. Harmonia ruralis, or, An essay towards a natural history of British song birds : illustrated with figures the size of life, of the birds, male and female, in their most natural attitudes ... . black, with brownedges. Those of the lower part of the back are alsobrown, but in the male are glossed over, as it were,with a beautiful shining scarlet or crimson colour, butnot so in the female. In the bird before me, the three first quill feathersof the wing are wholly black, the next five have theirouter edges for more than half their length white, andall the second order of quills, as well as the
. Harmonia ruralis, or, An essay towards a natural history of British song birds : illustrated with figures the size of life, of the birds, male and female, in their most natural attitudes ... . black, with brownedges. Those of the lower part of the back are alsobrown, but in the male are glossed over, as it were,with a beautiful shining scarlet or crimson colour, butnot so in the female. In the bird before me, the three first quill feathersof the wing are wholly black, the next five have theirouter edges for more than half their length white, andall the second order of quills, as well as the greatercoverts, have light-coloured tips; the lesser coverts arethe same colour as the back. The tail consists of twelve feathers, all of them ob-liquely pointed. The two middle ones shorter than therest, black, with red-brown edges. The three outmostpn each side have their exterior borders white. The throat and upper part of the breast are of a faintdusky red, with dark strokes down the middle of thefeathers. The belly and covert feathers under the tailare white. The legs and feet are black. The clawscurved and sharp at the point. The Twite goes among our birdmen by the nameGrey mr 3ITT USA 34^NEST AND EGGS OF THE TWITE. PLATE XXXIV. The Twite, like the rest of the Unnets, inhabits lowbushes and shrubs. The nest, which now lies beforeme, was found in a shrubbery, on a low branch of the* berry-hearing alder. The bottom or foundation of the nest is made of amixture of moss, hay, and stubble. These are broughtin plenty, and laid loose and flat. On this bottom thesides and brim of the nest are formed entirely of roots,the larger and stronger placed on the outside, the smallerand finer within. They are warped and entangled to-gether with muchl abour, but being of an hard woodynature, they close so ill together, that the light shinesthrough every part of the nest. The lining consists of very fine roots, amongst whicha few black hairs are mixed. In this nest was six eggs, wh
Size: 1398px × 1788px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorbolton, bookidharmoniaruraliso00bolt, booksubjectbirds
