. The natural history of birds [microform] : from the French of the Count de Buffon. Ornithology; Birds; Ornithologie; Oiseaux. 232 THE WHEAT-EAR. numbers are caught by the Englifh fhepherds in the downs of SufTex about the beginning of autumn, at which time they are pUimp and of uehcate flavour. Wilkighby defcribes the method of catching them: they cut up a long ftrip of turf, and i avert it on the furrow, fo as to leave only a narrow track, in which they place fnares made of horfe hair. The birds are incited by a double motive ; to procure food in the new-turned earth, and to conceal themfel
. The natural history of birds [microform] : from the French of the Count de Buffon. Ornithology; Birds; Ornithologie; Oiseaux. 232 THE WHEAT-EAR. numbers are caught by the Englifh fhepherds in the downs of SufTex about the beginning of autumn, at which time they are pUimp and of uehcate flavour. Wilkighby defcribes the method of catching them: they cut up a long ftrip of turf, and i avert it on the furrow, fo as to leave only a narrow track, in which they place fnares made of horfe hair. The birds are incited by a double motive ; to procure food in the new-turned earth, and to conceal themfelves under the fod. The appearance of a hawk, or even the fhadow of a cloud, will drive them for fhclter into thofe traps *. They all return in Auguft and September, and no more are feen after that month. They journey in fmall bands; and in general they are of a folitary difpofition, and no fociety exifts among them but that of the male and female. Their wings are large f, and though * Mr. Pennant tells us, that in the dtftri£l of Eajlboum in Suflcx, one thoufund eight hundred and forty dozens of wheat-ears are at an average caught annually, which are fold commonly for fixpence a dozen. The reafon why thefe birtls are fo numerous in that neighbourlu^od, is faiil to be the abundance of a ccrtahi fpecies of iiy, on which tjiey f(ied. T. f Briflbn fays, that the firft of the wing quills is ex- tremely fliort: but the feather which he takes to be the firft of the great quills is only the firft of the great coverts, in^ ferted under the firft quill, and not at the fide of it. 8 ampng. 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 Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de, 1707-1788. London : Printed for A. Strachan, and T. Cadell in the Strand, and J. Murray . ..
Size: 829px × 3015px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., boo, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectoiseaux, booksubjectornithology
