The Auk, Volume 16American Ornithologists' Union, 1899 - Birds |
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Common terms and phrases
adult Amite County Ammodramus appeared April Astragalinus Audubon BAIRD bewickii bill Blacicus breeding Brewster brown Cabanis California Canon XL Chipping Sparrow Chuck-will's-widow coast collection color Committee Contopus COUES County culmen DIST eggs feathers feet female flock genera genus Geog gray Guanajuato Gulls Hylocichla ibid Island Journ July June La Crescent Lacépède Laughing Gulls Laughlintown LINN Livr male maritimus Marsh Wren marshes Matières Générales Melospiza Mexico migration miles Mountains Museum nest nomenclature North American Birds notes Oberholser observations Oiseaux ornithologists Osprey Outram Bangs pair plumage present Proc Prof Prothonotary Warbler record rectrices RIDGW Ridgway River Robert Ridgway Sclater season seen shot song SONG SPARROW southern Sparrow species specimens Stejneger subspecies tail taken tarsus Terns Thryomanes tion tree Typographique U. S. Nat Washington wings Witmer Stone Wren young birds Zool
Popular passages
Page 288 - THE WILD FOWL OF THE UNITED STATES AND BRITISH POSSESSIONS, OR, THE SWAN. GEESE, DUCKS, AND MERGANSERS OF NORTH AMERICA: WITH ACCOUNTS OF THEIR HABITS, NESTING. MIGRATIONS, AND DISPERSIONS. TOGETHER WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ADULTS AND YOUNG. AND KEYS FOR THE READY IDENTIFICATION OF THE SPECIES...
Page 197 - Woodcock (PhUoliela minor) arrived in countless thousands. Prior to their arrival I had seen but two birds the entire winter. They were everywhere and were completely bewildered. Tens of thousands were killed by would-be sportsmen, and thousands were frozen to death. The great majority were so emaciated that they were practically feathers and of course were unable to withstand the cold.
Page 198 - Plataleae (Ibises and Spoonbills) and Herodiones (Herons and Storks), by R. Bowdler Sharpe. Steganopodes (Cormorants, Gannets, Frigate-birds, Tropic-birds, and Pelicans), Pygopodes (Divers and Grebes), Alcae (Auks), and Impennes (Penguins), by WR Ogilvie-Grant. Pp. xvii., 687 : Woodcuts and 14 coloured Plates.
Page 367 - It has, therefore, seemed to me that what is needed at first is not the science of ornithology, — however diluted, — but some account of the life and habits, to arouse sympathy and interest in the living bird, neither as a target nor as a producer of eggs, but as a fellow-creature whose acquaintance it would be pleasant to make.
Page 197 - They were everywhere and were completely bewildered. Tens of thousands were killed by would-be sportsmen, and thousands were frozen to death. The great majority were so emaciated that they were practically feathers, and, of course, were unable to withstand the cold. One man killed two hundred pairs in a few hours.
Page 14 - On pleasant days the male trilled from a spruce top a song of sweetly modulated notes wholly new to my ears. He always sang in sotto voce, and it required an acquaintance with the songster to realize that he, though so near, was the origin of those notes which seemed to come from somewhere up in the towering pines which surrounded this strip of swamp, so lost was the melody in the whispering, murmuring voices of the pines.
Page 338 - C. canadensis, except that white markings on under parts and on border of throat are rather heavier, and gray markings of back and rump more pronounced and purer gray — less reddish olive gray; adult female, summer plumage, quite different in color from true C. canadensis, upper parts much more purely black and gray, with much less huffy or ochraceous; under parts much whiter, with less buffy or ochraceous.
Page 170 - Lavater most liked— at all events Dr. Coates may keep his own nose. Hays, an interesting Jew, delivered the lecture on mineralogy. He had collected his specimens on the Catskill Mountains. CL Bonaparte read a memoir on the " Golden Plover." To a novice it seems curious, that men of the first intellect should pay so much attention to web-footed gentry with wings.
Page 78 - Hemiprocne [ie, Streptoprocne] while the muscle which ordinarily works the front toes, the flexor perforans, is present, it has no separate tendon, but is attached to the muscle of the first digit, flexor longus hallucis, and is diverted to the work of pulling on its tendon, which as usual runs up over the outer side of the belly of the muscle. Below this single tendon sends off four slips, one to each digit, thus presenting the simplest condition possible and literally realizing Gadow's statement...
Page 197 - Thousands tarried in my vard all day long and swarmed in the piazza, fowl-yard and every place that would afford protection. They would scratch away the snow in order to find a bare p'lace, singing — that is the stronger birds — the whole time, while their companions were freezing by the hundreds.