British birds' nests; how, where, and when to find and identify them (1898) (14562954149)

Identifier: britishbirdsnest00kear (find matches)
Title: British birds' nests; how, where, and when to find and identify them
Year: 1898 (1890s)
Authors: Kearton, Richard, 1862-1928
Subjects: Birds -- Great Britain Birds -- Nests
Publisher: London, New York (etc.) Cassell and company, limited
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library



Text Appearing Before Image:
ghtly, and is gregarious. SKYLARK. Description of Parent Birds.—Length about seveninches. Bill of medium length, straight, strong, anddark brown. Irides hazel; crown dark brown, thefeathers being edged with a lighter and redder tinge,and somewhat elongated, forming a crest which iserectable at will. Back of neck, back, wing and tail-coverts reddish-brown, each feather being borderedwith a pale tint. Wing and tail-quills dusky brown,with lighter edges and tips. Throat and breast lightcream-colour, spotted with dark brown ; under-partspale straw-colour, tinged with brown on the thighsand flanks. Legs, toes, and claws brown; middletoe largest, and hind claw very long and curved. The female is not quite as large as the male, butis similar in her plumage. Situation and Locality.—Under tufts of grass,ling, and heath, sometimes on the plain openground; in a slight declivity. Our illustrationsare from photographs of a nest on the crown of afurrow, and under a tuft of grass. The former was
Text Appearing After Image:
RICHARDSONS SKUA. 260 BRITISH IllhDS NESTS. procured in Surrey and the latter in Yorkshire. Incultivated and uncultivated districts throughout theUnited Kingdom, hut not in woods and plantations. Materials.—Grass, roots, and horsehair, thelatter two often quite ahsent and the first usedsparingly. Egg.s.—Four to five, of a dirty white groundcolour, occasionally tinged with olive-green, thicklyspotted and speckled with olive-brown, and under-lying markings of greyish-hrown. The markings aregenerally so thickly and evenly distributed as tohide the ground colour, but occasionally, the mark-ings are less thickly distributed and collected in akind of belt at the larger end of the egg. Sizeabout -93 by -68 in. Distinguished from Woodlarkby crowded olive-brown markings. Time.—April, May, June, and July. Bemarixs.—Resident, though subject to partialmigration and much local movement. Notes : songconsists of several strains, trilling, warbling notes,variously modulated, and interrupted n