. Birds: the elements of ornithology . black andwhite plumage and its straight and powerful bUl. They breedclose to the water, and their nests are sometimes hollowedout on the sand or shingle only just above high-water mark. * The great differences in the plumage of these Birds, according to sex,age, and season, are very remarkable. They are well exhibited in a case inthe Hall of the Natural History Museum. 56 ELEMENTS OF OENITHOLOST. As might be expected under such circumstances, the Birdsare able to swim. There are about seven species of Oyster-catcher, spread over all the great divisions of
. Birds: the elements of ornithology . black andwhite plumage and its straight and powerful bUl. They breedclose to the water, and their nests are sometimes hollowedout on the sand or shingle only just above high-water mark. * The great differences in the plumage of these Birds, according to sex,age, and season, are very remarkable. They are well exhibited in a case inthe Hall of the Natural History Museum. 56 ELEMENTS OF OENITHOLOST. As might be expected under such circumstances, the Birdsare able to swim. There are about seven species of Oyster-catcher, spread over all the great divisions of the earths great contrast to these Birds is presented by the Stilt(Simantopus melanopUrm), with its very slender beak andexceedingly long legs. It is occasionally seen in England, butthere are ten other species of the genus, four of which are foundin the Australian region and two in America. The twoAmerican species and one Australian one are very often sepa-rated off and united with the graceful and singular Avocet Fig. The Oyeter-catcher {Hcematopus ostralegm). (fig. 58) into a separate genus termed Recurvirostra. The Avocetused to breed in England in Eomney Marsh and the marshes ofour Eastern Counties, but drainage has been fatal to it here andin many other places, and it is said only to breed now, inNorthern Europe, in the islands off the coasts of Holland andDenmark. The delicate recurved beak of the Avocet when onceseen can never be a still more singular and absolutely peculiar bill IS INTEODUCTION. 57 possessed by a New-Zealand Bird (Anarhynchus frontalis), orCrooked-billed Plover. Its bill is not curved either upwards or,as so commonly, downwards, but to one side (fig. 59, a). An elegantly marked Shore Bird—with a plumage of black,white, chestnut, and brown,—which industriously searches forfood amongst rocks and stones, and which, from its habits, is Fig. 57.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpubl, booksubjectornithology
