. The naturalist's library : containing scientific and popular descriptions of man, quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles and insects . swallow has atland, seizing every insect which appears on the surface, and darting downupon the smaller fishes, which they seize with incredible rapidity. THE LESSER TERN2 Weighs only two ounces and five grains. The bill is yellow; and from theeyes to the bill is a black line. In other respects, it almost exactly resem-bles the preceding. 1 Sterna hirundo, Lin. The genus Sterna has the bill as long as, or longer than thehead, almost straight, compressed, slender
. The naturalist's library : containing scientific and popular descriptions of man, quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles and insects . swallow has atland, seizing every insect which appears on the surface, and darting downupon the smaller fishes, which they seize with incredible rapidity. THE LESSER TERN2 Weighs only two ounces and five grains. The bill is yellow; and from theeyes to the bill is a black line. In other respects, it almost exactly resem-bles the preceding. 1 Sterna hirundo, Lin. The genus Sterna has the bill as long as, or longer than thehead, almost straight, compressed, slender, edged, and pointed; mandililes of equailength, the upper slightly sloping towards the tip: nostrils in the middle of the bill longi-tudinally cleU and pervious; legs small, naked above the knee; tarsus very short, thethree anterior toes connected biy a membrane, the hinder detached; tail more or lessforked ; wings very long, and pointed. ^Sterna minvta, Lin. AVES— GULL. 055 Among the foreign birds of the tern genus, there are some found of asiiowv white; but the most singular bird of this kind is the striated tern,. which is found at New Zealand. It is thirteen incnes m length. The hillis black, and the body in general mottled, or rather striped with black andwhite. THE NODDYi Is about fifteen inches long. The bill is black, and two inches long, and thewhole plumage a sooty brown, except the top of the head, which is is a very common bird in the tropical seas, where it is known frequentlyto fly on board ships, and is taken Avith the hand. But though it be thugstupid, it bites the fingers severely, so as to make it unsafe to hold it. It issaid to breed in the Bahama Islands. THE G U L L 2 And all its varieties, is well known to most readers. It is seen with slowsailing flight hovering over livers, to prey upon the smaller kinds of fish;it is seen following the ploughman in fallow fields to pick up insects; and • Sterna stolida, Li**- n. The genus i^arus, w
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Keywords: ., bookauthordwightjonathan185, bookcentury1800, booksubjectzoology
