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ORNITHOLOGY, [«;vi; and xoyoj,]] a discourse on birds, orthe science which treats on birds; describes their form, externaland internal; and teaches their (economy and their uses. A birdis an animal covered with feathers; furnished with a bill; havingtwo wings, and only two legs; with the faculty, except in a veryfew instances, of removing itself from place to place through theair.
Explanation of Technical Terms in Ornithology , usedby Pennant and Linn^us.
Fig. I, Plate CX.XXV. Cere. Cera. The naked skin thatcovers the base of the bill in the hawk kind.
2. Capistrum. A word used by Linnaeus , to express the shortfeathers on the forehead, just above the bill. In crows thesefall forwards over the nostrils.
3. Lorum. The space between the bill and the eye, generallycovered with feathers; but in some birds naked, as in the blackand white grebe.
4. Orbits. Orbita. The skin that surrounds the eye, which isgenerally bare ; particularly in the heron and parrot.
5. Emarginatum. A bill is called rostrum emarginatum whenthere is a small notch near the end : this is conspicuous in thatof butcher-birds and thrushes.
6. Vibrissa. Vibrissa; pectinata, stiff hairs that grow on eachside of the mouth, formed like a double comb, to be seen inthe goat-sucker, liy-catcher, &c.
7. Bastard-wing. Alula spuria. A small joint rising at the endof the middle part of the wing, or the cubitus; on which arethree or five feathers.
8. Lesser coverts of the wings. Tectrices primes. The smallfeathers that lie in several rows on the bones of the wings. Theunder coverts are those that line the inside of the wings.
9. Greater coverts. Tectrices secunda. The feathers that lieimmediately over the quill-feathers and secondary feathers.
10. 2 uillfeathers. Primores. The largest feathers of the wings,or those that rise from the first bone.
11 .Secondaryfeathers. Secundaria ;. Those that rise from thesecond.
12. Coverts of the tail. Uropygium. Those that cover the baseof the tail.
13. Pent feathers. Those that lie from the vent to the tail.Crissum Linnai.
14. The tail. Rectrices.
15. Scapular feathers. That rise from the shoulders, and coverthe sides of the back.
16. Nucha . The hind part of the head.
17. Rostrum subulatum. A term Limucus uses for a straight andslender bill.
18. Pcs umbulatorius. All the toes divided to the bottom.
1 9-Pes grassorius. The outer toe more or less united to themiddle one, particularly conspicuous in the feet of the kings-fisher.
20. Pes scansorius. The foot of the woodpecker, formed forclimbing. Climbing feet.
21 . Finned foot. Pes cobatus. Such as those of the grebes.
22 Scolloped foot. Pes pinnatus. The webs indented in thesides, as in the coots and scolloped-toed sandpipers.
23. Pes tridactylus, vel cursorius. Such as want the back toe.
24. Pes didactylus. In which the foot is composed of two toes,observed only in the ostrich.
25. Scmipalmated. Pes semipalmatus. When the webs reachonly half-way of the toes.
26. Unguc postico sessili. When the hind claw adheres to theleg without any toe, as in the petrels.
27. Digitis i omnibus palmatis. All the four toes connected bywebs, as in the corvorants.
Rostrum cultratum. When the edges of the bill are very sharp,such as in that of the crow.
28. Ungmculatum. A bill with a nail at the end, as in those ofthe goosanders and ducks.
29. Lingua ciliata. When the tongue is edged with fine bristles,as in ducks.
30. Integra. When plain or even.
31. Lunibriciformis. When the tongue is long, round, and slen-der, like a worm, as that of the woodpecker.
Pedes compedes. When the legs are placed so far behind as tomake the bird walk with difficulty, or as if in fetters; as is thecase with the auks, grebes, and divers.
32. A T ares Linneares. When the nostrils are very narrow, as insea-gulls.
33. Emarginata. With a rim round the nostrils, as in the stare.
External Parts of Birds.
A bird may be divided into head, body, and limbs.
I. Head.
1 . Bill (rostrum) is a hard horny substance, consisting of anupper and under part, extending from the bead, and answering tothe mandibles in quadrupeds. Its edges generally plain and sharp,like the edge of a knife, cultrated, as are the bills of crows ; butsometimes serrated, as in the toucan ; or jagged, as in the gun netand some herons ; or pectinated, as in the duck ; or denticulated,as in the mergansers ; but always destitute of real teeth immersedin sockets. The base in falcons is covered with a naked skin orcere (cera); in some birds with a carneous appendage, as the tur-key ; or a callous, as the curasso. In birds of prey, the bill ishooked at the end, and fit for tearing: in crows, straight andstrong for picking: in water-fowls, either long and pointed, forstriking; or slender and blunt, for searching in the mire; or flatand broad, for gobbling. Its other uses are for building nests;feeding the young; climbing, as in parrots; or, lastly, as an in-strument of defence or offence.
2. Nostrils, (nares,) the nice instruments of discerning theirfood, are placed either in the middle of the upper mandible, ornear the base, or at the base, as in parrots; or behind the base, asin toucans and hornbills: but some birds, as the gannet, are desti-tute of nostrils. The nostrils are generally naked ; hut sometimescovered with bristles reflected over them, as in crows, or hid inthe feathers, as in parrots, &c. The fore part of the head is calledthe front (capistrum); the summit (vertex), or the crown : thehind part, with the next joint of the neck (nucha), the nape: thespace between the bill and the eyes, which in herons, grebes, &c.is naked (lora), the straps: the space beneath the eyes (gensc), thecheeks.
3. Orbits (orbita:), the eye-lids; in some birds naked, inothers covered with short soft feathers. Birds have no eye-brows;but the grous kind have in lieu a scarlet naked skin above, whichare called supercilia; the same word is also applied to any line ofa different colour that passes from the bill over the eyes.
4. Ears. Birds are destitute of auricles or external ears, hav-ing an orifice for admission of sound; open in all but owls, whoseears are furnished with valves.
5. The Chin, the space between the parts of the lower mandi-ble and the neck, is generally covered with feathers ; but, in thecock and some others, has carneous appendages called wattles (pa-learia) ; in others, is naked, and furnished with a pouch, capableof dilatation (sacculus), as in the pelican and corvorants.
6. Neck (collum), the part that connects the head to the body,is longer in birds than in any other animals; and longer in such ashave long legs, than in those that have short, either for gatheringup their meat from the ground, or striking their prey in the water;except in web-footed fowls, which are, by reversing their bodies,destined to search for food at the bottom of waters, as swans, andthe like. Birds,, especially those that have a long neck, have thepower of retracting, bending, or stretching it out, in order tochange their centre of gravity from their legs to their wines.
II.'Body.