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Read Ebook: British Birds in Their Haunts by Johns C A Charles Alexander Owen J A Jean Allan Editor Foster William Illustrator
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Ebook has 1266 lines and 182547 words, and 26 pages
FAMILY ALAUDIDAE
Wings with nine or more visible primaries. Planta tarsi scutellate. Granivorous birds, frequenting open spaces, and singing during their flight; nesting on ground and seeking their food there by running; they are 'pulverators', i. e. they shake dust or sand into their feathers instead of bathing.
ORDER PICARIAE
Opposed to the Passeres. The feet are relatively weaker and smaller.
FAMILY CYPSELIDAE
Tail of ten feathers . Gape very wide.
FAMILY CAPRIMULGIDAE
The bill in this family resembles that of the Swallows, but is shorter and weaker; the gape is enormous and its sides are, for the most part, furnished with long and stiff bristles, which point forwards; the wings are long, and formed for powerful flight; the feet are small, and feathered to the toes; plumage soft and downy, and beautifully mottled with black, brown, grey, and white, varying in colour with the soil of their habitat; the claw of the middle toe is dilated on one side and toothed like a comb. Tail of ten feathers. Nocturnal birds, feeding on large insects, which they capture in their flight.
FAMILY PICIDAE
Feet short, but of unusual strength; the rigid toes diverge from a centre, two pointing forwards, and two backwards; claws large, much curved, and very hard and sharp; breast-bone shallow; flight weak and undulating.
Tail feathers stiff and pointed: nostrils covered with bristles.
Nostrils partly covered by a membrane.
FAMILY ALCEDINIDAE
Bill long, stout, and pointed, with angular sides, not serrated; feet small and feeble, the outer and middle toes united to the last joint; wings rounded and hollow, ill adapted for protracted flight; form robust, with a large head and usually a short tail. Predatory birds, feeding on fish, insects, and even reptiles, birds, and small quadrupeds. Scattered over the world, but Australia and South America contain the greatest number of species.
FAMILY CORACIIDAE
Bill corvine in shape; culmen rounded; nostrils near base of upper mandible and hidden by bristly feathers; tail feathers twelve.
FAMILY MEROPIDAE
Bill long; culmen with sharply defined ridge; toes joined for part of length.
FAMILY UPUPIDAE
FAMILY CUCULIDAE
Bill moderate, rather deeply cleft, both mandibles compressed, and more or less curved downwards; nostrils exposed; wings for the most part short; tail of ten feathers lengthened; toes four, two pointing backwards and two forwards, but the outer hind toe of each foot is capable of being placed at right angles with either the inner or outer front toe. A tropical family of birds, many of which migrate to the temperate regions in summer. Not so decidedly climbers as the Woodpeckers and Creepers, yet having great power of clinging. Their flight is feeble, their food soft-bodied insects, varied in many cases with berries and other fruits, and some of the larger species will occasionally prey on mice, reptiles, and the eggs and young of birds. Most, perhaps all of the migratory species, lay their eggs in the nests of other birds.
ORDER STRIGES
Head large, feathered; eyes large, dilated and projecting, each surrounded by a concave disc formed of stiff diverging feathers, concealing the cere and nostrils; ears large, and of elaborate construction; plumage lax and downy, adapted for slow and quiet flight; outer toe reversible; tibia more than double the length of tarsus. Food, small quadrupeds, birds, and insects.
FAMILY STRIGIDAE
Bill somewhat elongated, bending at the tip only; head-tufts wanting nostrils oval, oblique; facial disc large and complete; ears large, covered by an operculum; wings long, the second primary longest; tarsi long, feathered to the toes, which are strangely furnished with hair-like feathers; claws long, the middle one serrated beneath.
Bill bending from the base; tufts more or less conspicuous or wanting; facial disc complete; ears large, covered by an operculum; legs feathered to the claws.
ORDER ACCIPITRES
Bill short, strong, stout at base, culmen strongly curved. Feet strong, armed with powerful talons which are capable of being bent under the feet, inner one stronger and more curved than others. Outer toe usually not reversible.
FAMILY FALCONIDAE
Head covered with feathers, though sides of face are more or less bare.
Bill rather small and weak, bending from the base; cutting edge of the upper mandible nearly straight, or but slightly festooned; cere large; nostrils oval; wings long; the first four feathers deeply notched on their inner webs; tail not forked. Hinder aspect of tarsus scutellate.
Bill stout, convex or slightly angular above, straight at the base, much hooked at the tip, commissure simply festooned; cere bristly; nostrils rounded or oval; wings long. Hinder aspect of tarsus reticulate.
Bill short, strong, curved from the base; edge of the upper mandible with a prominent festoon beyond the middle; nostrils oval; wings rounded, short, reaching only to the middle of the tail; middle toe much the longest.
Bill of moderate length, slightly curved from the base, upper mandible with a slight festoon; nostrils oval, oblique; wings long; tail long and forked.
Bill short, strong, curved from the base, upper mandible strongly toothed, lower notched; nostrils round; tarsi strong and short; hinder aspect reticulate; wings long and pointed, with the second primary longest, the first and third equal in length and having the inner web notched near the extremity.
ORDER STEGANOPODES
Hind toe articulated on the inner surface of the tarsus, united to other toes by a web.
FAMILY PELECANIDAE
Bill strong, edges of the mandibles minutely toothed; wings long; legs short; toes four, all connected by a membrane.
ORDER HERODIONES
Hallux free, not united to other toes by a web.
FAMILY ARDEIDAE
Hind toe on same plane as others. Bill rounded or ridged; notched, with no hook at end. Outer toe with broad basal web, obsolete at base of inner toe; middle claw pectinated, loral space bare; powder down patches present.
FAMILY CICONIIDAE
Hind toe elevated above plane of others; no powder down patches; bill not hooked at tip.
FAMILY PLATALEIDAE
Bill flattened, narrow in middle, and widening out into a spoon-shaped end.
ORDER ANSERES
Tarsus about length of femur, reticulate at back and generally in front. Bill straight, always with distinct nail at tip of upper mandible. Young covered with down, and able to run or swim in a few hours after hatching.
FAMILY ANATIDAE
Bill thick, broad, high at the base, covered with a thin membranous skin and ending in a nail-like horny tip; edges of the mandibles cut into thin parallel ridges, or toothed; wings moderate; legs placed not very far behind; feet, four-toed, palmated; hind toe free, placed high on the tarsus. Food, grass and aquatic weeds, worms, insects, molluscs, and small fish.
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