. History of British birds : the figures engraved on wood . is is a variety of the laft fpecies, which theauthor has not feen. It is thus defcribed by La-tham :— In this the plumage is in patches ofwhite and black on the upper parts, and all beneathwhite. In Brunnichs bird the belly was fpottedblack and white: he fuppofed it to be a bird of thefirft year. Latham enumerates feveral other varieties of thisfpecies of birds, but as they have not been obferv-ed to vifit the Britilh Ifles, they do not come with-in the fcope of this work. There are, however,others which are occafionally met with in t
. History of British birds : the figures engraved on wood . is is a variety of the laft fpecies, which theauthor has not feen. It is thus defcribed by La-tham :— In this the plumage is in patches ofwhite and black on the upper parts, and all beneathwhite. In Brunnichs bird the belly was fpottedblack and white: he fuppofed it to be a bird of thefirft year. Latham enumerates feveral other varieties of thisfpecies of birds, but as they have not been obferv-ed to vifit the Britilh Ifles, they do not come with-in the fcope of this work. There are, however,others which are occafionally met with in this coun-try, but whether the diiferences may not be owingto age or fex, is not yet afcertained. One of thefe,prefented in Od:ober, 1802, by the Rev. H. Cotes,of Bedlington, differed from the lefler Guillemotin its bills being much Ihorter, meafuring onlyabout an inch and a half on the ridge of the uppermandible, and in having the hinder part of the headfurrounded by a continuation of the white featherswhich cover the cheeks, but mixed with dufky 152 BRITISH BIRDS. OF THE DIVERS. The bills are flrong, ftraight, and pointed : theupper mandibles the longeft; the edges of eachbending inwards: noftrils linear, the upper partdivided by a fmall cutaneous appendage: tonguelong, pointed, and ferrated on each fide near thebafe: thighs placed far backward: legs thin and flat,and extended horizontally : the toes, four in num-ber ; the exterior the longeft; the back one fmall,and joined to the interior by a thin membrane: tailfhort, confifting of twenty feathers. Thefe birdsare broad, flat, and long bodied, and fwim in afquat polition on the water. Ornithologifts enu-merate eight fpecies of this genus, fix of which, be-fides fome doubtful varieties, frequent the Britilhfliores. BRITISH BIRDS. 183
Size: 1928px × 1296px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorbeilbyralph17431817, bookdecade1790, booksubjectbirds
