. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Poorwills Taken in the hand, one sees what a quiet, inoffensive fay the Poor-will is, all feathers and itself a mere featherweight. The silken sheen and delicate tracery of the frost-work upon the plumage it were hopeless to describe. It is as though some fairy snowball had struck the bird full on the forehead, and from thence gone shivering, with ever lessening traces, all over the upperparts. Or, perhaps, to allow another fancy, the dust of t
. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Poorwills Taken in the hand, one sees what a quiet, inoffensive fay the Poor-will is, all feathers and itself a mere featherweight. The silken sheen and delicate tracery of the frost-work upon the plumage it were hopeless to describe. It is as though some fairy snowball had struck the bird full on the forehead, and from thence gone shivering, with ever lessening traces, all over the upperparts. Or, perhaps, to allow another fancy, the dust of the innumerable moth-millers, with which the bird is always wrestling, gets powdered over its garments. The large bristles which line the upper mandible, and which increase the catching capacity of the extensive gape by half, are seen to be really modified feathers, and not hairs, as might be supposed, for in younger specimens they are protected by little horny basal sheaths. With this equipment, and wings, our gentle hero easily becomes the envy of mere human 35*^ **& ..'â * V* 1* ^ »"^w 3 Taken in the Ojai EGGS OF DUSKY POORWILL, IN SITU Photo by Donald R, Dickey w58. 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 Dawson, William Leon, 1873-1928; Dickey, Donald R. (Donald Ryder), 1887-1932; Pierce, Wright M; Finley, William L. (William Lovell), 1876-1953; Brooks, Allan, 1869-1946. San Diego ; Los Angeles ; San Francisco : South Moulton Company
Size: 1902px × 1314px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1923
