked with a white spot so that the bird seems to have a ring of white about its Neck The middle of the Back is black only the outmost edges of the feathers fulvous Above the Rump is a white spot The Breast is fulvous or of a yellowish red colour The Belly white with a dash of red In the Female the feathers of the Head Neck and Back from red inclining to green having their middle parts black the Rump is red the Chin of a pale ash-colour It hath a whitish spot on each side the Neck The Breast is of a deeper but the belly of like colour with the Cocks The prime feathers of the Wings are all dusky excepting the two next to the body which have a white spot at bottom The edges of all are red All the covert feathers of the Wings have also red edges The Wings in both Sexes are adorned with a white spot in the feathers next the Back The Tail is near two inches long and consists of twelve feathers not forked and black The tip and exteriour Web of the outmost feather on each side are white It hath a Gall-bladder a Stomach not very fleshy in which dissected we found Beetles and other Insects short round tumid blind Guts That which I J. R. described at Florence differed somewhat in colours and other accidents thus It was of the bigness of a lesser Titmouse Its Body short and round Its Head for the proportion of its body great The top of the Head the Neck and Back particoloured of black and a dirty red the middle part of each feather being black and the edges red The quil-feathers are eighteen all dusky their exteriour edges being of a feuille-mort colour Of the feathers of the second row those five on the middle joynt are black with feuille-mort edges the rest are of the same colour with the quil-feathers The lesser rows are of like colour with the foresaid five middle feathers The Tail-feathers are all black only their edges are paler The Cock is black about both Eyes and under the Throat the tips of the feathers being white The Breast and parts under the Wings in both Sexes are fulvous
Wagtail Motacilla alba THis Bird is every where so well known that it may seem enough to name it not needing any description It weighs six drachms being in length from the point of the Bill to the end of the Tail seven inches three quarters in breadth between the extremities of the Wings stretcht out eleven The Bill is slender not an inch long sharp-pointed and black The Tongue cloven and as it were torn The Mouth within black The Irides of the Eyes hazel-coloured The Feet Toes and Claws long and of a dark blackish colour The back-claw very long as in Larks The outer Toe at its rise sticks fast to the middle one White feathers encompass the upper Chap of the Bill then the Eyes being produced on both sides almost to the Wings The Crown of the Head upper and lower side of the Neck as far as the Breast and the Back are black The Breast and Belly white The middle of the Back from black inclines to cinereous The Rump is black In another Bird below the Throat I observed a semicircular black spot like a Crescent the horns being produced almost as far as the Jaws The Wings spread are of a semicircular figure the quil-feathers in each eighteen in number of which the three outmost end in sharp points The tips of the middle ones are blunt and indented the inmost are adorned with white lines The covert feathers of the first row are black having their tips and edges white Those of the second row have only white tips It s Tail is very long of about three inches and an half which it almost continually wags up and down whence also it took its name The Tail hath twelve feathers of which the two middlemost are longer than the rest and sharp-pointed the others all of equal length The outmost are almost wholly white the rest black The colour of the Plumage in this kind in several birds varies not a little being in some more cinereous in some blacker The Liver is of a pale colour It is much conversant about the brinks of Rivers and Pools and other watry places where it catches Flies and water Insects Moreover it follows the Plough to gather up the Worms which together with the earth it turns up As I find in Aldrovandus and our Husbandmen have told me of their own observation who therefore call it the Seed-bird as Mr. Johnson informed me In the Northern part of England it appears not in the Winter and is also then more rare in the Sòuthern Either because it is impatient of cold or for want of meat Flies and other winged Insects on which it chiefly feeds being not to be found in Winter-time In the Gizzard of one dissected we found Insects like to Meal-worms Gesner writes that the Fowlers in his Country have observed the Cuckow-chicken hatch'd and brought up by this bird The same Albertus and our experience also confirms as we have elsewhere shewn One or two ounces of the powder of this Bird put in a Pot close-stopt and bak'd in an Oven together with the feathers taken in Saxisrage water or strong White-wine is said to be good against the Stone especially that of the Kidneys But Alexander Benedictus thinks that the modern Physicians who commend this Medicine through mistake mean the Wren when they name the Wagtail As if the Wagtail were of no force in breaking the Stone Gesner to whom also we readily assent thinks that it matters not much what bird be burnt sith the vertue of the ashes of almost all birds seem to be the same Yet saith he if there be any difference I would prefer those sorts of birds which feed upon Insects as Flies Ants and the like §. II. The yellow Water-Wagtail Motacilla flava IN bigness and shape of body it agrees with the white It weighs five drachms from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail being almost seven inches long to the end of the Claws six The under part of the Body is yellow the Breast being darker than the rest The upper part is of a dark green the middle of the Back being black The crown of the Head is of a yellowish green Above the Eyes is a yellow line reaching to the hinder part of the Head The Tail is two inches three quarters long consisting of twelve feathers the middle two whereof are sharper than the rest The outmost on each side are above half white the intermediate eight black All of equal length The figure of the Wings is the same with that of the precedent The quil-feathers in number eighteen of which the sixteenth is longer than those next it and hath the outward limb white The tips of the middle covert-feathers are of a greenish white else the Wings are all over dusky The Bill is black The Tongue cloven but not hairy The Irides of the Eyes from cinereous incline to a hazel-colour The Feet are black The outer fore-toe is joyned to the middle one at bottom The Spur or Claw of the back-toe is long as in a Larks The blind guts short Some birds in this kind are much yellower or greener than others It builds upon the ground among the Corn making its Nest of bents and the stalks of herbs spreading hairs within under the Eggs. It lays at one time four or five Eggs varied with dusky spots and lines drawn without any order §. III. The grey Wagtail Motacilla cinerea an flava altera Aldrov IT is of the bigness of the common or white Wagtail It s note is shriller and louder Its Bill black streight slender and sharp-pointed Its Eyes grey Both upper and lower Eye-lid white Moreover above the Eyes a whitish line is all along extended The upper surface of the body is grey The Head which in proportion to the body is small and compressed is something dusky The Wings are blackish crossed in the middle by a whitish yet not very conspicuous line The Chin and Throat are particoloured of white and grey The Breast and Belly white dashed with yellow The Rump round about of a deeper yellow The Tail made up of twelve feathers longer than the whole body its outmost feather on each side is all over white the two next white on the inside blackish on the out the six middlemost all over blackish The Legs which are long and the Feet which are rugged or rough are of a pale colour but duskish The Claws crooked and the back-claw longer than the rest The bird here described was a Hen as we learned by its Vitellary or bunch of Eggs wherein more than forty Eggs were very conspicuous and easie to be discerned The Cock differs little save that under his Chin he hath a black spot They frequent stony Rivers and feed upon water-Insects The description of this Bird was communicated to us by Mr. Johnson of Brignal near Greta Bridge in Yorkshire CHAP. XVIII * The Brasilian Jamacaii of Marggrave IT is a small Bird of the bigness of a
Thistles Docks and most willingly Canary-grass as do other birds of this kind The Anthus or Florus of Bellonius called in French Bruant is of kin to this He describes it thus Le Bruant in French hath its name from its voice For when it sings it expresses the word Bruire As it flies it makes a noise Aristotle calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word the Latines render Florus The modern Greeks I know not from what ancient name call it also Florus It is a little bigger than a Chaffinch The Cocks are for the most part yellow Yet some part of the Wings and Tail inclines to cinereous but their greater feathers are of a more elegant yellow The extremities of the Tail-feathers are also altogether yellow but within of another colour The Bill is great and sharp of a pale colour The Legs and Feet are something red They are kept in Cages for the sweetness of their singing They feed for the most part upon Hemp-seed and keep much about tall trees far remote from Meadows It hatches at least five young ones CHAP. III. §. I. The Bulfinch Alp or Nope Rubicilla seu Pyrrhula THis Bird hath a black short strong Bill in figure and structure like that of the Grosbeak but less In the elder birds it is something crooked The Tongue is as it were cut off Its Eyes are hazel-coloured Its Claws black Its Legs dusky The lower joynt of the outmost Toe sticks fast to the middle Toe The Head for the proportion of the body is great In the Male a lovely scarlet or crimson colour illustrates the Breast Throat and Jaws as far as the Eyes The feathers on the crown of the Head above the Eyes and those that compass the Bill are black The Rump and Belly white The Neck and Back grey with a certain tincture of red The Neck Back and Shoulders seemed to me blue or ash-coloured The quil-feathers of the Wings are in number eighteen the last or inmost of which on the outer half from the shaft is red on the inner black and glossie Of the rest the interiour i. e. those next the body are black with a gloss of blue the exteriour dusky or black Of the first or outmost five the exteriour edges in the upper half of the feathers are somewhat white The tips of the lower covert-feathers are cinereous in the interiour more in the exteriour less The next to these are of the same colour with the Back The Tail is two inches long black and shining made up of twelve feathers The Cock is of equal bigness to the Hen but hath a flatter crown and excels her in the beauty of his colours They feed most willingly upon those buds of trees which break forth before indeed are pregnant with the leaves and flowers especially those of the Apple-tree Pear-tree Peach-tree and other Garden-trees and by that means bring no small detriment to the Gardeners who therefore hate and destroy them as a great Pest of their Gardens intercepting their hopes of Fruit. Turner writes that they are very docile birds and will nearly imitate the sound of a Pipe or the Whistle of a man with their voice They are much esteemed for their singing with us in England and deservedly in my judgment For therein they excel all small birds if perchance you except the Linnet I hear saith Aldrovandus that the Hen in this kind sings as well as the Cock contrary to what is usual in most other sorts of birds §. II. * The American Bulfinch or Guiratirica of Marggrave IT is of the bigness of a Lark Hath a thick streight Bill dusky above underneath white and a little incarnate Its Legs are cinereous with four toes standing after the usual manner The whole Head with the Throat and the lower and middle part of the Neck are of a rare sanguine colour The Eyes blue The Ear-holes large The sides of the Neck the whole Breast and lower Belly are covered with white feathers The upper side of the Neck hath black ones with which a few white are mixt The Back is grey with a few black feathers interspersed as are also the beginnings of the Wings The rest of the Wings is black as is the Tail which is about three inches long The lateral borders of the Wings are white CHAP. IV. The Shell-apple or Cross-bill called by the Germans Krutzvogel Loxia Gesn Aldrov An Tragon Plinii IN shape of body it is not much unlike the Green-finch It weighs an ounce and half and from tip of Bill to Tail end is six inches three quarters long It s Bill is thick hard strong black and contrary to the manner of all other birds crooked both ways the Mandibles near their tips crossing one another For the lower being drawn out into a sharp point turns upward the upper bends downward Neither do they always observe the same side for in some birds the upper Chap hangs down on the right side the nether rises up on the left in others contrariwise the lower takes the right side the upper the left The lower Chap is like the Chafinches neither is the Tongue different The Nosthrils are round The Ears great and wide The Irides of the Eyes from grey tend to a hazel-colour The Feet dusky the Claws black The lowest joynt of the outmost toe sticks to that of the middlemost The middle parts of the Back and Head feathers are black the edges green In the Head there is something of cinereous mixt with the other colours The Rump is green The Chin ash-coloured The Breast green The Belly white only under the Tail the middle parts of the feathers are black or dusky Each Wing hath eighteen quil-feathers all blackish only the outer edges of the foremost are green The Tail consists of twelve feathers two inches and a quarter long and black with green edges The Guts have many spiral convolutions The blind guts are very short This bird was described in the Autumn He that sold it told us that it changed colours thrice in a year being green in the Autumn yellow in the Winter and red in the Spring Gesner also saith that they are first of all red on the Breast Neck and Belly that then they grow yellow And that they change colour especially in Winter Some affirm that it changes colour every year so that it sometimes declines more to yellow sometimes to green red or ash-colour That it changes its colour with age or according to the different seasons of the year we cannot but think probable being so well attested Perchance also in the same age and season of the year the colour in divers birds may be different For we saw and bought at Nurenberg in Germany two of this sort of birds brought up together in one Cage of which one was green the other red when the Summer was almost spent and Autumn coming on But however the colours may differ this bird is sufficiently characterized by the make of it Bill Kept in Cages
worse than the former It is recovered by giving your bird some Melon-seed shred and Lettuce seeds and Beet seeds bruised and in his water some Liquorice and white Sugar-candy with a little flour of Oatmeal You must be diligent at the first to observe him when he is sick that so he may have a stomach to eat For in two or three days his stomach will be quite gone and then it will be hard recovering him again The third and worst sort of scouring is the white clammy scouring which is dangerous and mortal if not well looked after at the first This is occasioned by bad seeds and many times for want of water If it be not taken at the first appearance it immediately causeth him to droop and fall from his meat and then all medicines are useless First give him Flax-seeds taking away all other seeds then give him Plantain-seeds if green otherwise they will do him no good For want of Plantain-seeds give him some of the Leaves shred small and some Oatmeal bruised with a few crums of bread And in his water give him some white Sugar-candy and Liquorice with a blade or two of Saffron To avoid the peril of scouring Olina advises to let him have always a piece of chalk in his Cage §. III. The greater red-headed Linnet Linaria rubra major THis is something less than the common Linnet Its Bill short thick of a Conical figure like the Chaffinches the upper Chap black the lower at the base white The Tongue sharp and as it were cut off as in the Chaffinch The Nosthrils round The Eyes hazel-coloured The crown of the head adorned with a red or sanguine colour but not very bright and shining The rest of the Head and Neck round about are cinereous The Shoulders Back and covert feathers of the Wings are red The Breast is tinctured with red The sides under the Wings are of a yellowish red or spadiceous colour The outmost quil-feathers of the Wings are black the inner dusky The exteriour edges of the eight outmost excluding the first are white the white from the bottom towards the top extending it self in breadth in every feather more and more in order till in the ninth feather it reaches almost to the tip These white edges in the Wing complicated concur to make up a white spot externally conspicuous From the ninth the tips of the sixth or seventh succeeding are blunt and indented The interiour margins of all the quil-feathers are white and the tips also of those toward the body or setting on of the Wing The Tail is something forked two inches and an half long made up of the usual number of twelve feathers all sharp-pointed and of two colours both edges as well inner as outer being white but the outer more which colour in the extreme or outmost feathers takes up almost half the breadth of the exteriour Web In the rest it grows narrower and narrower by degrees to the middlemost which are almost wholly black the very extreme edges only remaining white The feathers incumbent on the Tail in the middle along the shaft are dusky their outsides being white It hath small Legs and Feet of a reddish dusky colour but not perfectly black black Claws the hinder the biggest the two outer Claws equal one to the other There is also the like cohesion between the outmost and middle toes as in other birds In the Female neither is the Back bay nor the crown or Breast red but the Back dusky with a tincture of green the Breast of a dirty yellow varied with dusky spots The other notes agree in both Sexes It weighs five drachms from tip of Bill to end of Tail is five inches and an half long to the end of the Claws but five A line of nine inches and a quarter measures the Wings stretcht out It is common on the Sea-coasts §. IV. The lesser red-headed Linnet Linaria rubra minor THis is lesser than the precedent The Back coloured like the common Linnet The forehead adorned with a remarkable shining red spot The Bill like that of the greater red Linnet but less The Breast red the lower Belly white The prime feathers of the Wings and Tail dusky The Tail about two inches long and something forked The outmost borders or edges of the Wing and Tail-feathers round are white The Legs and Feet are dusky the Claws black and long for the bigness of the bird but the Legs very short The like cohesion or adnascency of the outmost and middle toe at bottom as in other small birds In this kind the Female also hath a spot on her head but more dilute than that of the Cock and of a Saffron colour This Bird differs from the precedent red Linnet in many particulars 1. In that it is less 2. That it hath a lesser and sharper Bill 3. That the Hen agrees with the Cock in the spot on its head though it be paler 4. That the Legs and Feet in this are blacker 5. That the border of white about the tail-feathers is narrower 6. That the tips of the second row of Wing-feathers being white make a transverse white line cross the Wing Lastly that this Bird is gregarious flying in flocks not that Aldrovandus describes two sorts of red Linnets neither of which agrees with either of ours in all points See their description in his Ornithology §. V. The Mountain Linnet Linaria Montana THis was found by Mr. Fr. Jessop in the Mountains of the Peak of Derbyshire and sent to us It is twice as big as the precedent The colour of its Head and Back is the same with that of the common Linnet for the middle parts of the feathers of both are black but the outsides or edges of those on the Back red on the Head cinereous The middle parts of the feathers on the Throat and Breast are also black but the edges whitish Only the Rump is of a very fair shining scarlet or Orange-tawny colour The edges of the middle quil feathers of the Wings are white as are also the tips of those of the second row The Tail is two inches and an half long consisting of twelve feathers of which the two middle are all over of one uniform brown or dusky colour Of the rest as well the outer as inner edges are white These white edges in the outmost feathers are broader than in the rest It s Bill is like that of the precedent viz. less for the proportion of its body than that of the second species The whole bird from Bill to Tail was six inches and an half long to the Claws five and an half CHAP. XII The Siskin Spinus sive Ligurinus IT s Head is black The upper side of its body viz. Neck and Back are green Yet the shafts of the feathers on the Back are black and the Neck being darker than the Back seems to partake something of the colour of the Head The Rump is of a greenish yellow The Throat and Breast
end in sharp points The Feet from flesh colour decline to black The Claws are black The outmost and middle Toe joyned at bottom The back-toe great and strong The blind guts short and thick It hath a Gall-bladder The Stomach is musculous In it opened we found seeds c. The Hen as in most Birds is not so fair-coloured The ring about her Neck is darker and scarce appearing The Head Back Shoulders and covert-feathers of the Wings are particoloured of black and dirty red viz. the middle parts of the feathers are black and the outsides red At the base of the Wing are red feathers The Throat is particoloured of red black and cinereous §. V. The Hortulane of the Italians Hortulanus Aldrov Tordino Berluccio at Venice IT is equal and very like to the Yellow-hammer That which I J. R. saw and described at Florence seemed to me somewhat less and longer-bodied The Hen measured from Bill to Tail exceeded seven inches length being in our usual way of measuring ten and an half broad It s Bill was short viz. from the tip to the corners of the Mouth scarce half an inch long thick at base sharp at point of a red or flesh colour in the Cock In the Hen the upper Chap is black the lower blue The knob on the upper Chap is much less than in the Yellow-hammer The sides of the Bill are sharp The upper Mandible hath on each side an angle or furrow impressed to which answereth a tough or angular eminency in the lower as in the Bunting the figure whereof for the clearer apprehension and understanding of what we say is to be viewed The Feet are of a pale dusky The Claws black In the Cock the Legs are reddish The back-toe is great The inner and outer fore-toes are of equal length The outmost from the bottom to the first joynt sticks fast to the middlemost without any membrane intervening as in most small birds The Throat and Breast are ash-coloured the rest of the underside to the very Tail is red The Rump of a deeper red The Head of a brown or dusky ash-colour the middle parts of the feathers being black As they are likewise on the Back having their edges of a reddish ash-colour In the Cocks the Breasts are more red Under the Bill is a yellow spot The Head is of a colour mingled of green and cinereous The middle parts of the Back-feathers are black the edges of a colour mingled of red and cinereous or red and green the Rump is green The quil-feathers of the Wings as in almost all small birds are eighteen in number of which the greater have their edges of a greenish white the lesser or interiour of a red The tips of all the feathers of the second row have their tips white and exteriour edges red The tips of the third row are also white The edges of the lesser coverts are cinereous The Tail is almost three inches long and made up of twelve feathers Of which the middle and outmost are something shorter than the rest For colour the two middlemost are of a dark brown with red edges The three next on both sides black The outmost but one have the upper half of their interiour Webs white The outmost have more white on the interiour Web and some also on the exteriour The Gall-bladder is little and the Gall within yellow It is very like our Reed-Sparrow with a white ring about its Neck yet differs manifestly from it in some marks so that there is no doubt but it is a distinct kind 1. In its place this abiding chiefly among Reeds Whereas the Hortulane frequents Gardens especially as the name imports 2. In colour The Hortulane being more red and wanting the ring about the Neck which this hath And besides having a yellow spot under the Throat which this wants Aldrovand sets forth six kinds or varieties of this bird 1. The first was all yellow almost of a straw-colour excepting the ridges of the Wings and tips of the quil-feathers which were white 2. The second was all over white 3. The third called also by the Fowlers a Hortulane is indeed a bird wholly of the shape of a Hortulane but something different in colour It s Head from cinereous inclined to yellow Its Neck was cinereous but speckled with black Its Belly Legs and Feet yellow The ridges of the Wings and the quil-feathers white the other parts partly black and partly cinereous The whole Tail brown but yellow on the sides 4. The fourth had a green Head and Neck a red Bill ash-coloured Legs else it was black Yet hath it on the crown of the head and also in two of the quil-feathers only an oblong white spot 5. The fifth I may call a white-tail'd Hortulane For its Tail was white else it was like the common Hortulanes but in all parts paler 6. The last some of our Fowlers reckoned a kind of Spipola others a kind of Hortulane and indeed I should make it congenerous rather to the Spipolae than the Hortulanes For its Bill is longer and its Legs and Feet dusky which in the Hortulanes are wont to be yellow It s whole body also is dusky the Breast only and ends of the Wings being white §. VI. * A Bird called by Aldrovand Cirlus stultus IT is equal in bigness to the Yellow-hammers above described of the same make and habit of body the very same figure and shape though it differs in colour It will also willingly fly to and company with them shut up in Cages as to birds of its own feather And besides it constantly no less than they as well flying as resting ingeminates this word Ci Ci. Whence also in some places as at Genoa it is not undeservedly called Cia or for distinction sake Cia selvatica or Cia montanina and by our Bolognese Cirlomatto The upper part of the Head behind and all the Back are adorned with a ferrugineous colour distinguished with pretty large black spots From the Bill over the Eyes to the end of the Neck is extended an ash-coloured line tending to white The Breast and all the Belly are wholly taken up with a ferrugineous colour The prime feathers of the Wings and Tail are blackish yet their outmost borders terminate in a ferrugineous colour Besides the Wings have some white spots In the Tail are one or two feathers on each side partly blackish and partly white We have subjoyned this Bird to the Yellow-hammers and Hortulanes to which it is of kin though whether or no it properly pertain to this Family the figure of the Bill being omitted in Aldrovands description we cannot certainly determine THE THIRD BOOK OF THE ORNITHOLOGY OF FRANCIS WILLUGHBY Esq Of Water-Fowl WAter-fowl are either Cloven-footed which are much conversant in or about waters and for the most part seek their Food in watery places Almost all these have long Legs naked or bare of feathers for a good way above the Knees that they may
more conveniently wade in waters or Whole-footed which swim in the water and are for the most part short-leg'd Those that live much about waters are either first of great size the biggest of this kind having each something singular and being not reducible to any other tribe which therefore as straglers and anomalous birds we have placed by themselves though they agree in nothing but their bigness Or secondly of lesser size These lesser are either Piscivorous or such as suck a nourishing fat juice or moisture out of muddy and boggy ground or Insectivorous The Piscivorous are Herons Storks c. The Limosugae or Mud-suckers may be distinguished by their Bills into such as have very long Bills either crooked as the Curlew or streight as the Woodcock The Insectivorous Water-birds have either Bills of a middle size for length as the Himantopus or short Bills as the Plover Lapwing c. We call those Birds Mudsuckers which suck out of the Mud or Channels some oyly slime or juice wherewith they are nourished Whence they have delicate flesh and their very guts not emptied or cleansed from the Excrements are usually eaten These have very long Bills for this purpose broad near the tip and finely chamfered or wrought with lines Speckled bodies two toes somewhat joyned all broad that they may not easily sink as they walk upon muddy and boggy grounds But because we are not so skilful as that we can certainly determine what Birds belong to each of these kinds we shall chuse rather to distinguish Cloven-footed Water-fowl not Piscivorous by the different length of their Bills into three kinds The first shall be of those that have the longest Bills whether streight as the Woodcock c. or crooked as the Curlew c. The second of such whose Bills are of a middle length as the Himantopus c. The third of short-bill'd birds as the Plover Lapwing c. Those we call long-bill'd whose Bills exceed two inches and an half length those middle-sized whose Bills are of any length between two inches and an half and one and an half Those short-bill'd whose Bills exceed not an inch and half Most Water-fowl have a short Tail none of them have their Feet so disposed as Woodpeckers and Parrots that is two forward and two backward none having more than one back toe Among Water-fowl of all kinds those that feed upon fish have the ranker and stronger-sented flesh THE FIRST PART Of Cloven-footed Water-fowl wading in Waters or frequenting watery places THE FIRST SECTION The greatest Cloven-footed Water-fowl of a singular kind CHAP. I. § I. The Crane Grus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Graecis THis is a large-bodied Fowl weighing sometimes ten pounds Measuring from the beginning of the Bill to the end of the Tail it is well nigh five foot long That it hath a very long Neck is so well known that it is needless to write it Its Legs also are very long It s Bill is streight sharp-pointed of a dark greenish colour near four inches long compressed side-ways Its Tongue broad and horny at the tip The top of the Head black from the Bill to the hinder part covered with black hairs or bristles rather than feathers On the back of the Head it hath a space or bed of the figure of a Crescent bare or thin set with hairs and of a red colour Below which on the upper part of the Neck is a triangular spot of ash-coloured feathers Two white lines or stroaks one from each Eye are produced backwards and meeting behind the Vertex of the now mentioned triangular spot are thence continued as far as the Breast The Throat and sides of the Neck are of black hue The Back Shoulders covert-feathers of the Wings Breast and all the Belly and Thighs are ash-coloured only the quil-feathers of the Wings and those on the utmost Pinion are black The Wings are very large The quil-feathers are in number twenty four and as we said black yet the lesser of them from black incline to red or russet as do also the primary covert-feathers which are on the utmost joynt or Pinion The Tail for the bigness of the bird is small and short round when spread consisting of twelve feathers all cinereous with black tips The Legs are black bare of feathers for an hand breadth above the Knees The Toes black and very long The lower joynt of the outmost and middle Toe connected by a thick membrane But that which is most rare and especially remarkable yea wonderful in this bird is the conformation of the Wind-pipe For entring far into the Breast bone which hath a great cavity within to receive it and being there thrice reflected as the figure adjoyning to the sculp of the Crane represents goes out again at the same hole and so turns down to the Lungs The blind guts are five inches long The Stomach or Gizzard musculous as in granivorous birds The flesh is very savoury and well-tasted not to say delicate We saw many Cranes to be sold in the Poulterers shops at Rome in the Winter time which I suppose had been shot on the Sea-coast They come often to us in England And in the Fen-Countries in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire there are great flocks of them but whether or no they breed in England as Aldrovandus writes he was told by a certain English man who said he had often seen their young ones I cannot certainly determine either of my own knowledge or from the relation of any credible person The delicate taste of the flesh and the musculous Stomach are sufficient arguments to evince that this bird feeds not at all upon fish but only upon herbs grain and seeds of divers sorts and it is likely upon Insects too As the Authors also that have written of it unanimously report Cranes differ from Herons 1. In that the Claw of the middle toe is not serrate as in Herons 2. In bigness wherein they exceed them 3. In having a shorter Bill And 4. a musculous stomach or Gizzard 5. Two Appendices or blind guts whereas Herons have but one 6. In the strange revolution of the Wind-pipe within the Breast-bone §. II. The Indian Crane THis is lesser than our common Crane but of the same ash-colour Its Tail is short and scarce conspicuous being hidden by the Wings It s Bill is streight narrow and longer in proportion than the Bill of the common Crane Its Nosthrils oblong The chief difference is that in this the top of the Head from the Bill to the Crown is bare of feathers only set with thin hairs rough-skin'd and of a red colour This we saw among his Majesties rare Birds kept in St. James's Park near Westminster §. III. The Balearic Crane Grus Balearica Aldrov Pavo marinus Clus FOr the shape of its body it is like to a Stork Yet its Bill is shorter not only than a Storks but than a Cranes It hath upon its Head a thick round Crest made
called by later Writers Butorius and Botaurus and by Aristotle also Ocnus IN bigness it falls not much short of the common Heron-shaw It s length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Claws is thirty eight inches to the end of the Tail twenty nine It s Head is small narrow or compressed at sides The crown black At the angles of the mouth on each side is a black spot The Throat and sides of the Neck are red with narrow transverse black lines The Neck being cloathed with very long feathers seems to be both shorter and much greater than indeed it is The long feathers on the Breast are black in their middles The inner part of the Thighs and the lower Belly are white with a light tincture of red The outsides of the Thighs are variegated with black spots The Back is particoloured of pale red or feuille mort and black with cinereous also mingled the black spots being greater there than in the rest of the body The bottoms of the feathers on the Throat are white The great or quill-feathers of the Wings are shorter than in the common Heron. The tips of the greater feathers are black else they are all variegated with transverse red and black lines The lesser rows of Wing-feathers are of a paler red The Tail is very short and little made up of ten feathers of the same colour with the Wing-feathers The black stroaks or marks between the shoulders are broader and tend downwards but the red colour is paler languishing into a yellow It s Bill is streight strong thick at the Head and growing slenderer by degrees to the point of a greenish colour and having sharp sides or edges The sides of the lower Mandible fall within the upper when the Mouth is shut The upper Chap hath a long cranny or furrow or channel excavated on each side wherein are the Nosthrils The Tongue is sharp not cloven reaching scarce to the middle of the Bill The Irides of the Eyes from hazel incline to yellow In another bird they were red The slit of the Mouth is very wide running out beyond the Eyes toward the hinder part of the Head so that the Eyes seem to be situate as it were in the very Bill Under the Eyes the skin is bare of feathers and of a green colour The Ears are great and wide open The Shanks are bare a little above the knees The Feet green The Toes great and very long armed also with long and strong Talons that of the middle Toe serrate on the interiour edge in like manner and for the same purposes viz. of holding fast Eels and other slippery fish as in the rest of this kind The back-claw which is remarkably thick and long above the rest is wont to be set in Silver for a Pick-tooth and is thought to have a singular property of preserving the teeth The outmost fore-toe is joyned to the middlemost at bottom by a membrane They say that it gives always an odd number of bombs at a time viz. three or five Which in my own observation I have found to be false It begins to bellow about the beginning of February and ceases when breeding time is over The common people are of opinion that it thrusts its Bill into a Reed by the help whereof it makes that lowing or drumming noise Others say that it thrusts its Bill into the water or mud or earth and by that means imitates the lowings of an Ox. It hides it self commonly among reeds and rushes and sometimes lies in hedges with its Neck and Head erect In the Autumn after Sun-set these birds are wont to soar aloft in the air with a spiral ascent so high till they get quite out of sight In the mean time making a singular kind of noise nothing like to lowing As for the interiour parts The annulary cartilages of the Wind-pipe after its divarication are not entire or perfectly round but only semicircular The other part of the circle being supplied by a thin loose membrane They stand also at a greater distance one from another than before The Liver is divided into two Lobes and hath its Gall-bladder annexed The interiour membrane of the Stomach is wrinkled and full of papillary glandules Beneath the lower Orifice of the Stomach was as is were a secondary stomach of a singular structure and of the figure of the Letter ∽ having a thick coat and being rugged and uneven with folds or wrinkles within The first stomach was lax and membranous rather than musculous like a Dogs stomach as Bellonius rightly compares it It hath no Craw Only one blind gut like the rest of this kind half an inch long The Gullet just below the Bill may be vastly dilated so as to admit a mans fist In the stomach dissected we found the fur and bones of Mice Instead of the transverse ribs are only small Appendices The Vertebres next the Head are bent downwards all the rest up wards The Breast-bone is arcuate The angle or aperture of the Breast-bone is filled up with a thin loose pellucid membrane The Gullet and Windpipe descend down the right side of the Neck It hath also a bony Appendix in the angle of the Merry-thought but less than the common Heron. It is called by later Writers Butorius and Botaurus because it seems to imitate boatum tauri the bellowing of a Bull. The Author of Philomela calls it Butio But his mistakes are so many that no account is to be made of his authority Some have made it to be the Onocrotalus because of its voice which to say the truth seems to me much more to imitate the braying of an Ass than the lowing of a Bull But Pliny hath so exactly described the Onocrotalus that no man that shall compare the notes with the bird can possibly doubt that it is that we commonly call the Pelecan Though those that have seen and observed it never heard it make any such braying noise when kept tame Which is something strange unless perhaps being discontented with its captivity it delights not to make that noise it doth when at liberty The Bittern is said above all other birds to strike at mens eyes It builds upon the ground commonly in a tuft of Rushes lays four or five Eggs of a round figure and whitish colour inclining to cinereous or green not spotted at all This without doubt is that bird our common people call the Night-raven and have such a dread of imagining it cry portends no less than their death or the death of some of their near Relations For it flies in the night answers their description of being like a flagging Collar and hath such a kind of hooping cry as they talk of §. XIII * Aldrovandus his third sort of speckled Heron. THis Bird sent from Epidaurus was all over of one and the same colour to wit reddish deeper above lighter underneath This same or at least one very like to it taken in our Fens had
pleasant colours render this Bird very elegant and beautiful to behold It is not altogether whole-footed like a Duck yet the three fore-toes are joyned together half-way by a tough membrane the back-toe or keel being pretty long and armed with a strong Talon These birds frequent Fens Lakes and Sea-shores into these waters they run intent upon their prey sometimes also diving under water maintain themselves by fishing as I am assured by our Fowlers upon their credit This Bird is not very frequent at Rome yet is it sometimes exposed to sale among other Sea-fowl It s flesh hath such a fishy taste and stench that being thrown to our Cat she refused it and would not touch it He endeavours to prove this Bird to be the Mergus of Ovid. See the Author All Storks make a clattering or snapping noise with their Bills by clapping one Mandible nimbly against the other They are said to live only in Republics and free-States but this we found by experience to be false observing them in the Territories of some Princes in Germany There is a tradition also that they feed and nourish their Parents in their old age when they are unable to seek their own food Whence the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying the duty of Children in requiting and maintaining their aged Parents §. III. * The American Stork called by the Brasilians Maguari of Marggrave IT is a Bird lik to the Stork in figure and bigness and partly also in colour It hath a Neck a foot long A streight sharp Bill of nine inches length long naked Legs like the Stork a short Tail reaching no further than the Wings It s Bill at botom half way up is of a yellowish green The other half being of a bluish ash-colour It hath small silver-coloured Eyes with a black Pupil and about them a Vermilion-coloured skin and the like also below near the rise of the Bill or between the Bill and the Throat which when she is angry she lets hang down under the Throat after the manner of the Senembi The whole Head Neck and all the body is covered with pure white feathers and on the lower part of the Neck those white feafeathers are of a good length The Tail also is white but above covered with certain black feathers The Wings at setting on are covered with white feathers but near the Back with black which black hath a gloss of green It Legs and Feet are red and like a Storks It snaps also with its Bill like our Country Stork It s flesh is esculent CHAP. III. * The Ibis of Bellonius FOrmerly saith he we took the black Ibis to be the Haematopus But observing its manners and conditions we found it not to be the Haematopus but the black Ibis which Herodotus first mentioned and after him Aristotle It is of the bulk of the Curlew or a little less all over black Hath the Head of a Cormorant The Bill where it is joyned to the Head is above an inch thick but pointed toward the end and a little crooked and arched and wholly red as are also the Legs which are long like the Legs of that Bird which Pliny calls Bos taurus Aristotle names Ardea stellaris It hath a long Neck like a Heron so that when we first saw the black Ibis it seemed to us in the manner and make habitu of its body like the Bittour This kind of Bird is said to be so proper to Egypt that it cannot live out of that Country and that if it be carried out it dies suddenly The Ibes are birds very useful to the Egyptians for destroying Serpents Locusts and Caterpillars with which that Country is greatly infested and therefore divine honours were given them The Ibes saith Cicero dispatch a power of Serpents They turn away a great Plague from Egypt when they kill and consume those flying Serpents that are brought in thither by the West wind out of the Deserts of Libya Whence it comes to pass that they do no harm either alive by their biting or dead by their stench For which cause the Ibes are invocated by the Egyptians What else the Ancients have delivered concerning the Ibis see in Aldrovandus CHAP. IV. §. I. The Spoon-bill Platea sive Pelecanus of Gesner Leucorodius sive Albardeola of Aldrovand Lepelaer of the Low Dutch THat which we described was a young one taken out of the Nest It weighed forty five ounces and an half It s length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Claws was thirty four inches to the end of the Tail twenty four The colour of the whole body was Snow-white like a Swans Beyond the Eyes toward the Bill grow neither feathers nor down as in the Heron and Cormorant The angle also of the lower Chap is bare which perchance is peculiar and proper to this Bird. The first quil-feather of the Wing is black of the second only the exteriour Web or outer half from the shaft and the tip of the interiour are black of the third only the top and of the fourth yet less In like manner the tips and shafts of the inferiour feathers of the second row were black The Tail is very short viz. three inches and an half made up of twelve feathers The Bill is of a singular and unusual figure plain depressed and broad near the end dilated into an almost circular figure of the likeness of a Spoon whence also the Bird it self is called by the Low Dutch Lepelaer that is Spoon-bill The broad part of the Bill is graven with twelve or fourteen lines or crevises but its inward surface is smooth and even without any such sculptures or gravings The Bill in the young ones before they be grown up is white or of a flesh-colour in old ones black The Tongue is sharp and little The Legs half way up the second joynt are bare of feathers in the young ones of a whitish colour The Feet strong The fore-toes joyned together by a membrane the outmost and middlemost to the second joynt the middlemost and inmost no further than the first The Toes and Claws black We did not observe in our Bird those reflections of the Wind-pipe which Aldrovandus mentions describes and figures It had a large Gall The Guts had many revolutions Above the Stomach the Gullet was dilated into a Bag whose inward surface was rough and uneven with many papillary glandules Its Eggs are of the bigness of Hens Eggs white and powdered with a few sanguine or pale-red spots In a certain Grove at a Village called Sevenhuys not far from Leyden in Holland they build and breed yearly in great numbers on the top of high trees where also build Herons Night-ravens Shags Cormorants c. In this Grove every sort of Bird as they told us hath its several quarter where they build all together When the young ones are ripe those that farm the Grove with a hook on the top of a long pole catch hold of the bough
Falcinellus of Gesner and Aldrovand CHAP. V. * The Brasilian Guara of Marggrave The Indian Curlew of Clusius Exot. IT is a Land and Water-fowl of the bigness of the Spoon-bill It hath a Bill of the figure of a Polonian Sword long of a whitish ash-colour black Eyes a Neck and Head like the Spoon-bill The Wings end with the Tail which is short and carried low The Legs are long the upper half whereof covered with feathers the rest bare In each footfour Toes situate as is usual long with short Claws at bottom joyned together by a skin The Feet and Legs as far as naked are of a light grey as is also the Bill The whole Bird is covered with feathers of an elegant scarlet colour Only the quil-feathers of the Wings have their ends black This Bird when first hatch'd is of a blackish colour next it becomes ash-coloured then white After by degrees it begins to grow red and in the second year of its age is all over of that colour they call Columbin and as it grows older it acquires that elegant scarlet colour It feeds upon fish and flesh water always added That Bird which Clusius from a Picture sent him by the Duke of Areschot described by the title of the Indian Curlew is without all doubt the same with this It approached well to the bigness of a Curlew Had a long Neck a long and sharp Bill but crooked like a Sithe Long and slender Legs furnished with four Toes of which the three foremost are longest the hind-toe short All armed with black Claws The Thighs for half that part that is above the knee are destitute of feathers Which note is common to it with all other birds which are wont to frequent watery and fenny places It s Tail was short not exceeding the ends of the Wings But the feathers investing the whole body were of another colour than those of our common Curlew for they were wholly red like Vermilion excepting the ends of the quil-feathers of the Wings which were black It s Bill and Legs were yellow almost like Oker SECTION V. Water-fowl not piscivorous with slender Bills of a middle length CHAP. I. * The Himantopus of Pliny Aldrov lib. 20. cap. 30. THe whole Belly Breast and under-side of the Neck is white as is also the Head beneath the Eyes For above the Eyes it is black and so is it too on the Back and Wings The Bill is likewise black a Palm and more long slender and fit to strike Wood-lice and other Insects The Tail from white inclines to ash-colour but underneath is white On the upper side of the Neck are black spots tending downward The Wings are very long The Legs and Thighs are of a wonderful length very small and weak and so much the more unfit to stand upon because it wants a hind-toe and the fore-toes for the length of the Legs are short so that well and of right may it be called Himantopus or Loripes its Legs being soft and flexible like a thong or string The Toes are of almost equal length and of a sanguine colour yet is the middle toe a little the longest The Claws are black small and a little crooked See Gesners description of this bird and what else he hath concerning it in the Author himself or in Aldrovandus who repeats it out of him Ornithol lib. 20. cap. 30. To say the truth it hath not been our hap as yet to see this bird CHAP. II. * The Crex of Bellonius IT hath long Legs like the Limosa called by the French Chevalier but is bigger yet lesser than the Curlew It hath a long black Bill like the Curlew and also black legs and Head the Neck back and Breast white The rest of the upper parts of the body incline to ash-colour The Wings are blackish crossed on both sides by a white line near the ridge It seeks its food on the ground and in the air also pursues and preys upon flies in like manner as the Lapwing When it flies it makes a great noise This Bird Bellonius saw about the River Nile and thence guessed it to be the Crex of Aristotle because in its cry it often repeats this word Crex Crex CHAP. III. The Sea-Pie Haematopus Bellonii IT is of the bigness of a Magpie or Crow of the weight of eighteen ounces From Bill to Tail or Claws for it is all one eighteen inches long It s Bill is streight three inches long narrow or compressed sideways ending sharp of a red colour In another bird perchance a young one the Bill was half black from the tip By its figure the Bill seems to be framed by Nature to thrust under Limpets and to raise them from the Rocks that so it may feed upon their meat The upper Chap is a little longer than the nether The Irides of the Eyes and edges of the Eye-lids of a curious red colour in another bird they were from yellow hazel-coloured The Legs and Feet red It wants the back-toe The outmost and middle toe are for a good way up joyned together by a membrane So that this Bird seems to be of a middle nature between whole and cloven footed In some we observed the feet to be of a pale dusky colour perhaps those also were young ones The Claws were black The Head Neck Back and Throat to the middle of the Breast were black The rest of the Breast and Belly white as also the Rump From this likeness in colour it took the name of Sea-pie In one bird there was a great white spot under the Chin and another lesser under each eye The Tail is made up of twelve equal feathers of four inches long the lower half white the upper black The prime feathers of each Wing are about twenty eight of which the first is black having only the interiour edge white In the rest in order the white part is enlarged till in the twentieth and three following it takes up the whole feather The succeeding from the tweenty third grow gradually black again The covert-feathers of the middle quils are white and together make up a transverse bed of white in the Wing The Stomach is great not musculous but membranous in which dissected we found Limpets entire upon which it seems chiefly to feed and live as from the make of its Bill we gathered before It hath a great Liver divided into two Lobes with a Gall annexed A small Spleen Huge Ureters The Cock differs not from the Hen in colour It s flesh is very black hard having a rank taste in a word very bad meat which we cannot but wonder at seeing it feeds chiefly upon Shel-fish as do also the best rellish'd and most savoury of Water-fowl On the Coast of Wales and elsewhere on the Western Shores of England we saw abundance of these birds Care is to be taken that the Haematopus be not confounded with the Himantopus or Loripes so called from the weakness and flexibility
and ending in a sharp point the upper Mandible arcuate and crooked at the point Where it is joyned to the Head a certain callous substance encompasses its base as in Parrots Between this callous body and the first furrow anon to be described are long holes for the Nosthrils produced by the aperture of the mouth The Bill is of two colours near the Head * cinereous or livid toward the point red it hath three furrows or grooves impressed in it one in the livid part two in the red The Mouth is yellow within The Eyes grey or ash-coloured The Eye-lids are strengthened with a black cartilage in the lower is a carneous protuberance of a livid colour in the upper a small triangular excrescency of the same colour The Feet of some are yellow I suppose those are young ones of others red situate backwards almost in the same plain with the Belly as they are in Doukers or Loons so that the Bird stands and walks almost perpendicularly erected upon the Tail It wants the back-toe The inmost of the fore-toes is the shortest the middlemost the longest The Claws are of a dark blue inclining to black The top of the Head the Neck and Back are black The Breast and Belly white A ring or muffler of black produced from the Neck encompasses the Throat The sides of the Head from the crown to the now mentioned muffler are white or of a very pale ash-colour so that the Eyes and Ears are included in these white spaces Their Wings are small made up of short feathers nevertheless near the supersicies of the water they fly very swiftly They say that out of the sight of the Sea they cannot fly at all nor unless they do ever and anon dip their Wings in the water The Tail is two inches long made up of twelve feathers all black The Stomach within is yellow The Liver divided into two Lobes with a Gall annexed They build no Nest but lay their Eggs upon the bare ground They breed in holes under ground which either they dig for themselves or borrow of the Rabbets whom they drive out and dispossess of their burrows They lay but one Egg apiece which is especially remarkable but if you take away the Egg out of any Nest that Bird will lay a second if you remove that a third and so on to the fifth It lays huge Eggs for its bigness even bigger than Hens or Ducks of a reddish or sandy colour much sharper at one end than Hens Eggs and blunter at the other In the Islands of Man Bardsey Caldey Farn Godreve Sillies and other small desert Islets near the Sea-shore they breed yearly in great numbers And not only in Islands but also on Rocks and Cliffs by the Sea-side about Scarborough Tenby and elsewhere In the Summer time they abide in the places mentioned being busie in breeding and feeding their Young In the beginning of Autumn they fly away returning again the next Spring Whither they fly and where they spend their Winter we know not It is reported that in the latter end of March or beginning of April there come over first some Spies or Harbingers which stay some two or three days as it were to view and search out the places they use to breed in and see whether all be well Which done they depart and about the beginning of May return again with the whole troup of their fellows But if that season happen to be stormy and tempestuous and the Sea troubled there are abundance of them found cast upon the shores lean and perished with famine For they cannot unless the Sea be calm either proceed in their journey or fish for their living In August they all depart nor are they seen any more any where about our Coasts till the next Spring The Young which cannot then fly they leave to shift for themselves All these things are to be understood also of the Auk and Guillemot For these three kinds do for the most part fly together and build in the same places A certain Fisherman told us that in the middle of Winter he once found a Puffin under water torpid among the Rocks not far from Bardsey Island which being again cast into the Sea streightway sank to the bottom Believe it that will Mr. Fr. Jessop sent us one killed in the fresh waters not far from Sheffield in Yorkshire much less than this we have described which yet I think differed only in age for all marks agreed Of all the birds of this kind hitherto described I think it to be true which Mr. Johnson hath observed that the underside is so far white as it is immersed in the water in swimming the upper side as far as it is extant above the water being black The Auk Guillemot this Bird and perchance all the rest of this kind and the Soland-Goose lay but one Egg and bring up but one young one at once which is a thing very remarkable and worthy the observation But that Egg for the bigness of the birds is an extraordinary great one CHAP. VI. The Greenland-Dove or Sea-Turtle Columba Groenlandica dicta HIther also is to be referred that bird which in Holland they call the Greenland-Dove for that also wants the back-toe It is like the Coulterneb but less Its Legs alike red Its Bill longer not compressed sideways sharp-pointed a little crooked at the end and prominent It hath a large white spot on the upper surface of each Wing else it is all over black of the colour of a Coot We counted in each Wing twenty six or twenty seven quil-feathers I guess this bird to be the same with the Puffinet of the Farn Islands which they told us was of the bigness of a Dove It s whole body in Summer-time being black excepting a white spot in each Wing but turning white in the Winter That it had a narrow sharp Bill that it built in the holes of the Rocks and laid two Eggs. I perswade my self also that it is the same with the Turtle-dove of the Bass Island near Edinburgh in Scotland being thereto induced by the agreement of names Why they call it a Dove or Turtle I cannot certainly tell It is indeed about the bigness of a Turtle and lays they say two Eggs at once like them and possibly there may be some agreement in their voice or note SECTION II. Whole-footed Birds with four fore-toes or four toes all web'd together CHAP. 1. The Pelecan Onocrotalus sive Pelecanus Aldrov THe length of this Bird from the point of the Bill to the end of the Feet or of the Tail was sixty inches Of the Bill it self from the tip to the angles of the mouth fourteen The space between the Eyes and the Bill is naked Its feathers are almost like a Gooses Those on the top of the Head longer than the rest standing up like a Crest The colour of the whole body white Yet the Neck is yellowish The shafts of the
the mouth four inches long the upper Mandible black hooked at the end the nether from green of a pale yellow It hath a wide gape The Tongue is small and almost none The Nosthrils were not conspicuous at least I could not discover any that it had The Eyes small situate lower and forwarder than is usual in other birds It s body is small flat and depressed like the dun Divers The upper side of a black purplish colour or black with a dark tincture of green shining like silk The under-side is dusky but in the middle of the Belly inclining to ash-colour Under the Chin it is white behind the Vent blacker than the rest of the Belly The Tail is an hand-breadth and an half long composed of twelve feathers hard and stiff the middlemost being the longest and the outmost the shortest so that being spread it seems to resemble an hyperbolical circumference Each Wing hath thirty feathers in the first row The Wings when closed reach no further than the base or beginning of the Tail The Legs are short broad compressed feathered down to the Knees The skin of the Legs is cancellated not scaly It hath four Toes all connected by intervening membranes armed with black Claws the outmost Toe the longest the rest in order shorter The soals of the Feet and backsides of the Legs are black The membranes connecting the Toes dusky The Claw of the middle toe is serrate on the inside It hath a huge long membranous stomach which in the birds we dissected was full of small fishes It swims in the Sea with its Head erect its body almost immersed in the water When a Gun is discharged at it as soon as it sees the fire flash immediately it pops under water like a Doucker so that it is a very hard thing to shoot it It differs from the precedent 1. In bigness being much less 2. In the colour of the Belly which in this is blackish in that white 3. In the number of the feathers of the Tail which is this are but twelve whereas in that they are fourteen 4. In that the claw of the middle toe in this is serrate as in Herons in that only sharp-edged Mr. Johnson gives the Cormorant a serrate Claw and denies it to this Perchance herein there may be variety Nature as they term it sporting it self and not observing constantly the same rule 5. That in this there is not so much bare skin at the base of the Bill as in that nor of the same yellow colour 6. Lastly in the slenderness and length of the Bill This Bird also builds on trees Its Eggs are long and white CHAP. V. * The Sula of Hoier Clus near of kin to if not the same with the Soland-goose FRom the bottom of the Neck to the Rump measuring along the Back it was a Roman foot long From the top of the Head to the Back were eleven inches The Neck was as much about The length of the Bill which was very sharp-pointed and strong was five inches and an half The thicker part of the Bill and that about the Eyes was black The compass of the body was full twenty four inches that is two Roman feet The Wings were more than a foot long but the longer feathers of the Tail did not exceed the length of seven inches It had but slender and infirm Legs and those not more than two inches long and wholly of a black colour as were also the Feet which were very broad consisting of four Toes of which the outermost and that next it which were the longest consisted of three articulations the third of two the least of one each armed with a small claw except the second the Nail whereof is a little broader than the rest and serrate on one side but they are all joyned together by a black membrane The longer prime feathers of the Wings are all black as are also those three which are longest and lie uppermost and take up the middle part of the Tail The rest of the body was covered with white feathers which yet in the Back were something yellowish as if they were strowed with clay or dust This Bird in many things agrees with the Soland-goose yet in some it differs viz. the sharpness of the Bill the black colour about the Eyes the smalness of the Legs and the black colour of the middle feathers of the Tail But I suppose Clusius was mistaken in the number of the joynts of the outer Toe for the outer and middle Toe in no bird that I have yet hapned to see except only the Swift do agree in the number of joynts Nor doth the outer Toe consist of three articulations but four the middle of three the inner of two and the least or back-toe of one Clusius took this description from a dried bird sent by Dr. Henry Hoier Physician in Bergen in Norwey to Dr. Peter Pauw first Professor of Physick in Leyden It is he saith called Sula by the Inhabitants of the Islands Ferroyer where it is taken Those Islands Hoier writes in his Epistle to Clusius are said to be so called from the abundance of feathers there CHAP. VI. The Tropic Bird. IT is of the bigness of a Duck hath a red Bill about two inches long somewhat bending downward and sharp-pointed A line of black is drawn on each side from the corner of the mouth to the back of the Head The Belly is white The Back also is white but variegated with transverse lines of black thick set which make it very beautiful to behold The Wings are very long yet each single feather short as in the Soland-goose In the outmost quil-feathers the one Web i. e. that on the outside the shaft is black the other or inner Web white in the next to these the middle part of the feather along the shaft is black the edges on both sides white the next to these are all white those next of all to the body black and longer than the rest The Feet are black the Legs white All the four Toes web'd together In the Tail if one may rely upon the stuft skin or credit the relation of those those that sent it are only two very long feathers of about eighteen inches narrow and ending in snarp points This description I took from the case of the bird conserved in the Repository of the Royal Society It is called the Tropic-bird because it is found about the Latitude of the Tropic circles and no where else so far as hath been by our English Travellers hitherto observed My honoured and ingenious friend Mr. Martin Lister of York takes this to be the bird described in the History of the Carribbee Islands in these words There are seen near these Islands and sometimes at a great distance from them in the Sea certain birds perfectly white whose Beaks and Feet are as red as Coral They are somewhat bigger than Crows They are conceived to be a kind of Herons because their
Tails consist of two long and precious feathers by which they are distinguished from all other birds frequenting the Sea This saith Mr. Lister can be meant of no other than the Tropic-bird But then it is wrong described with red legs and a perfectly white body CHAP. VII * The Anhinga of the Tupinambae a people of Brasil Marggrav IT is an elegant sort of Diver It s body excepting the Neck is of the bigness of a common tame Ducks Its Bill streight not thick very sharp three inches long the foremost half both above and below having a double row of very sharp teeth inclining backwards It s Head is small oblong resembling a Serpents a little more than an inch and half long Its Eyes black with a golden circle Its Neck slender round a foot long Its body but only seven inches Its Legs are short The upper two inches long and feathered the lower scarce an inch and half It hath four Toes three turned forwards joyned together by membranes after the manner of Ducks or Cormorants the fourth shorter extended sideways below joyned to the rest by a membrane very sharp crooked Claws A broad Tail ten inches long consisting of twelve feathers The Wings end about the middle of the Tail The Bill is grey and after its rise a little yellowish All the Head and Neck are covered with very fine feathers to the touch as soft and sleek as Velvet on the upper side of the Head and Neck of a colour from grey inclining to yellow Under the Throat and beneath the Neck of a grey colour like the fur of those skins called Verhfelle of which womens Caps are made which fur they resemble both to the touch and sight The whole breast lower Belly and upper Legs are covered with soft feathers of a silver colour The beginning of the Back with brown ones each whereof hath in its middle an oblong spot of a whitish yellow colour so that it appears speckled The rest of the Back hath a black Plumage It hath long Wings at the setting on covevered with the like short feathers as the beginning of the Back Then follows a row of half grey half black ones that is on one side the shaft gray on the other black But the prime feathers are black The Tail consists of black and shining feathers whose ends are grey The Legs and Feet are of a colour from a dark yellow inclining to grey It is very cunning in catching of fish For after the manner of Serpents first drawing up its neck it darts forth its Bill upon the fishes and catches them with its Claws I have eaten of its flesh but it is not much better than the flesh of a Gull SECTION III. Whole-footed Birds having the back-toe loose with a narrow Bill hooked at the end and not toothed CHAP. I. * Of the Artenna of the Tremiti Islands De Ave Diomedea THis Bird Aldrovandus sets forth for the Diomedea avis induced thereto by this argument chiefly because the present Inhabitants of the Diomedean Islands called now Tremiti do affirm thereof what Pliny of old concerning the Diomedean Birds viz. that they are found in no other place but in those Islands His description he partly borrows of Gesner partly takes from a Picture of the Bird. They are saith he of the bigness of a good corpulent hen but have pretty long Necks and Legs Their colour is dusky or a dark ash and if I be not mistaken they have some white under their Bellies as wild Pigeons sometimes have My Bird on the under-side was almost wholly white It s Bill is very hard and hooked at the end like an Eagles but not so much of a bright red if I well remember I believe he did not well remember this for the Bill in my Bird was of a pale yellow all but the hook which was black Its Eyes fair of a fire-colour not very great For I did once see one which being smitten with a rod on the Head opened its Eyes and cried out but shut them presently again not being able to bear the light of the Sun And again Their colour is not simply white as Pliny writes but inclining to cinereous as in Fulicae he means a Bird of the Gull-kind to which also he compares them Whether they have toothed Bills or not I did not observe but they have them strong and pretty long Thus far Gesner Which notes saith Aldrovandus do for the most part agree exactly to my Bird which had it not a hooked Bill one might not unfitly judge to be of the great Gull-kind It doth so resemble them in the whole body but especially in the Wings The Feet are of the same colour with the Bill as are the Legs also But this description is not much to be confided in being partly borrowed of Gesner who had it from the relation of a certain friend who described it by memory partly took from a Picture or a dried case of the Bird sent him out of the Island Those who happen to travel to the Islands called Tremiti would do well to enquire diligently concerning these Birds or rather themselves procure and exactly describe them that so we may not be any longer without a true and perfect history of them CHAP. II. The Puffin of the Isle of Man which I take to be the Puffinus Anglorum MR. Willughby saw and described only a young one taken out of the Nest who makes it equal in bigness to a tame Pigeon Those which I saw dried in the Repository of the Royal Society and in Tradescants Cabinet seemed to me somewhat bigger It s colour on the Head Neck Back and whole upper side is dusky or black on the Breast and Belly white The Bill is an inch and half or it may be two inches long narrow black and for its figure something like to a Lapwings Bill the upper Chap being hooked at the end like a Cormorants It s base is covered with a naked skin in which are the Nosthrils From the Nosthrils on each side a furrow or groove is produced almost to the hook The Head is blacker than the rest of the Back The Wings long The Tail an hand-breadth long and black The Feet underneath black above the outer half of each foot is black the inner of a pale or whitish flesh-colour so that the middle toe is partly white partly black It hath a small back-toe and black Claws For its extraordinary fatness its flesh is esteemed unwholsom meat unless it be well seasoned with salt At the South end of the Isle of Man lies a little Islet divided from Man by a narrow channel called the Calf of Man on which are no habitations but only a Cottage or two lately built This Islet is full of Conies which the Puffins coming yearly dislodge and build in their Burroughs They lay each but one Egg before they sit like the Razor-bill and Guillem although it be the common perswasion that they lay two at a
membranes armed with sharp and crooked Claws The Thighs are also hid in the Belly It is of the Mergi Diver or rather Colymbi Doucker kind In diving it can hold its breath a long time and no bird can plunge under water more nimbly and speedily than it as they experience who shoot them For so soon as the powder flashes it presently ducks under water before the bullet can come at it It builds its Nest so near the water that it can if need be speedily cast it self into it But when it betakes it self again to its Nest fastning its Bill into the earth it hangs its whole weight upon it till it raises up its body and so by degrees reaches its Nest It perceives before by a peculiar natural instinct when there are about to fall great showers and shots of rain and fearing lest the flouds should destroy its Nest and Young its makes a querulous noise and cry On the contrary when it presages fair weather it expresses its joy by chearful acclamations and another more pleasant note It lays yearly three or four Eggs as big as Geese Eggs of a green colour and spotted They say that at set times of the year they depart into hotter Regions and return not until the Spring be well come on Whence they think it ominous for any one to hear the cry of this bird first fasting The Norwegians think it a sin to kill or disturb this Bird which they account holy They sometimes catch it in their Nests against their wills and sometimes shoot it with Guns The Islanders because they eat it take it either with a snare or with an angle-line They fasten two stakes at the entrance of the Nest upon which they hang and so accommodate the Snare that the Bird going to her Nest may thrust her head into it Or they cross the Pool where she frequents at its narrowest part with a fishing line so that one on each side holds it raking therewith the surface of the water till the bird fearing some danger towards dives down to the bottom then observing the place where she is rising up again by the circles there made in the water thither they direct and there hold a snare fastned to the line that coming up out of the water she may put her head into it and so be caught by the Neck It s skin is used to defend the Head and Breast from the injury of cold and preferred before a Swans This Bird Besler hath figured in his Gazophylacium by this title A singular kind of exotic Water-Swallow But it hath nothing almost common with a Swallow §. IV. * The small black and white Diver with a short sharp-pointed Bill THe Picture of this Bird was communicated by that worthy person Sir Thomas Brown It hath a short Bill a little bending at the end both Mandibles The top of the Head the Back Wings and in general the whole upper part is black excepting a transverse line of white in the Wings The Chin Throat Breast as far as the middle of the Belly and sides of the Tail white The Tail short The Legs of a sordid green The Toes web'd together The Picture doth not shew any hind-toe This Bird saith Sir Thomas is not usual with us I have met with but two of them brought me by a coaster who could give it no name SECTION VI. Of SEA-GULLS called in Latine LARI CHAP. I. Of Gulls in general GUlls are a whole-footed fowl with an indifferent long narrow sharp-pointed Bill a little crooked at the end oblong Nosthrils long and strong Wings short Legs small Feet for they do not swim much a light body but invested with many and thick-set feathers a carrion carkass the fat that is sticking to the skin as in other birds much upon the Wing very clamorous hungry and piscivorous These we divide into two kinds First The greater which have Tails composed of feathers of equal length and an angular prominency or knob on the lower Chap of the Bill underneath to strengthen it that they may more strongly hold fishes 2. The lesser which have a forked Tail and no knob on the Bill Both kinds may be divided into pied or particoloured and grey or brown CHAP. II. The greater Gulls with Tails of equal feathers And first such as are pied or particoloured of white and cinereous or black §. I. The great black and white Gull Larus ingens marinus Clusii THis Bird the biggest by much of all the Gulls we have hitherto seen weighed four pounds and twelve ounces It s length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail was twenty six inches Its breadth from tip to tip of the Wings distended sixty seven It s Bill was yellow compressed sideways more than three inches long something hooked at the end and like in figure to those of the rest of this kind The lower Mandible underneath bunched out into a knob marked on each side with a double spot the lower red the upper black The edges of the Eye-lids round about were of a Saffron colour The Head great flat-crowned Both Head Neck Breast Belly and Tail white The middle of the Back and the Wings excepting the tips of the quil-feathers were black Each Wing had about thirty four feathers in the first row all black with white tips It s Tail was six inches long made up of twelve snow-white feathers Its Legs and Feet white Its Claws black It had a small back-toe a wide Mouth a long Tongue a large Gullet It preys upon fishes For out of its stomach dissected we took a Plaise entire It had a great Liver divided into two Lobes with a Gall adhering Short and small blind guts A musculous Stomach and an oblong Spleen In another bird of this kind which was I suppose a young one both the top of the Head and the Neck were particoloured of black and white The Back and Wings paler than in that described I suppose that this is the very same bird which Clusius describes in the fifth Book of his Exotics Chap. 9. under the title of a huge Sea-gull though his description be not so full and exact as being taken only from a Picture This Bird we saw and described at Chester being not rarely found on the Sea-coasts near that City In the Feroe Islands it is called The Swarth-back §. II. The Herring-Gull Larus cinereus maximus IT is well nigh as big as a tame Duck From tip of Bill to the end of the Toes twenty four or twenty five inches long to the end of the Tail twenty two or twenty three Between the terms of the Wings stretched out fifty and in some fifty five inches broad The weight was different in several birds one weighing only twenty six ounces another thirty another thirty four The Bill was yellow two inches long narrow as in the rest of this kind but pretty deep The lower Mandible not streight as in other birds
to the Claws was a quarter of a yard Of its guts seven quarters It s Bill and Feet were brown braunlecht The Picture represents them of a dark purple The colour of the whole body was grey grau I take this to be no other than the great grey Gull described in the third place but then the colour of the Legs is mistaken §. VII * Aldrovands Cepphus IT 's not like a Gull in any thing save the Bill and shape of the Legs and Feet for in other things it rather resembles a Duck. From the Bill to the end of the Tail it is a span and half long and because it hath abundance of feathers it seems to be corpulent whereas the matter is nothing so The Bill is of a moderate both length and thickness of a horn colour on the sides of the Mandibles red at the tip which is hooked black The Eyes little for the most part red encompassed with a white circle The Head which is something less than in Gulls together with the Neck Breast Belly Thighs and Rump are variegated with white and brown spots with a mixture of bay and yellow The Wings are black the ends of the feathers being yellowish The greater feathers of the Tail are also black The Legs and shanks greenish the Feet and membrane connecting the Toes dusky This Bird is as yet to us unknown and therefore we have no more to add concerning it What the Ancients have left us concerning the Cepphus see in Aldrovand Turner thinks that bird which we call the Pewit to be the Cepphus of the Ancients as we have already told the Reader §. VIII The brown Tern Larus cinereus minor Aldrov called by Baltner Ein Kessler IT is about half so big as Bellonius his ash-coloured Mew for it scarce exceeds a span in length On the Back and Wings it is of an ash-colour but far deeper than in that inclining to a blue The quil-feathers of the Wings are on the outside cinereous but on the inside black on both sides at the ends white The Bill is slender or small for the proportion of the body a little bending and black The crown of the head towards the hind-part black The Feet Legs and membranes uniting the Toes of a Saffron-colour The Claws black All the other parts purely white This is the bird which Leon. Baltner describes and paints under the title of Ein Kessler of the bigness of a Blackbird with long Wings short legs a small Head and black for the most part the Back and quills of the Wings brown the covert-feathers cinereous yellow or Saffron-coloured Feet a black sharp Bill moderately bending It flies up and down continually over the water in pursuit of Gnats and other water-Insects It feeds also upon fish This is also the brown Tern of Mr. Johnson if I be not mistaken whose underside is all white the upper brown The Wings partly brown partly ash-coloured The Head black The Tail not forked The Birds of this kind are gregarious flying in companies §. IX * Marggraves Brasilian Gull called Guaca-guacu Gaviota of the Portughese IT is of the bigness of a common Hen hath a streight long thick yellow Bill It s Head above is covered with black feathers as are also the hinder moieties of the Wings and Tail The Throat whole Neck Breast and lower Belly and fore-part of the Wings are white It lays its Eggs in the sand which are like to a Hens for sigure bigness and colour They are indeed well tasted but the flesh of the Bird is nothing worth CHAP. III. The lesser Gulls with forked Tails §. I. The Sea-Swallow Hirundo marina Sterna of Turner Speurer of Baltner THe weight of this Bird was near five ounces Its length from Bill to Tail six teen inches its breadth from Wings end to Wings end thirty two inches It is a small bird slender and long-bodied Hath a forked Tail whence it got the name of a Swallow A black crown the black being terminated by a line drawn from the Nosthrils through the Eyes to the Neck so that above the Eyes the Head is black under the Eyes white The Cheeks Chin lower Belly underside of the Wings are all white The Breast hath something of cinereous mingled The Rump is white The Back and upper side of the Wings are of a dark ash-colour Each Wing hath twenty nine quils the outmost ten whereof have their outer Webs running out into sharp points the rest their inner The exteriour Web of the first or outmost feather is black the shaft white and of a notable thickness The tips of the following till the tenth and the inside of all white and moreover half the interiour Web of the four or five foremost The Tail is composed of twelve feathers the outmost being half a foot long and better and having their exteriour Webs from cinereous inclining to black The two middlemost scarce three inches long and white The rest having their outer Webs cinereous their inner white It s Bill is long almost streight black at the tip else red It s mouth is red within Its Tongue sharp Its Legs red the back-toe small The fore-toes web'd together as far as the very Claws The craw was large out of which we took a Gudgeon The Gizzard full of fish-bones The Guts twenty inches long The blind guts very short These Birds flock together and build and breed on Islands uninhabited near to the Sea-shores many together in the same quarter In the Island of Caldey adjacent to the Southern shore of Wales they call them Spurres a name as appears by Baltner common to them with the Germans about Strasburgh and that little Islet where they build Spurre Island In other places of England they are called Scrays a name I conceive framed in imitation of their cry For they are extraordinarily clamorous In the Northern parts they call them Terns whence Turner calls them in Latine Sternae because they frequent Lakes and great Pools of water which in the North of England are called Tarns They lay three or four Eggs either upon the bare ground or in a Nest made of Reeds Their Eggs are like the great Gulls Eggs though much less The Young are also spotted with black like theirs They fly up and down over the water intent upon their prey and when they espy a fish they cast themselves down with wonderful swiftness into the Water and catching it up fly away with it in a trice They frequent Rivers far remote from the Sea as for example the Rhene about Strasburgh where they were taken described and painted by Leonard Baltner by the title of Ein Speurer who tells us also that they build in gravelly and sandy places by the banks of the River so that if it happen there be a floud in their breeding time their Eggs are marred and Nests destroyed This Bird for its long Wings small Feet forked Tail continual flying and finally for the figure of its whole body is
Back and Wings are white The quils of the Wings black as also the whole Breast and Rump The Tail which is three inches long is also black The Legs short and black The Feet consist of three black Toes joyned together to the ends by a black membrane The Toes armed with sharp crooked Claws They have a Spur behind situate at the beginning of the Leg furnished also with the like membrane and claw The Hen is of the same bigness and figure but all over of one uniform colour viz. brown sprinkled here and there with certain black spots in its other lineaments and parts agreeing with the Cock. They build themselves Nests on the Rocks and lay good store of very savoury and well-tasted Eggs for the getting of which the neighbouring people let themselves down by ropes dangerously enough and with the same labour gather the feathers Eider dun our People call them which are very soft and fit to stuff Beds and Quilts For in a small quantity they dilate themselves much being very springy and warm the body above any others These Birds are wont at set times to moult their feathers enriching the Fowlers with this desirable merchandize This same description Wormius repeats again in the third book of his Museum pag. 310. §. II. The Cutbert-Duck Anas S. Cuthberti seu Farnensis IT is bigger than the tame Duck. The Male is particoloured of white and black the Back white the Tail and feathers of the Wings black The Bill is scarce so long as a Ducks The upper Mandible a little crooked at the end over-hanging the lower The Legs and Feet black having a back-toe But what is most remarkable in this kind is that on both sides the Bill in both Sexes the feathers run down in an acute angle as far as the middle of the Nosthril below under the Nosthrils The Female is almost of the colour of a Hen-Grouse This Fowl builds upon the Farn Islands laying great Eggs. I suspect nay am almost confident that it is the same with Wormius his Eider I saw only the Cases of the Cock and Hen stuft hanging up in Sir William Fosters Hall at Bambergh in Northumberland It breeds no where about England but on the Farn Islands that we have ever heard of When its young ones are hatcht it takes them to the Sea and never looks at Land till next breeding time nor is seen any where about our Coasts §. III. Aldrovandus his black Duck. IT is bigger than the common Duck. Its Bill is broad and short yellow on both sides black in the middle with a red hook at the tip The Head and part of the Neck are of a black green or black with a tincture of green The Legs and Feet are red on the out-side of a citron-colour on the inside The Web of the Foot and the Claws of a deep black All the rest of the body is black saving a cross line of white in the middle of the Wings and a white spot behind each Eye The feathers of the whole body are so soft and delicate as nothing more so that it might be not undeservedly called the Velvet-Duck In the Stomach and Guts almost down to the streight Gut I found small indigested fragments of Cockle and Periwinkle-shells But in the streight gut they were all concocted and reduced into a fine powder or sand It is seldom seen with us unless driven over by a storm but on the shores of Norway there are great flocks of them hundreds together This is that Duck which William Mascerellius a Physician of Collen sent to Aldrovandus giving it this title The black Duck with a black red and yellow Bill whose figure though not very elegant we have borrowed The description of this Bird we owe to Mr. Johnson with whom also we saw its Case stuft §. IV. The Sheldrake or Burrough-Duck called by some Bergander Tadorna Bellon Vulpanser quibusdam IT is of a mean bigness between a Goose and a Duck. Its Bill is short broad something turning upwards broader at the tip of a red colour all but the Nosthrils and the nail or hook at the end which are black At the base of the upper Mandible near the Head is an oblong carneous bunch or knob The Head and upper part of the Neck are of a black or very dark green shining like silk which to one that views it at a distance appears black The rest of the Neck and region of the Craw milk-white The upper part of the Breast and the Shoulders are of a very fair orange or bright bay-colour The fore-part of the body is encompassed with a broad ring or swath of this colour Along the middle of the Belly from the Breast to the Vent runs a broad black line Behind the Vent under the tail the feathers are of the same orange or bay colour but paler The rest of the Breast and Belly as also the underside of the Wings is white The middle of the Back white The long scapular feathers black All the Wing-feathers as well quils as coverts excepting those on the outmost joynt are white Each Wing hath about twenty eight quil-feathers the ten foremost or outmost whereof are black as are those of the second row incumbent on them save their bottoms Above these toward the ridge of the Wing grow two feathers white below having their edges round about black The next twelve quils as far as they appear above their covert-feathers are white on the inside the shaft on the outside tinctured with a dark shining green The three next on the inside the shaft are white on the outside have a black line next the shaft the remaining part being tinctured with an orange colour The twenty sixth feather is white having its outer edge black The Tail hath twelve feathers white and tipt with black all but the outmost which are wholly white The Legs and feet are of a pale red or flesh-colour the skin being so pellucid that the tract of the veins may easily be discerned through it It hath as it were a double Labyrinth at the divarication of the Wind-pipe It s flesh is not very savoury or delicate though we found neither fish nor fish-bones in its stomach They are called by some Burrow-Ducks because they build in Coney-burroughs By others Sheldrakes because they are particoloured And by others it should seem Berganders which name I find in Aldrovand Book 19. Chap. 19. We have seen many of them on the Sea-coasts of Wales and Lancashire nor are they less frequent about the Eastern shores of England §. V. The sharp-tail'd Island Duck of Wormius called by the Islanders Havelda IT is less than the broad-bill'd Duck called by Gesner Schellent From the crown of the Head to the Rump of a foot and three inches length It s Head is small compressed having white feathers about the Eyes on the crown black ones inclining to cinereous The Neck is of the same colour The Back down to the Rump is black with a
figure encompasses the tip of the feather running parallel to its edges within this is included another semicircular white line parallel to it and in the white again a black The Breast is white The Belly darker with transverse black spots Under the Tail the feathers are crossed with brown The lesser covert-feathers under the Wings and the interiour bastard Wing are purely white The sides are curiously variegated with alternate black and white lines The Tail is short scarce appearing beyond the feathers incumbent on it round-pointed made up of sixteen feathers with sharp tips of a white colour especially on the under side for the two middle ones above are of a dark ash-colour In the rest especially the outmost there is something of red mingled with the white The edges of all are whitish Each Wing hath twenty six quils of which the first ten are brown the three next tipt with white The four following have their outer Webs black their tips also being whitish In the three succeeding the inner Web of the feather is wholly white The four next the body are of a cinereous or reddish brown The feathers of the second row incumbent on the white quils have their exteriour Webs of a black purplish shining colour In the third row are spots of red scattered It s Bill is like that of the common Duck or Teal flat broad with a hook or nail at the end The lower Mandible inclines to a Saffron colour of the upper the sides are of the same colour the middle part black The Nosthrils great The Legs are feathered to the Knees The Feet whitish The hind-toe small The inner fore-toe shorter than the outer The membranes connecting the Toes black It hath a huge Gall-bladder The Female hath the same spots in the Wings but far duller colours wants the black colour on the Rump the feathers there growing having pale red edges as have also those on the Back and Neck It wholly wants those elegant semicircular black and white lines and spots in the Neck and Breast feathers and the strakes under the Wings This Bird may be distinguished from all others of the Duck-kind by this characteristic note that it hath on the Wings three spots of different colour one above another viz. a white a black and a red one §. III. * Gesners Muggent Anas muscaria Aldrov lib. 19. cap. 41. IT is so called because it catches flies flying upon or above the water It is of the bigness and shape almost of a tame Duck. The Bill is broad and flat it s upper Chap being wholly of a Saffron-colour in length beyond the feathers two inches it is serrate on both sides with broad and in a manner membranaceous teeth pretty high or deep but those of the nether Chap are lower and rise not much making long striae The Plumage almost all the body over is particoloured of blackish fiery colour and white with a mixture of Weasel colour in some places or in short almost like that of the Partridge that is testaceous as of most of the pulveratricious kind but yet differing Its Feet are yellow Its Toes joyned by blackish membranes Its Neck both on the upper and under side is speckled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the colours we mentioned The crown of the Head is blacker than the other parts which colour also is seen in the Wings which are shorter than the Tail Thus far Gesner This Bird if it be different from the Gadwall as the colour of the Bill and Feet might perswade one is to me unknown §. IV. The common Wigeon or Whewer Penelope Aldrovandi tom 3. p. 218. lin 30. Anas fistularis Argentoratensibus Ein Schmey IT weighs twenty two ounces Its length from Bill to Feet is twenty inches The Head and upper end of the Neck are red The crown towards the Bill is of a dilute colour from red inclining to a yellowish white The upper part of the Breast and sides as far as the Wings is beautified with a very fair tincture of a red Wine colour with small transverse black lines The scapular feathers and those on the sides under the Wings are very curiously varied with narrow transverse black and white waved lines The middle of the Back is brown the edges of the feathers being cinereous especially towards the Tail The feathers behind the Vent next the Tail are black The Breast and Belly white with a little mixture of yellow On both sides under the Legs are spots of a reddish brown Under the Tail are white feathers alike spotted mingled with the black The Tail is sharp pointed and consists of fourteen feathers of which the six outer on each side are brown their exteriour edges being whitish the two middle ones are black with a mixture of ash-colour Of the quil-feathers the ten outmost are brown The next ten have white tips and among them the fifteenth sixteenth seventeenth and eighteenth have their outer webs first of a black purplish colour then as far as they appear beyond the covert-feathers of a lovely blue In the eighteenth feather the exteriour half of the outer web is of a purplish black the interiour toward the bottom is cinereous But along the border of the black are small white spots from the white tip to the bottom The twentieth feather is all of a pale or white ash-colour The twenty first and twenty second are white about the edges black in the middle along the shaft The small covert-feathers of the Wings are of a light brown or dark ash-colour but those that cover the quils from the tenth to the twentieth are particoloured of brown white and cinereous Mr. Willughby in this and other Birds is in my opinion more particular and minute in describing the colours of each single feather of the Wings and Tail than is needful sith in these things nature doth as they say sport her self not observing exactly the same strokes and spots in the feathers of all Birds of the same sort In the structure of the Mouth Tongue and Head it differs little from the common wild Duck unless perchance the Head be less in proportion to the body The upper Mandible of the Bill is of a lead-colour with a round black nail at the end The Feet from a dusky white incline to a lead-colour The Claws are black The outmost Toe longer than the inmost The back-toe short It feeds upon grass and weeds growing in the bottoms of Rivers Lakes and Channels of water also upon Whilks Periwinkles c. that it finds there The Males in this kind at Cambridge are called Wigeons the Females Whewers The flesh of it for delicacy is much inferiour to that of Teal or indeed Wild-Duck §. V. The Sea-Pheasant or Cracker Anas caudacuta Aldrov tom 3. pag. 234. Coda lancea at Rome IT is of the bigness of the common Wigeon of twenty four ounces weight twenty eight inches long from Bill to Tail From tip to tip of the Wings extended thirty seven inches broad
THE History of Birds Containing Such Birds as we suspect for fabulous or such as are too briefly and unaccurately described to give us a full and sufficient knowledge of them taken out of Franc. Hernandez especially Of the foolish Sparrow THis Bird is deservedly famous for its notable folly It is not afraid of them that go to catch it but sits still with a great deal of confidence till they lay their hands upon it not offering to fly away but only seeming to wonder what they intend to do It is a Sea-fowl and feeds upon fish It hath the cry of a Jay is of the bigness of a Mag-pie of the shape and colour of the Gull excepting that part of the forehead next the Bill which is cinereous whole-footed It s Bill is three inches long slender round and streight only a little crooked near the tip Its Legs and Feet which are like those of other whole-footed Birds black Its Pupil is also black but the membrane about the Pupil grey The tameness of the Birds of the Island Cerne is well known and celebrated They alight upon the heads and shoulders of the Mariners that go ashore there as it were upon trees and suffer themselves without difficulty to be caught coming readily to hand Of the Bird called Daie laying great Eggs. THe Bird called Daie is remarkable for the extraordinary and unusual nature or manner of its Eggs and Young It is not bigger than a Pigeon and tolerable good meat For its Nest it scrapes a hole with its Feet and Tail in sandy grounds four spans deep where when the rains fall it lays its Eggs which are bigger than Goose-eggs almost as broad as ones fist called by the Natives Tapun fifty or more in number being of a gross and fat substance without any Yolk in them which roasted or boiled are good wholsom food but fried tough bad and of hard concoction It is very strange more strange I dare say than true that so little a Bird should lay so great Eggs and so many together and in such deep vaults under ground and that being there hidden they should be hatched without being ever sitten upon or cherished by the old ones and that the Young once hatched should of themselves presently fly away I dare boldly say that this History is altogether false and fabulous For though some Birds lay very great Eggs as for example Puffins Guillemots Razor-bills c. some also build in holes under ground Yet such lay but one Egg not a great many before they sit Neither do I think that there is any Bird in the world whose Eggs want the white Of the Guitguit that sets upon Ravens A Little body contains a great spirit and courage There is a very small Bird Guitguit the Indians call it like the Wren of a green colour and sweet-tasted flesh Such is the wonderful force of nature that this Bird as little as it is and next to nothing dares set upon and pursue whole flocks of Ravens and forces them to hide themselves from it and to take shelter among the Reeds I suppose that this story is feigned in imitation of what the Ancients have delivered concerning the Wren viz. that with great courage indeed fool-hardiness she dares enter combat with the Eagle Of the Bird called Maia THere is another sort of small Birds especially in the Island Cuba that fly in flocks and waste the fields or plantations of Rice which grain grows abundantly and is of much use in those Countries called Maia of a fulvous colour its flesh pleasant of easie concoction and yielding a plentiful nourishment Whose Stomach or rather Craw and first receptacle of nourishment is on the back side of the Neck A wonderful and singular thing of which there is not another instance in nature Of the Yayauhquitotl or long-tail'd Bird. THere proceed from the end of the Tail or Rump of this Bird two feathers longer than the rest below naked without any lateral hair-like bodies adorned at the tips with blue and black Vanes The body of the Bird is as big as a Stares particoloured of blue green fulvous and grey Perchance this may be the same Bird which Marggrave hath accurately described under the title of Guira-guainumbi Of another sort of Xochitenacatl that is the Toucan or Brasilian Pie THis Bird breeds and feeds on the shores of the Southern America being of the bigness of a Pigeon with a thick sharp-pointed black Bill black Eyes and a yellow Iris. The Wings and Tail are particoloured of black and white a black list reaching from the Bill to the very end of the Breast yet is there some yellow about the forepart of the Wings The rest of the body generally is of a pale colour excepting the Feet and Legs which are brown and the Claws which from white incline somewhat to a pale yellow It lives about flowring trees feeding upon the honey it sucks out of their flowers It breeds its Young in the Spring and is much esteemed by the Tototepecenses in whose Country it is very frequent Of the Bird called Momot THis abides and delights in hot Countries It is of the bigness of a Dove hath scarlet-coloured Eyes with a black Pupil A crooked blackish Bill almost three inches long sharp-pointed the nether Chap shorter the upper serrate A blue Head like a Peacocks brown Feet the rest of the body green What is rare and extraordinary in this Bird is that it hath in its Tail one quil longer than the rest and which is feathered only at the end This is I dare say more strange than true For the Tails of all Birds I ever yet saw have their feathers growing by pairs that is two of a sort on each side one and that so beautiful a Bird should be of no use but for its feathers Of the Verminous Bird or Tuputa THis Bird seems to be of a strange nature as we gather from its note from which it took its name Tuputa but it is and deservedly more famous for its singular putrefaction For while it is living it is wholly stuft with worms instead of flesh all its members and muscles being full of them Nothing of flesh besides these and the skin Yet they do not eat or make their way through the skin which is adorned with thick-set feathers It abides among Sedge and in grassie places For shape of body it is like a Pheasant but lesser What is here delivered concerning this Bird if understood generally of all the individuals of this sort we are so confident to be false that we think it needless to spend time in the confuting of it This however we thought fit to signifie to the Reader lest he should imagine we gave any credit to the story Of the Mozambick Hens THe feathers flesh and bones of these Hens are so black that being boil'd one would think they had been sodden in ink yet are they thought to be very savoury and far better than those of other Hens
underneath are grey above about the extremes black next from fulvous inclining to red then from fulvous declining to pale and lastly near the Back fulvous It feeds and lives upon fishes very easily becomes tame and sings not unpleasantly but must be carefully and tenderly fed with worms and water-insects You may also for want of other more natural food give its flesh to eat It yields a gross nourishment not unlike to that which wild Ducks afford It is native of the Country of Mexico and breeds in the Spring among the Rushes Whereas the Neck in comparison with the rest of its body is very long it is wonderful strange into what a shortness it can contract it which it is commonly wont to do It s Tail is little and black shewing something of splendour and widening into a greater breadth They call it by its Country-name Tolcomoctli This Bird would be altogether like its fellow were not its Bill black above and red underneath as also its Legs and Feet And the colour of its whole body fulvous and black promiscuously Of the Hoactzin IT s use in Physic recommends the bird Hoactzin that utters a sound like its name It is almost as big as a Turkey hath a crooked Bill a white Breast inclining to yellow Wings and Tail spotted at intervals of an inch distance Of a white and pale colour the Back and upper part of the Neck fulvous but both inclining to brown as do also the temples of the Head as far as the Bill and Eyes It hath black Claws and dusky Legs It hath a crest made up of feathers from white inclining to a pale colour but their back-side black It feeds upon Snakes It hath a great voice representing a kind of howling It appears in the Autumn and is by the Natives accounted an unlucky bird Its bones asswage the pain of any part of mans body by launcing The smoak or suffumigation of its feathers brings them to their right mind who grew distracted by any sickness The ashes of its feathers taken inwardly cure the French Pox giving marvellous help It lives in hot Countries as is Yautepec and very often is found sitting upon trees near Rivers Of the dry Bird or Hoactli NEither is the Hoactli or Tobactli that is the dry bird feeding about the Lake of Mexico a contemptible spectacle From the point of the Bill to the end of the Tail it is three spans long and of the bigness of a common Hen. Its Legs are a foot long Its Bill is five inches long perchance he may mean 1 â…“ of an inch the words are Cum uncia trientem and an inch thick black above pale on the sides and underneath black and brown Its Eyes are great it s Iris yellow and Eye-lids red The crown of the Head is covered with black feathers and adorned with a crest in like manner black It s Neck Breast Belly and whole body are white but its Tail ash-coloured as are also its Wings above for underneath they are whiter The upper parts of its Wings shine with a kind of greenness The Back though it be covered with white Plumage or down yet is wont to be invested with black feathers inclining to a shining green The Feet which are cloven into Toes and also the Legs are pale It s Head is compassed with a white wreath or ring proceeding from the rise of the Bill to the Eyes It is a stranger to the Lake of Mexico coming from some other place and is called by Spaniards Natives Martinete pescador from its catching of fish upon which it feeds It breeds among the Reeds it bites shrewdly and hath a great flat voice Of the Wind-bird Heatototl HEatototl or the Wind-bird is also worthy to be beheld It is adorned with a great orbicular crest standing up like a crown and a little whitish It s Breast from brown inclines to cinereous Its Belly is white and Feet flat Its Legs and the feathers growing about them fulvous It s Tail is round underneath varied with white and a sooty colour but above brown Its Wings underneath are white ash-coloured and sooty above black yet with some white feathers interspersed In other respects it is of the same nature with other Water-fowl and like to the other Heatototle which is something less then a tame Duck with a black slender round Bill and near the end wreathen Its feathers underneath white but above near the Thighs fulvous Its Wings underneath are ash-colour but above brown black and white It s Head is black and crested but from the hinder part of the Head black stroaks proceed on both sides to the Eyes which are black with a yellow Iris. In other things they are like to birds frequenting Fens and Marshes Of Achalalactli and Amalozque birds with rings about their necks IT s silver-coloured ring adorns the Neck of Achalalactli or the Bird that tosses and throws fishes about Some call it Michalalactli It is of the bigness and shape of a Dove hath a black sharp Bill three inches long and thick for the proportion of its body It s Head is adorned with a long crest from blue inclining to black It s Belly is covered with white feathers and its Neck beautified with a white ring Its Wings underneath are white but their ends brown spotted with white Above like the rest of the body blue but their extreme parts black and spotted every where with white specks It s Tail is partly black partly blue but at intervals also varied with white spots Its Legs are red its Feet divided into Toes ending in black Claws Its Eyes black and Irides white It is a stranger to this Country of Mexico and frequents Rivers and Fountains feeding upon little fish and water Insects It is edible but of like taste and nourishment with other Fen and Marsh birds Nor is the Amalozque or red-neckt bird of less beauty It is also a Marsh-bird of the bigness of our common Turtle-dove Its Legs and Feet which are divided into Toes being of a delayed red or white dashed with red It s Claws black Its Bill of a moderate length slender and black Its Eyes black and Irides red The lower parts of the Breast Belly and Wings are white But its Tail which is of a moderate bigness is sprinkled with fulvous and black But what is most remarkable two black collars distant by the breadth of ones little finger encompass the Neck and Breast the foremost whereof incircles it round the hindmost fails and disappears in the upper part or above the Neck On both sides are two white spots of equal bigness above the Eye toward the Neck and reaching almost to it The upper part of the body and also the tail are of a white black and fulvous colour But the Wings above fulvous and brown This Bird is native of the Lake of Mexico breeding and bringing up its young there in the Spring-time It s flesh is eaten and affords like nourishment with that
they hold not that course which other Falcons do For they climb upon the Train when they find any Fowl and as soon as they have reacht her they pluck her down if not at the first yet at the second or third encounter The Haggard of this kind is most commendable and easiest to be made for any pleasure To reclaim and make her fit to be set to the Lure you must take the same course as is prescribed for the Haggard sleight Falcon. When she shall come to be lured loose then would she first of all be taught to come unto the Pelts of Hens Herons or any such like thing so it be dead for thereby she will not be over-hot or eager of it neither must you suffer her to touch any part of the flesh to draw her love from your voice and your hand but to spend only her time on it in pluming All this time you must be close by her and on your knees using your voice to her with her dinner or supper clean drest and washt giving still unto her some part thereof in bits with your hand that from thence only she may be satisfied and her whole delight be in that accounting the other in her foot but as a stand or means to stay her by you while she receives her full reward at your hands And in using this course often to her she being a Hawk of never such strength and ableness to carry it will in the end so reclaim and win her to your self that she will quite forget the same And after if you list to train her with Doves she will not carry one feather from you but draw towards you and ever desire to have her content at your hand It is a special point in a Falconer to take good time at the first making of his Hawk and not post her to another thing till she be perfect in one Before you spring her up any Doves it is meet you let her kill half a dozen at your Lure close by your foot having a pair of short Creances at your Lure For it may be at the first seeing of the Dove to stir and flutter she may come roystingly to twitch or take it away so far as she is able Which if she should do you have a remedy by restraining her gently with your Creance so that there shall be no offence committed Then ought you to get gently into her and as beforesaid with bits of meat cleanly drest and bestowed on her you shall please her at the full and take her to the Fist again The Heron and the stately flight and mountee thereto is the thing for which these Hawks are most desired and accounted of For which purpose your intermew'd Hawks are fittest and most esteemed N. B. Remember to be favourable to them the first year of their making and not to put them to any toil but to train them gently with such Herons as you are sure cannot go from them nor cause them to labour much before they master them and ever after at the drawing And take good time with them in the inseaming For these times as yet have ever shortned their lives and destroyed them No man he saith can make one of these Hawks from the Mew ready to be lured under six weeks at the least but he shall hazard her life if she take any heat at all They are prepared for the Mew and mew'd in like manner as the sleight Falcon. Let her have in the Mew Sods or Turfs to stand on and those often shifted that they grow not too hard and dry For she is a very heavy Hawk and very subject to infirmity on the bottom of her feet He disallows mewing of them at the stock and approves of mewing them loose She ought also to have very often given to her Plumage bones and stones to purge and cleanse her Turbervile saith they covet to keep their castings long through sloth and therefore advises not to give them casting of Cotton but of Tow Hazel or hard things When she is mew'd Latham saith that you ought at the least three weeks before you take her to your Fist to inseam her with washt meat and stones For then is the danger of shortning her life whereas by good ordering they are as hardy as the Lanner and will last as long He saith he hath known one hold out and continue her goodness twenty years CHAP. VIII Of the Lanner THe Lanner is not over-dainty of her feeding but can better brook gross or coarse diet than any other Falcon. Lanners of all Hawks are fittestfor young Falconers because they will hardly take surfeit and seldom be over-flown or melt their grease Mew'd Lanners and Sacres are hardly known from the Soar-hawks because they do not change their plume Turbervile saith that with this Hawk you may fly the River Latham saith he hath not known any Lanner made for the River yet prescribes a way to make them They are very slothful and hard-metled so that unless you keep a hard hand over them they will do littlegood You shall not lightly see a Lanner lie upon the Wing after she hath flown to mark but after one stooping she maketh a point and then waits for the Fowl after the manner of the Goshawk she is so slothful and dull and therefore doth commonly use upon the questing or call of the Spaniels to attend very diligently and so to prey at her pleasure As the Eyass of this kind exceeds other Hawks in gentleness and love to her Keeper so the Haggard passes all others in wildness and is very hard to be reclaimed She must be managed and ordered in all respects like the Haggard sleight Falcon. The Ramage Lanner is also a coy Hawk and must be ordered as the Haggard Falcon only her diet must be with hard-washed meat and stones more or less as you shall find her natural inclination Above all you must use your utmost skill and pains to keep her from dragging or carrying any thing from you which ill quality no Hawk is more subject to than she To prevent which first you must beware that if she but once only knoweth the Lure that you lure her no more than once at one time though you take the more time to make her Else you hazard the spoiling of her For as soon as she knows the Lure she will settle her love on it and desire to hold it and be loth to be taken up from it to be lured again and out of fear lest you should deprive her of it will quickly fly you and drag and carry it from you Secondly During the time of her luring and training let her have her reward at your hand for the most part in bits reserving some small quantity to take her to your Fist withal Thirdly All this while have your Spaniels by you as she is on the ground For these be Hawks of all other most coy and fearful to have any Dogs come near them And therefore
s manner of breeding What becomes of the Cuckow in Winter A piece of money so called of the bigness of a two-pence or three-pence It s weight length and breadth It s Beak Tongue Eyes Hood of feathers Colour of the feathers The Horns or Ears The Tail The prime Wing-feaâ—â—â—â— The Feet and Claws The Guts The place The Tongue Eyes Ears Circle of feathers about the face Colour of the upper side Underside The Wing-feathers The Tail The Feet Toes and Claws The Guts and Entrails How it differs from the white Owl It s weight length and breadth It s Bill Tongue Nosthrils Eyes Ears The hood about the face The Wing-feathers The Tail The Feet Toes Claws Guts Reason of the name How it differs from the precedent It s bigness and measures The Bill Tongue Hood Ear-valve Colour of the feathers of the body The Wing-feathers * Hair-like bodies compounding the web of the feather The Tail The legs feet and toes The Guts The strange figure of the Eyes It s length Colour Head Eyes Bill Wings Legs and Claws Gesners Ulula * Strix cinerea before described It s bigness and measures Beak Tongue Palate Nosthrils Ears Eyes Hood Colour of the upper side It s Tail Colour of the under side Wing-feathers Legs Feet and Talons Gall and Guts It s place Use It s Length Head Bill Mouth The colour The Wings Tail Legs Feet and Claws It s food and Eggs. * The word in Latine in Arantus * Cuicus or Carthamus * A people of Brasil * The Latine word is Puniceo signifying a light crimson or blush colour Marggravius his Araracanga * Perchance he means the point * Flesh-colour * I cannot say whether he means the end or outside * The Latine word is Domina Lady It s weight length and breadth The Bill Tongue Eye Nosthrils Colour of the feathers The Prime Wing-feathers or quils The Tail The Claws and Toes Entrails It s Food White Ravens Ravens reclaimed for fowling The place Their longevity It s weight length and breadth Bill Tongue Eyes Nosthrils Colour The Wing-feathers or Quils Tail Feet and Claws Bowels and entrails It s Food It s place Where it builds Crows taught to speak Their manner of incubation They feed not their young newly hatched It s weight and measures The Bill How it differs from the Crow The Wing-feathers or Quils The Tail Bill Nosthrils Tongue Toes The Guts and Entrails It s Food Manner of breeding Eggs. How to fright them away It s weight and measures It s Bill Nostrils Tongue Eyes The colour of its feathers The quils or prime Wing-feathers The Tail The Toes and Claws Its Entrails Food Place It s weight length and breadth The Bill Nosthrils Tongue Eyes Colour of the feathers Prime Wing-feathers or quils * Notched The Tail The Toes and Claws Its Entrails Food Jackdaws ingenious Where it haunts and breeds Eggs. The names The Ring-Jackdaw It s weight and measures How it differs from the Jackdaw It s Bill Nosthrils Tongue Palate The Feet The colour of the feathers The prime Wing-feathers The Tail The Entrails It s place Pyrrhocorax and Coracias the same * Birds of the Turkey kind * Corvus Indicus cornutus seu Rhinocerot avis Bontii Aldrov * Rather continuous * The bill and horn together * The Brasilian Pie It s weight and measures It s Bill Tongue Nosthrils It is like the Jackdaw The colour of its feathers The Wing-feathers The Tail Its Feet Entrails It varies sometimes in colour They may be taught to speak It s Nest It s Eggs. It s bigness Bill It want Nosthrils It s Head Eyes Colour It s food Pepper This story Faber discredits because none of his American friends spake a word of it * Chap 10. of his Voyage into Brasil * Americae descript lib. 15. cap. 7. * Hist rerum naetur Brasiliae lib. 5. c. 15. It s weight and measures Bill Tongue Eyes Feathers Colour Wing-feathers It s Tail Feet and Toes Eggs Guts Gizzard It s Food How it differs from Aldrovands Jay It learns to speak It s weight and measures Bill Eyes Bare Wart-like bunches Tongue Palate Skin about the Eyes bare Its Colours Wing-feathers Tail * Bastard-Wing Feet Toes and Claws Gizzard and Guts It s place * That is a wild Wood Crow * Mimus sive Picus Garrulus Iudicus * Lib. 12. cap. 17. * Coccothranstes * A kind of earth called Terra Umbria used by Painters * Coccothranstles * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Those next the body * Phoenicâ—o colore Crimson colour * A great Insect with six feet resembling a Caterpillar found in rotten wood * Sea-green we call it * Reliquas extremitates * Uranici coloris * Head of the Windpipe * Circles encompassing the Pupils * Captainship * We observed five shafts of feathers in each Wing * I suppose he means from the corners of the slit of the mouth * That is the Swan Island * Hist Natur. Medic. Indiae Oriental lib. 5. cap. 17. The Physical uses of a Hen and its parts * The Oyl thus impregnate * The slit of the mouth he means * Tartareous voice * Worm-like Caruncle * In our observation they want not spurs though they have indeed but short and blunt ones * If I understand Marggrave aright * Under this word he comprehends also the thighs * Ornithol lib. 14. cap. 12. * The Mitu * Or perchance deep altum the word is * Lib. 10. cap. 68. * Lib. 14. cap. 10. * Tabellae he calls them * So Dr. Key called it who sent him this description * Very steep behind and much inclining before * Laciniae * Or the position of both observes a like rule * Sublimior * All the upper end of the Neck * Cast forth some shew * Here is some mistake for the breadth is double of eighteen inches * I know no particular English name for this Net * Gothia * Or indifferent mean-sized * Testa signifieth a Potsheard so a testaceous colour is a reddish brown * Understand it of the bird we described * This Bird was exenterated for it was bigger than a Partridge and equal to a handsom Pullet and would else have weighed more * Lagopus signifies a Hares foot * The Ring Ouzel * Impetuously Runts * Ornithol t. 2. pag 360. * Belga it also signifies any Low-Country man * Exesculentur i. e. kiss them * The life of Pigeons * Or have weak Fyes * Or dizziness Vertige * I suppose he means the incisures dividing the scales * The Thrush dungs its own destruction or mischief * Tom. 2. p. 585. †Ornithol l. 16. c. 8. * Cap. de Caeruleo * Lib. 1. Observ cap. 11. * Lib. 6. de Avibus cap. 26 * The blue Ouzel * Ruffa it may be rendred russet * Ouzel of two colours * Of kin to the Ouzel * Another bird of kin to the Ouzel * This we make