. 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 ... . ween the triple division of thebranch of an ash tree, and hung all round with the * ash-liverwort, so as to hide it on every side. On remo^dngit I found that some part of the liverwort grew fromthe tree above and round about the nest; but the greaterpart of it was very artfully wove in with the grass andmoss on the outer margin of the brim, and left to hangloose about the sides of the nest, just as it
. 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 ... . ween the triple division of thebranch of an ash tree, and hung all round with the * ash-liverwort, so as to hide it on every side. On remo^dngit I found that some part of the liverwort grew fromthe tree above and round about the nest; but the greaterpart of it was very artfully wove in with the grass andmoss on the outer margin of the brim, and left to hangloose about the sides of the nest, just as it hung on otherparts of the tree. By this artifice the bird often securesher nest, concealing it from the gape of the ignorantcountry bumpkin, or the prying eye of the mischievousschool-boy. How cunning is nature in the indulgenceand preservation of her species! She lays four eggs of a dusky flesh colour, having acast of green, and large spots of brown or purple. TheMisselbird is the earliest of our song birds. In themonth of Januaiy, if the weather is mild, he sings mostsweetly; his song resembles that of the throstle, but hispipe is sweeter, and his notes more mellow. * Lichen TURDUS MUSICUS. Syit. Nat. 292. SONG THRUSH, OR THROSTLE. PLATE V. JL he bill is an inch long, the upper mandible of adusky colour, the lower yellow. The mouth within yel-low, between the bill and eyes is a pale coloured spot,and between that and the throat a dark one. The eyesare brown, large, very bright, and piercing. The crown of the head, the back, and whole upperside are of a pleasing olive colour, in some places inclin-ing to the yellow, as about the lower part of the back, inothers more dusky, as about the head. In the wings are eighteen quill feathers of a duskyolive colour, with pale coloured edges. The first andsecond covert feathers have white tips, the feathers un-der the wings are a kind of pale flame colour. The whole underside of the bird, from bill to tail, iswhite, with only
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbolton, bookidharmoniaruraliso00bolt, booksubjectbirds
