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
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
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-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
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
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
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
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
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
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-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
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
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
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
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
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-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
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 bastard- 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
is of the longest and in comparison with the bulk and make of its body slender of an ash-colour besprinkled with black and white spots which in this respect differ that here the white in the Head the black are the deeper The spots of the Breast are of the same colour wherewith are other ferrugineous ones mingled The Belly Tail Hips and Legs which are covered with feathers are of a lead colour and also besprinkled with black spots The fore-toes of the Feet are long the back-toe short all armed with crooked Claws They are by the Italians called Francolini as it were Franci that is Free Fowl because the common people are forbidden to take them and Princes grant them freedom of living Olina describes this Francolino a little otherwise In the figure saith he and proportion of its body it resembles a common Partridge but in bigness something exceeds it The Breast and all the Belly are spotted with black and white The ends of the Wings and Tail are black The Head Neck and Rump are fulvous inclining to red with a little and black intermixed But neither his figure represents nor description mentions any Crest The Legs also in Olina's figure are naked This Bird is either the same with our other Lagopus called the Red-game or very like it but differs from it in that it hath a Crest upon its Head But the Attagen of Bellonius as may be seen by its Picture is destitute of a Crest Indeed I should think it to be the same did not the place forbid it For our red Game lives upon the tops of the highest Mountains in Northern Countries whereas the Attagen of Aldrovandus is found plentifully in the Mountains of Sicily which is a very hot Country Yet I make no question but the Bird which Bellonius and Scaliger understand by this * name that lives in the Pyrenaean Mountains and the Mountains of Auvergne and which Bellonius saith comes not down into plain Countries is the very same with our Red Game And perchance also the Attagen of Aldrovandus is no other sith Francolinus is a name common to both Aldrovandus and Bellonius his Bird And Aldrovandus writes that his Attagen is a Mountain Bird. Neither is it a sufficient argument to prove the contrary that Sicily where it is found is a hot Country for Mount Aetna in Sicily is so cold that the top of it for the greatest part of the year is covered with Snow I am sure when we went up it in the year 1664 in the beginning of June the Snow was not melted But if the Legs thereof be bare for Aldrovandus doth not affirm it in his description though his figure represents them bare and the Head always crested it cannot be our Red Game The flesh of this Bird is most excellent of easie digestion and yielding plentiful and very good nourishment And therefore among the Ancients was preferred before all other and placed in the highest degree of dignity §. IV. The Hazel-hen Gallina corylorum Attagen Gesh THe Bird we described was a Cock weighed but a pound being from Bill point to Tail end fifteen inches long and twenty two broad The Bill as in Hens is blackish from the tip to the angles of the slit of the mouth almost an inch long The upper Chap a little prominent and crooked In the Palate is a Cavity equal to the Tongue Above the Eyes a naked red skin takes up the place of Eye-brows as in the Heathcock and others of this kind The Eye-brows of the Female are not so red but paler The Legs before are feathered half way down behind bare as high as the knees The fore-toes are joyned together by a membrane from the divarication to the first joynt And have besides such like serrate borders or welts standing out on each side as were observed in the precedent Birds The inside of the Claw of the middle Toe is thinned into an edge The whole Belly is white The Breast white spotted with black spots in the middle of the feathers The several feathers having some one spot some two or three cross lines The lower part of the Throat red but the Chin of a deep black encompassed with a white line The Hen wants this black spot under the Chin. From the Eyes to the hind-part of the Head a white Line is produced The Head is of a reddish ash-colour The Back and Rump are yet more cinereous of a colour like that of a Partridge The lower part of the Throat or Gullet is variegated with transverse black lines The sides under the Wings are red or fulvous the tips of the feathers being white The long feathers springing from the shoulders that cover the Back are all white The Wings are concave as in Partridges and the rest of the Poultry kind The beam-feathers in each Wing are twenty four in number the foremost or outmost whereof on the outside the shaft were parti-coloured of dusky and white on the inside dusky The greater rows of covert Wing-feathers were variegated with red white and black The Tail was made up of sixteen feathers all equal of about five inches long The seven exteriour on each side had their tips of a dirty white next the white a bar or bed of black an inch broad the rest of the feather to the very bottom particoloured of black and white The two middlemost of the Tail are of the same colour with the body having cross bars of white powdered with dusky specks The tips of the long feathers under the Tail are white the middle part black the lower red The Stomach is musculous The Guts thirty six inches long The blind Guts fifteen which in this Bird also are striate The flesh boiled or roast as in the rest of this kind is white very tender also and delicate Most learned men saith Aldrovandus are of opinion that this is the Bird which by the Ancient Greeks and Latines was called Attagen from whom yet he dissents It is wont saith Georg. Agricola as he is quoted by Aldrovandus to live in thick and shady woods The same also writes that it is found plentifully in the Mountainous Woods about the foot of the Alps especially where hazels and briers abound We saw them in the Market at Nurenberg to be sold Whence we gather that they are found in the great Woods near that City though they be not mountainous What they live chiefly upon we cannot certainly say but we verily believe that their food is the same with the other Birds of this kind viz. Bill-berries Crow-berries Black-berries c. and in the Winter-time the tops of Heath Fir and other ever-green shrubs But whether they do eat the Catkins of Hazel as Albertus affirms and from whence they seem to take their name we know not §. V. The white Game erroneously called the white Partridge Lagopus avis Aldrov FOr figure and bigness it comes near to a tame Pigeon save that it is something bigger weighs fourteen ounces From
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
defending and shifting for it self flying near the ground and that with great force and swiftness for two hundred or three hundred paces and when it alights or falls on the ground running so swiftly that scarce any man can overtake it It hath only three Toes in each foot like the Bustard or Plover The roots of all the feathers are red and as it were of a sanguine colour so joyned to the skin as in the Bustard whence also we take it to be a kind of Bustard For both but especially this is white under the Belly But the Back is variegated with three or four colours to wit a yellow tending to red with somewhat of cinereous and red intermixed Four Wing-feathers in the upper part have black tips Under the Bill down as far as the Breast it is white A white Collar near the Crop compasses the Breast as in the Savoy Merulae or Water-Ouzels But this Collar appears not in Bellonius his figure The colour of the Head and upper part of the Neck is the same with that of the Back and Wings The Bill is black less than in the Ionic Attagen The Legs incline to cinereous He that desires an exact description of this Bird let him imagine a Quail of the bigness of a Pheasant but very much spotted for just such is this Field-Duck All the interiour parts it hath common with other granivorous birds It is reckoned among delicate Birds and esteemed as good meat as a Pheasant It feeds indifferently upon all sorts of Grain as also upon Ants Beetles and Flies and likewise upon the leaves of green corn And although the colour of the Neck and Head be not always the same and herein consists the difference between the Male and the Female yet the Back and Wings never change colour This Bird seems not to have been mentioned by the Ancients CHAP. XIV Of Doves or Pigeons in general THe Marks common to all sorts of Pigeons whereby they may be distinguished from all other kinds of Birds are not very many viz. a peculiar figure of body resembling that of a Cuckow short Legs long Wings swift flight a mournful voice to lay only two Eggs at one sitting but to breed often in a year Aldrovandus saith it is proper to all Pigeons to wink with both Eye-lids They do not all agree in the figure of the Bill For some have slender and indifferently long Bills others thick and short ones The Feet of all at least so many as we have yet seen are red or sanguine In the Pigeon-kind the Male and Female divide between them the labour of incubation sitting by turns The Male also assists the Female in feeding and rearing the Young And for an internal note it is common to them to have no Gall-bladder CHAP. XV. Of the several kinds of Pigeons §. I. The common wild Dove or Pigeon Columba vulgaris A Female which we described weighed thirteen ounces Was in length from Bill to Tail thirteen inches in breadth twenty six It s Bill was slender sharp-pointed and indifferently long like to that of a Lapwing or Plover above the Nosthrils soft and white by the aspersion of a kind of furfuraceous substance else dusky The Tongue neither hard nor cloven but sharp and soft The Irides of the Eyes of a yellowish red The Legs on the forepart feathered almost to the Toes The Feet and Toes red the Talons black The Head was of a pale blue the Neck as it was diversly objected to the light did exhibite to the Beholder various and shining colours The Crop was reddish the rest of the Breast and Belly ash-coloured The Back beneath a little above the Rump was white which is a note common to most wild Pigeons about the shoulders cinereous else black yet with some mixture of cinereous The number of prime feathers in each Wing was about twenty three or twenty four Of these the outmost were dusky of the rest as much as was exposed to sight black what was covered with the incumbent feathers cinereous The covert-feathers of the ten first Remiges were of a dark cinereous Of the rest of the covert-feathers almost to the body the tips and interiour Webs as far as the shafts were cinereous the exteriour black The covert-feathers of the underside of the Wings purely white The Tail is made up of twelve feathers four inches and an half long the middle being somewhat longer than the extremes The tips of all were black The two outmost below the black on the outside the shaft were white all the rest wholly cinereous the lower part being the darker The feathers incumbent on the Tail were cinereous It had a great Craw full of Gromil seed The blind Guts were very short scarce exceeding a quarter of an inch It hath as we said of Pigeons in general no Gall-bladder and lays but two Eggs at a time This kind varies mumch in colour there are found of them ordinarily milk-white Aldrovandus describes and figures many sorts of tame Pigeons which he thus distinguishes Tame or house Doves are either Of our Country which have their Feet either Naked The greater called Tronfi and in English Runts whose description and figure you have t. 2. pag. 462. The lesser or most common t. 2. pag. 463. Rough The greater t. 2. pag. 466 The lesser Crested t. 2. pag. 469. Smooth-crown'd t. 2. pag. 467. Outlandish to wit Frisled Pigeons t. 2. pag. 470. Cyprus Pigeons Hooded with their Feet Rough t. 2. pag. 471. Bare of which there are several kinds set forth p. 472 473 474 Smooth-crowned called Indian Pigeons t. 2. pag. 477. Candy Pigeons having in the Bill above where it is joyned to the Head a white Tubercle or Wattle p. 478. Persian or Turkey Pigeons of a dark colour p. 481. Varro's Stone or Rock Pigeon Under the title of Domestic which I have Englished tame or house Doves he comprehends the common wild Pigeon kept in Dove-cotes which is of a middle nature between tame and wild §. II. Divers sorts of tame Pigeons 1. THe greater tame Pigeon called in Italian Tronfo Asturnellato in English a Runt a name as I suppose corrupted from the Italian Tronfo Though to say the truth what this Italian word Tronfo signifies and consequently why this kind of Pigeon is so called I am altogether ignorant Some call them Columbae Russicae Russia-Pigeons whether because they are brought to us out of Russia or from some agreement of the names Runt and Russia I know not These seem to be the Campania Pigeons of Pliny They vary much in colour as most other Domestic Birds Wherefore it is to no purpose to describe them by their colours In respect of magnitude they are divided into the biggest and the lesser kind The greater are more sluggish birds and of slower flight the same perchance with those Gesner saith he observed at Venice which were almost as big as Hens The lesser are better breeders more nimble and of swifter flight
Perchance these may be the same with those which Aldrovandus tells us are called by his Country men Colombe sotto banche that is Pigeons under Forms or Benches from their place of various colours and bigger than the common wild Pigeons inhabiting Dove-cotes 2. Croppers so called because they can and usually do by attracting the Air blow up their Crops to that strange bigness that they exceed the bulk of the whole body beside A certain Hollander informed Aldrovandus that these Kroppers Duve as they call them are twice as big as the common Domestic Pigeons which as they fly and while they make that murmuring noise swell their throats to a great bigness and the bigger the better and more generous they are esteemed Those that I saw at Mr. Copes a Citizen of London living in Jewin Street seemed to me nothing bigger but rather less than Runts and somewhat more slender and long-bodied These differ no less one from another in colour than the precedent 3. Broad-tail'd Shakers called Shakers because they do almost constantly shake or wag their Heads and Necks up and down Broad-tail'd from the great number of feathers they have in their Tails they say not fewer than twenty six When they walk up and down they do for the most part hold their Tails erect like a Hen or Turkey-Cock These also vary much in colour 4. Narrow-tail'd Shakers These agree with the precedent in shaking but differ in the narrowness of their Tails as the name imports They are said also to vary in colour This kind we have not as yet seen nor have we more to say of it 5. Carriers These are of equal bigness with common Pigeons or somewhat less of a dark blue or blackish colour They are easily distinguished from all others 1. By their colour 2. In that their Eyes are compassed about with a broad circle of naked tuberous white furfuraceous skin 3. That the upper Chap of the Bill is covered above half way from the Head with a double crust of the like naked fungous skin The Bill is not short but of a moderate length They make use of these birds to convey Letters to and fro chiefly in the Turkish Empire Perchance these may be the Persian and Turkish Pigeons of Aldrovand all over of a dusky or dark brown colour excepting the Eyes which are scarlet the Feet which are of a pale red and the Bill which as he saith is yellow wherein they differ from ours whose Bills are black The nature of these birds is such that though carried far away they will return speedily thither where either themselves were bred or brought up or where they had hatcht and brought up Young Of this kind we saw in the Kings Aviary in St. James's Park and at Mr. Copes an Embroiderer in Jewin Street London Moreover we read that the Ancients sometimes made use of Pigeons in sending Letters as for example Hirtius and Brutus in the Siege of Modena Hirtius sending a Dove to Brutus and Brutus back again to Hirtius having by meat laid in some high places instructed these Pigeons before shut up in a dark place and kept very hungry to fly from one to another 6. Jacobines called by the Low Dutch Cappers because in the hinder part of the Head or Nape of the Neck certain feathers reflected upward encompass the Head behind almost after the fashion of a Monks Hood when he puts it back to uncover his Head These are called Cyprus Pigeons by Aldrovand and there are of them rough-footed Aldrovandus hath set forth three or four either Species or accidental varieties of this kind Their Bill is short The Irides of their Eyes of a Pearl-colour and the Head as Mr. Cope told us in all white 7. Turbits of the meaning and original of which name I must confess myself to be ignorant They have a very short thick Bill like a Bullfinch The crown of their Head is flat and depressed The feathers on the Breast reflected both ways They are about the bigness of the Jacobines or a little bigger I take these to be the Candy or Indian Doves of Aldrovand tom 2. pag. 477. 478. the Low Dutch Cortbeke 8. Barbary-Pigeons perchance the Candy-Dove of Aldrovand The Bill is like that of the precedent A broad circle of naked tuberous white flesh compasses the Eyes as in the Carriers The Irides of the Eyes are white My worthy Friend Mr. Philip Skippon in a Letter to me concerning tame Pigeons writes that the Eyes of this kind are red Perchance the colour may vary in several birds 9. Smiters I take these to be those which the fore-mentioned Hollander told Aldrovandus that his Country-men called Draiiers These do not only shake their Wings as they fly But also flying round about in a ring especially over their Females clap them so strongly that they make a greater sound than two Battledores or other boards struck one against another Whence it comes to pass that their quil-feathers are almost always broken and shattered and sometimes so bad that they cannot fly Our Country-men distinguish between Tumblers and Smiters 10. Tumblers these are small and of divers colours They have strange motions turning themselves backward over their Heads and shew like footbals in the Air. 11. Helmets In these the Head Tail and quil-feathers of the Wings are always of one colour sometimes white sometimes black red yellow or blue the rest of the body of another different from that whatever it be These are also called Helme by the Low Dutch as Aldrovandus writes from the relation of the fore-mentioned Dutchman 12. Light-horsemen This is a bastard kind of one Parent a Cropper the other a Carrier and so they partake of both as appears by the Wattles of their Bill and their swollen throats They are the best breeders of all and will not lightly forsake any house to which they have been accustomed 13. Bastard-bills Which name why it is imposed upon them I know not unless perchance because their Bills are neither long nor short so that it is not certain to what Species they ought to be referred They are bigger than Barbaries have a short Bill and red Eyes but are not all of the same colour 14. Turners having a tuft hanging down backward from their Head parted like a horses Main 15. Finikins like the precedent but less 16. Mawmets called as I take it from Mahomet perchance because brought out of Turkey notable for their great black Eyes else like to the Barbaries 17. Spots because they have each in their forehead above their Bill a spot Their Tail is of the same colour with the spot the rest of the body being white The Younger Pigeons never tread the Females but they bill them first and that as often as they tread them The elder Doves bill only the first time the second they couple without billing Aldrov Ornithol tom 2. pag. 363. The Sex especially of the tame Pigeons is easily known by their note or murmur
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
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
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
kind of Lark something bigger than the common otherwise for shape of body not much unlike it In respect of bigness comparable to a Thrush It s head is greater than a Thrushes its Bill shorter and thicker Its Feet as in other Larks The colour of its under or fore part is a light cinereous with certain black spots on the Breast after the manner of a Thrush Of its upper or hind-part viz. the Back Wings and Tail c. like that of Umber About two inches below the Bill a circle of black feathers encompasses the Neck in fashion of a Collar or Necklace This bird seems to be the same with our Bunting hereafter to be described The figure of the Bill in Olina's Cut doth not agree to the Bunting indeed answers not to his own description it being drawn as slender and long as a Thrushes whereas he describes it thicker and shorter Bellonius his description of the Calandra agrees well enough to the Bunting although he also describes the Bunting elsewhere under the title of Cenchramus Howbeit that we may leave the Reader to the liberty of his judgment concerning these matters we shall subjoyn Bellonius his description of Calandra Calandra saith he is a sort of Lark which who so desires to know let him fancy a crested Lark approaching to the bigness of a Starling Wherefore he that shall call it a great Lark may well seem not unfitly to denominate it For both its voice though higher is altogether like the voice of a Lark and also the colour of its feathers the same its Head the same its Wings the same its Tail the same and likewise its conditions the same Its Legs Feet and Toes altogether alike and in these the Spur or back-claw long as in Larks The Neck slender where it is joyned to the Head as we observed also in the Peacock and which is likewise common to Quails But because it differs not from a common Lark save in bigness and the crested Lark as we said is bigger than the common and hath a tuft on his Head which both the common Lark and the Calandra want I can easily allow this sort of bird to be called a Lark and to be comprehended under the Genus of Larks The Calandra exceeds the rest of this kind in bigness and therefore stands in need of a thicker Bill that it might break the harder sorts of grains upon which it feeds though those that are kept shut up in Cages are wont to be fed with Oats and crums of white bread Thus far Bellonius §. VII The crested Lark called by the Germans Kommanick seen and described at Vienna in Austria Alauda cristata Galerita IT is bigger than the common Lark hath a greater and longer Bill almost an inch long measuring from the point to the corner of the mouth The upper Chap dusky the lower whitish The Tongue is broad somewhat cloven the Irides of the Eyes of a cinereous hazel colour The Crest upon the crown of the Head consists of seven or eight feathers I counted ten or twelve These feathers are situate transversly and may be erected or lowred spread or contracted at pleasure like the Tail These feathers are blacker than the rest and almost half an inch long The Back is more cinereous and less spotted than in the common Lark The Rump almost wholly destitute of spots The prime feathers of the Wings are in number eighteen besides the outmost very short and small one The outer Vane of the first Pinion feather is of a dirty white inclining to red or yellow The rest are not so black as in the common Lark and have some mixture of a pale red even in their lower part The Breast and Belly are white with a dash of yellow The Throat spotted as in the common Lark The Tail is 2⅛ inches long composed of twelve feathers the two outmost whereof on each side have their exteriour borders white with a dash of red being else black the third and fourth are wholly black the fifth and sixth of the same colour with the body The Gall from green inclines to a dark blue I suppose this is accidental and that the colour of the Gall varies in divers birds The blind Guts are very short This differs from the common Lark 1. In bigness 2. In the Crest 3. In the colour of the Back which is less spotted and not so beautiful 4. In the measure of the Tail which in this Bird is shorter 5. In that it soars not so much in the air and when it mounts up stays not so long there 6. That it flies not in flocks as they do Lastly as Aldrovandus observes it is frequently seen about the banks of Lakes and Rivers Dioscorides prescribes this bird to be eaten roasted Galen in some places of his works roasted in some places boiled to asswage Colic pains Marcellus Virgilius prefers the powder of it put in an earthen pot and dried or burnt in an Oven taken in water to the quantity of two or three spoonfuls before all other medicines for the Colic §. VIII The lesser crested Lark THis as Aldrovandus describes it is like the greater crested Larks but much less and hath a considerable long tuft on its Head for the smalness of its body Red Feet The colour of its whole body seems to incline more to brown than that of the greater kind I have observed them running in flocks abroad in the fields This Bird Mr. Johnson of Brigual hath observed in the North of England §. IX The Giarola of Aldrovandus having a long heel IT was of the bigness of a Lark It s length from the tip of its Bill to the points of its Claws was two Palms Its Bill brittle red withinside and about the corners of the Mouth yellow It gapes wide The colour of its Crown Neck Back and Wings is various so that therein it exactly resembles a Quail and is also very like to a Woodcock For all the feathers are of a dusky Chesnut-colour only their edges are encompassed with a more dilute or whitish or moderately reddish colour The bottom of the Head or beginning of the Neck is encircled with a border of whitish feathers as it were a Wreath or Crown The Tongue is cloven the Belly white the roots of the feathers cinereous The Tail so short that scarce any thing of it appears yet is it forked and particoloured for the last or outmost feather on each side is all over white the last save one partly white partly chesnut The whole Tail is scarcean inch long and narrow being made up of very narrow feathers Its Legs and Feet are sufficiently large and of a flesh colour or reddish white In the Feet this is worthy the observation that the back-toe is very long and hath a Claw of equal length so that both together make up an inch This Claw is not as in other birds for the most part crooked from its rise but first streight for a
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
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
much gold half fire-colour and a little green In brief shining like the Sun In the Belly are a few white feathers mixt The Legs are black The Wings blackish The Tail almost an inch and half long handsom and broad consisting of some feathers of the same rare colour with the rest of the body some of a mixt colour of green and golden and white about the edges some half white half green shining with golden that is on one side the shaft white on the other green 7. The seventh is a little less than the fifth and sixth kind hath a Bill not altogether an inch long being of an ash-colour all over the body almost like a Sparrow which here and there shineth rarely with a mixture of red like a Rubine 8. The eighth is the most elegant of all hath a streight black Bill half an inch long a long double or cloven Tongue It s bigness and shape agrees with that of the second kind The whole Head above and upper part of the Neck shine with an admirable Rubine-colour as if a Rubine were illustrated by the Sun-beams But the Throat and under-side of the Neck do resemble pure polished Hungarian gold shone upon by the Sun-beams So that it is impossible in words perfectly to set forth the likeness of these colours much less for a Painter to represent or imitate them The beginning of the Back is covered with a Velvet black the rest with dusky feathers with which is mixt something of a dark green The whole lower Belly is invested with feathers of the same colour with the back the Wings with a dusky as in other kinds Near the Vent it hath a white spot The Legs are slender and black The Tail little more than an inch long consisting of feathers of a feuillemort colour which at the ends are dusky about the edges The Tail is broad which it spreads very wide in flying The Wings end with the Tail 9. The ninth is for figure and bigness like the first It s Bill is black above and red underneath It s whole body shines with that bright green colour mixt with golden that the Belly of the second sort is of The Wings are dusky The Tail an inch long pretty broad consisting of feathers of the colour of polished blue steel This Bird is by the Brasilians called by many other names besides Guainumbi as Aratica and Aratarataguacu as Marggrave tells us and Guaracyaba that is A Sun-beam and Guaracigaba that is the hair of the Sun according to de Laet. It is common in almost all the hotter Countries of America It is reported saith Nierembergius that the powder of this Bird taken inwardly cures the Falling sickness What I find in Marggravius concerning the Tail of the first Species viz. that it consists of four feathers I vehemently suspect to be a mistake either of the Printer or of the Author for in the Tail of one that I examined I found the usual number of twelve feathers CHAP. XV. Slender-billed Birds whose Tail is particoloured §. I. The Fallow-Smich in Sussex the Wheat-ear because the time of Wheat-harvest they wax very fat called by the Italians Culo Bianco and by us also in some places White-tail from the colour of its Rump Oenanthe sive Vitiflora of Aldrovandus IN bigness it exceeds the House-Sparrow The colour of its Head and Back is cinereous with a certain mixture of red like to that which is seen in the Back of the Hawsinch The Back of a Female Bird which I described at Florence was cinereous with a certain mixture of green and red The Rump in most is white whence also it took its name in some it is of the same colour with the Back or more red The whole Belly is white lightly dashed with red The Breast and Throat have a deeper tincture of red The Belly in the Cocks is sometimes yellowish Above the Eyes is a white line continued to the hinder part of the Head Below the Eyes a black stroak is extended from the corners of the mouth to the ears I found not this black line in the Females Both the quil-feathers and covert-feathers of the Wings are all black besides the fringes or extreme edges which are white tinctured with a sordid red The Tail is two inches and a quarter long made up of twelve feathers of which the two middlemost have their upper half white the rest their lower the other half being black Moreover the tips and edges of them all are white In the Hen the white takes up but a quarter of the feathers The Bill is slender streight black more than half an inch long The mouth is black within the Tongue black and cloven The aperture of the Mouth great The Irides of the Eyes hazel-coloured The back-toe is armed with a great Claw The Stomach is not very musculous out of which dissected we took Beetles and other Insects It breeds in forsaken Coney-burroughs The Sussex Shepherds to catch these Birds use this Art They dig long turves of earth and lay them across the holes whereout they were digged and about the middle of them hang snares made of horse-hair The Birds being naturally very timorous if a Hawk happen to appear or but a cloud pass over and intercept the Sun-beams hastily run to hide themselves in the holes under the Turves and so are caught by the Neck in the snares Upon the Downs of Sussex which are a ridge of Mountains running all along by the Sea-coast for thirty or forty miles in length they are taken yearly in great numbers in Harvest-time or the beginning of Autumn where for their fatness and delicate relish they are highly prized Aldrovandus hath another Oenanthe which is a little less than the former but yet bigger than a Sparrow on the Head Neck Back and lesser Wing-feathers of a reddish yellow deeper on the Back lighter on the Breast having black Eyes behind which is also a long black spot of a semilunar figure A long slender black Bill black Wing-feathers whose ends are yellow as are also those of the Tail-feathers There is also a Bird called Strapazino by our Fowlers saith Aldrovand in the Bononian Territory whose Rump underneath and almost the whole Tail are likewise white The Head and Back of a rusty yellow The Wing-feathers half black and half yellow the Bill indifferent long of a dusky colour The Throat Breast and Belly are white lightly dashed with yellow The Tail toward the Rump is yellow else black §. II. The Whin-chat under which also we treat of the Anthus or Florus of Aldrovand IN bigness it scarce exceeds a Wagtail The upper side of the body viz. The Back Head and covert-feathers of the Wings are of a pale feuille-mort colour variegated with black spots placed in rows If you heed each single feather the middle part of it about the shaft is black the sides of a feuille-mort or dusky yellow The Belly is white with a tincture of red The
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-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
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-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-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
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
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
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
pale red no other colour interceding The Eyes and Bill for the proportion of the body are great and this last whitish The Tail is forked the Feet yellowish adorned with transverse lines almost of a flesh-colour The Claws black pretty long and sharp §. VII * The Ring-Sparrow of Bellonius and the small Sparrow living about Walnut-trees of the same Author THe first of these differs from the common Sparrow as well in that it is of a diverse colour as because the spot which in that is black in this is yellow He calls it Torquatus because a white ring or wreath encompasses the Eyes under the Eye-brows Moreover it is more cinereous than the common Sparrow hath a greater voice and exceeds it in the bigness of the Body and Bill It abides in Woods building in the hollows of trees The other called Friguet by the French is least of all having a very short thick black Bill its Feet Legs Head and Wings like those of the Wall-Sparrow It builds in Trees §. VIII * The tailed purple and black Indian Sparrow of Aldrov Book 15. Chap. 28. IT hath a Tail five inches long made up of ten very black feathers The quil-feathers of the Wings are also cole-black The Head Neck and Rump are of a deep purple colour yet the roots or bottoms of the feathers yellow The Bill is pretty thick somewhat hooked and sharp something resembling that of the Butcher-bird black above beneath where it grows to the Head white The colour of the Legs I know not for they were wanting in the case communicated to me but it is likely that it hath black ones §. IX * The Tijepiranga of Brasil or American Sparrow Marggrave IT is a little bigger than a Lark and sings like our common Sparrow It s whole Body Neck and Head are of a delicate red or sanguine colour But the Wings and Tail of a shining black saving that in the beginning of the Wings there is something of red mixt therewith The Legs are black below the Knees bare of feathers above covered with black feathers The Bill like a Sparrows the upper Chap black the nether black also toward the point but white toward the Head The feathers on the Head black which she is sometimes wont to ruffle up after the manner of Sparrows All the feathers of the whole body are black within red without yet so complicated that outwardly they appear wholly red The Tail is almost three inches long Each foot hath four Toes and so disposed as in most other birds There is found another sort of this bird of the bigness of a Sparrow whose whole body is covered with bluish ash-coloured feathers But the Wings approach something to a Sea-green In the Belly and lower part of the Neck or Throat it is white or rather of a shining silver colour The Legs are ash-coloured as is also the Bill which is like a Chaffinches Each foot divided into four Toes and those situate as is usual in birds §. X. * The long-tail'd Indian Sparrow with a scarlet Bill of Aldrovand IT is of equal bigness to our House-Sparrows if you except the longer feathers of the Tail It hath a short thick Bill of a scarlet colour It s Head is flat elevated near the Neck blackish with a mixture of a greenish colour inclining to blue which also is seen running downward through the Back and upper part of the Wings The Wings are of three colours chiefly first that now mentioned secondly a white as appears in the figure thirdly a black To which succeeds fourthly a yellowish colour next which are the quil-feathers again black but cinereous within The Throat lower side of the Neck the Breast and Belly are white The Tail is double as in the Peacock and also of two colours The lesser which sustains the greater being as it were its prop is white the greater consisting of four very narrow feathers of nine inches long is of a deep black The Legs and Feet are spotted of black and white the Talons black and as in birds of prey very sharp and hooked §. XI * Another Indian long-tail'd Sparrow of Aldrovand Book 15. Chap. 23. THis is an exceeding beautiful bird even fairer than the former Of the same bigness It s Bill is blue Its Head also as in that flat but more elevated in the Neck all black its Eyes also black encompassed with a white circle and having a yellow Iris Its Neck and Breast are of a scarlet colour its Belly and Thighs white Its Wings Back and Tail black But a certain paleness is mingled with the quil-feathers of the Wings The longer feathers of the Tail which are two exceeding long ones viz. five Palms and very broad and a third first also broad but ending in very slender filaments are supported by other smaller ones The Legs and Feet are white The Claws black and as in the precedent notably sharp and hooked §. XII * A short-tail'd Indian Sparrow of Aldrovand Book 15. Chap. 24. THis Bird is lesser than the two former all over black Which colour yet hath I know not what kind of blue and violet gloss as is usually seen to happen in deep blacks The Bill and Feet are of a flesh-colour the Claws black The Eyes also black but encompassed with a white circle §. XIII * The short-tail'd Italian Sparrow of Aldrovand THe Bird saith he which you see here delineated having a very short Tail called Passerino that is a little Sparrow is sometimes taken in the Country about Bologna It s whole body is of one colour viz. yellowish Yet its Breast and Belly are whiter than the other parts It s Bill is of a deeper yellow §. XIV * The rumpless black and red Indian Sparrow of Aldrovand THe whole body both above and underneath as also the beginnings of the Wings are of a most lovely shining scarlet colour The rest of the Wings is black But yet if their feathers are spread out something of white appears in their sides The Feet also are black Moreover it hath along the Back two oblong black spots almost contiguous The Bill for the proportion of the body small for it is a thick-bodied bird for its bigness and less also than in the common Sparrow white where it is joyned to the head else black sharp and slender It altogether wants a Rump §. XV. * The rumpless blue red and black Indian Sparrow of Aldrovand THis Bird is longer than the former but less corpulent and of three colours especially viz. red blue and black The Head Neck and Breast and all the lower parts are of a deep red colour On the sides of the Neck are two large contiguous spots of a semilunar figure and scarlet colour The Wings are very long black and blue about the sides The Legs short and black The Bill a little crooked black but white near the forehead All these Indian Sparrows are to us unknown Aldrovandus also himself saw only the pictures of them not the
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
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
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
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-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-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
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
A small Brasilian Heron of Marggrave IT is scarce so big as a common Pigeon Hath a very long Neck a streight sharp Bill dusky above of a yellowish white beneath two inches and an half long A short sharp Tongue Eyes of a mean size with a black Pupil and a yellow circle A small Head a slender Neck but seven inches long whereas the length of the Body is scarce four Long Legs each five inches the upper half bare of feathers half way Four Toes in each Foot placed the common way with crooked and sharp Talons As for its colour near the Eyes where the Bill is inserted the skin is of a yellow melini The Head above is covered with feathers of a steel-colour with pale brown ones intermingled The whole Neck with the Breast and lower Belly have a white Plumage mixt with cinereous and pale feathers so that they appear variegated The Back is black and partly of a Steel colour with pale brown feathers intermingled The long Wing-feathers are greenish having a white spot on their tips The rest of the Wing is elegantly variegated of brown steel-colour wax-colour and ash-colour The Tail is two inches long covered with the ends of the Wings which are equally extended with it The Legs above are mingled of ash and wax-colour The naked part and the Feet are covered with a yellow skin The Clawsbrown This bird walks erect and stately CHAP. II. Of the Stork De Ciconia §. 1. The common or white Stork Ciconia alba IT is bigger than the common Heron Its Neck thicker and shorter than the Herons Its Head Neck and fore-part white The Rump and outside of the Wings black The Belly white The quil-feathers of the Wings black The Tail white The Bill long red like a Herons Bill The Legs long red bare almost to the Knees or second joynt from the Foot The Toes from the divarication to the first joynt connected by an intervening membrane The Vertebres of the Neck are fourteen in number Its Claws are broad like the nails of a man so that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will not to be sufficient to difference a man from a Stork with its feathers pluckt off N. B. Herodotus attributes such like Claws to the white Aegyptian Ibis The Claw of the middle Toe is not serrate It is seldom seen in England and not unless driven overby a storm of wind or some other accident My honoured Friend Sir Thomas Brown of Norwich a person deservedly famous for his skill in all parts of learning but especially in natural History sent me a Picture of one of these birds taken on the Coast of Norfolk drawn by the life with a short description of it as follows It was about a yard high It had red Bill and Legs the Claws of the Feet like humane Nails The lower parts of both Wings were black so that when the Wings were closed or gathered up the lower part of the Back appeared black Yet the Tail which was wholly covered and hid by the Wings as being scarce an inch long was white as was also the upper part of the Body The quills were equal in bigness to Swans quills It made a snapping or clattering noise with its Bill by the quick and frequent striking one Chap against the other It readily eat Frogs and Land-snails which we offered it but refused Toads It is but rarely seen on our Coasts So far Sir Thomas Brown Whose description agrees exactly with ours in all points The white Stork saith Joannes Faber is very rare in Italy All these twenty eight years that I have spent at Rome I never but once saw a white Stork and then but one on the top of the Tower called Torre de Conti I know not by what wind driven thither Aldrovandus also himself an Italian born and then a very old man confessed that he had never seen a white Stork for that the Territory of Bologna did neither breed nor feed them But sith it is most certain that Storks before the approach of Winter fly out of Germany into more temperate and hot Countries very strange it is Italy being contiguous to Germany and hotter than it that they should not fly thither at least pass over it in their flight Southward I know them saith the same Faber who have learned by ocular inspection that Storks and Peacocks when such Serpents as they swallow passed alive through their bodies as they will do several times creeping out at their Fundaments use to set up their Rumps and clap their Tails against a wall so long till they feel the Serpents dead within them §. II. The black Stork Ciconia nigra IT is equal to the white Stork or but little less than it It s Head Neck Back and Wings are black with a certain gloss or mixture of green not unlike the colour of a Cormorant Its Breast Belly and sides are white The Bill green The Legs also green and bare of feathers up to the Knees or second joynt from the Foot The membrane connecting the Toes reaches on the outside as far as the first joynt of the middle Toe not on the inside The young ones when they want meat make a noise not unlike to Herons We saw this Bird first near Frankefurt on the Main after at Strasburgh We suppose those we saw were young ones for that their Bills and Legs were green whereas in that which Faber described they were red Jo. Faber describes this Bird very diligently and exactly thus Its length from the point of the Bill to the Feet was six spans and an half The measure was the same of the Wings extended The Bill alone wherein was seen a short reddish Tongue was a Roman foot long The Legs two spans The Gullet was of that capacity or wideness that the Bird being hanged up by the Feet a great Frog dropt out of the mouth of its own accord without any force and four more were found entire in its stomach In which stomach made of hard flesh were many Frogs bones and a certain dry lump not unlike dung The Neck was a span and half long The Legs and Feet meager The colour of the Wings and all the Back blackish as far as the lower Belly This black is mixt with a dark bluish and purple the dusky colour being predominant especially in the greater feathers of the Wings The Neck recedes further from the colour of the Back and doth wonderfully delight the Eyes with a most grateful mixture of blue purple and green such as is observed in the necks of Pigeons and Mallards And because only the lower region of the Belly beginning far below the Breast hath white and soft feathers the whole Bird is rather to be denominated black than white The orbits of the Eyes the whole Bill Legs and Feet are of a most pleasant scarlet red or vermilion colour All which things put together viz. the stately structure of the whole body and that symmetry of various and
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
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-end to 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
The guts twenty nine Its Legs were greenish The quil-feathers marked with great semicircular white spots The lesser rows of covert-feathers had their edges white their middle parts of a reddish black The Belly and Thighs were white Mr. Johnson of Brignal in his Papers communicated to us describes this Bird by the name of a Whimbrel thus It is less by half than the Curlew hath a crooked Bill but shorter by an inch and more The Crown deep brown without speckles The Back under the Wings white which the Curlew hath not Besides the colour of the whole body is more duskish or dull It is found upon the Sands in the Teez mouth The Gallinula Phaeopus of Gesner which I suspect to be the same with the precedent This Bird about Strasburgh is called Brachvogel It hath a black body sprinkled with a few red and yellowish spots a slender long black Bill moderately bending a whitish Neck its underside about the middle and below tending to yellow or red A white Belly dusky or ash-coloured Legs as the Picture represents This description was taken from a Picture and therefore the less to be credited The other Phaeopus or lesser Curlew of Gesner the same with our Whimbrel This Bird some call as they do the greater Curlew Regenvogel that is Rain-fowl and in Italy Tarangolo It is almost like the last described hath ash-coloured Legs like that and a white Belly and Chin A like Bill also save that it seems a little longer The Wings are spotted with white else of a dusky red but their long feathers and the upper side of the Back are blackish The Throat and Breast have something of an obscure and very faint red and are speckled with many black spots I see no reason to doubt but this is our Whimbrel sith the names agree and the descriptions differ not in any considerable note CHAP. II. * The Falcinellus of Gesner and Aldrovand which we may English The Sithe-Bill WE have thought fit saith Aldrovand to place this next after the Herons because that both in magnitude and the whole shape of its body it resembles a Heron the Bill only excepted This Gesner sometime saw alive at Ferraria in Italy It s body was bigger that a Pigeons of an elegant colour almost green with something of purple here and there mixt as in the Back of the Lapwing the colour varying as it is variously exposed to the light The Head and Neck brown But the upper part whitish spotted with black It s Bill was slender long and bending downwards like that of the Curlew or Corvus Sylvaticus Its Legs long and Feet cloven Some call it The black Heron. But this that I saw was not grown up They say it comes to be bigger and perchance also may change something in colour by age Among all the Birds that I have hapned to see none seems to me to come nearer the Ibis Thus far Gesner Now proceeds Aldrovandus whether this be that Bird which our Country-men call Falcinellus I do not well know For it differs not a little from Gesners description But it may happen as he well notes that this kind of bird may vary according to the difference of age both in bigness and also in colour Our Falcinellus comes well up to the bigness of the Herons and resembles them in the whole fashion and shape of the body excepting the Bill It s Head Neck Back Breast Belly Thighs Rump are of a spadiceous colour tending to dusky But the Neck and Breast are sprinkled with certain oblong dusky spots In the middle of the Back is a kind of spot of a dark green colour Which same colour is also seen in the Wings and Tail The Bill is blackish very long and falcate The Thighs as far as they are naked the Legs and Feet are of the same colour with the Bill The Legs and Toes are extended to a conspicuous length CHAP. III. * Curicaca of the Brasilians called by the Portughese Masarino IT is a Bird in the judgment of Clusius like to the Curlew Of the bigness of a handsom Goose But its Head about as big as a Ducks It s Neck six inches long three thick or a little more Its Bill six inches long crooked like an Hungarian Sword of a dusky fire colour The length of its body from Neck to Vent eleven inches the thickness one foot The length of the Wings sixteen inches of the Tail which ends with the Wings nine Its Legs are eight inches long Its Feet two and an half red like a Ducks but not flat having four Toes with black Claws three standing forward and one backward It s Head and Neck have a white Plumage mingled with yellow in the upper side pretty long Its Eyes are black with a yellow circle About the Eyes and the beginning of the Throat there is a black skin The whole body is covered with black feathers excepting the Back Head and Belly where are some of a dark ash-colour and in the middle of the Wings others white mixt with grey as in Storks The rest of the feathers of the body of the beginning and end of the Wings and of the whole Tail are black The upper Legs to the middle are void of feathers for it is a Water-fowl It s flesh is good which I have often eaten roasted and friend with butter There is found also another sort like to this but much less about the bigness of a Hen which is called Matuitui It is common about the River of S. Francis in Itapuama and elsewhere CHAP. IV. * The Acacalotl or Water-Raven Corvus aquaticus of Hernandez THe Cock from the end of the Tail to the point of the Bill was almost four spans long and of a moderate bigness The Legs a span and half The Bill bending like a Bow two Palms long and pretty slender The Feet cloven into four Toes armed with very black Claws The Legs are not so black as the Claws The Bill is blue and the Head small The lower feathers are dusky with red intermingled But the upper promiscuously purple black green and shining The Neck is seven inches long The Head and Neck are covered with dusky white and green feathers and some a little yellowish The Eyes are black but the Iris of a sanguine colour From the outer angles of the Eyes as far as the Bill for the space of one inch the skin is bare of feathers and smooth of a reddish colour The Wings underneath are of a shining changeable colour which varies according as it variously reflects the Sun-beams but above near their setting on first then of a lovely green and Peacock colour It is native of the Coast of Mexico It lives about Lakes and feeds upon Fishes It breeds and brings up its Young in the Spring time in fenny places It yields a good nourishment and not very unpleasant but gross and as other Marsh birds of a fishy sent This Bird doth not much differ from the
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
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
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
under-side of the body is white only the Throat and upper part of the Breast clouded a little with dark-coloured spots Mr. Willughby observed small brown spots under the Wings and the Throat to be of an ash-colour thick-set with black spots down sometimes to the Breast The Liver divided into two Lobes of which the right is much the bigger The Stomach musculous These Birds live about the Sea-shores and fly together in flocks At Westchester they call them Purres Bellonius his description of his Junco agrees in all points with this bird His figure represents the Bill too short The Bill of the Cinclus also in Aldrovands figure is drawn too short §. II. * The third Cinclus of Aldrovand IT is of the same colours with the precedent save that it hath a white Tail adorned with transverse black lines It hath also the same shape and make of body It differs in the Bill for that hath it of almost an even bigness this thicker where it is joyned to the Head and by degrees slenderer to the tip It seems also to differ in the Legs they being somewhat longer and thicker In bigness it agrees and hath also a common name with it being called by our the Bolognese Fowlers Giaroncello CHAP. XIV The Stone-Curlew The Oedicnemus of Bellonius Charadrius of Gesner Aldrov called at Rome Curlotte IT s weight is eighteen ounces Its length from Bill to Tail eighteen inches to the points of the Claws twenty Its breadth from tip to tip of the Wings extended thirty six inches The length of the Bill measuring from the tip to the angles of the mouth two inches The Bill is not much unlike a Gulls but streight sharp-pointed black as far as the Nosthrils then yellow The Irides of the Eyes and edges of the Eye-lids are yellow Under the Eyes is a bare space of a yellowish green colour The Legs are long and yellow The Claws small and black It hath only three fore-toes wanting the back-toe The outmost Toe a little longer than the middlemost All joyned together by a certain membrane which on the inside the middle toe begins at the second joynt on the outside at the first and reaches almost to the Claws of the outer Toes The Legs as Bellonius observes are very thick below the Knees as if they were swoln by reason of the bones which are there great wherefore that he might render the Bird more easie to be known he named it Oedicnemus The upper Legs are above half way bare of feathers which note alone were there no other argues this Bird to be a Water-fowl The Chin Breast and Thighs are white The Throat Neck Back and Head covered with feathers having their middle parts black their lateral or borders of a reddish ash-colour like that of a Curlew Whence they of Norfolk call it The Stone-Curlew In each Wing are about twenty nine quil-feathers the first and second of which have a transverse white spot else their exteriour surface black The four next to these black The three following have their bottoms and tips white Then succeed thirteen black ones the last or next to the body are of the same colour with it The first feathers of the second row are black The rest have white tips and under the tips a cross line or border of black In the lesser rows of Wing-feathers is a transverse bed or bar of white The coverts of the under-side of the Wings especially those springing from the shoulders are purely white The outmost feathers of the Tail for the space of an inch are black then white The next to these one on each side are variegated with one or two brown bars crossing the white part The rest the white by degrees fading and disappearing become of the same colour with the body The tips of the middlemost are a little black The Tail is five inches long consisting of twelve feathers The guts great The blind guts three inches long The single umbilical blind gut half an inch We bought this bird in the Market at Rome and there described it It breeds very late in the year saith Bellonius for we found of the Young about the end of October which could not yet fly Bellonius when he travelled first in England observed this Bird here for the feathers and the Feet very like to a Bustard The learned and famous Sir Thomas Brown Knight Physician in Norwich informed us that it is found about Thetford in Norfolk where they call it the Stone-Curlew and that its cry is something like that of a green Plover Another bird congenerous to this wanting also the back-toe which Aldrovandus described from the intuition of a bare Picture but different in that its Thighs are feathered and its Toes without any intermediate membrane see in his Ornithology Book 13. Chap. 15. I suspect it to be the same with the Oedicnemus and those different notes to be but mistakes of the Painter The Charadrios of Gesner which Aldrovand judges to be the same with our Oedicnemus is a foolish and stupid bird Being shut up in any room it walks up and down sometimes in a round about a Pillar or any other thing for a long time and if any block or impediment be in its way it will rather leap over it than decline from the right way It shuts not its Eyes though you put your finger to them It is easily made tame for when it is at liberty in the fields it is not much afraid of a man It is a Water-fowl and lives in fenny Meadows or about Marshes In houses also it catches Mice in the night time I hear that it abounds in the Low Countries that it wanders up and down in the night and makes a noise like a Whistle or Pipe SECTION VI. Cloven-footed Water-fowl with short Bills that feed upon Insects CHAP. I. The Lapwing or Bastard Plover Capella sive Vannellus THis Bird is in all Countries very well known and every where to be met with In the North of England they call it the Tewit from its cry It is of the bigness of a common Pigeon of eight ounces weight thirteen inches and an half length measuring from Bill to Claws and not much less from Bill to Tail Its breadth taken between the tips of the Wings spread out is twenty one inches The top of the Head above the Crest is of a shining black The Crest springs from the hind part of the Head and consists of about twenty feathers of which the three or four foremost are longer than the rest in some birds of near four inches length The Cheeks are white only a black line drawn under the Eyes through the Ears The whole Throat or under side of the Neck from the Bill to the Breast is black which black part somewhat resembles a Crescent ending in horns on each side the Neck The Breast and Belly are white As are also the covert feathers of the underside of the Wings The feathers under the
Tail are of a lovely bright bay Those above the Tail are of a deeper bay The feathers next them are dusky with a certain splendour The middle of the Back and the scapular feathers are of a delicate shining green adorned with a purple spot on each side next the Wings The utmost edges of the tips of the middlemost of the long scapular feathers are whitish The Neck also is of an ash-colour with a mixture of red and some black lines near the Crest Of the master-feathers of the Wing the three or four outmost are black with white tips The following to the eleventh are black From the eleventh they are white at bottom the hindmost more and more in order than the foremost Yet this white doth not appear in the upper side of the Wing but is hid by the covert-feathers Those next the body from the twenty first are green The lesser covert-feathers are beautified with purple blue and green colours variously commixt The outmost feather of the Tail on each side is white saving a black spot in the exteriour Web. The tips of all the rest are white and beneath the tips the upper half black and the lower white The Bill is black hard roundish of an inch length The upper Mandible a little more produced The Tongue not cloven but its sides reflected upwards make a channel in the middle The Nosthrils oblong and furnished with a flexile bone The Ears seem to be situate lower in this than other Birds The Eyes are hazel-coloured The Feet are long reddish in some Birds brown The back-toe small The outmost of the fore-toes joyned to the middle one at the bottom The liver is large divided into two Lobes with a Gall annexed The Gizzard not so thick and fleshy as in granivorous birds therein we found Beetles like to Meal-worms It is infested with Lice like the Tetrao The Hen is a little lesser than the Cock Her throat is all white as low as the collar The bay colour under the Tail paler Moreover the outmost feather of the Tail is wholly white wanting that brown spot The colours also in the Cocks do somewhat vary not answering always exactly in all things to our description It lays four or five Eggs of a dirty yellow all over painted with great black spots and stroaks It builds its Nest on the ground in the middle of some field or heath open and exposed to view laying only some few straws or bents under the Eggs that the Nest be not seen The Eyes being so like in colour to the ground on which they lie it is not easie to find them though they lie so open The Young so soon as they are hatcht instantly forsake the Nest running away as the common tradition is with the shells upon their heads for they are covered with a thick Down and follow the old ones like Chickens They say that a Lapwing the further you are from her Nest the more clamorous she is and the greater coil she keeps the nearer you are to it the quieter she is and less concerned she seems That she may draw you away from the true place and induce you to think it is where it is not These Birds are wont to be kept in Gardens in the Summer time in which they do good service in gathering up and clearing the ground of Worms and other Insects Their flesh is indifferent good meat In Summer time they scatter themselves about the Country to breed In Winter time they accompany together and fly in flocks CHAP. II. Of the Plover De Pluviali seu Pardale §. I. The green Plover Pluvialis viridis IN bigness it equals or exceeds the Lapwing weighing about nine ounces being in length from Bill to Tail eleven inches in breadth between the tips of the Wings extended twenty four It s colour on the top of the Head Neck Shoulders Back and in general the whole upper side is black thick set with yellowish green spots If you heed each single feather you will find the middle part to be black the borders or edges round about spotted with a yellowish green colour The Head for the bulk of the body is greater than in the Fringae the Bill streight black of an inch length furrowed about the Nosthrils The Neck short equal to a Lapwings The Breast brown spotted with a yellowish green The belly white yet the feathers on the sides tipt with brown and crossed also with brown lines Of the quil-feathers in each Wing the eleventh ends in a blunt point those before it running out into sharp points on the outside the shaft those behind it on the inside All but the five next the body are brown The shafts of the outmost eight or nine are half way white The exteriour edges of the fifth and those following it are a little white toward their bottoms The inmost five next the body are of the same colour with the Back The second row of Wing-feathers are brown or dusky with white tips The rest of the covert-feathers are on the upper side of the Wing of the same colour with the Back on the under-side with the Belly The Tail is short made up of twelve feathers of the same colour with the Back when spread terminated in a circular circumference The Feet and Claws are black It wants the back-toe By which note alone it is abundantly distinguished from the other birds of its kind Its Legs are long as in all other birds which live about waters and bare of feathers for some space above the knees It s flesh is sweet and tender and therefore highly esteemed and accounted a choice dish as well in England as beyond Seas This Bird from its spots something resembling those of a Leopard is called Pardalis §. II. The grey Plover Pluvialis cinerea called at Venice Squatarola IT is from Bill to Tail twelve inches long to the Claws fourteen Between the tips of the Wings spread twenty four inches broad It s Head Back and lesser coverts of the Wings are black with tips of a greenish grey The Chin is white the Throat spotted with oblong brown or dusky spots The Breast Belly and Thighs white The quil-feathers in each Wing about twenty six Of which the first or outmost are black In the fourth the middle part of the outer edges is white the white part in the five following being enlarged gradually The outmost of the second row of Wing-feathers are also black The tips of those next after the fourth are white and the edges too after the tenth Of the third row the foremost ten are black with white tips The Tail is three inches long not forked varied with transverse bars or beds of black and white It s Bill is black above an inch long like to the rest of this kind The Tongue not cloven The back-toe very small The fore-toes joyned by a membrane at the beginning of their divarication that between the middle and inmost lesser The Feet of a sordid green The
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
little that it is scarce observable The colour of the Head Shoulders Back covert-feathers of the Wings in brief the whole upper side is various of black or dark brown and olive colour each single feather having its middle part black and its edges olive-coloured Mr. Willughby makes the colour of the borders or edges of the feathers a yellowish red or russet and attributes white spots to the Head which were not or at least not observed in the birds seen and described by me The Chin is white the Throat red with a mixture of ash-colour the extreme edges and as it were fringes of the feathers being a little grey The Breast is more blue with a bed of white in the middle On the Thighs and sides under the Wings grow black feathers elegantly variegated with transverse white lines The Belly is russet with white feathers under the Tail like the common Morehen marked with one or two black spots The Wings are hollow the quil-feathers short black or very near it in number twenty two Along the basis of the Wing is a line of white as in the Morehen The Tail is short and black only the edges of the two middle feathers are red The Legs and Feet are of a dark flesh-colour The Legs strong The Toes as in the rest of this kind very long divided from the very rise except that the outer Toe is joyned to the middle by a membrane at the bottom The Claws are of the same colour with the Toes It had a great long crooked Gall-bladder and a large Gall-pore besides Long blind-guts filled with Excrements a musculous Stomach in which we found a shell-Snail It runs very swiftly and hides it self about the banks of Rivers It walks rather than swims in the water It flies with its feet hanging down It is called at Venice Forzane or Porzana a name common to other Water-hens also §. V. * The Velvet Runner Gallinula Serica Gesneri Aldrov Perchance the same with the precedent THis is a remarkable bird very handsomly particoloured of black and red almost all the body over as far as I remember except that the Belly is white And because the black colour in its feathers shines like Velvet I thought sit to make and impose upon it the German name Samethunle Its Legs are long and dark-coloured Its Toes very long but the back-toe short Its Bill long Thus far Gesner and again in his Epitome This Bird may be called Gallina Serica because in it the black colour shines like silk Quaere whether this be not the Ortygometra of Bellonius And we truly hitherto have been of that opinion but then Gesner hath not well described it Which yet is not at all strange sith as we see he described it by memory §. VI. A small Water-hen called Grinetta in Italy and at Milan Gillerdine Poliopus Gallinula minor Aldrov IT is less not only than the common Water-hen but than the Rail but in shape of body like Its Legs and Feet are of the same both figure and colour with the common Water-hens viz. a sordid green The Toes very long divided to the bottom The Bill shorter than either the Rails or common Morehens compressed or narrow sharp-pointed of a yellow colour brighter at the head darker toward the tip The upper part of the upper Chap near the Head above the Nosthrils is crusted over with a kind of yellow plaister The Head as in the rest of this kind is little The colour of the feathers in the middle of the crown is darker From the Bill above the Eyes on each side is drawn a line of grey or pale ash-colour Beneath about the Ears the feathers are of the same colour with the rest of the body under the Throat again they are ash-coloured or blue The Neck both above and beneath and all the Breast are particoloured viz. of a middle colour between green yellow and dusky elegantly sprinkled with black spots Mr. Willughby makes the Breast white or cinereous the bottoms of the feathers being black the Throat black with white spots the Chin of a dark ash-colour without spots The feathers on the crown of the head have their middle parts black their edges red Those on the Shoulders and middle of the Back their middle parts about the shaft black their sides and tips of a sordid red their utmost edges on each side white The quil-feathers of the Wings are all of a dark brown with a certain tincture of red The covert-feathers red with transverse waved lines of white at intervals The lateral parts covered by the Wings are cloathed with brown feathers variegated with transverse waved lines of white The Tail is short consisting of twelve feathers of the same colour with the quils of the Wings save that the middlemost on their lateral edges have something of white But what is especially remarkable in the Tail is that when spread it is not plain as in most birds but notably concave The middle feathers are longer than the rest Moreover the Wings are very hollow as in most Land-fowl of the Poultry-kind The Gall is large the Stomach musculous In it we found seeds of Plants This sort of Water-hen we first saw and described at Milan then at Florence where the Fowlers call it Tordo Gelsemino unless perchance that be a distinct kind and lastly at Valence in Spain That this is the Gallinula poliopus of Aldrovand the names imposed on it do perswade us though the descriptions do not in all points agree The Bird that I described at Florence was of the bigness of the lesser Tringa long-bodied with a small Head Wings of a mean size a short Tail Legs bare for a little above the knees very long Toes except the back one which is shorter in proportion than the rest and situate higher The Bill for the bigness of the bird is of a good length streight narrow or compressed sideways of a greenish yellow colour But the upper Mandible both at the base and toward the tip is darker coloured and as it were of a dusky green The Legs and Feet are of a sordid green neither is the colour of the Claws different In the colour of the feathers it agrees mostwhat with the described save that in the middle of the Back between the Wings a black list runs down besprinkled with white spots of a considerable length and breadth to which also are two lines adjacent one on each side in the covert-feathers of the Wings not parallel to the middle one but running out wider toward the Tail The Eyes are small and their Irides of a greenish yellow In the bird that Mr. Willughby measured the length from Bill to Claws was thirteen inches from Bill to Tail nine and an half The breadth between the tips of the Wings sixteen The Bill like that of the common Water-hen from the point to the angles of the mouth scarce an inch long The Tail two inches along the utmost edge of the Wing from
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-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
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
colour The Legs and Feet are of an elegant red-lead colour The back-toe broad with an appendant membrane It hath a huge bony labyrinth on the wind-pipe just above the divarications and besides the windpipe hath two swellings out one above another each resembling a powder-puff The Stomach is scarce musculous out of it dissected we took a Roch and an Ed whence it is manifest that the bird feeds upon fishes It hath a gall-bladder The blind guts were two or three inches long and full of Excrements The Dun-Diver or Sparlin-fowl Merganser foemina Mergus cirratus longiroster Gesn Aldrov The Sexes in this kind of bird differ extremely from one another in colour so that both Gesner and Aldrovand do set them forth for different species calling the Female Mergus cirratus longiroster major The Head of this which we take to be the Female of the precedent is of a sordid red The feathers on the Crown of the Head stand out somewhat and seem to bend backward in form of a crest or toppin The Chin is white The whole Back of bluish ash-colour the Fowlers call it Dun whence this Bird also is by them called the Dun Diver The underside of the body is of the same colour as in the Male The quil-feathers of the Wings also do not much differ as to their colours The Bill and Feet agree with those of the Male. The Wings in both Sexes are short and little for the bulk of the body notwithstanding by the very quick agitation of them it flies exceeding swiftly near the surface of the water The Stomach of this Bird is as it were a Craw and a Gizzard joyned together The upper part resembling the Craw hath no wrinkles or folds in its inner membrane but is only granulated with small papillary glandules resembling the little protuberances on the third ventricle of a Beef called the Manifold or those on the shell of a Sea-Urchin CHAP. II. The Bird called at Venice Serula Mergus cirratus fuscus Anas ut puto longirostra Gesneri Aldrov t. 3. p. 281. THis Bird is very common at Venice In bigness it comes near to the common Duck. All its Head and the upper part of its Neck are of a dark fulvous colour but the crown of the head darker or blackish It hath a pretty long crest or tuft on its head hanging down backward The Back is dusky or of a very dark cinereous The Throat for an inch and halfs space is white below grisled of black white and red The whole Belly white The Bill from the tip to the angles of the mouth three inches slender and of a round figure The lower Mandible wholly red hath in the end an ash-coloured oval spot the upper is of a dark brown above with some mixture of green red on the edges hooked at the end and marked with a whitish oval spot Both toothed on both sides along the edges with teeth like those of a Saw inclining inwards The Eyes of a sanguine colour The Wings are very short and little for the bigness of the bird having each about twenty five or twenty six feathers in the first row Of these the outmost ten are black the eleventh hath the tip white and the three next in order still more the following six have their upper halves white The rest are indeed white but have their edges black some on one side only some on both Of the second row those that cover the white ones of the first are themselves white half way Above toward the base of the Wing is a great white spot beginning from the bastard Wing The coverts of the underside of the Wing and the interiour bastard wing are white but those under the outmost quil-feathers are dusky The Tail is short consisting of eighteen feathers The Legs short The Feet red or of a deep Saffron colour The Wind-pipe at the divarication hath such a vessel as the precedent and besides above swells out into a puff-like cavity In the stomach we found a Mullet This Bird is not much more than half so big as the precedent It differs also in its colour its crest the white spot below the bastard Wing and other accidents We suspect the Bird described was a Female and that its Male represents the Goosander though we have not as yet hapned to see it unless perchance it be that whose skin stuft we saw in Sir William Fosters Hall at Bambergh in Northumberland which had on each Wing a white spot and two small transverse black strakes We cannot but wonder if the Male of this Bird be such a one as the Goosander that among so many Females at Venice we should not see one Male Mr. Willughby saw and described at Venice another Bird of this kind perchance specifically different from this under the name of Cokall for 1. It was less 2. It had no Labyrinth This makes us doubt again concerning the Sexes of these birds for in others of the Duck-kind the Females have no labyrinth whereas in the dun Diver which we take to be the female of the Goosander we found a large labyrinth and yet in this lesser Diver called Cokall it seems there was none so that we will not be very consident that the Goosander and Dun Diver differ no more than in Sex This Bird Leon. Baltner calls Klein Merch i. e. a little Diver Gesner besides these sets forth four or five species of this kind of birds whose descriptions were sent him by a certain German But those descriptions are so short general and obscure that we cannot thence certainly learn what birds the Author means CHAP. III. The Mergus Rheni of Gesner Aldrov tom 3. pag. 275. IT is in bigness equal to a Duck and the most Duck-like of any of the Mergi Its body all over particoloured of black and white Its Bill and the space about the Eyes black On both sides the back of the Head are black spots The rest of the Head is partly black partly dusky or cinereous The lower or fore-part of the Neck with the Belly are of a white colour but varied here and there with cinereous points or spots which in the lower part of the Belly and sides being drawn out in waved lines make a very pretty shew and pleasant to behold The Legs grow backwards about the bottom of the Belly The Feet and Toes are dusky the membranes on the inside black The Tail black The Wings and whole back distinguished with several black and white spaces alternately Some call this Bird a White Nun. I suspect that this Bird was no other than our Albellus next to be described Only the bigness and want of a crest forbid it Perchance Gesner might describe it from the relation of others or from a Picture I am sure Leonard Baltner a Fisherman and Fowler of Strasburgh who did very diligently observe gather together and cause to be painted all the birds frequenting the Rhene thereabouts gives us no other bird of this kind but the
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
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-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
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
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
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
which is black The feathers on the forehead descend down the middle of the Bill in a peak or angle The Nosthrils are great at a pretty distance from the Plumage The Irides of the Eyes of a yellow or gold colour The Ears small as perchance in all Water-sowl The Head especially the crown of a dark purple inclining to black or rather black with some mixture of purple whence at Venice and elsewhere in Italy it is called Capo negro It hath a crest or cop hanging down backwards from the Head of an inch and halflong The colour of the Neck Shoulders Back in fine the whole upper part is a dark brown almost black The Wings are short all the covert feathers black The four outmost quils of the same colour with the body the succeeding little by little whiter the subsequent than the antecedent The second decad or middle quils are purely white all but their tips which are black The next six are wholly black The Tail is very short composed of fourteen black feathers The nether side of the Neck and forepart of the Breast are black the rest of the Breast and Belly as far as the Vent of a white or silver-colour the lower the darker Behind the Vent it is black The lateral feathers covered by the Wings when closed those on the Thighs and the under-coverts of the Wings are white The interiour bastard-bastard-wing consists of six white feathers The Legs are short and situate backwards The Feet of a livid or dark blue colour the Web black The Toes long The body is short thick broad and something compressed or flat weighing about two pounds In the angle of the lower Mandible some have a white spot which in others is wanting The Wind-pipe hath its labyrinth The Liver is divided into two Lobes having a Gall annexed The Gizzard is composed of thick muscles Therein we found nothing but small stones and Sea-wrack We saw a Bird very like this perchance the same in his Majesties Pools in S. James's Park It s Bill and Legs were of a lead-colour Its Head black Its Wings little but above the Wings the sides white A long crest hangs down backward from behind the Head To me beholding the Bird at a distance the whole Wings seemed white but perchance that colour was proper to the covert-feathers not common to the quils §. X. The black Diver or Scoter Anas niger minor IT is almost as big as the common Duck but rounder-bodied The whole body all over is of a black or sable colour From the Shoulders in some birds spring blacker feathers In the Chin and middle of the Breast some ash-coloured or whitish feathers are mingled with the black The Wings are of the same colour with the body without any diversity of colours at all The Bill such as in the Duck-kind yellow about the Nosthrils else black pectinated about the sides yellow within without any bunch in the upper Mandible Its Feet are black This description is of a Hen. In the year 1671. I found the Male of this kind at Chester killed on the Sea-coasts thereabouts and bought in the Market by my Lord Bishop Wilkins his Steward and described it in these words It is something less than a tame Duck short-bodied for its bigness and broad all over black both upper and under-side Only the Head had a dark tincture of purple and the under-side of the first second and third rows of Wing-feathers inclined to cinereous The wings were short the quils in each twenty five The Tail more than an hand-breadth long consisting of sixteen feathers the outmost of which were the shortest the rest in order longer to the middlemost which were the longest so that the Tail runs out into an acute angle more acute than I remember to have observed in other Sea-ducks and each single feather is very sharp-pointed The Bill in this Bird is especially remarkable being broad blunt as in the rest of this kind of about two inches length having no Appendix or nail at the tip contrary to the manner of other Ducks The upper Mandible above the Nostrils next the forehead bunches out into a notable protuberance being so divided in the middle as to resemble Buttocks distinguished by a yellow intercurrent line Now the colour of this upper Mandible is black about the sides yellow in the middle the yellow part being so broad as to contain the Nosthrils and about an inch long The Tongue is very great The Eye-lids yellow The Irides of the Eyes dark The Legs and Feet dusky The Toes very long and web'd together so that its oars are broad and large The shorter Toe hath a membranous border extant along its outside This had no labyrinth on its Wind-pipe The blind-guts for a bird of this kind were very short The Gall great It weighed two pounds and nine ounces Its length from Bill to Tail was twenty two inches It breadth from Wings end to Wings end thirty four and an half This Bird hath not as yet been described by any Author extant in Print that we know of It abides constantly at Sea gets its living by diving and is taken in Nets placed under water In the wash in Lincolnshire it is found plentifully It s Case stuft was sent us first by Mr. Fr. Jessop out of Yorkshire Next we got it at Chester as we have said Then Sir Thomas Brown sent us a Picture of it from Norwich and lastly Mr. Johnson sent a description of it in his method of Birds in which description are some particulars not observed by us viz. that the Male hath on the upper side some tincture of shining green and that in the Hen the Neck and Head on both sides as far as the Eyes is white §. XI The Poker or Pochard or great read-headed Wigeon Anas fera fusca of Gesner Aldrov t. 3. p. 221. Penelops veterum Rothalss of Gesner Aldrov p. 218. Cane a la teste rouge of Bellonius THat we described weighed thirty two ounces From tip of Bill to end of Tail was nineteen inches long to the Claws points twenty one It is bigger than the common Wigeon and for its bigness shorter and thicker The lesser covert-feathers of the Wings and those on the middle of the back are most elegantly variegated with dark brown and cinereous waved lines or ash-coloured with very narrow waved cross dusky lines The Rump and feathers under the Tail are black so that the Tail is compassed with a ring of black The lower part of the Neck is likewise black so that the forepart of the body seems also to be encircled with a ring or swathe of black The Head and almost the whole Neck are of a deep fulvous or red colour the middle part of the Breast white the sides and lower part and Belly all of the same colour with the Back and varied with the like transverse undulated lines but both colours paler Toward the Vent it is by degrees darker coloured The Tail is very short
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
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
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
Breast is curiously varied with black and dusty transverse arcuate elliptical waved lines in each feather The Belly in some is white in others tinctured with yellow But toward the Vent are brown lines and bigger spots under the Tail The colour of the Back is brown with a purplish gloss The Thighs are covered with feathers handsomly variegated with transverse black and white lines The scapular feathers next the Wings are ash-coloured the rest are of a very beautiful purple colour with white lines in the middle Each Wing hath twenty five quils the outmost ten of which are brown on the outside the shaft on the inside of a Mouse-dun The eleven next have white tips beneath the tips as far as they appear beyond the covert-feathers their exteriour Webs of a shining green the interiour and the bottoms of the feathers being of a dusk or Mouse-dun The rest are brown only the exteriour Webs edged with white The lesser rows of Wing-feathers are ash-coloured excepting those immediately incumbent on the quils some of which have white tips The Tail is short three inches and when closed ending in a sharp point of a dusky or dark brown colour consisting of fourteen feathers the outmost feathers are varied with spots of a pale or whitish red The soal of the foot is black The Cock had a Labyrinth at the divarication of the Wind-pipe the Hen none The Hen is less than the Cock and duller-coloured wants the black spot under the Chin and the red colour of the Cheeks The Wings underneath are as in the Cock above more brown The Back coloured like the Cocks but the scapular feathers have not those beautiful colours §. VIII * Of the Summer-Teal called by Gesner Ana circia GEsner takes that Duck they call Circia to be of the kind of the lesser Querquedulae A certain German renders it in High Dutch Ein Birckilgen and saith it is so called from the sound of its voice that it is like a small Duck but differs in the colour of the Wings and Belly For the Wings want those glistering feathers and the Belly is more spotted This kind so he proceeds I think is also found in our Lakes for I saw not long since a small sort of Duck taken in the beginning of January little bigger than a Dobchick brown all over having the Bill of a Duck that is broad and brown Also dusky coloured Legs and Feet the Neck an hand-breadth long the rest of the body six inches But it was a Hen and had Eggs in the Belly The Cock I guess hath more beautiful colours In the Stomach I found nothing but small-stones and the seeds of some water-plants almost of the fashion of Lentiles but lesser and thicker and reddish Thus far Gesner From this short description and that too of a Hen bird we cannot certainly gather whether it be a distinct Species from the precedent But we suspect it was of that bird which our Country men call the Summer-Teal which Mr. Johnson informs us is of that bigness for we have not as yet seen it It s Bill is black The whole upper side of a dark grey or light brown the edges or extremes of the feathers in the Back are white In the Wings is a line or spot of an inch breadth partly black partly of a shining green terminated on both sides with white In the Tail the feathers are sharp-pointed The whole under side seems to be white with a slight tincture of yellow but on the Breast and lower Belly are many pretty great black spots The Legs are of a pale blue the membranes between the Toes black This is the least of all Ducks In its stomach dissected I found nothing but grass and stones This description we owe to Mr. Johnson §. IX * A wild Brasilian Duck of the bigness of a Goose Marggrave IT hath a black Bill dusky Legs and Feet It is all over black except the beginnings setting on of the Wings which are white but that black hath a gloss of shining green It hath a crest or tuft on it heads consisting of black feathers and a corrugated red mass or bunch of flesh above the rise of the upper Mandible of the Bill It hath also a red skin about the Eyes It is very fleshy and good meat They are commonly shot sitting on high trees For after they have washt themselves in cold water they fly up high trees for the benefit of the fresh air and Sun §. X. * A Wild Brasilian Duck called Ipocati-Apoa by the Portughese Pata that is A Goose Marggrav IT is of the bigness of a Goose of eight or nine months of the very shape and figure of our common Ducks The Belly lower part of the Tail the whole Neck and Head are covered with white feathers the Back to the Neck the Wings and top of the Head with black having a mixture of green as in the Necks of our Ducks In the Neck and Belly are black feathers all about sparsedly mingled with the white It differs from our Country Ducks in these particulars 1. That it is bigger 2. It hath indeed a Ducks Bill but black and hooked at the end 3. Upon or above the Bill it carries a fleshy crest broad and almost round of a black colour remarkably spotted with white The Crest is of equal height Between the Crest and the Bill viz. on the top of the Bill is a transverse hole of the bigness of a Pease conspicuous on both sides which serves instead of Nosthrils 4. The colour of the Legs and Feet is not red but of a dusky ash-colour It is full of flesh and good meat It is found every where about the Rivers I had another in all things like this excepting that those long feathers in the Wings were of a shining brown colour I suppose this is the Male the other the Female §. XI * The first Brasilian wild Duck called Mareca of Marggrave IT hath a Ducks Bill of a brown colour at the rise whereof on each side is a red spot The Head above is of a grey Hare-colour The sides of the Head under the Eyes all white The whole Breast and lower Belly hath an obscure resemblance of the colour of Oaken boards and is besides variegated with black points specks The Legs and Feet are black the Tail grey The Wings elegant at the setting on of a dark grey colour The quil-feathers on one side are of the former colour but all the outer half of them medietas extrema of a pale brown In the middle they are of a shining green with a border of black like the colour of the Mallards Neck It s flesh is very good meat The outmost of a light brown and the middlemost of a shining green with a fringe or border of black §. XII * The second Brasilian wild Duck called Mareca of Marggrave IT is of the same bigness and figure with the precedent hath a black shining Bill The top of the Head the
on its black Head Its Breast also was of the same colour spotted with white pricks The Back as in the Male but the Wings were much greener than his and spotted also with two white spots In other particulars it differed little or nothing from him §. V. * The Guiny Duck Anas Libyca Aldrov and Bellon which we take to be the same with the Muscovy and Cairo Duck. THis kind of Duck Bellonius thus describes A few years agone a certain kind of Ducks began to be kept in France of a middle size between a Goose and a Duck having a broken voice as if it had distempered or ulcerated Lungs Now there is so great plenty of them in our Country that they are every where kept in Cities and publicly exposed to sale For at great entertainments and Marriage Feasts they are sought for and desired They have short Legs The Male is bigger than the Female and as is usual in other Birds of a different colour so that it is hard to ascribe any certain colour to it unless one would say that it comes near to a Duck-colour They are for the most part either black or particoloured They have a Bill in a manner different from Geese and Ducks hooked at the end also short and broad In the Head rises up something of a red colour like a Crest but much different from a Cocks Comb. For it is a certain tuberous eminency situate between the Nosthrils exactly resembling the figure of a red Cherry The Temples near the Eyes are without feathers the skin shewing like a red hide of the same substance with that Cherry-like bunch between the Eyes By which Marks I think it may be certainly known and distinguished from other Birds But this one thing may seem very strange in this Bird that it hath so great a privy member that it is an inch thick and of four or five inches length and red like bloud If it were not very chargeable many more of them would be kept than are For if you give them but meat enough they will lay many Eggs and in a short time hatch a great number of Ducklings Their flesh is neither better nor worse than that of a tame Goose or Duck. This seems to me to be the very same Bird with Aldrovands Cairo-Duck for most of the marks do agree as will appear to him who will take the pains to compare the descriptions and also the same with our Muscovy Duck. For Scaligers Indian Duck which Aldrovand makes the same with his Libyc is the same with our Muscovy-Duck or we are very much deceived So that I strongly suspect our Muscovy-Duck the Guinny Duck of Bellonius and Aldrovands Cairo-Duck yea and Gesners Indian Duck too to be all one and the same bird more or less accurately described Perchance also the Birds themselves may differ one from another in those tuberous eminencies and naked skin about the Bill and upon the Bill between the Nosthrils §. VI. * Gesners Indian Duck which perchance may be also the same with our Muscovy THere is with us saith he who sent us Gesner the figure and description of this Bird out of England a Duck brought out of India of the same shape of body the same Bill and Foot with the common Duck but bigger and heavier by half than it It s Head is red like bloud and so is a good part of the Neck adjoyning on the back-side All that red is a callous flesh and divided by incisures and where it ends at the Nosthrils it lets down a Caruncle of a different figure from the rest of the flesh like that of a Swans contiguous or joyned to the Bill It s Head is bare of feathers and that part also of the Neck which is red save that on the top of the Head through the whole length of it there is a crest or tuft of feathers which when it is angry it sets up Under the Eyes at the beginning of the Bill the skin is spotted with black spots placed in no order Above the Eye also are one or two spots tending upward The Eye is yellow separated from the rest of the Head by a circle of black Under the further end of the Eye backwards is a singular spot separated from the rest The whole Bill is blue only it hath a black spot at the tip The feathers all along the rest of the Neck are white At the setting on of the Neck is a circle of black spotted with a few white spots and unequal narrower below broader above Behind this circle the Plumage of all the lower Belly is white of the upper side of body brown but the white Plumage is divided at the top by that black circle The ends of the Wings and the Tail are of a shining green like Cantharides The skin of the Legs is brown with light circular incisures The membrane between the intervals of the Toes is more pale sprinkled with two or three brown spots placed in no order except in the left foot where there are six set in arrow alongst the outmost Toe It walks softly by reason of the heaviness of its body It s voice is not like that of other Ducks but hoarse like a mans that hath his Jaws and Throat swoln with a cold The Cock is bigger than the Hen. The Hen is like the Cock but hath not such variety of colours It gets its living out of muddy waters and delights in such other things as the common Duck doth There are many things in this description which do perswade me that this Bird also is no other than our Muscovy Duck As equal bigness naked tuberous flesh about the Bill a hoarse voice the Cock being bigger than the Hen c. Nor is the diversity of colours a sufficient argument of the contrary For that they as we have often said in tame Birds of the same kind vary infinitely §. VII The Brasilian Ipeca-guacu of Piso IT is a domestic whole-footed bird reputed for the goodness of its flesh As to the bulk and shape of its body it is of a middle proportion between our Country Ducks and Geese but in the beauty of its feathers and colours excells them both It s Bill from the end to the middle is yellow The middle of its Head is curiously tinctured with red the whole body from the crown to the Tail being of a delicate white colour like a Swans It hath Ducks Feet of a yellowish red It feeds fat as well upon Land as in Pools For the goodness of its flesh it is not inferiour to our Ducks and had in esteem by persons of quality It is a fruitful bird lays great Eggs and a great many almost all seasons of the year dispatching its sitting in a short time It is also salacious its penis and other internal parts serving for generation being more than usually strong and great As for its bowels and entrails they are of like constitution and make with those of our Ducks AN APPENDIX TO
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
This history is as true as the precedent Of the laughing Bird or Quapachtototl MIrth is often unsecure Quapachtototl or the fulvous Bird imitates humane laughter and yet is dreaded and hated by the Indians as inauspicious and ominous fore-boding some evil or mischief The body from Bill to Tail is eight inches long and the Tail as much The Bill from blue inclines to black being pretty long and crooked The circle about the Pupil of the Eye is white The Breast cinereous The Belly from thence to the Tail black The Tail of a dark fulvous But the Wings Neck and Head fulvous whence it got its name among the Indians They say it is pleasant and wholsom meat Of the Water-Quail or Acolin A Certain brown Bird of the Lake of Mexico is called Acolin because it is of the bigness of a Quail It hath a long Bill bending downward and long Legs It runs very swiftly near the top of the water And seldom or never flies It feeds upon fish And it self is made food by man Of the Cornet Ducks THere is a certain sort of Ducks in Asia which one may not underservedly reckon among Cornets or Horn-winders Their voice doth so nearly resemble the sound of a horn such as Post-boys use This same Bird though it be feeble and weak yet is it bold and stout and the Turks have a perswasion that it frightens and drives away evil spirits Certes it is so constantly desirous of liberty that though it be kept up and fed three whole years in a Cage if it get an opportunity of escaping it will prefer its liberty before its ease and fly away to its natural and usual haunts and manner of living Of Birds that cannot stand THe Indians call a sort of Duck with a black Bill indifferently broad tho whole body almost being white black and grey but about the Head and Neck purple white blue green and changeable according as it variously reflects the Sun-beams like the Heliotrope stone or a Peacocks head Yztactzon Yayauhqui or the Bird of a particoloured Head Its Legs and Feet are red Its food like that of other marshbirds It is a Bird of passage coming to the Lake of Mexico at a certain season We must not omit to tell you that this Bird like the Acitli or Water-Hare cannot walk but only swim the Legs of both growing in like manner at the very end of their bodies Of the broad-bill'd Bird or Tempatlahoac THere is a certain sort of wild Duck among the Indians called by them Tempatlahoac the Spaniards Natives of America call it a Swallow of the bigness of a tame Duck and therefore called among the Indians by the same name It hath a broad long Bill all over black A white Tongue Pale-red Legs and Feet Its Head and Neck shine with green purple and black colours like those of a Peacock or the heliotrope stone Its Eyes are black and Iris pale Its Breast white But the rest of the body beneath fulvous and adorned with two white spots on both sides near the Tail above beautified with certain semicircles the circumference of which from white tended to brown the middle or inner part from black to a shining green The Wings at the setting on or beginning are blue next white and then lastly of a shining green Yet their extremes are on one side fulvous on the other side shining and green The circumference of the Tail both above and beneath is white else it is black underneath and of a Peacock colour above This also is a stranger coming from some other Country to the Lake of Mexico and its flesh is such kind of meat as that of other marsh Birds Of the crested Eagle THis is a beautiful kind of Eagle and as it were crowned like a Kingly Bird the Indians call it Yzquauhtli It s Bill is yellow at the root then black Its Talons black Its Feet of a pale colour Its Legs and Belly mingled of black and white Its Neck fulvous its Back and Tail black and brown Its crest or crown black It is about as big as a common Ram and is as stout and hardy as the fiercest creatures so that being reclaimed and kept tame upon a sleight provocation it will assault and fly upon even men themselves Yet is it very tame and gentle and becomes as fit and serviceable for hawking as other Hawks of which it is a kind Of the Bird having three tunes or notes A Small Bird that sings very sweetly is found in Hispaniola It sings in three several voices or notes varying its tune with almost indivisible modulations from a sharp note presently falling down to others that it seems to utter them all together and with one breath to form several notes as if they proceeded from three throats An anonymous manuscript Author who affirms that himself hath heard thinks that there is no bird in the World sings more pleasantly yea that it clearly excels the Nightingale in the almost inexplicable sweetness of its accents This Bird he saith he saw not only heard it But from the testimony of others he declares that it is very beautiful and adorned with wonderful variety of lovely colours Of the Water-Sparrow A Cototloquichitl or the Water-Sparrow the Cock sings pertinaciously without intermission From Sun-rising to Sun-setting it chirps and cries stiffly with a noise like the squeaking of Mice It gratifies the Palate more than the Ear. It sits upon Rushes and Seggs and among them it builds For bigness and shape it resembles a Sparrow yet its Bill is black its Legs and Feet fulvous The lower or underside of the body is for the most part white The rest fulvous varied with a kind of white and black It is found in the coasts of Mexico This Bird is not much unlike that we have intitled the Reed-Sparrow Of the hoarse Bird. THe ludicrous motion and contraction of its Neck at pleasure hath ennobled the Acaca cahucactli or water bird that cries hoarsly For the hoarseness of its voice hath given it its name It is of that kind of Halcyons King-fishers which our Country-men Spaniards are wont to call Martinet Pescador which naturally frequents Rivers and Streams of water to get its food It is a little less than a wild Duck having its Bill and Neck of a spanlong Its Bill is about three fingers breadth long of a moderate thickness ending in a sharp point and very fit to strike and peck withall black above white underneath and pale about the sides The Pupil of the Eye is black the Iris next the Pupil red then pale and at last white From the Eyes to the rise of the Bill proceeds a line fascia of a pale green Its Legs and Feet which are cloven into toes are green on the out-side on the inside incline to paleness The colour of the whole body is for the most part white with fulvous feathers intermixt But the upper side inclines more to brown the underside is whiter The Wings
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
of other Water-fowl It feeds upon little fishes Gnats and other Water-Insects It hath a louder and stronger cry than sutes to the proportion of its body yet is it not to be numbred among the clamorous birds The healing Wood-pecker or Tleuquecholtototl THis Tleuquecholtototl or Bird with a Head like the Spoon-bill Platea It is bigger than a Blackbird hath a long black Bill but the nether Chap much the shorter The crown of the Head and almost the whole Neck above is red the lower parts being altogether cinereous The Wings and Back are black varied with transverse white lines It lives in the fields of Pavatlan in the Province of Totonacapae It is a kind of Wood-pecker that perforates trees the red feathers of whose Head being applied and glued to the Head are reported to cure the Head-ach Whether they came to be of that opinion because they grow on the birds Head or found it to be so by some experiment Of the Wood-pecker that breeds in the time when the rains fall QUatotoni is a kind of Woodpecker of the bigness of a Hoopoo varied with a black and brown colour It s Bill wherewith it perforates trees is three inches long strong and white the nether Chap the shorter It s Head is small covered with a red plumage adorned also with a red crest three inches long and black at top On each side the Neck goes down a white stroke fascia as low as the breast Its Legs and feet are of a livid or lead-colour It lives not far from the South Sea Builds upon high trees Feeds upon Cicadae or Tlaolli Worms and other Insects It breeds in the time that the rains fall that is from the month of May to September It is neither good to eat nor useful for any thing else that I have heard of Of the Queen of the Aurae COzcacoauhtli the Indians call a Bird which they say is the Queen of those fowl the Mexicans call Aurae It doth not less deserve that name from its constancy or firmness against all the force of blasts and impulse of winds It approaches in bigness to the Gnossian Eagles it s whole body besides the Neck and those parts which are near the Breast is from a black purple fulvous and dark or sad-coloured Its Wings underneath about their rise black else cinereous but above mixed of fulvous and black and something inclining to purple Its Legs are red and Claws hooked The extremes of the Bill which one would think were those of a Parrot they are so undiscernably like are white the rest of the Bill of a sanguine tincture The Nosthrils are large the Eyes black but Iris fulvous the eye-lids red The forehead died with a sanguine colour and frowning or wrinkling which wrinkles it doth sometimes explicate and smooth In which particular and also in some thin scattered hairs frisled not unlike Blackmores hairs it seems to resemble the Turkey It hath a Tail like an Eagle grey beneath but black above It feeds upon Snakes Mice and Lizzards that it catcheth but especially upon Carrion or dead beasts and mans dung It soars aloft flying high with its Wings spread and almost without intermission It is native of the Province of Mexico and breeds in the Spring With an incredible force it resists the Winds bearing up stiffly against them and persisting in the same place immovable let them blow never so boisterously It s flesh is unuseful for food not being tasted of by any man that I have yet known of but only for Physic I hear that the Indians do heal Ulcers by applying to them the feathers of this bird outwardly and giving the Patient its flesh boiled to take inwardly for his food during the distemper Which they say also is a present remedy for the French Pox. Of the Garagay GAragay is said to be a Bird of prey of the bigness of a Kite Having its Head and the ends of its Wings white Being of short flight a great destroyer of Crocodiles and Tortoises Eggs. It smells them out though hidden under the sand in the banks of Rivers scrapes them up and devours them It is a solitary bird save that the Aurae follow it that they may partake of its prey For they cannot scrape in the ground to dig up Eggs. Of the Hoacton THe Female of this Bird called Hoacton is a little bigger than the Male called Hoactli akin to or like the common Heron white on the Neck and Belly with brown feathers intermixt The rest of the body is brown set here and there with white feathers Its Eyes great and black with a pale Iris. Of the Scarlet-feathered Indian Bird. THe Iustre of its Wings commends the Acolchichi or red-shouldered bird and obtained for it of the Spaniards an honourable name who call these Birds Commendadores because they resemble the badge or cognizance of those Knights who wear on their side the like shining red They seem to be a sort of Stares which the Spaniards call Tordos agreeing with them in bigness colour and shape and every where companying with them although their shoulders at first appear fulvous inclining to red and as they grow older are wholly changed into a fulvous colour Being kept in Cages they learn to imitate humane speech and prattle very pleasantly They eat any thing you offer them but especially Bread and Indian Wheat You may find these Birds both in hot and cold Countries By their numerous flocks they are very troublesome to people living in Towns especially in hot and maritime Countries They yield a bad and unpleasant juice and build in trees not far from Towns and the commerce of men wasting and destroying the corn-fields where they light They sing and play whether they be shut up in Cages or suffered to walk freely up and down the house Of fair-feathered Birds ITs feathers have made the Quetzaltototl more precious than gold and therefore it is called the bird of feathers It hath a crest and is in good part adorned with Peacocks feathers of the bigness of a Pie or Pigeon having a crooked yellow Bill and Feet something yellow The Tail is composed of very long feathers of a shining green and of a Peacock colour like for shape to the leaves of Flower-de-luce and covered above with other black ones but beneath and where they touch the Peacock-coloured or purple ones which are in the middle inclining to green as if nature took care of the beauty of the middle feathers The Crest consists of shining and very beautiful feathers The Breast and Neck underneath are covered with a red and shining Plumage and with a purple pavoninâ as is also the Back and the sides under the Wings and the Belly between the Legs but the feathers in this last place are of a fainter colour slender and soft The feathers of the Wings are very long tinctured with a dilute green and ending in sharp points The feathers growing on the shoulders are green but black underneath but those
a sort Colcuicuiltic or the Quails Image is also a sort of Quail varied with white black and scarlet Plumes above rather produced in lines than round spots underneath disposed rather into thick-set spots than lines Its Feet and Legs are blue But for its note bigness conditions and all other qualities it is altogether like the precedent Acolin is of the bigness of a Stare hath pale-green Legs and Feet divided into four pretty long Toes It s Bill is yellow and of the longest for the proportion of its body slender also and sharp-pointed Its Eyes black its Irides fulvous and Head small The under side of the body is white the sides spotted with brown The upper surface of the body and the Tail which is short are fulvous but spotted with black lines of white encircling all the feathers sprinkled or powdered sometimes with specks of the same colour It frequents Lakes and hath a fishy taste yet is it no unpleasant meat It feeds usually upon Worms Flies and other Insects flying about the Fens It breeds in the Lake of Mexico It s Head glisters with a wonderful variety of colours a black line dividing it in the middle and others of a grey or ash-colour distinguishing the sides The exteriour corners being pointed with small white spots The Neck and Breast are grey cinerea the rest of the Plumage from fulvous rather incline to green Of the Snow-bird or Ceoan IT is a little bigger than a Thrush Esteemed of for imitation of humane speech About the Breast Belly and setting on of the Wings fulvous near the Tail are grey feathers mingled with the fulvous The ends of the Wings and the Tail it self underneath are cinereous But above all the body is of a dark brown The Bill which is small and slender and the Legs are fulvous The Chin is white yet having some black feathers intermixt It imitates humane speech mocking and as it were deriding those that pass by Whom yet if it may it will follow Of the Cenotzqui or Snow-calling bird IT deserves its name because before it snows it cries afterwards is silent It is remarkable for variety of colours Having a fulvous Breast pale Legs black Claws a Belly spotted with black and white Under the Wings it is white and ash-coloured above fulvous black and then cinereous spotted with black and near the ends or tips speckled with white It s Tail underneath is black and white above fulvous spotted with black It s Head is black encircled with a wreath of grey Its Bill small grey both above and beneath but above near its rise encompassed with a yellow line Its Eyes are black and Eye-lids pale It endures any kind of air or weather but abides in mountainous places and in the Spring-time breeds and brings up its Young It so turns its Head up and down winding its Neck every way that abiding immovable in the same site it can look round about it There is also another sort of this Bird differing in some varieties of colour having its Head fulvous and grey its Neck partly black and partly white which some call Loceto Of the Bird called Pauxi I Take this to be the same with the Mitu of Marggravius and with the Mountain Bird or Tepetototl above described The whole difference is in the Crest instead whereof this Bird hath a certain tumour at the root of its Beak of the figure of a Pear and the hardness of a stone of a blue colour like that of the Turcois stone In another place he saith that this tumour called a stone though it be not over-hard is like an Egg or bigger of a rusty colour Of Picicitli THe small Bird called Picicitli appears after showers It is noted for the obscurity of its original The Tetzcoquenses do not yet know where it breeds It is a mute Bird brought up in the house it soon dies and decays It gratifies both the Palate and Stomach It is all over ash-coloured except the Head and Neck which are both black Only a white spot encompasses its black Eyes Of the Polyglott Bird. I Saw heard and admired a small Bird brought to Madrid the Queen of all singing Birds that could command any voice or tune The Indians from its multiplicity of notes call it Cencontlatolli or four hundred tongues It is not bigger than a Starling white underneath brown above with some black and white feathers intermixt especially next the Tail and about the Head which is encircled with the likeness of a silver crown It is kept in Cages to delight the ear and for a natural rarity or rather wonder It excells all Birds in sweetness and variety of Song and perfect command of its voice imitating the note of any sort of Bird whatsoever and excelling its exemplar It goes far beyond the Nightingale I my self kept it a long time It is content with any meat it loves hot Countries but can abide temperate Tzaupan is like to this Some suspect that it is only the Hen of the same sort they being equal in bigness singing alike and agreeing in shape saving that the feathers underneath are white cinereous and black those above sad-coloured black and white Of the singing Night-bird CHicuatli or the Night-bird is of the bigness of our Woodcock hath a long slender black Bill and crooked yellow seams near each Eye The lower parts of the body are of a pale colour with a few black feathers intermixt about the Neck The Eyes are black with yellow Irides The rest of the body is of a mingled colour of fulvous brown and grey It lives in the Mountains and flies low Being kept in a Cage it prattles or chatters prettily It is easily brought up for it is wont to feed upon bread made of Tlaolli Worms Gnats and other Insects It is taken both in hot and cold Countries it feeds fat and affords no contemptible nourishment Some there are that call it Chiquatototl from the Owl being a Bird not less Augural and ominous than that Of the Xomotl WE owe the protection and coverture of our nakedness not to Sheep and Quadrupeds only for the Indians weave the feathers of this Bird into their Garments It is whole-footed hath its Back and Wings above black its Breast brown When it is angry it ruffles up the feathers upon its Head like a Crest Of the Rabihorcado THis Bird divides its forked Tail into two parts sometimes opening sometimes shutting or drawing them together like a Tailors Sheers Therefore it is called Rabihorcado and by the Portughese Raboforcado An account of some Birds of the Ferroe or Ferroyer Islands out of Hoiers Epistle to Clus THe Birds of the first and second Classis are inserted already into this work in their proper places In the third Classis or rank saith the Author I place three Species different in shape but in this quality very near of kin that they presage storms and tempests and abide only far out at Sea The biggest of these is much
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
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
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
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
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
the outmost Toe is much longer than the rest It hath some rudiments of Wings rather than Wings consisting of only five naked shafts of feathers somewhat like Porcupines quils having either no Webs and feathery parts or which were in the Bird we described broken and worn off It hath no Tail a great body invested with blackish or dusky feathers of a rare texture which to one that beholds the Bird at a distance seem rather to be hairs than feathers It is a gentle-natured bird and easily made tame We shall give the Reader a more full and accurate description of all its parts out of Clusius his Exotics This Bird saith he as it walked holding up its head exceeded the height of four foot by some inches For the Neck from the top of the Head to the beginning of the Back was almost thirteen inches long the body two foot over the Thighs with the Legs to the bending of the Feet seventeen inches long The length of the body it self from the Breast to the Rump was almost three foot The feathers covering the whole body with those on the lower part of the Neck next to the Breast and Belly and the Thighs were all double two coming out of the same small short pipe or hose and lying the one upon the other the upper being somewhat the thicker or grosser the nether the more fine and delicate They are also of a different length as I observed in the case of the like Bird. For those on the lower part of the Neck were shorter those on the middle of the body and sides longer viz. of six or seven inches But those on the extreme or hind-part of the body about the Rump for it wanted the Tail nine inches long and harder than the rest Although they are all hard or stiff yet are they not broad but narrow with thin-set filaments opposite one to another on each side of a black colour but about the Thighs tending to cinereous the shaft only remaining black as in the rest These feathers had that form and situation that to those that behold the Bird afar off its skin might well be thought to be covered not with feathers but only with hairs seeming like to a Bears and to want Wings though indeed it had Wings lying hid under the feathers covering the sides furnished with four greater feathers of a black colour as I observed in the case though they were so broken at the tops that I could determine nothing certainly concerning their length But their broken shafts were pretty thick hard and solid and ran deep down into the outmost part of the Wing The upper part of the Wing next the body had its covert feathers like those on the Breast For it is to be thought that this kind of Wings are given to this Bird to assist her and promote her speed in running For I believe she cannot fly nor raise her self from the earth He might have been more positive in this for it is most certain The Legs in compass exceeded five inches and were covered with many as it were barks or broad scales especially above the bending of the foot It had thick hard Feet divided into three thick Toes on the upper part covered with scales underneath altogether callous The middle which was longer than the rest consisted of three joynts the interiour of one the exteriour of two The Claws of all were very great almost two inches long thick hard and horny The Head was small for the bigness of the bird and almost bald or smooth of a dark Purple colour together with the upper part of the Neck in which appeared thin-set black hairs The Eyes a little above the slit of the Bill great and firy almost like to those of Lions compassed with black hairs as are also those small open Ear-holes which it had behind the Eyes The upper Chap of the Bill was as it were arched or bent like a Bow a little above the point perforate with two holes serving for Nosthrils from the middle whereof reaching to the top of the Head arises a kind of towring Diadem or Crown of a horny substance near three inches high of a dusky yellow colour which as I understood falls off at moulting time and grows up again with the new feathers The nether Chap of the Bill from the slit to the utmost point was five inches long The fore-part of the Neck almost four inches below the Bill had as it were two membranous Wattles hanging down like a beard two inches long of a red Vermilion colour The back-part of the Neck was likewise destitute of feathers from the Head all along being also of a red Vermilion colour The lower part was covered with some few red feathers wherewith black ones were intermingled This Bird although it seem to have some marks common with the Ostrich as a small Head almost bald and that without choice it swallows whatever you offer it yet hath it not feet divided into two Toes like them but into three wanting the back-toe after the manner of the Bustards And therefore so firm and strong that I have seen a tree of the bigness of a mans thigh wholly crushed and its bark taken away as its Master told me by the Feet and Claws of this bird For it was not wont to assault those with whom it fought with its Bill running forward but turning it self obliquely or sideways to strike backward with its Feet But although it devoured indifferently whatever was offered as Oranges entire and the like yet its ordinary food was white bread which it swallowed divided into great lumps or morsels But I was informed that it was especially delighted with new-laid Hens Eggs which it swallowed whole together with the shell But if it were not in perfect health it avoided them again entire and then swallowing them anew the second time it retained and concocted them Moreover they affirmed to me that this bird was a Cock and that it was sometimes seen to put forth a penis from behind like a Camel An Egg of this bird the greatest and fairest among many that I saw being measured longways was fifteen inches in circuit cross-ways but twelve or a little more So that for its bigness it might be imployed and used for a vessel as well as an Ostriches which as Pliny testifies the Ancients did sometimes use and our Age also still doth for that purpose For I remember that I have more than once seen Ostriches Eggs tipt with and set in Silver made use of for drinking Cups Howbeit the Shell of this Birds Egg was not very thick nor white like the Shells of Ostriches Eggs but in the outside of a greenish ash-colour adorned with continuous at least very thick-set small protuberances of a deep green Of the rest which I saw one was almost of the same bigness form and colour with that described but some were more round others lesser the colour also of some was more dilute and less elegant
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-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
black one The Blackbird builds her Nest very artificially withoutside of Moss slender twigs bents and fibres of roots cemented and joyned together with Clay instead of Glue dawbing it also all over withinside with Clay Yet doth she not lay her Eggs upon the bare Clay like the Mavis but lines it with a covering of small straws bents hair or other soft matter upon which she lays her Eggs both that they might be more secure and in less danger of breaking and also that her Young might lie softer and warmer The Blackbird loves to wash it self and prune its feathers with its Bill It flies also singly for the most part Whence it took the name Merula in Latine being as Festus and Varro tell us so called because it flies and feeds Mera that is solitary or singly The flesh of Blackbirds is accounted good meat yea some prefer it before that of the Thrush But Palate-men and such as are critical in discerning of tastes are of another opinion §. II. The solitary Sparrow MEeting with a Female of this kind at Florence in Italy I thus described it It is of the bigness of a Blackbird and for shape of body very like it nor much different in colour The Head and Neck were thicker than to answer the proportion of the body The top of the Head was of a dark ash-colour The Back was of a deep blue almost black only the extreme edges of the feathers were whitish The Shoulders and covert-feathers of the Wings were of the same colour Each Wing had eighteen quill-feathers besides a little short one outmost all dusky but some had white tips The second row of Wing-feathers had also white tips The Tail was about four inches long and composed of twelve black feathers The underside of the Body Breast Belly and Thighs was all variegated with black cinereous and whitish transverse waved lines so that in colour it resembled a Cuckow Under the Throat and in the upper part of the Breast no ash-colour appeared and the white lines had something of red mingled with them The Bill was streight blackish rather longer than a Thrushes Bill as also a little thicker and stronger The Legs short and black The Feet and Claws black The Legs Feet and Claws in this sort seemed to me lesser than in the rest of the Thrush-kind The Mouth within was yellow the stomach filled with Grapes The Cocks are much more beautiful all over of a shining blue or bluish purple colour as Aldrovandus witnesseth and as we also observed in a Cock we saw at Rome whose Back especially was of a most lovely glistering dark purple colour It is wont to sit alone on the tops of ancient Edifices and Roofs of Churches singing most sweetly especially in the Morning whence it took its name being supposed to be the bird spoken of Psalm 102. 7. It builds also in the like places for which Olina is my Author For the excellency of its singing it is highly prized in Italy specially at Genua and Milan It hath a whistling note like a Pipe and may easily be taught to imitate mans voice §. III. * The Blue-bird of Bellonius Passeri solitario congener Aldrov THere is also saith Gesner another bird akin to the solitary Sparrow of the Blackbird kind frequenting rocky places whence by the Grecians it is called Petrocossyphus that is the Rock-Ouzel or Blackbird by our Country-men Steinrotele esteemed in like manner for its singing In another place he thus discourses concerning the same bird This viz. which Bellonius whose words he had cited calls Merula torquata i. e. Ring-Ouzel seems to be the very same with that bird of which Raphael Seillerius of Augsburg lately wrote to me in these words The bird which from its blue colour the Germans call Blauvogel is of the bigness of a Stare hath his Breast Loins and Neck of a lovely blue yet darker than the Kingfisher The Back and Wings are somewhat black yet shewing something of blue The Bill is an inch and half long under the Nosthrils dusky the upper Chap being hooked and covering the nether for the most part The Feet are divided as in other birds It lives in the highest parts of the Alps neither is it contented to abide in the tops of the Mountains but chuses the most rocky and craggy places and such as are covered with Snow neither do we know certainly that it is found in any other place than the Mountains about the River Athesis especially near the City of Inspruck For this cause it is had in great account even by the Inhabitants themselves of those places and is fed with such meat as men usually eat and such as is usually given to Blackbirds and Thrushes designed for fowling It speaks with an articulate voice very pleasant and various and is it self so docile and observes things so diligently that it will express most things by some articulate sound Being awakened at Midnight and called upon by a by-stander as if it were bidden it will sing with a clear and loud note Like other birds it aims at mens Eyes because seeing in them as in a Looking-glass it s own image it is affected with a desire of its like and thinks to joyn it self in company with it Before the Autumn at what time other birds sit and are busie in bringing up their Young together with its colour it changeth also its voice It s colour about the beginning of Winter of blue becomes black which about the beginning of next Spring it changes again into its own natural blue Being fully fledg'd and once got out of the Nest and a little accustomed to flying it cannot any more as all the Fowlers affirm by any allurement or deceit be enticed and taken so naturally crafty it is It makes its Nest in deep holes in very high and unaccessible solitudes having found a secure place to which it may safely commit it self and its Young And by its cunning doth not only remove it from the access of men by placing it on the highest ridges of the Mountains but also hide it in deep Caverns from the Chamois and other wild beasts and there it feeds three or four Young with worms till it brings them out of the Nest and turns them loose to shift for themselves Now the Fowlers having either by chance or by lying in wait found out the place taking with them a long round smooth stilt or stake made of a singular piece of wood hard to be found such as the climbers of Rocks and hunters of Chamois are wont to make use of to assist them in getting up the crags and cliffs of Rocks mount up there where you would not think it possible for them to find room to set one foot And to omit no-nothing they wrap their heads with cloth covering their faces so far that they may see side-ways to avoid dizziness and this they do partly to fence them against the old birds partly and chiefly this being the
three From Bill to Claws it was nine inches long to Tail end eight and three quarters It s breadth was sixteen inches It is of the bigness and shape of a common Black-bird It s Bill from the tip to the angles of the mouth an inch and a quarter long in the Cock of a pale yellow in the Hen dusky broader and more depressed than in Thrushes or Blackbirds by which mark especially it differs from them The upper Mandible is equal to the nether The Tongue is hard horny and cloven The Irides of the Eyes of a hazel colour whiter on the upper part It hath the nictating membrane which I believe few birds want The Legs and Feet are yellowish rather of a flesh colour The Claws blackish The outer and inner fore-toe are equal to each other and the outer joyned to the middle toe as far as the first articulation The Legs feathered down to the Knees The tips of the feathers on the Neck and Back are yellow The feathers under the Tail cinereous else they are black all the body over with a certain blue or purple gloss varying as it is variously exposed to the light In the Hen the tips of the feathers on the Breast and Belly to the very Throat are white In the Cock the Back participates more of purple the Rump of green only the lower Belly is more spotted All the quil-feathers are dusky but the edges of the third and subsequent to the tenth and from the fifteenth again to the last are more dark The covert-feathers of the Wings glister and the tips of the lesser coverts are yellow The feathers covering the underside of the Wings are dusky having pale-yellow edges The Tail is three inches long made up of twelve dusky feathers with pale yellow edges It lays four or five Eggs lightly tinctured with a greenish blue The blind Cuts as in the rest of this kind are very short and small nearer to the Fundament than in others The muscle of the Gizzard not very thick The Guts thirteen inches long It feeds upon Beetles Worms and other Insects It hath a Gall-bladder Stares are gregarious birds living and flying together in great flocks They company also with Redwings and Fieldfares yet do they not fly away with them but abide with us all Summer breeding in the holes of Towers Houses Trees c. This kind sometimes varies in colour For we have seen in Wales two white Starlings one with a black Head and all the rest of the body white at Aberdaren a little Village in Carnarvanshire Stares are not eaten in England by reason of the bitterness of their flesh The Italians and other Outlandish people are not so squeamish but they can away with them and make a dish of them for all that It is a notable bird at imitating mans voice and speaking articulately §. II. * Bontius his Indian Stare IT resembles our Country Stare in the Sea-green and dark blue feathers spotted with cinereous spots but it hath a yellow Crest on the Neck and its Head is set with black soft feathers that feeling of it you would think you touched Velvet It imitates mans voice much more accurately than a Parrot so that oftentimes it is troublesome with its pratling §. III. The greater Redstart of Olina called by Aldrovand Merula Saxatilis at Florence Tordo Marino at Vienna Stein-Reitling IT is equal in bigness and like in shape to a Starling It s length from the tip of the Bill to the Claws nine inches and an half The measure of the Wings extended fourteen The Bill is morethan an inch long broad and flat as in Stares not round and rising up in a ridge as in Blackbirds black of colour The upper Chap longer sharp-pointed and somewhat crooked The mouth within yellow The Tongue a little elest at the end The Legs and Feet of a lead colour the Claws black the soal of the foot yellow The outer Toe grows or is fastned immediately to the middle one as far as the first joynt the inner toe is a little shorter than the outer The Chin underneath is whitish The tips of the feathers on the Breast cinereous Beneath the Breast is a transverse black line below which the Plumage is of a red or deep Orange-tawney colour The Head and Back brown the tips of the feathers being cinereous The quil-feathers of the Wings of a black brown with reddish tips The Tail consists of twelve feathers of a red tawney or Orange colour whence it took the name of the greater Redstart The lesser feathers under the Wings are of the like colour It s Stomach was fleshy and stuffed with the stones of certain berries we knew not what Its Guts were eleven inches long It imitates mans voice learning to speak articulately like the Stare The Hens are paler-coloured above being of a Mouse-dun spotted with white spots underneath rather hoary Those parts which in the Males are fulvous in the Females are of a pale yellow Lighting upon three or four of these birds at Florence comparing them together I J. R. described them as exactly as I could in these words It is equal in bigness and like in shape to a Throstle It s colour is various on the top of the Head and Neck mingled of a dirty white or ash-colour and brown so that it appears grey or hoary Viewing each single feather the bottom or lower part is blue the middle part about the shaft black which black line near the tip of the feather is crossed by another which together represent the figure of the letter T in each feather The very tips of all are white The colour that fills up the angles of the T-like mark is dusky These colours in the Neck Shoulders upper part of the Back and covert-feathers of the Wings are more bright and conspicuous The feathers on the middle of the Back in the Cock-birds are marked about their middles with a large white spot above which is a cross line of blue then one of black and lastly their tips are red The bottom of the Back about the Rump is more cinereous or blue The feathers incumbent on the Tail are red with white tips The great feathers of the Wings have their tips and exteriour edges white else they are black The greater covert-feathers are also of the same colour The feathers covering the underside of the Wings are of a pale red or yellow colour The Tail is short scarce exceeding three inches made up of twelve feathers of equal length all red or fulvous excepting the two middle that are dusky which yet in some birds are also above half red It is here to be observed that all the Tail-feathers have their outer edges toward the top of the same colour with the middle feathers The nether side of the body viz. the Throat Breast Belly Thighs are particoloured of white or grey black and yellow In some Cock-birds the whole Belly was of a fulvous colour speckled with many white
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-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
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
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
Lark It s Body is three inches long its Neck more than an inch its Legs two inches Its Tail almost four It hath a small Head a Bill an inch long streight only a little bending downward sharp-pointed black but below near its rise a little bluish The Head is covered with black feathers as is also the Neck below but above with yellow The whole Back Breast and lower Belly likewise with yellow The Wings are black having in their middle some white feathers which make white spots in each Wing one At the rise of the Wings is a black spot crossing the back The Tail is also black The Legs and Feet dusky It is an elegant bird For the length of the Tail and colours of the feathers not much different we have subjoyned this to the Wagtails although Marggrave makes no mention of the manner of its feeding or the places it frequents Or whether it moves its Tail or not CHAP. XIX * The Brasilian Guira guacuberaba of Marggrave IS a Bird of the bigness of a Goldfinch The lower part of the Neck the Back and end of the Belly are of a yellow or gold colour The upper part of the Head and Neck the fore-half of the Back the Wings and Tail are of a pale green In the ends of the Wings are some dusky feathers intermixed Under the Throat up to the Eyes it hath a great black spot It hath a streight sharp yellow Bill a little black on the upper part The Legs and Feet are of a dusky colour CHAP. XX. * The Brasilian Guira coereba of Marggrave IS a Bird of the bigness of a Chaffinch It hath a black Bill three quarters of an inch long sharp and a little bending downward Black Eyes A Tongue slit into many filaments on the top of the Head a cop or tuft of Sea-green feathers The rest of the Head the Throat and all the lower Neck the Breast and whole Belly with the hinder half of the Back are covered with blue but pale feathers And from the Breast through the beginnings of the Wings to the Back where the blue colour begins passes a broad blue line cross through the rise of the Wings All the upper side of the Neck with the fore-half of the Back is covered with fine Velvet feathers of a deep black The Tail is an inch and half long and black The Wings are great and yellow about the middle But the yellow part is covered and cannot be seen when the Wings are closed and the Bird sits still but when she flies the Wings appear elegantly straked with black and yellow Within side the Wings are almost wholly yellow The upper Legs or Thighs are feathered with black and in a manner blue feathers The lower are naked and of a Vermilion colour together with the Feet the Claws black The Feet have four Toes disposed after the usual manner CHAP. XXI * The Brasilian Japacani of Marggrave IS a Bird of the bigness of the Bemtere or Schanepue Hath a black oblong sharp-pointed Bill bending a little downward Golden Eyes with a black Pupil The Head is covered with black feathers The Neck above the Back and Wings with feathers of a colour mixt of black and Umber The Tail above is black underneath spotted with white The Breast all the lower Belly and Thighs have their Plumage mixt of white and yellow interwoven with transverse black lines or strakes The Legs are dusky Four Toes in each placed after the usual manner furnished with sharp black Claws CHAP. XXII Of Titmice De Paris §. I. Of Titmice in general TItmice are a sort of small birds that are found for the most part about trees and live chiefly upon Insects which they find there Turner writes that they feed not only upon Worms but also Hemp-seed and Nuts which they perforate with their sharp Bills Some of these build in holes of trees Others make Nests of an Oval figure with a hole left open in the side to go in and out at They are restless birds never sitting long still in a place but flitting from bough to bough and from tree to tree They have short Bills but bigger for the bulk of their bodies than the precedent small birds Small bodies and long Tails The most of them are canorous But all of them multiparous laying many Eggs ere they sit Titmice are called by Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Germans as well as we English call them Mice either because like Mice they creep into the holes of trees or because as Gesner writes they will feed upon flaid Mice offered them Which to us seems not likely Of these we have observed in England five kinds viz. 1. The great Titmouse or Oxe-eye 2. The Colemouse 3. The Marsh-Titmouse or Black-cap 4. The blue Titmouse or Nun. 5. The long-tail'd-Titmouse The crested Titmouse and Wood Titmouse of Gesner we have not yet found in England §. II. The great Titmouse or Ox-eye Fringillago seu parus major 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Aristotle IT is well nigh as big as a Chaffinch Of scarce an ounce weight From tip of Bill to end of Tail half a foot long from tip to tip of the Wings expanded nine inches broad It s Bill is streight black half an inch long and of a moderate thickness Both Mandibles of equal length The Tongue broad ending in four filaments The Feet of a lead or blue colour The outmost Toes below for some space joyned to the middlemost The Head and Chin are black From the corner of the mouth on each side below the Eyes a broad white line or spot passing backward takes up the cheeks This white is encompassed with black In the hinder part of the Head is another white spot terminated on one side with the black of the Head on the other with the yellow of the Neck In the Bird that I J. R. described I observed not this spot and perchance in several birds the colours may vary somewhat The Neck Shoulders and middle of the Back are of a yellowish green The Rump is blue The Breast Belly and Thighs are yellow Yet the lower or hindmost part of the Belly white A broad black line reaching from the Throat to the Vent divides the Breast and Belly in twain The quil-feathers of the Wings in number eighteen beside the outmost little one are dusky with white tips or tips partly white partly blue The outer edges of those three next the body are green Of the covert feathers of the first row those that are about the middle of the Wing with their white tips make a transverse white line The smaller covert-feathers of the Wings are blue The Tail is about two inches and an half long compounded of twelve feathers The exteriour Vanes of all which except the outmost are blue or ash-coloured the interiour black The outmost have their exteriour Vanes and their tips white The Tail appears not forked no not when it is closed §. III. * The Brasilian Guiraienoia akin to the
of a yellowish green The Belly white The feathers under the Tail yellowish with oblong dusky spots in the middledown the shaft The feathers also investing the sides are spotted in the middle with brown The Hen is paler and more discoloured Her Throat and sides under her Wings are white the middle parts of the feathers being spotted with brown The Head and Back are of a greenish ash-colour with brown spots in the middle The Throat and Breast have less of green The Wings are crossed by a broad line or bed of yellow The Pinion-quill of the Wing is all over dusky only the edges green Of the nine following the outer Webs are green the green part is widened by degrees in every feather till in the last it take up half the length From the tenth almost the lower half of each feather is yellow the upper black The exteriour covert-feathers of the Wings are black the edges of the interiour green The Tail consists of twelve feathers the two middlemost black The rest above half way of a most lovely yellow with black tips The uppermost tips of the feathers as well in the Wings as in the Tail are grey The lower Mandible of the Bill hath an eminency or angle on each side received in the upper The Tongue is sharp horny at the tip and channelled The Eyes hazel-coloured The outer and middle Toe have the like cohesion at bottom as in other birds It is kept in Cages for its singing It is common in Germany and England At Vienna in Austria they called it Seisel a name not much different from our English Siskin In Sussex it is known by the name of Barley-bird so called because it comes to them in Barley-seed time All the Winter and in the beginning of the Spring it flies in flocks Its differs from the two following birds 1. In that it is a little bigger 2. It hath a longer Bill 3. A black Head 4. A shorter Tail more than half yellow 5. A strake or bed of yellow cross its Wings Aldrovandus writes that it seldom or never appears in cold Countries as France and England as Bellonius and others report But we have by experience learnt the contrary It is of a very mild nature and not at all crafty so that it is easily taken by any kind of engine or deceit This bird is called by Aristotle and the ancient Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aldrovandus is of opinion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also is the name of a bird supposed to be this as well with the Greeks as with the Latines CHAP. XIII Of the Canary-bird out of Gesner Aldrovandus and Olina CAnaria is an Island of the Atlantic Sea on the left side of Mauritania one of those which the Ancients for the excellent temperature of the Air called Fortunate so denominated from the multitude of great Mastive Dogs as Pliny out of Juba delivers All those Islands which the Ancients called Fortunate are now adays called the Canaries Out of which in our Age are wont to be brought certain singing birds which from the place where they are bred they commonly call Canary-birds Others call them Sugar-birds because the best Sugar is brought thence Of this bird we have thought fit to treat next after the Siskin because some have judged it to be a sort of Siskin as Turner And in truth to look upon for colour and shape it is very like it This bird Gesner from the relation of a friend of his thus describes It is of the bigness of the common Titmouse hath a small white Bill thick at base and contracted into a sharp point All the feathers of the Wings and Tail being of a green colour So that it differs little from those small birds which our Country men call Citrils or those they call Zisels and the Italians Ligurini save that it is a little bigger than either of those liker in shew or outward appearance to this something greener than that So far Gesner Between the Cock and Hen-bird I have observed this difference that the Breast Belly and upper part of the Head adjoyning to be Bill are more yellow in the Cock than in the Hen. This is common to both Sexes to be fleshy and not fat Of its singing the same Gesner hath recorded as followeth It hath a very sweet and shrill note which at one breath continued for a long time without intermission it can draw out sometimes in length sometimes raise very high by a various and almost musical inflexion of its voice making very pleasant and artificial melody The sound it makes is very sharp and so quavering that sometimes when it stretches and exercises its little throat and Chaps whistling with all its force it vehemently strikes and even deafens the Ears of the hearers with its shrilness Many are delighted with this kind of its singing many also are offended saying that they are astonied and deafned by it It is sold every where very dear both for the sweetness of its singing and also because it is brought from far remote places with great care and diligence and but rarely so that it is wont to be kept only by Nobles and great men But if any one be taken with the melody of these Birds let him buy those which have long Tails and small Bodies For it is found by experience that by how much less they are by so much are they more canorous But the great ones shut up in Cages turn their heads round about and backward and are not to be esteemed genuine or right bred Canary Birds Of this sort there are brought from the Islands Palma and C. Verde which they call fools from that motion of their head which is proper to fools They are fed with Canary-seed wherein they take great pleasure which therefore is wont to be brought together with them out of the same Islands Gesner from the relation of his friend writes that they are fed with the same food with the Siskin and Citril viz. Line seed and Poppy seed and sometimes also Millet But particularly that they delight in Sugar and the Sugar-cane as also in that sort of Chickweed or Mouse-ear which they commonly call Henbit For he affirms that by this they are presently provoked to sing This sort of birds is wont to be infested with certain tumours or kernels in its head which I take to be a kind of Atheromata They are to be anointed with Butter or the fat of Hens till they ripen then they are to be opened and the matter dexterously pressed out and again anointed till they be perfectly whole Sometimes also they happen to be troubled with Lice In which case it will be of advantage to sprinkle them often with Wine For so those Vermine will be killed and they become stronger to overcome that trouble Thus far Aldrovandus There are also found saith Olina of this sort of birds in the Island Ilva a degenenerate kind descended originally from true Canary-birds which were
eleventh are white The Tail is three inches long consisting of twelve feathers the exteriour shorter by degrees than the interiour The excess of the two middlemost above the next them is greater than that of the rest The Bill from the tip to the angles of the mouth is two inches long of a deep black narrow or compressed sideways A little beyond the Nosthrils in the upper Mandible there is engraven a furrow or incision deeper than that in the Coulter-neb As far as this groove the Bill is covered with a thick short soft down like the nap of Velvet The upper Chap is crooked at the end concave and overhangs the lower Both are of equal length channelled with two transverse furrows or grooves the upper for the most part with three that next the Head which is the widest and almost crosses the whole Bill being white In these furrows there is some diversity in several birds for some have more than two Yet are the white lines like and equal in all Besides from each Eye to the corner of the upper Mandible is a narrow white line drawn The Mouth within is of a lovely yellow The Eyes hazel-coloured The Legs are situate as in the Penguin and Coulterneb of a black colour as are also the Feet and Claws It wants the back-toe It lays sits and breeds up its Young on the ledges of the craggy Cliffs and steep Rocks by the Sea-shores that are broken and divided into many as it were stairs or shelves together with the Coulternebs and Guillemots The Manks men are wont to compare these Rocks with the Birds sitting upon them in breeding time to an Apothecaries shop the ledges of the Rocks resembling the shelves and the Birds the pots About the Isle of Man are very high Cliffs broken in this manner into many ledges one above another from top to bottom They are wont to let down men by ropes from the tops of the Cliffs to take away the Eggs and young ones They take also the birds themselves when they are sitting upon their Eggs with snares fastened to the tops of long poles and so put about their Necks They build no Nests but lay their Eggs upon the bare Rocks They fetch many circuits in getting up to their Nests and if they have not aimed right and so miss of them they drop down into the Sea and ascend up again by degrees All the birds of this kind that we know lay extraordinary great Eggs in proportion to their bodies This birds are two inches three quarters long the lesser ends not so sharp as in the Guillemots white varied with black spots as Hoierus rightly describes them They feed altogether upon fish CHAP. III. * The Mergus of Bellonius Aldrov Perchance the same with the precedent BEllonius in his Book of Observations writes that there is a peculiar sort of Sea-diver in Candy differing from the Phalacro-corax and other divers which he thinks to be the Aethyia of Aristotle The Inhabitants of the Candy-shores saith he call it Utamania It is of the bigness of a Teal d' une Sarcelle hath a white Belly a black Head and Back as also Wings and Tail This alone among whole-footed birds wants the back-toe Herein Bellonius is mistaken Its feathers are like down sticking fast in the skin It s Bill hath sharp edges is hollow and almost plain for a good part of it covered with downy feathers the upper Chap being black the lower white the crown of its Head is broad This bird in many things resembles the Auk and perchance it may be the same for its figure is not unlike But if it be indeed as it is described no bigger than a Teal and the lower Mandible of its Bill be white it must be different CHAP. IV. The Bird called by the Welsh and Manks-men a Guillem by those of Northumberland and Durham a Guillemot or Sea-hen in Yorkshire about Scarburgh a Skout by the Cornish a Kiddaw Lomwia Hoieri in Epist ad Clusium IT is like the Auk but greater coming near to the bigness of a Duck In length from Bill to Tail eighteen inches and an half in breadth the Wings being spread out thirty It s Head upper-side of the Neck Back Wings and Tail and beside the Chin also as far as the middle of the Throat are of a dark brown or black ash-colour Its Belly Breast and the rest of its Throat are white as in the Auk The tips of the eleven foremost or outmost Wing-feathers of the first row are white as in the Auk The Tail is two inches long consisting of twelve feathers the middlemost the longest the rest by degrees shorter and shorter to the outmost The Bill is streight sharp-pointed black from the tip to the angles of the mouth almost three inches long round The upper Chap near the point hath on each side a small angular process or tooth which is not received in the lower but overhangs it on both sides when the mouth is shut The Tongue undivided The mouth within yellow The Feet situate very backward near the Tail as in the precedent of a black colour as are also the Claws It wants the back-toe The skin of the stomach within is yellow The Gall-bladder large The Testicles in the Males great from which the seminal vessel with various winding and reflections tend to the vent It lives and companies together with the Auks and Coulternebs Breeding after the same manner and in the same places But it is a simpler bird and more easily taken It breeds yearly on the steep Cliffs and inaccessible Rocks of the Isle of Man as do the Auks c. Likewise on an Island or Rock called Godreve not far from St. Ives in Cornwal Also on Prestholm Island about a League distant from Beaumaris in the Isle of Anglesey where for want of fresh water no body at present dwels nor are there any buildings remaining save an old ruinous Chappel dedicated to St. Sirician My Lord Bulkley is proprietor of this Island Moreover this Bird frequents and builds on the Farn Islands near the coast of Northumberland and the Clifts about Scarburgh in Yorkshire in the Summer-months This lays the biggest Eggs of all this kind more than three inches long very sharp at one end and blunt at the other of a bluish green colour some varied with black spots or strokes some without any Mr. Johnson hath observed these birds to vary somewhat in colour some having black backs some brown or bay Perchance these may be Hens those Cocks CHAP. V. The Bird called Coulterneb at the Farn Islands Puffin in North-Wales in South-Wales Gulden-head Bottle-nose and Helegug at Scarburgh Mullet in Cornwal Pope at Jersey and Guernsey Barbalot Anas Arctica Clus Pica marina vel Fratercula Gesneri Aldrov THis is lesser than the tame Duck extended in length from Bill to Feet twelve Inches It s Bill is short broad and compressed side-ways contrarily to the Bills of Ducks of a triangular figure
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
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
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
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
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
were most conversant in the History of Animals because those brought out of the Indies were wont to be mutilated and bereaved of their feet is now sufficiently convinced to be false by the testimony of eye-witnesses and by the Birds themselves brought overintire so that no man in his right wits can any longer doubt of that matter 11. Most Birds have four Toes in each foot three standing forwards and one backwards Some few have only three all standing forwards for these want the back-toe Such are among the Birds hitherto known 1. The Cassowary or Emeu 2. The Bustard 3. The Stone Curlew or Oedicnemus of Bellonius 4. If it be distinct from the precedent the Bird called Stella by Aldrovandus 5. The Anas Campestris of Bellonius 6. The Sea-Pie or Haematopus of Bellonius 7. The Himantopus of Pliny 8. The Green Plover 9. The Sea-Lark called Charadrius by Aldrovandus 10. The Sanderling And of whole-footed Fowl 11. The Penguin 12. The Coulterneb Pope or Mullet i. e. Anas Arctica Clus 13. The Auk or Razor-bill 14. The Guillemot or Sea-hen 15. The Mergus of Bellonius if it be a different Bird from the Auk which we doubt of And lastly The Greenland Dove The Ostrich only hath but two Toes Yet Marggravius gives three to the Brasilian Ostrich More than four toes in each foot whatever the Ancients report of the Porphyrio Nature hath bestowed on no sort of Bird unless you take the Spur in the Poultry kind for a Toe Of those which have four Toes the most have them standing three forward and one backward some have two forward and two backward as the Cuckow all sorts of Parrots and Wood-peckers c. Some have two forward one backward and a fourth movable outward so far as to make a right Angle with the middle Toe as the bald Buzzard and perchance some other Birds of prey and all Owls And lastly some have all four standing forward as the Swift Those which want the back-toe never sit upon Trees The middle-toe and Leg-bone in most Birds are of equal length In some whole-footed Birds the inmost Toe hath an external welt or border of skin all along the length of it of a good breadth but never the outmost 12. In all Birds that have four Toes excepting only the black Martin or Swift the back-toe hath but one bone the outmost of the fore-toes two the middlemost three and the inmost four Which order so constantly observed by Nature hath not as yet been taken notice of by any Naturalist that I know Of all the Birds as I said that we have as yet taken notice of the Black Martin is only to be excepted whose feet are of a singular make and different from those of other Birds as shall be shewn in its History The hinder-toe in those Birds which have it is situate on the inner side of the foot supplying the place and use of a Thumb The Claw or Talon of the hind-toe at least in Land-fowl is the greatest and strongest of all In those Birds that have but one back-toe the outmost of the fore-toes for some space from the bottom is joyned to the middle toe that it may not fall backward nor so much as run outward in most Birds not in all This conjunction is either immediate by cohaesion or mediate by an intervening Membrane 13. All Birds that we have yet seen and examined even such as want a Tail have a Rump Upon the Rump grow two Glandules designed for the preparation and secretion of a certain unctuous humour and furnished with a hole or excretory Vessel About this hole grows a tuft of small feathers or hairs somewhat like to a Painters Pencil When therefore the parts of the feathers are shattered ruffled or any way discomposed the Bird turning her head backward to her rump with her Bill catches hold of the forenamed tuft and pressing the Glandules forces out the oyly pap and therewithall anointing the disjoyned parts of the feathers and drawing them out with her bill recomposes and places them in due order and causes them to stick faster together But here we are to take notice that the Glandules of the Rump are lesser in those Birds that want Tails as Colymbi and the like than in those that have them 14. The Orifices of Excrements and that of the Womb have a contrary site in all feathered Fowl to what they have in other Animals For in these that of the Excrements is placed immediately under the Tail and beneath it that of the Womb In those the vent or Orifice of Excrements is situate lowermost the aperture of the Womb between that and the Rump Aldrovandus thinks the convenience of coition is the cause of this position of parts For saith he in these Animals engendring the Male getting upon or treading the Female the Instruments of generation ought to be near one another that they may more easily and readily couple together Which reason is not to us satisfactory for that Quadrupeds which mingle also by supergression or leaping though they have not their Genitals so situate experience from thence no difficulty or inconvenience in their Coition 15. It is common to all Birds to have their whole body or at least the greatest part of it covered with feathers growing thereon By the word body in this place I understand only the Trunk of the body For in most Birds the legs and feet and in some also the head is uncovered I add the greatest part for the Ostrich sake For though the legs and feet as I said in most Birds and in some also the heads are naked as for example in the Turkey the Crane the Emen c. yet besides the Ostrich we know no Bird that hath any other part of its body bare of feathers What is reported of a kind of Hens that bear wool instead of feathers we take to be false and fabulous Now though the words Penna and Pluma which we may English Quill and Feather or hard and soft feather be sometimes promiscuously used at least Penna in good Authors contains under it Pluma yet we in this work for greater perspicuity distinguish these names with our excellent Harvey in this manner Pennae differ from Plumae in their shape use place and order of growth Chickens are first plumigerous before pennigerous Herein I must crave leave to dissent from him unless he comprehends the first Lanugo or Down upon Chickens under the name of Pluma for I think the Quils begin to spring as soon as the rest of the Feathers For the Pennae or Quils are found only in the Wings and Rump and spring deeper from the lower part of the skin or the very Periosteum and serve for motion and slight the Plumae or feathers spring from the upper part of the skin and are found every where in the body for defence and ornament The Down wherewith Birds newly hatch'd are covered sticks for
the most part to the tips of the primigenial feathers In very many Birds the middle parts of the feathers are black 16. The Tails of Birds are made up of feathers Most Birds have this part some few want it as the Doucker or Loon and a sort of Hen. The Tail serves them for steering their course and turning in the Air as it were a Rudder This is chiefly seen in Kites of which Pliny saith thus This kind seems to have taught men the Art of governing a Ship by the flexures of their Tails Nature shewing in the Air what was needful to be done in the deep Hence those Birds that have but a short Tail and long legs stretch out their Legs backward in flying to supply the defect of the Tail whereas other Birds which have long or indifferent Tailsfly most with their Legs drawn up to their body some few with them hanging down as Water-Hens Besides the Tail doth not only serve for directing and governing the flight but likewise for supporting and keeping even the body Hence the Colymbi which have no Tails fly very inconveniently as it were erect in the Air with their heads straight upward and their Tail almost perpendicularly downward In many Birds the outmost feathers of the Tail are whiter than the middle ones The two middle feathers are not situate in the same right lines with the rest on each side but a little higher or more forward The number of Tail-feathers in no sort of Bird is odd We have not as yet observed in the Tail of any Bird fewer than ten feathers though Marggravius mentions some Brasilian Birds that have but eight feathers in their Tails And it hath been told us that the Tropic-bird hath only two but those very long ones 17. The tips of the Flag-feathers of the Wings run out into a point on that side the shaft in such as are gradually longer which respects the feathers that are longer or that run out further so in the ten outmost feathers the exterior Vanes run out into points because the exterior of those feathers are longer than the interior or at least by reason of their situation in the Wing complicated run out further In the rest of the Flags towards the body the interior Vanes run out into points because from the tenth inwards the interior feathers run out further than the exterior by reason likewise of their site in the Wing closed In divers Birds the tips of the middle Flag-feathers are as it were indented the Vane on each side the shaft running out equally beyond the shaft This happens when the feathers are of equal length the Antecedent being neither longer nor shorter nor any way more produced than the Consequent The inner Vanes of the Flag-feathers of the Wings are in most Birds broader than the outer 18. All Birds as far as we yet know moult all the quills and feathers of their whole bodies yearly The bottoms of all the feathers that is the lower parts that appear not to sight in Birds of all sorts are of one and the same colour and for the most part different from what is exposed to view 19. The Pectoral Muscles and such as serve to move the Wings are of all others the thickest and most fleshy For since the flight of Birds is not performed without a strong motion and vehement agitation of the Wings to which force is required it was requisite the Organs designed for that exercise should be the strongest and most able On the contrary in man the Muscles which serve to move the Legs are greater and stronger than those which belong to the Arm Because their action being to hold up the whole body and transfer it from place to place requireth great ability and vigour Whence if it be possible for Man to fly it is thought by them who have curiously weighed and considered that matter that he that would attempt such a thing with hope of success must so contrive and adapt his wings that he may make use of his legs and not his arms in the managing of them CHAP. II. Of the inward parts of Birds THe learned Doctor Willis in his Book of the Anatomy of the Brain Chap. 5. doth largely treat of the Brains of Birds where he accurately describes their Teguments Parts and Ventricles in these words The upper part of the Skull covering the Brain being taken up the thicker Membrane or Tegument called Dura Menynx straitly embraces the whole bulk within contained In the middle of this Membrane where the Brain is divided into two Hemispheres there is a Sinus a hollow Cavity or Vessel extended long-ways which no Sithe-like process being there let down between the Hemispheres as in Men and Quadrupeds is not very deeply inserted into the Brain In that part of this Membrane which interposing it self divides between the Brain and the Cerebellum there are formed two lateral Sinuses There is moreover in Birds the fourth Sinus but situate something more backward than in Man or Quadrupeds For a little below the Conarion or Pine-like Glandule a round hollow process is let down from the Dura Mater upon the legs of the spinal marrow pith of the back-bone produced where it is straightway divided into two branches of which it sendeth on each side one upwards into the Cavity situate in the hinder part of the Brain between the striate Membrane and the Hemisphere of the Brain This uppermost Membrane called Dura Menynx being cut off round about and laid aside the very thin Membrane immediately investing the Brain called Pia Mater comes in view Which is not adorned with such a thick contexture of Vessels as in Man and other perfect Animals but consisting of a very subtil web of Fibres doth only wholly invest and closely embrace the plain and even Surface of the Brain devoid of all windings or plaits Gyris ansractibus The Fabric of the brain in Birds is unlike to that of Men and Quadrupeds For besides that it hath no windings anfract us or inequalities in its exterior part inwardly also the callous body the Fornix or arched Roof and also the striate bodies such as we have before described moreover the whole frame of the Brain is otherwise contrived and figured That these things may be the more clearly perceived take for dissection the Brain of a Goose or Turkey and having cut open the Teguments pressing gently where the sissure of the Brain is separate by degrees the one half from the other till you come to the very bottom in which are two pithy bodies which being stretched out transversly like Nerves connect the Hemispheres of the Brain together Both sides of the Interstice are invested with a whitish Membrane marked with strakes as it were rays drawn from the whole compass or Circumference thereof toward the inferior Angle Which strakes are concentred about the insertions of the medullary bodies This Membrane being cut there will appear underneath it in each Hemisphere of
as she kills her self 7. That whereas for the most part she hatches two young ones she brings up but one casting out the other to ease her self of the toil of nursing and feeding it 8. That she would not at all hatch her Young did she not bring the Eagles stone Aëtites into her Nest which is of wonderful vertue in promoting exclusion 9. That when the Young are sick and cannot concoct more solid food by reason of the weakness of their stomachs the old ones suck the bloud out of their prey and feed them therewith 10. That in extreme old age when their Beaks by reason of their driness are grown so crooked that they cannot feed they sustain themselves for some time by drinking 11. That the old ones when they see their young fledged and ready to fly do carry them up a height and then let them go admonishing them as it were by their own peril to make use of their Wings and by flying through the Air to save themselves from falling If after they have let them go they fall down to the ground up they take them again often repeating this kind of exercise 12. That she hath an extraordinary care of her Talons lest by any means they should be blunted Hereupon in walking she always draws them up and turns them inwards refuses to walk in stony places lest perchance she should wear their points And if she happens to sit or walk upon Rocks she spreads under her feet the skins of such Animals as she hath kill'd lest her Talons should be hurt Yea so careful is she of them that where ever she sits unless she eyes the Sun or her prey she is always looking at them fearing lest they should grow too crooked And if by chance they be blunted she sharpens them with her Bill or whets them upon stones to render them fitter for preying 13. That when she is enfeebled with old age she flies as high as ever she can above the Clouds till the dimness of her eye-sight be consumed by the heat of the Sun then presently descending with all her force while she is yet in the extremity of heat she drenches her self three times in the coldest water she can find and rising up thence streightway betakes her self to her Nest where among her young now fit for preying falling into a kind of Fever with a sweat she casts her feathers and is by them carefully nursed up and fed till she recover her plumage again 14. Whereas the greatest part of Birds either of fear or wonder fly after the Owl she not thinking such carriage to become a Kingly bird is nothing moved with that spectacle Of the latter kind are these 1. That she doth so excel in quick-sightedness that soaring so high in the air that she can very hardly be discerned by us in all that light yet she can espy a Hare lying under a bush or a little Fish swimming in the water Though I grant that both the Eagle and other Rapacious birds are very sharp-sighted yet do I not think that their eyes can reach objects at such distances 2. That she is indocile and uncapable of Discipline and not to be tamed by any humane endeavour But is only carried on headlong by her natural inclination and impetus This is not universally true For we have heard of Eagles that have been reclaimed and trained up for fowling Though it he rarely done 3. That her breath smells very ill so that by reason of the pestiferous stench thereof the bodies that are blown upon by her do easily putrefic and corrupt 4. That she is very greedy and almost unsatiable and therefore if at any time she endures hunger of which she is most patient she recompenses her long fasting by abundant eating and gorging her self And if her prey be so great and copious that any thing remains when she is satiated she leaves that to the other birds which use to follow her in expectation thereof 5. That almost all Birds of prey live without ever drinking yet is their belly always loose and their Excrements fluid For the bloud of the Animals they kill affords them liquor enough for the concoction and digestion of their meat 6. That it is very venereous For the Female being trodden thirteen times a day yet if the Male doth but call runs to him again Now whereas all salacious creatures are thought to be short-lived one may justly wonder that the Eagle should be the most lustful and yet withal the most vivacious of Birds 7. When their young ones are grown up and come to that age and strength that that they can without the help of their Parents get themselves meat they drive them far away from their Nests nay they will not suffer them to abide so much as in the same Country 8. Nature hath given the Eagle very thick hard and almost solid bones and in which there is but very little marrow All these things we have transcribed out of Aldrovandus his Ornithology where occur more such like which are common to other Rapacious Birds For besides its eminent Magnitude we do not acknowledge any Characteristic note whereby Eagles may be distinguished from Hawks How they are differenced from Vultures shall be shewn when we come to treat of Vultures As for the names of the Eagles it is called Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying to rush on or be carried forwards violently with great force and swiftness because of the swiftness of its flight By the Latines it is named Aquila either ab acumine visus from the sharpness of its sight or from the colour called Aquilus that is blackish or dusky so denominated from water Aqua CHAP. III. Of the several kinds of Eagles §. I. * THE GOLDEN EAGLE CHYSAETOS Aldrovandi Ornithologiae lib. 2. cap. 2. Aquila fulva sen aurea BEing put in the balance statera we found it to weigh twelve pounds From point of Beak to tip of Tail it was full three feet and nine Inches long The length from the Bill to the Talons was four spans and an half The breadth from tip to tip of the Wings extended eight spans The Beak was one Palm hand-breadth and one inch long For the hooked part alone hung down beyond the lower Chap a full Inch. The breadth of the Bill especially about the middle was more than two Inches The hooked part or point was blacker the rest of the Bill of a horn-colour inclining to a pale blue and spotted with dusky The wideness of the Mouth gaping rictus was one Palm and an Inch. The Tongue was like a Mans broad round and blunt at the tip toward the root on both sides armed with two hooked horny Appendices tied down in the middle to the lower mandible by a thin Membrane The Palate perforate in the middle The lower Chap of the Bill channelled the edges whereof standing up on both sides
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
the mouth was almost seven Inches The length of the Tail was about two feet and three inches All the lower part that is to say the lower part of the neck the breast the belly and the feet were of a red colour more dilute towards the tail more intense towards the head The Toes of a dusky or horn colour The longest feather of the Wings was almost a yard long They are all blackish or dusky of near one and the same colour Yet the small feathers that are highest toward the ridge of the wing are blacker and some of them marked with transverse reddish spots cross the middle others with whitish ones about the bottom So much the blacker are they by how much nearer to the back where they shine again for blackness The feathers on the middle of the back are black and shining their shafts in the middle are white especially of those which are about the middle of the back and in half the neck for the remaining part of the neck hath pale red ruffas ex albido feathers The tail feathers are of the same colour with those of the wings viz. dusky 6. The white Vulture which he makes the same with the cinereous Vulture of Bellonius 7. That Vulture which we saw in the Royal Aviary in St. James's Park did in many things agree with the third sort or Chesnut Baetious Vulture of Bellonius It s back and wings were fulvous Its tail short in respect of the wings The Beak black hooked at the end The head and neck as far as the breast and the middle part of the breast void of feathers covered over with a short soft thick white Down The Eyes were fierce-looked with Saffron-coloured or deep-yellow Irides In the lower part of the neck was as it were a Ruff of thick-set narrow feathers much longer than the rest as in the Peronopteros of Aldrovandus §. II. * The Brasil Vulture called Urubu by the Dutch Een Menscheneter Marggrav By the Mexicans Tzopilotl F. Ximen By Nieremberg and others Aura IT is a rapacious Bird of the bigness of a Kite according to Marggravius of a middle-sized Eagle or Raven according to Ximenes Having whitish feet like a Hens a long tail and wings longer than it The feathers of the whole body are black with a little tauny colour here and there mingled It hath a small head almost of the shape of a Turkeys covered with a somewhat rugged or wrinkled skin In the top of the head the skin is as it were divided long-ways and on the left side of the head beneath the Eye is of a Saffron colour above the Eye of a blew also in the top elsewhere of a reddish brown In the right side of the head about the Eye above and beneath it is of a Saffron colour as also in the top Elsewhere of a delayed yellow or whitish It hath a pretty long Bill hooked at the end sharp and covered over from the head half way with a skin from Saffron-colour tending to blue In the middle of the Bill above is one hole of the Nosthrils large and situate transversly The end of the Bill that is bare and wants the skin is white It hath elegant Eyes almost of the colour of a Ruby with a round black Pupil The Eye-lids of a Saffron-colour The Tongue carinated and indented round with sharp teeth It s flesh stinks like Carrion For they feed upon dead Carcasses and in the Capitania Chieftainship of Sirigippo and River of St. Francis when any one kills a beast they come flying presently in great numbers It is an ill-looked bird always lean and never satisfied Ximenes makes it to be a kind of Raven but the Sear or skin covering the Basis of the Bill argues it to belong to the Rapacious kind the bare head and tip of the Bill only hooked determine it to the family of Vultures It feeds saith Ximenes upon dead flesh and mans dung They pearch at night on Trees and Rocks in the Morning they resort to the Cities sit viewing and watching the streets on high places and when they spy any silth garbidge or dead thing they catch it up and devour it Where they build or hatch their Young is hitherto unknown although they be most frequent in almost every corner of New Spain Yet Acosta saith that their young ones are white and that growing up they change and come to be as black as Ravens They fly always very high and cast a horrible stink from them like Ravens They fly constantly in flocks and sit upon trees and feed joyntly in company upon dead Carcasses without any strife or quarrelling and when the rest see any one not able to move or help her self they help her as much as they can and bring her to the water For being washed they recover strength to fly If any one pursues them they empty themselves presently that they may be the more light to fly away with like haste casting up what ever they had swallowed The ashes of their feathers burnt take away hairs so that they come not again which faculty is also attributed to the dung of Pismires and the bloud of Bats Their skin half-burnt heals wounds if it be applied and the flesh withal eaten which is wont also to help those that are sick of the French Pox. The heart dried in the Sun smells like Musks The Dung dried and taken in any convenient Vehicle to the weight of a Drachm is profitable to melancholy persons The Barbarous people say that where they lay their Eggs they compass their Nests with certain Pebble-stones which promote transpiration But the more probable opinion is that they exclude their Young under ground and take them out when they feed them and again cover them in the earth CHAP. VI. Of the lesser sort of Rapacious Birds that prey by day called Hawks IT follows now that we treat of the lesser sort of Rapacious Birds that prey by day called Hawks These we have before distinguished into the more generous which are wont to be reclaimed and trained up for Hawking And the more sluggish and cowardly which because they are either indocile or unfit for Hawking are neglected by men The former called Hawks are wont to be divided by Falconers into Long-winged and Short-winged Those they call Long-winged whose Wings when closed reach almost to the end of the tail Those they call Short-winged whose Wings when closed fall much short of the end of the tail of which sort we have seen two greater viz. the Goshawk and Sparrowhawk and three lesser viz. the three sorts of Butcher-birds But because that distinction of Hawks into tame and wild is arbitrarious and depends upon institution but the other into Long-winged and Short-winged hath its foundation in nature and may be accommodated to all Hawks in general we will prefer it before that first treating of the Long-winged Hawks Hawks in respect of their age are divided by Falconers into 1. Nyas or
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
They have a thick short black Bill narrow Nosthrils small Eyes and Eye-lids The Throat as far as the breast-bone is somewhat whitish besprinkled with good great spots The rest of the Breast is beautified with certain marks which are sometimes ferrugineous sometimes red sometimes blackish and besides these with other smaller specks In some the Throat and Breast are cloathed with black feathers the inside of the Thighs black The Back and Loins covered for the most part with small brown feathers Some of which below the middle of the back have certain whitish or reddish lines tending downwards Others have their Backs purely ash-coloured or of the colour of that sort of Wild Goose which the Vicentines call Baletta The Wings not long like a Peregrines The Tail also shorter than theirs and for the greater part variegated like that of a Kestrel There are some whose Tail is like that of a Sacre but they are very rare They have for the most part their Legs and Feet of a Saffron colour but some of a straw colour and covered with very thick-set Scales Their Feet are lesser than the Peregrines Their Toes great and fleshy Their Talons black It is easier to know them after they are mewed Their Head is black like a Crows their Nosthrils covered with a Saffron-coloured skin the Eyes also encompassed with a Circle of like colour Their Neck and Shoulders black the lower part of the Back toward the Rump blue The Throat as far as the Breast-bone white but in some it shews an obscure red in others it is blackish in all marked with round spots The Train short and black The feathers investing the Thighs brown The Legs strong It is to be observed that by how much the oftner they have mewed their feathers by so much is their Throat Gula whiter and its spots smaller and the feathers covering their Back and Loins of a deeper blue Tardivus writes that it preys only upon great birds neglecting the smaller that it is very ravenous mordacious and of an indocile nature Aldrovandus describes a bird of this sort that was brought to him in these words It was eighteen Inches long The Head great the Crown gently towring up round The Beak thick short black strong of an Inch thickness the point of the hooked part not very sharp but it strong so that I doubt whether any other Falcon hath a stronger thicker and more strongly made and compacted Beak than this The Nares are compassed with a yellow membrane The Iris of the Eye of a deep black The edges of the Eye-lids encircling the Eyes yellow The whole body in general is of one colour viz. a cinereous tending to blue lighter or darker according to the different exposing of the parts to the light The Neck Breast Belly and Back and consequently the whole body is very gross thick round and plump The Breast very round and great The beginning of the Wings above broad and less sharp than in other Falcons their tips reaching to about the middle of their Trains or a little further The Train of a middle size between long and short Their Legs and Feet in respect of their bodies not very large or thick covered with Saffron-coloured board-like Scales Their Talons deep-black §. V. * The Falcon Gentle WHereas I find that some doubt whether the Gentile Falcon be a distinct kind from the Peregrine or no And whereas the Emperour Frederick distinguishes Gentile Falcons into those absolutely and simply so called and Peregrines omitting that prolix description of a Gentile Falcon which Aldrovandus brings out of Frederick I shall only propound the marks whereby this is said to differ from the Peregrine Gentile Falcons are less than Peregrines have a rounder and lesser Head a shorter Beak and Feet also for the proportion of the body smaller Besides the colour is less bright lively and fair in these than in those When they have mewed their first feathers they become very like the Peregrines but more spotted in their Trains and Backs Belisarius makes the only difference between the Gentile and Peregrine Falcon to be in their manner or gesture in flying For the frequent agitation of the Wings in flying shews the Hawk to be a Gentile Falcon The motion of the Peregrines Wings being like that of the Oars of Gallies Moreover they differ from Peregrines in this that they are not so swift Aldrovandus thinks that the Falcon which Carcanus calls the Dutch or German Falcon is the same with this The which he thus describes The Dutch Falcons are almost all great-bodied The greater part of them of an oblong figure and some moderately round Very like to the Peregrine for Shape Head Beak and Feet The Thighs on the inside covered with white feathers The Wings great The Train long Almost all the feathers are of a brown colour For the greatest part of their bodies they are like a brown Peregrine excepting the Head and Shoulder-blades which in the Dutch are a little blacker A white Coronet encompasses their Head near the Neck The spots of the breast in most are brown and great in some ferrugineous and oblong But in such as are mewed that is have cast their first feathers the Head Neck and Shoulders are brown the Back of an Azure-colour distinguished with transverse brown marks The Throat white spotted with great lines The Breast darker than in the Peregrine But the Feet like that of the Peregrine The Males or Tarcels of these Dutch Falcons can by no means be distinguished from the Males of the Peregrines they are in all things so like the one to the other Besides they do so resemble the Peregrines not only in the external shape of their bodies but also in their nature and conditions that none but a very quick-sighted cuming and well practised Falconer is able to distinguish them §. VI. * The Haggard Falcon Falco gibbosus IT is so called because by reason of the shortness of the Neck the Head scarce appears above the points of the shoulders or Wings withdrawn and clapped to the sides of the Back so that it seems to have a bunch on its back The Germans call it Ein Hagerfalck or rather Hogerfalck whence the Latine name Gibbosus For the Germans call a bunch Hoger Our English Writers of Falconry as far as I understand them call the Peregrine Falcon the Haggard Falcon using those names promiscuously Wherefore we shall not enlarge further concerning this Hawk especially seeing what Aldrovandus hath of it is all taken out of Albertus Magnus on whose credit we do not much rely §. VII * The white Falcon. Falco Albus OMitting again what Aldrovandus hath borrowed out of Albertus concerning the White Falcon we will only transcribe out of him the description of the Falcon sent him by his Nephew Julianus Griffonius which he received from Angelus Gallus of Urbin a Knight of Malta It s whole body was milk-white only spotted
the hooked part furnished with two angular Appendices over-hanging the lower Chap when the mouth is shut it having no dents or cavities to receive these Appendices Wherein the Bill of this bird differs from that of a Hobby or Kestrel The Mouth within yellow The cleft of the Palate rough The Tongue divided into many Filaments The Nosthrils round About the Nosthrils and corners of the mouth grew stiff black hairs or bristles The middle of the Back and lesser rows of feathers covering the upper side of the Wing reddish or ferrugineous rusty the Head and Rump cinereous From the corners of the Mouth through the Eyes a black stroke is produced beyond the Ears This black line is terminated and divided from the ash-colour by another whitish one The lower belly is white The Throat and Breast white dashed with red There are in each Wing eighteen beam-feathers the first or outmost very short and little the third longest of all The Wings shut much shorter than the Tail The greater Wing-feathers dusky the exteriour Vanes of those next the body being red the edges of the middlemost white The Tail is three inches long composed of twelve feathers of which the outmost are the shortest the rest on each side in order longer to the middlemost which are the longest and almost wholly black of the next to these the bottoms or lower parts are white especially the interiour Web of the four next on each side the lower half is white as also the tips of the outmost the exteriour webs are wholly white The Feet are black or of a dark blue colour The outmost Toe joyned at bottom to the middlemost The Testicles white and round the Gall large the Guts eleven inches long the blind Guts short and little in the stomach dissected we found Flies and Beetles The Bird here described had built her Nest in a Holly-bush of grass bents and feathers in which were six oblong pretty great Eggs toward the sharper end almost wholly white toward the blunter encompassed with a circle of brown or dark red as it were a Coronet At Florence I described a Lanius which the Fowlers there called Vellia very like to this only the bottoms or lower part of the eight outmost beam-feathers of the Wings were white and that so far that some part of the white appeared above the covert feathers Of which note I wonder that neither Aldrovandus nor Mr. Willughby have made any mention in their descriptions of this bird §. III. A Hen Butcher-bird like to the second Lanius of Aldrovandus IT is somewhat less than the precedent in all dimensions It differs from the second of Aldrovandus in that its Bill is not red but black nor the feet cinereous but like those of the Cock and also that it wants the white spot on the Wing The Head is of an ash-colour inclining to red as in Thrushes The Back reddish varied with semicircular black lines near the tip of each feather The feathers next incumbent on the Tail are long of a deeper red and adorned with semicircular lines The Throat and Breast elegantly variegated with the like black semicircles almost after the manner of the Wryneck The Belly is white The prime feathers of the Wings dusky but those next the body and the lesser rows of covert-feathers of the Wings have red edges The Tail black with a tincture of red The outmost feathers have all their exteriour webs white the four next on each side have their tips white the two middlemost are of a dark red The lower Chap of the Bill from the middle almost half way is white §. IV. Another sort of Butcher-Bird perhaps the Lanius minor primus Aldrov THis had a white spot on each shoulder The bottoms of the nine outmost beam-feathers were white Above the Bill was a cross black line The Head of a pale red or russet The Back first red then ash-coloured Under the Throat were transverse dusky lines else the whole underside was of a dirty white I also J. R. at Florence in Italy saw and described a Lanius like to this differing only in that the Head and Neck were of a deeper red Mr. Willughby also described another killed near the River Rhene in Germany whose Head was of a lovely red A line or white space of the figure of a Parabola encompassed the Tail the interiour space or Area therein contained being black The eleven exteriour Quils were white from the bottom almost to the middle The Feet and Claws black In all the birds of this kind that I have seen and described the bottom of the nine outmost beam-feathers of the Wings were white The birds of this kind differ very much in colour so that I am in some doubt whether the above described differ in Species or in Age and Sex only I suspect they differ specifically The lesser Butcher-birds therefore may be divided into those that have a black line in both cheeks passing through the Eye and those that want it Those which have this line may be subdivided into those which have a white mark upon the shoulders and those that have it not The first sort may be called the Lesser Butcher-bird variegated with black and white semicircular lines The second The lesser red Butcher-bird The third the lesser ash-coloured Butcher-bird CHAP. XII Of the Bird of Paradise or Manucodiata in general THat Birds of Paradise want feet is not only a popular persuasion but a thing not long since believed by learned men and great Naturalists and among the rest by Aldrovandus himself deceived by the birds dried or their cases brought over into Europe out of the East Indies dismembred and bereaved of their Feet Yea Aldrovandus and others do not stick to charge Antonius Pigafeta who gave the first notice of this Bird to the Europaeans with falshood and lying because he delivered the contrary This errour once admitted the other fictions of idle brains which seemed thence to follow did without difficulty obtain belief viz. that they lived upon the coelestial dew that they flew perpetually without any intermission and took no rest but on high in the Air their Wings being spread that they were never taken alive but only when they fell down dead upon the ground That there is in the back of the Male a certain cavity in which the Female whose belly is also hollow lays her Eggs and so by the help of both cavities they are sitten upon and hatched All which things are now sufficiently refuted and proved to be false and fabulous both by eye-witnesses and by the birds themselves brought over entire I my self saith Joannes de Laet have two Birds of Paradise of different kinds and have seen many others all which had feet and those truly for the bulk of their bodies sufficiently great and very strong Legs The same is confirmed by * Marggravius Clusius in his Exotics Wormius in his Museum page 295. and especially
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
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
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-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
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
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
Moreover it was told me that this sort of Bird is not peculiar to the Molucca Islands but found also in Sumatra or Taprobane and the neighbouring Continent to those Islands Thus far Clusius The Hen is much less than the Cock of a dark Olive or dusky colour It seems to be a miracle in nature saith Aldrovandus who borrowed his description out of the Journal of a Holland Voyage that this bird wants a Tongue Whatever it eats it swallows This is not so very wonderful for we know other Birds besides this which want the Tongue as for example The Pelican c. Whatever other Authors have concerning the Emeu as far as I have read is all transcribed out of Clusius Excepting Dr. Harvey who doth briefly describe this Bird from ocular inspection adding that it swallows even live coals And I have observed a Cut of it in the Tables of birds set out by Visscher with this Inscription Avis ignem devorans i. e. The bird that eats or devours fire §. IV. The Dodo called by Clusius Gallus gallinaceus peregrinus by Nieremberg Cygnus cucullatus by Bontius Dronte THis Exotic Bird found by the Hollanders in the Island called Cygnaea or Cerne by the Portugues Mauritius Island by the Low Dutch of thirty miles compass famous especially for black Ebony did equal or exceed a Swan in bigness but was of a far different shape For its Head was great covered as it were with a certain membrane resembling a hood Beside its Bill was not flat and broad but thick and long of a yellowish colour next the Head the point being black The upper Chap was hooked in the nether had a bluish spot in the middle between the yellow and black part They reported that it is covered with thin and short feathers and wants Wings instead whereof it hath only four or five long black feathers that the hinder part of the body is yery fat and fleshy wherein for the Tail were four or five small curled feathers twirled up together of an ash-colour Its Legs are thick rather than long whose upper part as far as the knee is covered with black feathers the lower part together with the Feet of a yellowish colour Its Feet divided into four toes three and those the longer standing forward the fourth and shortest backward all furnished with black Claws After I had composed and writ down the History of this Bird with as much diligence and faithfulness as I could I hapned to see in the house of Peter Pawius primary Professor of Physic in the University of Leyden a Leg thereof cut off at the knee lately brought over out of Mauritius his Island It was not very long from the knee to the bending of the foot being but little more than four inches but of a great thickness so that it was almost four inches in compass and covered with thick-set scales on the upper side broader and of a yellowish colour on the under or backside of the Leg lesser and dusky The upper side of the Toes was also covered with broad scales the under side wholly callous The Toes were short for so thick a Leg For the length of the greatest or middlemost Toe to the nail did not much exceed two inches that of the other Toe next to it scarce came up to two inches The back-toe fell something short of an inch and half But the Claws of all were thick hard black less than an inch long but that of the back-toe longer than the rest exceeding an inch The Mariners in their dialect gave this bird the name of Walghvogel that is a nauseous or yellowish bird Partly because after long boyling its fleshbecame not tender but continued hard and of a difficult concoction excepting the Breast and Gizzard which they found to be of no bad relish partly because they could easily get many Turtle-Doves which were much more delicate and pleasant to the Palate Wherefore it was no wonder that in comparison of those they despised this and said they could well be content to be without it Moreover they said that they found certain stones in its Gizzard And no wonder for all other birds as well as these swallow stones to assist them in grinding their meat Thus far Clusius Bontius writes that this Bird is for bigness of mean size between an Ostrich and a Turkey from which it partly differs in shape and partly agrees with them especially with the African Ostriches if you consider the Rump quils and feathers So that it shews like a Pigmy among them if you regard the shortness of its Legs It hath a great ill-favoured Head covered with a kind of membrane resembling a hood Great black Eyes a bending prominent fat Neck An extraordinary long strong bluish white Bill only the ends of each Mandible are of a different colour that of the upper black that of the nether yellowish both sharp-pointed and crooked It gapes huge wide as being naturally very voracious It s body is fat round covered with soft grey feathers after the manner of an Ostriches In each side instead of hard Wing-feathers or quils it is furnished with small soft-feathered Wings of a yellowish ash-colour and behind the Rump instead of a Tail is adorned with five small curled feathers of the same colour It hath yellow Legs thick but very short four Toes in each foot solid long as it were scaly armed with strong black Claws It is a slow-paced and stupid bird and which easily becomes a prey to the Fowlers The flesh especially of the Breast is fat esculent and so copious that three or four Dodos will sometimes suffice to fill an hundred Seamens bellies If they be old or not well boyled they are of difficult concoction and are salted and stored up for provision of victual There are found in their stomachs stones of an ash-colour of divers figures and magnitudes yet not bred there as the common people and Seamen fancy but swallowed by the Bird as though by this mark also Nature would manifest that these Fowl are of the Ostrich kind in that they swallow any hard things though they do not digest them Thus Bontius We have seen this Bird dried or its skin stuft in Tradescants Cabinet CHAP. IX Of the Poultry kind THe characteristic notes of the Poultry kind are 1. To have a short strong and somewhat crooked Bill very fit to pick up grains of Corn Pulse and other Seeds on which this kind chiefly feeds 2. A thick and fleshy body 3. Short hollow Wings whence this sort of birds flies not high and makes but short flights for the most part 4. A Stomach furnished with thick muscles whose use is to grind the grains of Corn and other hard meat swallowed whole which they perform by the help of little stones which the birds now and then swallow and so supply the defect of Teeth 5. Very long blind guts 6. White flesh especially that of the muscles of the Breast which colour after boyling discovers it self
the Peacock kind saith Aldrovandus To me it seems to be more like the Peacock than the common Cock in its bigness and stature or tallness in the manner of carrying its Tail but especially of setting it up and spreading it as if both it self admired it and took pride in shewing it to others That these birds were the Meleagrides of the Ancients as also their Gallinae Africanae Numidicae guttatae Aldrovandus takes much pains to prove In English they are called Turkeys because they are thought to have been first brought to us out of Turkey Turkeys love hot Countries yet they can bear cold ones well enough after they are grown up and have been used to them But their young Chickens are very nesh and tender and not to be reared without great care and attendance Their flesh is very white and delicate a dish becoming a Princes feast saith Aldrovandus if it be well concocted yielding a plentiful and firm nourishment of the same taste and quality with that of a Peacock and as difficult to concoct unless its hardness be before by some means corrected This is to be understood of old and well grown Turkeys for Turkey-pouts and young Turkeys are tender enough and of easie concoction The antipathy this Fowl hath against a red colour so as to be much moved and provoked at the sight thereof is very strange and admirable §. IV. The Brasilian Mitu or Mutu of Marggrave THis Bird saith Marggrave is of the Pheasant kind the Spaniards also as Nierembergius tells us call it a Pheasant But we partly for its bigness partly for its colour partly also for its gentle nature easily becoming tame but chiefly for that it spreads its Tail in like manner circularly think that it ought rather to be ranked with the Peacock and Turkey to which we have therefore subjoyned it It is bigger than the common Cock or Hen. The length of its body from the Neck to the rise of the Tail is ten inches The length of the Neck six inches It is all over covered with black feathers except on the Belly and under the Tail whereit is of a brown colour almost like that of a Partridge The feathers on the Head Neck and Breast are finer than the rest and for softness and beauty comparable to black Velvet On the top of the Head it hath black feathers complicated into a very low and flat cop which one that carelesly beheld the Bird would scarce take notice of but when it is angry or on other occasions it can erect them into a conspicuous crest It hath a remarkable Bill not thick crooked about an inch and half long The lower Chap is small the upper almost four times bigger The Bill is of a very bright carnation colour but toward the tip white Its Legs are like a Hens ten inches long to wit four from the Feet to the Knees and six above them where they are covered with black feathers It hath also four Toes like a Hens which from their rise to the first joynt are connected by an intervenient skin as in some other birds It hath a Tail a foot long like a Turkeys which it always moves in breadth crying Kit Kit like them A well-shaped Head like a Gooses a Neck about six inches long as was before said Brave great black Eyes and behind the Ears a white naked spot like a Hen. It is easily made tame it roosts willingly on high upon trees like Turkeys Finally it hath very good and savoury flesh The Pauxi of Nieremberg the Indian Hen of Aldrovandus lib. 4. cap. 12. a variety of the Mitu It was saith Nieremberg out of Fr. Hernandus of the bigness of a Dunghil-Cock or something bigger Its feathers were of a black colour but shining and almost like a Peacocks Its Bill red crooked and like a Parrots c. What was most remarkable in and peculiar to this Bird was a certain tumour fastened to the root of its Bill where it was more slender of the shape of a Pear of the hardness of a stone and of a blue colour like that of the stone called Cyaneus or the Turcois Aldrovandus describes his Indian Hen from a Picture as I suppose in this wise From the Bill to the end of the Tail which was white and striped with black lines it was black which blackness yet did every where incline to blue The vent and beginning of the Tail underneath were white It s Bill was strong crooked and red Its Legs were almost of the same colour but much paler and in their hind part inclining to blue The Claws were black It carried on its forehead a great protuberance of the shape of a Fig and of a bluish colour The Tail was long not erect as in our common Cocks and Hens but extended in length as in a Pie These birds differ not from the Mitu in any thing almost but that protuberance or excrescence at the beginning of the Bill Nierembergius also makes mention of this variety in his tenth Book Chap. 75. The Pauxi saith he for so he there calls this Bird hath a great head which in some is plain or smooth in others crested in others instead of a crest of feathers arises a stone or globular body a stone they call it though it be not over-hard like an Egg or bigger of the colour of Soder I wonder that Marggrave should make no mention of this bunch Surely it was wanting in all the birds he saw Whether this Bird be a Species distinct from the Mitu or only accidentally different we refer to further inquisition §. V. The other Indian Cock of Aldrovandus Mituporanga of Marggravius Tepetototl of Nierembergius THere is also found saith Marggrave another kind of this Bird which the Brasilians call Mituporanga differing only in the Bill and feathers of the Head This kind hath no long Bill but an indifferently thick one yet not so high as the Mitu nor so crooked The tip of both Chaps is black all the rest of the Bill covered with a Saffron-coloured skin the like whereto it hath also about the Eyes It hath goodly black Eyes The Head and Neck covered with feathers of a deep black like Velvet On the top of the Head it hath curled feathers twisted or turning up spirally as far as the beginning of the Neck which it can erect in the manner of a curled or frisled crest All the rest of the Bird is black wherewith is here and there mingled a gloss of green About the vent it hath white feathers The Legs are cinereous and of the figure of the Mitu's The Tail black but the extremities of its feathers white This Bird also easily becomes very tame and familiar Of this Bird Nierembergius writes thus The fawning and familiarity of Dogs doth not exceed the officiousness of the Tepetototl or Mountain Bird which others call Tecuecholi and the Spaniards Natives of America a Pheasant which is very tame and domestic It
true cause of their so doing to hinder their prospect any ways but just forward to see where they are to pitch their stake or clap on their hands So at length not without extreme toil and danger they arrive at the Nest which with that long pole or stake I mentioned they draw up out of the deep hole where it was placed and carry away with them cherishing and bringing the Young up at their own houses And afterwards either sell them dear or present them to Gentlemen and great persons of their knowledge Thus far Seillerius I suspect that this very bird which Gesner calls Blauvogel is the same which about Chur in the Grisons Country and elsewhere is called Steirotele or near akin to it Bellonius who thinks this bird to be the Cyanus or as Gaza translates it the Caeruleus of Aristotle writes thereof in this manner That bird which Aristotle calls Cyanus Pliny Caeruleus because it haunts among the Rocks of the high Mountains and is like a Blackbird is now by the Grecians commonly called Petrocoslypho that is the Rock-Ouzel It is lesser than a Blackbird and blue all over kept in Cages and highly esteemed for its singing It s voice is the same with the Blackbirds It hath no French name because it is not found in France nor yet in Italy unless brought thither in Cages It is sometimes taken out of the Nest to be taught so speak articulately In another place where he also treats professedly of this bird adding a figure of it although saith he we call the bird by Aristotle entitled Cyanus by Gaza rendred Caeruleus In French Merle bleu yet we do not this as if it were known to France but because of the Countrimen of Epidaurus who use divers Idioms some who speak Italian call it Merlo biavo others who speak Greek Petrocossypho others who speak Dalmatic call it simply Merle Kept in a Cage it sings more sweetly even than a Blackbird For which reason the Countrimen of Illyricum who live among the Rocks take them out of the Nests and carry them to the Cities to sell It is not found in France unless brought in from abroad It builds in the tops of Mountains as we observed in Candy Citharaea Corcyra Zacynthus and Euboea now commonly called Negroponte Aristotle also in the fore-quoted place making mention of it saith it was commonly seen among the Rocks in Scyros Aristotle composing his History of Animals at Athens sent abroad men through divers Countries to search out all kinds of living Creatures In Scyros the Mountains are cragged with many Rocks But to make a brief compendious description of this bird we need but imagine a small Blackbird of a blue colour for just such a one is this bird It is full of tongue and seldom descends into the plain Country It breeds for the most part five Young and never more It affords as good and better nourishment than a Blackbird flies swifter and uses the same food All this out of Bellonius whom Aldrovandus pronounces mistaken in that he thought this bird to be the Cyanus of Aristotle Himself with Gesner deeming the Cyanus of Aristotle to be of the Wood-pecker kind Which how he proves see in this place Turner conjectures the Caeruleus of Aristotle to be that bird which is called in English a Clot-bird a Smatch an Arling a Stonecheck and in High Dutch Ein Brechvogel This he saith in England breeds in Coney-burrows and under stones and appears not in Winter The English names and place of building argue Turner to have meant the common Oenanthe or White-tail which is a far different bird from the Caeruleus of Bellonius For my part to speak freely what I think I judge the Blauvogel of Gesner to be the very same bird with the solitary Sparrow but the Caeruleus of Bellonius to be a bird specifically different and which I have not yet seen alive though I have often seen its picture §. IV. The Indian Mockbird Caeruleus Indicus WE saw this Bird dried in Tradescants Cabinet It is of the bigness of a common Lark hath a streight sharp Bill a long Tail And is all over of a blue colour Upon second thoughts however Tradescant might put the Epithete of Indian upon this bird I judge it to be no other than the Caeruleus or Blue Ouzel of Bellonius described in the precedent Article §. V. * Aldrovandus his Brasilian Merula Book 16. Chap. 16. BEllonius figures this bird among the Merulae induced only by this reason that those who bring it out of Brasil into Europe call it the Brasilian Blackbird Wherefore seeing he speaks nothing concerning the nature of the Bird and it is alike unknown to me I also adjoyn it to the Merulae although in the shortness or rather crookedness of its Bill it differs much from them Those saith Bellonius who trade in Countries newly discovered bring back thence such strange rarities as they think will sell dear with us here But because they cannot bring the birds themselves alive in Cages therefore they flay off the skins of such as are more beautiful than the rest as this is and bringing them over make a great gain of the sale of them especially of this which they call the Brasilian Blackbird though in bigness it differs from a Blackbird The colour of the whole body except the Tail and Wings which are black is so deep perchance by the word intensè he may mean bright a red that it exceeds all other rednesses The Tail is long the Feet and Legs black The Bill short as in a Sparrow The feathers are red to the very bottom That which Aldrovandus describes perchance from a picture was in some things different from Bellonius his bird For saith he the Wings are not all over black but all the upper feathers by the shoulders of a deep red Next to them are some black ones then red ones again the subsequent viz. all the great feathers being black as is also the Tail The Bill also is not so short as in Sparrows yet thick and remarkably crooked without of a dusky colour within yellow as I conjecture from the colour of the corners of the mouth rictûs Moreover the Feet are not black but of an ash-colour only a little dusky being great for the proportion of the Legs The Claws short but crooked of the same colour We have seen in Tradescants Cabinet a red Indian bird dried of the bigness almost of a Mavis having a long Tail which perchance is the same with the bird in this Article described §. VI. * The Rose or Carnation-coloured Ouzel of Aldrov lib. 16. cap. 15. THis bird our Fowlers call the Sea-Starling It is seen sometimes in our fields and is much among dung-heaps To me it seems rather to be a kind of Ouzel Merula than Starling For a Starling is spotted which this is not It is somewhat less than a Blackbird hath its Back Breast and Wings above of a Rose
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
seventh Ficedula of Aldrovand which he saith his Country-men the Bolognese call Scatarello but the Genoese Beccafigo is almost all over of a dusky ash-colour especially on the back and upper-side for the Breast is yellow The Feet are black Saving in the colour of the Feet it agrees with the Bird by us described in this Chapter Neither is the second Muscicapa of Aldrovand or Chiuin of the Bolognese called by the Genoese Borin much unlike to this It is a little bigger than a Wren its Bill slender sharp and very fit to strike flies The upper part of its Head as also its Neck and Back are of a pale ash-colour its Head beneath its Throat Breast and Belly are of a white tending to yellow but the Breast and Belly more dilute The Wings above dun underneath also of the same colour but paler The Rump white The Tail which consists of twelve feathers is three inches long and of the same colour with the Wings The Legs and Feet Spadiceous The Claws long and slender Moreover the Salicaria of Gesner is either the same with this or certainly near akin to it It is saith he a very small bird of colour partly dusky as on the upper side partly yellowish as on the nether and partly whitish as on the sides and near the Neck having reddish Legs It feeds upon Flies Spiders and other Insects that it finds among Willows which that it may enjoy alone it drives away other small Birds It hath a slender streight Bill Aldrovandus describes another bird by the name of his first Muscicapa or Flie-catcher which he saith from following and frequenting Kine the Bolognese call Boarola or Boarina It is is a long-bodied bird and hath a pretty long Bill of a dusky reddish colour The Head and whole Back are of a colour mixt of plumbeous cinereous and yellowish The Breast and all the belly white but the Breast spotted with black The Wings are particoloured of black yellowish and white The Tail long black and white on the sides The Legs and Feet black CHAP. VI. A small bird without name like to the Stopparola of Aldrovand perchance the Moucherolle of Bellonius FOr bigness and colour it is very like to a Hen-Sparrow but of a longer and slenderer body The Head Neck Back and generally the whole upper side is of a dark cinereous or Mouse-dun Yet the Wings and Tail darker than the middle of the Back And on the top of the Head to one who heedfully views it appear certain black spots All the nether side is white But the shafts of the feathers in the Breast are black and the Throat and Sides somewhat red The Tail is two inches and a quarter long all dusky as are also the greater quil-feathers of the Wings for the edges of the interiour are of a yellowish white The outmost feather of the Wing is very short and little In some birds of this kind the tips of the interiour feathers of the second row as also of the bastard-wing feathers are of a yellowish white The Bill is streight black broad and depressed or flat near the Head The upper Chap rises up in an angle or ridge all along the middle whence the Bill seems to be triangular and is a little longer than the nether and sharp-pointed The mouth gapes wide and is yellow withinside The Tongue cloven with a deep incision rough on the sides The Legs short and black The Feet also small and short The outer toe below sticks fast to the middle one as in the rest of this kind The Gall is yellow The Testicles small and black In the Gizzard we found Bees Flies and other Insects In summer-time it frequents gardens with us in England In the young birds of this kind the Back is spotted with black and white This bird differs from the White-throat in that its Tail is all of one colour from the Beccafigo in the colour of its body being of a dusky cinereous or Mouse-dun whereas that is paler coloured and tinctured with green from both in magnitude and in the figure of its Bill which as we said before is broad depressed and triangular We have before in the Chapter of Larks presented the Reader with the descriptions of the Stopparola and Stopparolae similis of Aldrovand As for the Moucherolle Bellonius describes it thus It is of the bigness of the Curruca lives in woods and feeds chiefly upon flies whence also it is called * Moucherolle Mouche in French signifying a fly It is so like a Sparrow that unless by its conditions while it is living and its Bill when dead it can hardly be distinguished from it It hath strong legs and feet The feet also black The Bill is slender and oblong like a Robin-red-breasts The Tail also long In brief it is in all points like to the small Field-Sparrow that haunts Oaks excepting the Bill and its pleasant note It lies much in Woods and Thickets flying and hiding it self there This description of Bellonius seems rather to agree to our Hedg-Sparrow than to the bird described in this Chapter * The Brasilian Tijeguacu of Marrgrave For the figure of its Bill alike depressed and triangular we have subjoyned this bird to the precedent though otherwise not much resembling it It is saith Marggrave of the bigness of a Sparrow or a little bigger hath a short triangular and somewhat broad black Bill Its Eyes of a Sapphire colour its Legs and Feet of a waxen with duskish Claws Its Toes are disposed after the ordinary manner The whole bird is as black as a Raven But on the top of the Head it hath a shining sanguine spot of the figure of a buckler The feathers covering the whole back almost and part of each Wing above from black incline to blue The Tail is short and black CHAP. VII The Redstart Ruticilla 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THe Breast Rump and sides under the Wings are red The lower Belly white The Head Neck and Back of a lead-colour The forehead marked with a white spot separated from the Eyes and Bill by a black line although it seems to be produced beyond the Eyes to the hinder part of the Head and to encompass the crown of the head which is as we said of a lead colour The Throat and Cheeks under the Eyes black with a mixture of grey in the ends of the feathers In the Female the Back is of a dusky ash-colour The Throat of a paler cinereous The Breast red the Belly white The quill-feathers in each Wing eighteen as in other small birds all dusky The upper covert-feathers black the nether red The Tail is made up of the usual number of twelve feathers of which the five outmost on each side are red the two middlemost dusky two inches and an half long The Bill is black The Legs also are black in the Cock in the Hen both Bill and feet are paler The lowest bone of the outer Toe is joyned
Breast painted with transverse black lines The quil-feathers in each Wing are eighteen in number of which the nine or ten foremost for half way from the shaft inward are white The white part from the first inward being dilated Of the subsequent one half is white but not so far as the shaft The three inmost or next the body are red The tips of all from the second to the tenth shine with a changeable colour of purplish and blue like the Necks of Pigeons From the tenth the exteriour borders of the sixth or seventh succeeding are grey else they are all dusky The Tail is but short of about two inches length composed of twelve feathers spotted at the top on their interiour Vanes with white on their exteriour in the middle feathers with red in the outer with black In another bird the middle feathers of the Tail were greenish About Frankefort on the Main and elsewhere in Germany and in Italy it is common In Summer time it lives in the Woods and Mountains in the Winter it comes down into the Plains It seldom comes over to us in England viz. only in hard Winters It breaks the stones of Cherries and even of Olives with expedition the Kernels whereof it is very greedy of The Stomach of one we dissected in the Month of December was full of the stones of Holly-berries It feeds also upon Hemp-seed Panic c. and moreover upon the buds of trees like the Bulfinch It is said to build in the holes of trees and to lay five or six Eggs. It weighs an ounce and three quarters Is in length from Bill to Claws seven inches and an half in breadth between the tips of the Wings extended twelve and an half §. II. The Virginian Nightingale Coccothraustes Indica cristata IT is as big as a Blackbird or something less A black border compasses the Eyes and Bill which is like to that of the common Hawfinch or a little shorter The Head is adorned with a towring crest which it often moves as well toward the Bill as toward the Tail The colour of the whole is a lovely Scarlet in the Head and Tail more dilute It is brought into England out of Virginia whence and from its rare singing it is called The Virginian Nightingale Of this Bird Aldrovandus writes thus In its native Soil viz. in the Islands of Capo Verde it is commonly called Fruso a name very like to our Italian Frisone i. e. Coccothrausti vulgari to which also it is very like in the Bill Moreover a black line or border encompasses its Bill and it is as Hieronymus Mercurialis witnesses of the bigness of a Thrush Wherefore also we thought fit to call it Coccothraustes Indica It greedily devours Almonds in which also it agrees with the Grosbeak which with its Bill cracks such kind of fruits and other Grains or stones whence it is called Nucisraga or Nut-cracker And that this Bird doth the like it is very probable seeing it is likewise armed with a very thick and strong Bill Mercurialis affirms that by the Portugues it is commonly called The Cardinal bird because it is of a scarlet purpurei colour and seems to wear on its Head a red hat Of the nature and qualities of this Bird Fr. Malochius Praefect of the Physic-garden at Pisa gave me this account It imitates the notes of birds especially the Nightingale it is greedy of Panic and Almonds devours Chickweed seeing its Image in a glass it hath many strange gesticulations making a hissing noise lowring its crest setting up its Tail after the manner of the Peacock shaking its Wings in fine striking at the Looking-glass with its Bill The temper of its body is very hot which thence appears that it often immerses it self in water It is of a very gentle nature and will take meat out of ones hand It s shape is as followeth It hath a tuft on its Head of a triangular figure and scarlet colour with which colour also the Neck Breast and Belly are adorned The ends of the Wings are not of so deep a scarlet as neither the Tail which for the proportion of the body is pretty long of about a Palm something erected as broad as ones little singer The Legs are short and whitish The Claws strong and something crooked The whole bird measured from Head to Tail is full two Palms long CHAP. II. The Green-finch Chloris Aldrov Ornithol lib. 18. cap. 18. IT is bigger than a House-Sparrow of an ounce and ⅛ weight of six inches and an half length measuring from Bill-point to the Feet or Tails end of ten inches and an half breadth between the extreme terms of the Wings expanded It is called by some the Green Linnet It s Bill is like that of the Grosbeak but much less of half an inch length sharp-pointed and not crooked The upper Mandible dusky the nether all whitish The Tongue is sharp and as it were cut off ending in filaments The Eyes furnished with nictating membranes The Nosthrils round situate in the upper part of the Bill next the Head The Feet of a flesh-colour the Claws dusky The outer Toe at bottom sticks fast to the middle one The Head and Back are green the edges of the feathers being grey The middle of the Back hath something of a Chesnut colour intermingled The Rump is of a deeper green or yellow The Belly white The Breast of a yellowish green The Throat of the same colour with the Neck The feathers contiguous to the Bill are of a deep yellowish green The borders of the outmost quil-feathers of the Wings are yellow of the middlemost green of the inmost grey The inner feathers of the second row are grey the outer green All the rest of the covert-feathers of the Wings are green The feathers along the base or if you please ridge of the Wing are of a lovely yellow The coverts also of the undersides of the Wings are yellow The Tail is two inches and a quarter long made up of twelve feathers of which the two middlemost are all over black those next have their outer edges yellow The remaining four on each side from the middle outwardly are black but all their inner Webs from top to bottom yellow The Liver is divided into two Lobes and hath a Gall-bladder annexed The bird we dissected had a large Craw a musculous stomach filled with seeds of Plants It builds in hedges The outmost part of its Nest is made of hay grass or stubble the middle of Moss the inmost on which the Eggs lie of feathers wool and hair In this Nest it lays five or six Eggs near an inch long of a pale green colour sprinkled with sanguine spots especially at the blunt end The colours of the Hen are more languid not so bright and lively And on the Breast and Back it hath oblong dusky spots The Chloris of Aldrovandus according to his description seems to be less green than ours It feeds upon the seed of Rape
same with the small white Heron or Garzetta of Gesner and Aldrovand and with Bellonius his Aigretta of the French although the descriptions differ in some particulars Gesner saith that the feathers of the Crest are long and sold at a great rate But Bellonius and Aldrovandus write that these feathers which Noblemen and great Commanders are wont to stick in their Caps and Head-pieces for ornament and which are fold very dear in the Cities subject to the Turk do not grow on the Head but on the Back at the ridge of each Wing Our Bird which we bought in the Market at Venice had no such feathers perchance they had been before pluckt off and concealed by the Fowler that sold us the bird The second lesser white Heron of Aldrovandus is the very same with this called also Garzetta in the Valleys of Malalbergo as will manifestly appear to him that will but take the pains to compare the descriptions Aldrovand tom 3. pag. 93. describes it thus It is a bird all over white excepting the Legs and Bill which are black It s Bill is long slender very sharp-pointed all of one colour Between the Eyes and Bill is a certain spot of green The Pupil of the Eyes is black encompassed with a yellow or golden circle and that again with a black The Neck and Legs as in other Herons are long so are also the Toes but yellow The back-toe is the least of all The middlemost of the fore-toes longest and that on the right side of it next in length The Claws black and sharp The Wings very great the Tail short the Body slender and little This I say is without all doubt the same with our small white Heron neither as I judge doth it differ from the Garzetta of Aldrovand before described in any thing but in age for that was a young bird In this there is no mention made either of the Crest or of those rare feathers growing on the Back Perchance they were by the Fowlers who knew well enough their value plucked off from both Aldrovands bird and ours §. VI. * The third small white Heron of Aldrovand IT is lesser than the precedent but more fleshy It s Bill small thick sharp-pointed all yellow The top of the Head and Neck are almost of a Saffron colour which though more remiss is seen also in the Breast The Neck is shorter than in other Herons The Eyes are situate as it were in a certain yellow spot Their Irides are yellow encompassed with a black circle The Thighs and Legs are long of a yellow colour inclining to Saffron The Toes are in proportion to the body bigger than in other Herons very long dusky encompassed also with whitish annulary scales Two of the fore-toes are joyned together by a small membrane as in the rest Its Claws are long very sharp and hooked That of the middle toe longer than the rest is serrate as in the Bittour The Tail is not very short Besides this Aldrovand figures another with a short thick sharp Bill very long toes the fore ones dusky The head inclining to Saffron-colour The Bill and Legs yellow Else the whole bird is white §. VII * The red-leg'd Heron or Cirris of Virgil according to Scaliger Aldrov tom 3. p. 398. THis is lesser than all other Herons and hath also a very short Neck The whole bird almost from Saffron inclining to a Chesnut colour on the underside deeper on the upper side and Wings paler The Tail is so little that it seems altogether to want one The Pupil of the Eye is encompassed with a yellow circle that with a scarlet one and this again with a black Very beautiful feathers partly yellow and partly black arising from the forehead hang down all over the upper part of the Head and Neck The Bill is strong long sharp of two colours where it joyns to the head green or from green inclining to blue and this colour reaches as far or farther than the middle of the Bill the remaining part being black The Legs and Feet are of a deep red colour as in many Pigeons The Talons black The Toes very long and joyned with a small membrane or some rudiment of it Besides he sets forth the figure of another in all things like this save that the same colour in the body is more remiss the Feet yellowish the Neck on the sides besprinkled with many black spots which are not in the other §. VIII * The Heron which they call Sguacco in the Valleys of Malalbergo Aldrov IT hath tufts of feathers on the head almost of the same colour with the immediately precedent to which also it is in bigness almost equal or a little less It s Bill is shorter than in that but strong of the same colour with the whole Back viz. of a yellow ferrugineous The Iris of the Eye is of a golden colour encompassed with a black circle The whole Head and Neck are particoloured of yellow white and black Underneath on the belly it is white as is also the Tail and better part of the Wings The Thighs are yellow The Legs and Toes are greenish as in some Water-hens They say it is a bold and couragiousbird §. IX The Heron called Squaiotta at Malalbergo Aldrovand IT hath a yellow Bill black at point a short Tail green feet The tuft on the Head consists of thirty feathers the middlemost of which are white and the outermost black There grow also on its Back of that sort of elegant feathers before mentioned of a red colour and black at their roots Both perchance have their names from their cry §. X. * Another small Heron with a bow-bill Aldrovand THe Bill of this is more arcuate than in any of the precedent On the nether side the Neck and Breast which is spirinkled with black spots tending downwards are white Else the whole bird is of an ash-colour underneath paler above deeper The Thighs in this Bird contrary to what they are in others of this kind are covered with feathers §. XI * The Bird of kin to the Heron described by Aldrovand t. 3. p. 412. THis sort of Bird though it hath a much shorter Bill I have made congenerous rather to the Herons than other birds and am wont to call it the black Heron because in its meen and the fashion of the rest of its body it resembles the Heron-kind For it hath a long Neck long Legs very long Toes sharp Talons and finally a short Tail Its colour is all over uniform viz. blackish except the Neck which is compassed with a white ring and the Bill which is yellow in the middle and at the end as well above as below marked with a black spot It hath not as yet been our hap to see these six last birds and so we have nothing to add to their descriptions which we have borrowed of Aldrovandus §. XII The Bittour or Bittern or Mire-drum Ardea stellaris Taurus of Pliny
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-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
taken or time spent in exactly describing this bird For the singular figure of its Bill reflected upwards is sufficient alone to characterise and distinguish it from all other birds we have hitherto seen or heard of BOOK III. PART III. Of WHOLE-FOOTED BIRDS with shorter Legs WHole-footed birds with shorter Legs we distinguish into such as want the back-toe and such as have it These latter into such as have all four toes web'd together and such as have the back-toe loose or separate from the rest These latter again we subdivide into narrow-bill'd and broad-bill'd The narrow-bill'd have their Bills either hooked at the end or streighter and sharp-pointed The hook-bill'd have their Bills either even or toothed on the sides Those that have streighter and sharp-pointed Bills are either short-winged and divers called Douckers and Loons or long-winged and much upon the Wing called Gulls The broad-bill'd are divided into the Goose-kind and the Duck-kind The Duck-kind are either Sea-ducks or Pond-ducks The general marks of whole-footed birds are 1. Short Legs Here we must except the Phoenicoptter Corrira and Avosetta 2. Legs feathered down to the Knees 3. Short hind-toes 4. The outmost fore-toe shorter than the inmost 5. Their Rumps less erect than other birds 6. Most of the broad-bill'd kind have a kind of hooked narrow plate at the end of the upper Chap of their Bills their bodies flat or depressed N. B. Under the name of whole or web-footed we comprise some birds which have indeed their Toes divided but membranes appendant on each side such are some of the Divers or Loons These might more properly be denominated sin-toed or sin-footed than whole-footed SECTION I. Whole-footed Birds that want the Back-toe CHAP. I. The Bird called Penguin by our Seamen which seems to be Hoiers Goifugel IN bigness it comes near to a tame Goose The colour of the upper side is black of the under white Its Wings are very small and seem to be altogether unsit for flight It s Bill is like the Auks but longer and broader compressed sideways graven in with seven or eight furrows in the upper mandible with ten in the lower The lower Mandible also bunches out into an angle downward like a Gulls Bill It differs from the Auks Bill in that it hath no white lines From the Bill to the Eyes on each side is extended a line or spot of white It wants the back-toe and hath a very short tail I saw and described it dried in the Repository of the Royal Society I saw it also in Tradescants Cabinet at Lambeth near London The Penguin of the Hollanders or Magellanic Goose of Clusius The Birds of this kind found in the Islands of the strait of Magellane the Hollanders from their fatness called Penguins I find in Mr. Terries Voyage to the East Indies mention made of this Bird. He describes it to be a great lazy bird with a white Head and coal-black body Now seeing Penguin in the Welsh Tongue signifies a white head I rather think the Bird was so called from its white head though I confess that our Penguin hath not a white Head but only some white about the Eyes This saith Clusius is a Sea-fowl of the Goose-kind though unlike in its Bill It lives in the Sea is very fat and of the bigness of a large Goose for the old ones in this kind are found to weigh thirteen fourteen yea sometimes sixteen pounds the younger eight ten and twelve The upper side of the body is covered with black feathers the under side with white The Neck which in some is short and thick hath as it were a ring or collar of white feathers Their skin is thick like a Swines They want Wings but instead thereof they have two small skinny sins hanging down by their sides like two little arms covered on the upper side with short narrow stiff feathers thick-set on the under side with lesser and stiffer and those white wherewith in some places there are black ones intermixt altogether unfit for flight but such as by their help the birds swim swiftly I understood that they abide for the most part in the water and go to land only in breeding time and for the most part lie three or four in one hole They have a Bill bigger than a Ravens but not so high and a very short Tail black flat Feet of the form of Geesefeet but not so broad They walk erect with their heads on high their fin-like Wings hanging down by their sides like arms so that to them who see them afar off they appear like so many diminutive men or Pigmies I find in the Diaries or Journals of that Voyage that they feed only upon fish yet is not their flesh of any ungrateful relish nor doth it taste of fish They dig deep holes in the shore like Cony-burroughs making all the ground sometimes so hollow that the Seamen walking over it would often sink up to the knees in those vaults These perchance are those Geese which Gomora saith are without feathers never come out of the Sea and instead of feathers are covered with long hair Thus far Clusius whose description agrees well enough to our Penguin but his figure is false in that it is drawn with four toes in each foot Olaus Wormius treating of this bird to Clusius his description adds of his own observation as followeth This Bird was brought me from the Ferroyer Islands I kept it alive for some months at my house It was a young one for it had not arrived to that bigness as to exceed a common Goose It would swallow an entire Herring at once and sometimes three successively before it was satisfied The feathers on its back were so soft and even that they resembled black Velvet It s Belly was of a pure white Above the Eyes it had a round white spot of the bigness of a Dollar that you would have sworn it were a pair of Spectacles which Clusius observed not neither were its Wings of that figure he expresses but a little broader with a border of white Whether it hath or wants the back-toe neither Clusius nor Wormius in their descriptions make any mention In Wormius his figure there are no back-toes drawn This Bird exceeding the rest of this kind in bigness justly challenges the first place among them CHAP. II. The Bird called the Razor-bill in the West of England the Auk in the North the Murre in Cornwal Alka Hoieri in Epist ad Clusium Worm mus THis is less by half than the Penguin being not so big as a tame Duck Between the tips of the Wings spread it was twenty seven inches broad It s Head Neck Back and Tail in general its whole upper side is black It s Belly and Brest as far as the middle of the Throat white The upper part of the Throat under the Chin hath something of a dusky or purplish black Each Wing hath twenty eight quil-feathers the tips of all to the
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
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
Palate Tongue Eyes The Feet Talons Colour of the Head Neck Rump Body The prime wing-feathers The Wings The Train The Entrails and Guts * Lib. 2. Cap. 4. Ornithol It s bigness Beak The Pygarg of Aldrovand Pupil Colour of the Head and Neck Back Belly The Train The Legs and Talons It s Bigness and length It s Beak Colour The Legs Feet Toes It s Food The Etymology of the names It s Bill Eyes The head Crest The Wings Tail Colour The Feet It s Voice Food It s bigness Beak Mouth Eyes Head The Neck bare of feathers Staring hair-like feathers The back Colour of the body Tail Feet It s length The Bill The Head The Colour * It is hard to understand clearly the Authors meaning in these words The Tail Feet Talons It s Beak Colour It s Food Temperature Nature and qualities It s bigness Head and Neck bare of feathers Colour Beak Eyes Its nose dropped Its Feet and Claws The Craw. Manner of standing The cinereous Vulture The blac Vulture The Boetic or Chesnut coloured Vulture described The Hare-Vulture * A deep Golden or Lion-colour The Golden Vulture described The white Vulture Our fulvous Vulture like Bellonius his Chesnut one * Ravi * I suppose he means one common hole for both Nosthrils or a hole through the Bill from side to side It s Weight Breadth Beak Nares Eyes Colour of the upper side Lower side The Flag-Feathers The covert feathers The Train The Feet Toes and Talons Site of the outmost fore-toe The entrails and bowels It s Food It s Nest How it differs from the common Buzzard It s Bigness weight and measures It s Head Beak Sear Nares Tongue Palate Eyes The Colour of the upper side Colour of the lower side The Flag-Feathers of the Wings The Tail The Legs Feet Toes and Claws The entrails It s Food * Ash-coloured The difference in colour Their Eggs. Reason of the name Triorches The Bigness Weight Dimensions The Beak The Mouth The Eyes The Head Colou The Remiges The Tail The colour of the lower part The Feet and Talons The Guts and Stomach * Blind Guts The Nest * Wasp-Maggots or Grubs It s food The Young Food How it differs from the Buzzard It s Weight Length Beak A Coronet Colour of the feathers The Remges or prime Wing-feathers The Train The Sea The Beak Palate Tongue The Feet Toes and Talons The entrails Eggs. The description of the Tarcel called the Henharrier It s Weight and measures The colour of the upper part The colour of the nether side The first row of Wing-feathers The Tail The Beak Tongue Sear Eyes The Feet Toes and Talons The Entrails Manner of flying Her Tail serves her for a Rudder to direct her flight Kites said to be Birds of passage Their food and preying It s Bignest and measures Beak Nares Mouth Tongue Eyes It s colour * A Sâ—ndy red The Wings and their prime feathers The Train The Legs Toes and Talons The entrails The More-Buzzard described * Sparrow-hawk * Family or kind * Family or kind It s Name Its Shoulders Wings Train The Feet Toes Talons Thighs Beak Nares Eyes Head It s Neck Breast Brows Eyes Head Back The black Peregrin Falcon of Aldrovand It s Length Head Beak Eyes Colour The Throat Wings Tail Legs and Feet Talons Fredericks description of the Sacre Bellonius his description * Sooty Carcanus his description Their bigness Head Eyes Beak Nares Figure Colour Train Wings Legs How the Sores differ from those that are mewed The name It s Bigness Crown Beak Eyes Colour of the feathers The Wings Colour of the Breast The Train Legs and Feet The shape of a good Jerfalcon It s Head Forehead Eyes Nares Beak Neck Body Wings Wing-feathers Train feathers Craw. Breast Legs Feet Talons It s Nature and Game It s figure Head Beak Nares Eyes The Throat Breast It s Colour Wings Tail Legs and Feet Its colours when mewed Its conditions and Game Aldrovands grey Falcon. Its Head Beak Nares Eyes Colour Figure of the body * Or Falcon Gentle How the Falcon Gentle differs from the Peregrine The description of the German Falcon The German Falcon differs little or nothing from the Peregrine It s Colour Wings Train Beak Feet Eyes It s Length The Feet The Colour The Eyes and Bill It s Head Beak Eyes Breast Chin. Wings Train The Feet and Talons The other red Falcon described It s Colour It s proper marks Beak Chin. Wings Train Feet It s bigness Head Crest Neck Breast Beak Legs and Feet Wings Train The description of the French Lanner The colour of the Beak and Feet Breast Back Wings Train The Male. The Head Crown Eyes Nosthrils Beak Breast Back Wings Legs and Feet The description of those that are mewed Why called Lanarius It s Nature and Game It s place It s Weight Length Breadth Beak The Tongue Nosthrils Eyes The colour of the feathers * This white on the sides of the head is a Characteristic note of this bird The prime Wing-feathers The Train The Feet and Talons The Entrails It s principal Game Daring of Larks To catch Hobbies An account of the names It s bigness Weight Length Breadth Beak Nosthrils Tongue Eyes Mouth Head Colour of the back Colour of the nether side Prime Wing-feathers It s Train The Legs and Talons The Inwards How the Male differs from the Female Their Game Nest and Generation The Names It s Bigness Length and Breadth Beak Eyes The colour of the upper part and Wings The Train * Pale-red or clay coloured Colour of the lower side The Legs and Talons How the Male or Tarcel differs from the Female The Merlin a mettled bird It s Bigness Colour The Feet Talons and Beak The Wings Train It s Game It s bigness length and breadth Beak Nares Tongue Eyes Crown Colour of the upper side Underside The Wings Train Legs and Toes Number of Eggs. It s Food It s Mettle The manner of catching Sparrow-hawks near Constantinople The names It s weight and measures Bill Tongue The colour The flag-feathers of the Wings The Tail The Legs and Feet It s Food It s Place The greatest Butcher-bird of Gesner Its measures Bill Mouth Tongue Bristles Colour Quils of the Wing The Tail The Feet The Entrails and Food The Nest and Eggs. The Species of lesser Butcher-birds * In his notes upon Marggr lib. 5. cap. ult * To and fro or backward and forward * Shafts of feathers It s bigness Colour Head It s Bill Wings * Of the colour of gold Colour of the rest of the body Colour of the Head Bill Tongue Breast Wings Back The Tail * The great Bird of Paradise * Footless * An hand-breadth * Close together * I suppose he means those two long Nerves or naked shafts of feathers It s length Bill Tongue Eyes Nosthrils Colour of the underside Of the upper side Of the Wing-feathers The Tail The Feet Toes and Claws It s Food It
but to be the very same with it What Aldrovandus hath concerning the place flight conditions manner of catching this Hawk c. See in his * Ornithology It flies and preys upon Geese Ducks and other Water-fowl §. II. * The Sacre Falco Sacer. ALdrovandus brings several descriptions of the Sacre out of Albertus Magnus Belisarius the Emperour Frederick Carcanus and Bellonius The Emperour Fredericks description which to me seems better than that of Albertus is as follows Sacres for bigness of body approach to Jer-Falcons being greater than other Falcons but lesser than Jer-Falcons They have a great round head A shorter Beak a slenderer and longer body in proportion longer Wings and also a longer Train a Breast less fleshy and full in respect of their body than Jer-Falcons And also shorter Toes Bellonius thus briefly describes it The Sacre hath fouler feathers to look upon than any other Bird of prey For they are of a colour between red and fuliginous very like to Kites It hath short Legs and blue Toes Carcanus the Vicentine gives a fuller description of it in these words The Falcons called Sacres are bigger than even the larger Peregrines Their head is very grey their Crown flat and like to that of a fork-tail'd Kite Their Eyes black and great Their Beak blue their Nares for the most part small The figure of the body oblong The spots of the Breast brown as is also the back and upper side of the Wings The inside of the Thighs white the Train long and varied with semicircular spots resembling the figure of Guiny Beans or Kidneys The Wings also large and long The Legs and Feet are almost wholly blue Compared with the rest of the body not very great Those of one year commonly called Sores differ a little from those that have mewed their feathers For these have the spots of their Breasts a little blacker and rounder than the Sores Their Feet also are somewhat white and in some spotted with a little yellow Almost all of them have their Backs reddish inclining to cinereous as in Turtles Yet in some as well of the Sores as of those that have mewed their feathers the Back and upper side of the Wings is black Which of these descriptions agrees best to the Sacre let them judge who have opportunity of seeing this Bird and will and leisure to compare them with it So great is the strength force and courage of this Hawk that as Albertus reports there is no Bird so great which she doth not presently strike down And not only one at a time but as many as come in her way She catches also Fawns Kids c. She is supposed to be called Sacre either from her bigness or because all other birds fear her and fly from her §. III. * The Jer-Falcon whose Male or Tarcel is called the Jerkin IT seem to take its name from the High Dutch word Gyrfalc i. e. a ravenous Falcon or Vulturine Falcon for Gyr in High Dutch signifies a Vulture This however Aldrovandus contradicts it exceeds all other Falcons even that called the Sacre in magnitude Of that which Aldrovandus described this was the shape The Crown was plainand depressed of an ash-colour The Beak thick strong short blue bowed downward with a mean-sized hook but very sharp strong and blewish The Pupil of the Eyes very black the Iris or Circle encompassing the Pupil blue The Back Wings Belly and Train were white But the feathers of the Back and Wings were almost every one marked with a black spot imitating in some measure the figure of a heart like the Eyes in a Peacocks tail The flag-feathers of the Wings near their tips beautified with a bigger and longer black mark which is yet enclosed with a white margin or border The Wings very long so that they wanted but little of reaching to the end of the Tail The Throat Breast and Belly purely white without any spots at all The Tail not very long yea in respect of its body and those of other Falcons rather short marked with transverse black bars The Legs and Feet of a delayed blue The Legs thick and strong The Toes long strong broad-spread covered all over with a continued Series of board-like Scales Of Gyrfalcons according to Carcanus there be divers kinds distinguished by the colours of their feathers Frederick the Emperour doth thus describe the shape of a good Jer-Falcon The upper part of the Head must not be raised upward into a bunch but every where equal The forepart of the Head large and broad that part also above the Eyes large The Eye-brows high or standing out eminentia The Eyes hollow The Nosthrils great and open The Beak thick crooked and hard The Neck toward the Head slender toward the shoulders thick The Body must grow uniformly narrower and sharp all along to the very Tail observing that form which Geometricians call Pyramidal It must have Wings elevated toward the back not hanging down but when gathered up near the Tail so lying one upon the other that they intersect one another in form of a Cross The beam-feathers of the Wings as well those that cover as those that are covered that is as well the upper as the under ones must be broad and hard The covering feathers by how much the more they cover the others by so much the more commendable are they The Tail-feathers when it doth not fly are gathered up in a lump under the two uppermost that is the middlemost which are called the coverers The Gullet Gula I suppose he means the Craw must be large and deep and after much meat taken in swell a little and be round when full of meat The Breast prominent outward fleshy and thick The Thighs great The Legs short and thick The soles of the Feet also thick and large the Toes long lean rough scaly and well spread The Talons slender crooked and sharp It is a couragious fierce and very bold Bird catching all sorts of Fowl how great soever and is terrible to other Falcons and Goshawks It chief Game are Cranes and Herons §. IV. * The Mountain Falcon. THe greatest part of these Falcons are of a mean stature Few found very big Many of a small body and that in some round in some long Albertus attributes to a Mountain Falcon almost the same bigness as to a Goshawk Asturi only makes it shorter bodied Gives it a round Breast and when it stands on its feet a Pyramidal figure resembling a Pyramid somewhat compressed on that side the back makes Almost all of them have a round Head a taper fastigiatum Crown and black encompassed with a kind of ash-coloured Coronet In the Forehead not far from the Beak stand up certain very fine and slender feathers as it were hairs among the black or brown ones which yet are but few and in some Birds none at all
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
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