. American ornithology, or, The natural history of the birds of the United States [microform]. Birds; Oiseaux. H ' t I. is impcrincablo to water, as much so as that of the most decidedly aquatic web-footed birds, for when dinpcMl into it, that fluid runs and drops from the surface. Their head is flat, with the forehead low and narrow; the neck is stout; the body abort and compact; the nostrils basal, concave, longitudinal, half covered by a membrane; tongue car- tilaginous and bifid at tip. Their wings are short and rounded, fur- nitiiied with a very short spurious feather^ and having the thir
. American ornithology, or, The natural history of the birds of the United States [microform]. Birds; Oiseaux. H ' t I. is impcrincablo to water, as much so as that of the most decidedly aquatic web-footed birds, for when dinpcMl into it, that fluid runs and drops from the surface. Their head is flat, with the forehead low and narrow; the neck is stout; the body abort and compact; the nostrils basal, concave, longitudinal, half covered by a membrane; tongue car- tilaginous and bifid at tip. Their wings are short and rounded, fur- nitiiied with a very short spurious feather^ and having the third and fourth primaries longest; the tail short, even, and compose*! of wide feathers; the nails large and robust; the lateral toes are subequal, the outer united at base to the middle one, the hind too being short and robust. The female is similar to the male in color, and the young only more tinged with reddish. They moult but once in the year. These wild and solitary birds are only mot with singly or in pairs, in the neighborhood of clear and swift-running mountain streams, whose bed is covered with pebbles, and stri ed with stones an<l fragments of rock. They are remarkably shy and cautious, never alight on branches, but keep always on the border of the stream, perched, in an attitude peculiar to themselves, on some stone or rock projecting over the water, attentively watching for their prey. Thence they repeatedly plunge to the bottom, and remain long submerged, searching for fry, Crustacea, and the other small aipiatic animals that constitute their food. They are also very destructive to musfjuitoes, and other dipterous insects and their aquatic larvic, devouring them beneath the surface. They never avoid water, nor hesitate in the least to enter it, and even precipitate themselves without danger amidst the falls and eddies of cataracts. Their habits are in fact so decidedly aquatic, that water may be called their proper element, although systematically they belong to t
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectois
