British Birds in Their Haunts

+-----------------------------------------------+ | | | UNIFORM WITH THIS WORK. | | | | _Each with a series of Coloured Plates and | | Text-illustrations._ | | | | FLOWERS OF TH...

35. COCCOTHRAUSTES (Hawfinch). Bill tapering rapidly to point, culmen rounded; mandibles nearly equal, edges inflected and slightly indented. Nostrils basal, lateral, oval, near...

88. HARELDA (Long-tailed Duck). Bill much shorter than head, tapering rapidly to broad, decurved nail at tip. Lamellæ slightly exposed; nostrils sub-basal. Feathering at base of...

Upper parts brown tinged with olive; wing-coverts edged and tipped with reddish yellow; cere yellowish; throat white in the middle, without spots; sides of neck and breast reddi...

During a considerable portion of its stay with us, open downs near the sea are the favourite resort of this lively bird, to which it repairs from its transmarine winter quarters...

It must not be supposed that this bird sings by night only. Every day and all day long, from his first arrival until the young are hatched (when it becomes his duty to provide f...

On the banks of reedy and bushy rivers, in marshes, withy holts, wherever, in fact, there is fresh water associated with enough vegetation to shelter and conceal, this bustling...

Head, neck, throat, breast, and a portion of the outer tail-feathers white; back, wings, and six middle feathers of the tail black; a black streak above the eye; sides of the ba...

Standing, one winter's day, by the side of a pond, near a row of tall elms, and watching some boys sliding, I heard the few short twittering notes of a Nuthatch overhead, and it...

I might greatly extend my sketch of this interesting bird, but I have space only to add, that it builds a compact nest of moss, felted so as to be impervious to water, and lined...

Magpies, though generally distributed, are far more numerous in some districts than others. In Cornwall they are very abundant; hence I have heard them called Cornish Pheasants....

As the Hooded Crow is essentially the type of the Corvidæ in Scandinavia and the Isles of Scotland, where the Carrion Crow and Rook are all but unknown, so in England the repres...

The Waxwing is an elegant bird, of about the size of a Thrush. It visits this country, and in fact every other European country where it is known at all, at irregular intervals,...

While all the other British species of Swallow resort from choice to the haunts of man, the Sand or Bank Martin is indifferent about the matter. Provided that it can find a conv...

What were the haunts of the Sparrow at the period when men dwelt in tents, and there were neither farmhouses nor villages, much less towns and cities, it were hard to say. Certa...

Another northern bird, inhabiting the Arctic Regions, Scandinavia, and Russia, and travelling southwards in autumn. In the Orkney and Shetland Islands it is the most common, if...

With the exception of its black chin and throat, this bird closely resembles the Yellow Hammer. Its habits, too, are much the same, so that little can be said of it which does n...

[14] 'Amongst our land birds', says Hewitson, 'there is no species the eggs of which present so many, or such distinct varieties, as those of the Tree Pipit. No one would at fir...

This bird used to be described as a nocturnal robber who finds his way into the goat-pens, sucks the dugs of the goats, poisoning them to such an extent that the animals themsel...

The wanderer by the river's side on a bright sunny day, at any season, may have his attention suddenly arrested by the sight of a bird shooting past him, either up or down the s...

Returning from our Summer-evening's walk at the pleasant time when twilight is deepening into night, when the Thrush has piped its last roundelay, and the Nightingale is gatheri...

Lores or spaces between eyes and bill are covered with feathers. The head of _male_ is ash-grey, his upper parts brown; three blackish bars cross the tail; upper parts white-bar...

In France the Peregrine Falcon is most abundant in the marshy districts of the north, which are much frequented by Snipes and Wild Duck; with us it is most commonly seen in thos...

_Extract from my own Journal._--'August 27th. I lay for a long time to-day on the thick herbage which crowns the splendid cliffs, "the Gobbins", near the entrance of Belfast Lou...

Folded wings reaching a little beyond the tail; bill orange-yellow, the nail white; a large space on the forehead pure white, surrounded by a dusky band; upper plumage ash-brown...

Wild Ducks hold a prominent place among birds of the most extensive distribution, being 'indigenous to the greater part of the northern hemisphere'.[34] In consequence of this w...

Head and upper part of the neck black, with green reflections; breast and rump black; back and scapulars whitish, marked with numerous fine wavy black lines; belly, flanks, and...

The Smew, or Smee, properly so called, is a winter visitor with us, more impatient of cold than the Duck-tribe generally, and consequently frequenting the southern more than the...

Feathers of the throat elongated, black; head and neck dusky; eyes with a bare red skin above and a white spot below; wings brown speckled with black; breast lustrous green; abd...

The Pheasant is said to have been brought originally from Colchis, a country on the shores of the Black Sea, and to have derived its name from the river Phasis, the famous scene...

Few persons can have spent the summer months in the country, and enjoyed their evenings in the open air, without having grown familiar with the note of the Corn Crake; yet, stra...

M. Perrault, who wrote in 1676, gives an account of a tame Bustard which was kept for a while in summer in a garden, and died of cold in the winter. 'He killed mice and sparrows...

On almost any part of the sea-coast of Britain, where there is a wide expanse of sand left at low water, a bird may often be noticed, not much larger than a Lark, grey above and...

The Red-necked Phalarope, or Lobefoot, is, like the preceding species, an inhabitant of the Arctic regions, but extends its circle of residence so far as to include the Orkney I...

Bill a little longer than the head, slightly bent down at the tip; two middle tail-feathers the longest, dusky and pointed; a small part of the tibia naked. _Winter_--throat and...

The Redshank is a bird of frequent occurrence on all such parts of the coast as are suited to its habits. Nowhere, I suppose, is it more abundant than on the coast of Norfolk--a...

Bill moderate, red with a black tip; head and long feathers on the back of the head black; upper parts bluish ash; quills ash-grey, brown at the tips; tail much forked, not long...

General plumage white; back and wings bluish grey; tail and terminal portion of the quills white; bill strong, yellow; legs livid flesh-colour. _Young_ mottled with white, grey,...

Unlike the majority of sea-birds which have been passing under our notice, Puffins visit the shores of the British Isles in summer, and even in winter they are not absent. They...

Another short swim and it dives again; and so it goes on, the time spent under the water being far in excess of that employed in taking breath. Advance openly or make a noise, i...

Icebird: the Little Auk Imber, or Great Northern Diver Isle of Wight Parson: the Cormorant Iris (_plural_, Irides): the coloured circle of the eye surrounding the pupil Isaac: t...

Wagtail, Blue-headed: 115; p. 109 " Grey: 113; p. 109 " Pied: 112; p. 109 " White: 111; p. 109 " Yellow: 115; p. 109 Warbler: Dartford: 25; p. 31 " Garden: 23; p. 17 " Grasshopp...