wad-birds.
J j l N > T 1 R ' A L H ;I | 8? X O R Y
F i^ .'ii/'in another! and-more extended
attitude than’ Mr. Ray’s Willrighby in'his nineteenth Plate; its»fegH
toes,1 and bill of a; ftrong vermdHbrt;varid;' theibony''fubftances of thefe
parts; c i^ e y e n tb ‘trahlpifency: they are>always yejlow when the bird!
colotirj% probably made Aldrovandus'by miftake: (*s in Willughby ia
obfe&hdj think thole witbfyjellow feet,- legs,- aaadrbill, to be a dif-
fitbi the coracias with red ‘f e e t i t s feathers are of a
jhuch richer velvet ’black than thofe ofta$y other, brow. It is'iaid,
that, havfcg its*tongue-fit !\yhen -young, it .will thereby be enabled
to itintate the human voice;- a property:which Bellonius alfb afcribes
tcfthis bird 4: this
offany thing ftrange, frightful, and unufualy its' chatter is extremely
foft and ehgaging; when it- applies for meaty 'and^ltriahes' its : court
to thbfe who ufeklly-feed aM foiidle it f 1 its ftrengthdies- in its bUlt
and iaixk, rather than wings; it is not therefore ft? wSrlike in the air
Mother crows, but on the'ground it;is vfery pugj&dbiotis, whetting
and darting its bill, and though as tanae^as may. be; -hot admitting,
any ftranger to touch him. Very appfchenfive pf'danger, it builds
its neft in the cliffs, but neither in thh ril top; o;as. if all danger - was
from below, nor near the bottom, as if all-its. feafewere from-above,’
but in the middle of the moft deep precipice;, very attouflng ytiien
kept fatne; docile, regular, and conftant-todtsihour* fov/meat; early'
at rooft; in bad weather fond of fhelteruand feldom feen; but
prefaging good weather, it enjoys the air on the, toj)s of houfes, if.
tame, * if wild, ftrutting (lately along the hills or.greensby the fea*fideni
Of finging-birds, we have thrufbesjither hla^SWftly^tlttoflleori
fong-thrufh, and the much larger and better cblemted ^miffel-bird or
fhrite, (the Turdu's ‘Cnfcvvorus major o i Willughby, page 18 7) which
we call in Cornwall the holm-thrufh; the Cornifh call the Holly-
tree, Holm, and this the holm or hom-thrufh, becaiife, as I imagine,
in the winter it feeds upon holly-berries^ each bird taking
poffeffion of his tree, keeping conftant to it, as -long as there is
fruit, and driving away all other birds. (See Ray’s* Willughby, page
187). Our linnets are either green or brown; we have gold-finches,
ruddocks, nopes or bull-finches, and larks. Nightingales I have not
feen, or heard of any in Cornwall.
Of wild-birds, driven here-by the .extremity of the weather, we
have’all forts,
----- -- - - A d tefram. gUfgite. ab alto I ’
H%uam Multa glomerdntur aves "ubifrigidus annus
v''“TtHfab'.-tfftfrQUifn 'f& zd t'it lerris tirimipit apricis*. ‘
J .Aldrcrvandus Ornith. lib. xn . chap. v jn . Virg. Mn. lib. yx. ver. 310»
Ducks
O F :■ C O R .N,.W,A L L. . 245.
Ducks of all kinds, the t^ue^ytild-dijpk .ixpeeding in the marfh betwixt
Penzance and Marazion; widgeony teal, .woodcock, fnipe,
&C. <- The fhell-drake '^^dprgia.B.ellg^ii^. h, . rare, but in the hard
winter 1739, I had one 1 brought, me exactly anfwering the ae4
fcription; of Ra,^% ^illughjpy^page, 3p^,,^TAb. txxi.
. Of the comport ppripflicaljpj-, mig^a^pn^ ihirds,.. “ the ..fwallojys in Migratory,
the winter are found in the ,weftem ,,parts of Cqmwallj fitting-irt
old, deep.,tin-WjO?ks^nd-h,ole%<sf th|,f^-j^J^,’’;^ | |M tif^ r f^ , page
26. Tliis - is, a circumftance, queftioned by fome Naturalifts,, and,
asifconfidentjy^aiferted by others; the truth i?;, y/hen .the; winter,
which?.are‘ the^fwallow’s prope^foodj^hiis-.bird.dfiap.pears; ^me, pqt-<
haps’vnaay p^ff^into oftier climates*, or die,. audio,tfue^jeipflin in a
torpid ftatp* in; private cayes, fope .under. Water, *and fope, above.
The red-vyifig.ofi wkid-thrufh, in Cornwall called ,the,winnard,r!apd
fieldfare, are moft . .common when ■ there is moft cold, in gentle :
winters few ,or none. . The Royfton crow, with the Hack^ilj,v -iieacf
and wings black, w itfi'a.gfofiy. blue,-the. breaftj(<beliy^hiiqk,,|£d -
neck cinereous grey, fbaftsi of. the, feather si blackifhy continues p ith
us from October to March,,. but generally op^jlhe-^fetdtote^and
betwixtPenzanca.and Masazipn, fónd.of ttó produfls,^ the,.bea|ch,
though , ufually. reckoned grapivorous. ^
Tf - Woodct^ekgJ arö reckoned birds of paffage, but, jiot
alway^^eaye, the .th^40fisa^0i3^|ly ljefort Some
gentlemen, huntingxjn the neighbourhood.oftPcnzapce, jjn th^.:,lupgi-
mer-time :i7S5jftflufhed a woodcock; iurprifed at: feeing 1 fhch a
jsdnter bird at that ifeafon o f , the < year, they, hafteped.toith6^ ^
and there-found,; a ,-neft with- .fwoieggs ififit: :a : gpntleipa%;;iP9.re
curious than the reft, carried the eggs home.;,. andi, Pf}e being
dentally broke, the body.of a young, woodcock .appeared, and en^
couraged him. to put the other! egg under a pigeon, and ip few
days a living bird was difeovered in it with its feathers, on, ip fhape
and fize as in Plate xxxv, Fig. xn. page 23.9. ,
and from the neft, are often flufhed on Bodmaovdoj^psk -
. 1 As it is my defign in this. hiftory to .reprefent.-whatever is rare ar^ Rare birds,
worthy notice, as well- as what has not, been: thoroughly defcfibqd by
othérspl not omit an uncopmon bird'catched,
brought to me Sept. 23, 1755 ; the great noife it kept in the night,
the fmallnefs of its bill, the di^roportioned-largehèfs p f ^ in iö jlth ,
and the umifuaj fhorthéfs ,qf t^ejegs^pade me.tafeej the, following
meafurements: From the point of the bill to the e^xemfty of; the
tail, ten inches; from the, tips .o f the wings extended, one foot
nine ; its: bill flattifh, thin, and only three tenths óf an inch long,
fomewhat curved; the fpread of its mouth very large, being two
R r r inches