. Reptiles and birds. A popular account of the various orders; with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting. Birds; Reptiles. 300 THE LAEID^. gun, the others surround it, full of grief and sympathy, nor will they leave it until all hope of saving its life is at an end. These birds in their flight give utterance to shrill and piercing calls, which,- when produced by numbers together, cause a deafen- ing uproar in. the sky. These calls are raised with increased power when they are about to undertake some longer flight than usual. But the time, above all others, when their
. Reptiles and birds. A popular account of the various orders; with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting. Birds; Reptiles. 300 THE LAEID^. gun, the others surround it, full of grief and sympathy, nor will they leave it until all hope of saving its life is at an end. These birds in their flight give utterance to shrill and piercing calls, which,- when produced by numbers together, cause a deafen- ing uproar in. the sky. These calls are raised with increased power when they are about to undertake some longer flight than usual. But the time, above all others, when their noise is most discordant and shrill is the breeding season. " On going up to one of their breeding-places," says McGillivray, "which may always be discovered from a distance, as some of the birds will be seen hovering over it, one is sure to be met by several of them,. rig. 106.—The Tern {Ster-na hinmdo, Linn.). which hasten to remonstrate with the intruder by harsh cries and threatened blows. As you draw nearer, more of them leave their nests; and at length they are all on the wing, wheeling and bounding—now high and now low—at times coming quite close, and increasing their cries, which resemble the syllables ' cree- cree-cree-ae.'" Like the Land Swallows, these sea-birds arrive on our coasts in the spring. They disperse themselves over our lakes and large ponds, where they feed on any animal substances they meet with—either fresh or putrefied—fish, mollusks, or insects. Montagu says they are found in great abundance on the Sussex and Kentish. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Figuier, Louis, 1819-1894; Gillmore, Parker, ed. Springfield, Mass. , W. J. Holland
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecad, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectreptiles
