A history of British birds. By the Rev. F.O. Morris (1862) (14771937253)

Identifier: historyofbritish07morr (find matches)
Title: A history of British birds. By the Rev. F.O. Morris ..
Year: 1862 (1860s)
Authors: Morris, F. O. (Francis Orpen), 1810-1893
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: London, Groombridge and Sons
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries



Text Appearing Before Image:
eddish brownand dusky, and finer waved lines of black and white. Undertail coverts, white, with reddish brown bars. Female; length, one foot five or six inches. The bill is lessblue than in the male, and darker bluish grey. Head, crown,and neck, speckled with dark dusky brown and pale ferruginous,each feather being minutely barred. Breast above, vinousbrown, below white, or nearly white, and the sides yellowishbrown, which is often more or less extended over the remainderof the under parts. Back on the upper part, dusky greyishbrown, with narrow bars of ferruginous brown, the centres ofthe feathers being darker than the margins. Lesser wingcoverts, brown, margined with white. The speculum is black,tipped with white. The tertiaries are partially margined withwhite and partly with rufous, the latter next the body. Thetail is of fourteen feathers; under tail coverts, white, spottedwith blackish brown. Legs and toes, deep bluish grey. The young male of the first year resembles the female.
Text Appearing After Image:
AMERICAN WIGEON. Jnas Americana, WiLSON. AUDUBO Mureca, Americana, Stephens. Anas—A Duck. Americanus—American, This Duck is abundant in various parts of North America,from the River Saskatchewan and the Columbia, and the shoresof Hudsons Bay, through the United States to Florida,Carolina, Mexico, Cuba, Martinique, and St. Domingo. A pair of these birds were on sale in the London marketin the winter of 1837-8, as recorded in the Naturalistmagazine, volume iii, page 417. In the autumn they depart in flocks from their summerquarters. They are described as being of a lively and frolicsomedisposition, and are considered excellent eating. They are said sometimes to perch on trees. Their food is composed of flies, worms, leeches, small fry,beech-nuts, and grain of various kmds; and they do muchdamage in the rice plantations. They come out to feed inthe evenings. The note is a soft whistle, enunciated by the sound Svhew,and it is frequently imitated successfully to their destruction. The