93 



COLUMNARIA. 



COLYMBID^E. 



!M 



be compared. The species hitherto discovered are from Mexico and 

 Peru. TiiSy are not known to possess any useful properties. 



COLUMNARIA. [MADREPHYLLLEA.] 



COLUMNEA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Gtsneracea. One of the species (C. scandena) is called by the French 

 colonists Liane 2 Sirop, because its flowers secrete a large quantity of 

 honey. 



COLUMNPFER^E, an old name for Plants belonging to the 

 natural order Malvaceae. [MALVACEAE.] 



COLU TE'A, a Papilionaceous genus. of Exogenous Plants, consisting 

 of hardy shrubs, with pinnated leaves and inflated membranous pods, 

 which explode when suddenly compressed, and which look like vege- 

 table bladders, whence the common English name of Bladder-Senna. 

 The species have yellow or yellow and red flowers of some beauty ; 

 and are all found in the South of Europe, in Palestine, and in the 

 Himalaya Mountains. 



COLY'MBID^E, a family of Swimming Birds (Natatory), having a 

 smooth, straight, compressed, and pointed bill. 



Willughby assigned the family a place in his fifth section (' Whole- 

 Footed Birds, with Shorter Legs '), under the name of " Douckers or 

 Loons, called in Latine Colymbi," and he divided them into " Cloven- 

 Footed Douckers that have no Tails," the Grebes, and the " Whole- 

 Footed Douckers with Tails," the true Divers. The following is 

 Willughby's description ' of Douckers in general : ' " Douckers have 

 narrow, straight, sharp-pointed bills, small heads, and also small 

 wings ; their legs situate backwards, near the tail, for quick swim- 

 ming and easier diving ; broad flat legs, by which note they are dis- 

 tinguished from all other kinds of birds ; broad claws, like human 

 nails. Of these Douckers there are two kinds ; the first is of such as 

 are cloven-footed, but fin-toed, having lateral membranes all along the 

 sides of their toes, and that want the tail ; the second is of those that 

 are whole-footed and caudate, which do nearly approach to those 

 birds we call Tridactyla;, that want the back toe. These arc not 

 without good reason called ' Douckers,' for that they dive much, and 

 continue long under water, as soon as they are up dropping down 

 again." 



Ray, in his 'Synopsis/ arranges the Cloven- Footed and Whole- 

 Footed Colymbi, Grebes, and Divers, under his ' Palmipedes Tetra- 

 dactylas digito postico soluto, et primo rostro recto angusto acuto, 

 Brachyptera; et Urinatrices, Colymbi dicta;.' He also includes the 

 genus iferyulut. [AuK.] 



Linnaeus placed both the Divers, properly so called, and the Grebes 

 under his genus C'olymbiu, which ttanda in his system under the 

 order Amtra, between the genera Phatton (Tropic Birds), and Lara* 

 (Gulls). 



Pennant followed Brisson in separating the Grebes from the Divers. 

 The first he placed next to the Coots, and immediately before the 

 Avosets ; and the Divers between the Guillemots and the Gulls. 



Under the term ' Plongeurs, ou Brachypteres,' Cuvier arranges 

 those Palmipeda, " a part of which have some relation to the Water- 

 Hens. The legs placed more backward than in any of the other birds, 

 render walking a difficult operation, and oblige them, when on laud, 

 to keep themselves in a vertical position. As the greater part of them 

 are, besides, bad flyers, inasmuch as some of them cannot fly at all 

 on account of the shortness of their wings, they may be regarded as 

 almost exclusively attached to the surface of the waters. In accord- 

 ance with this destination their plumage is more close-set, and some- 

 times it even offers a smooth surface and silvery hue. They swim 

 under the water, aiding themselves with their wings, nearly as if they 

 were fins. Their gizzard is sufficiently muscular, their c<cca are 

 moderate, and they have each a peculiar muscle on each side of their 

 lower larynx." The following are the genera comprehended under 

 this family by Cuvier : the Grebes, Brisson (Podictpt, Latham ; 

 C'nlymbiu, Brisson and Illiger) ; the Divers (Plongeons), properly so 

 called (Ittrijun, Brisson ; Coh/mbue, Latham ; Eudytet, Illiger) ; the 

 Guillemots (Uria, Brisson and Illiger); the Auks (Pingouins), Alca 

 of Linnseus ; the Penguins (Manchots), Aptenodytei of Forster, con 

 listing of the sub-genera Aptenodyta, Cuvier ; Catarrhactet, Brissou ; 

 and Sphenitcui, Brisson. 



Tetnminck places the Grebes (Podieept) next to the Plialaropet, at 

 the end of his fourteenth order, the Pinnatipedei, or Fin-Footed 

 Birds ; and the Divers (Colymbut, Latham) between the Pelicans and 

 the Guillemots in his fifteenth order, the Palmipede*. 



Mr. Vigors makes his fifth order of birds (Natatores) comprise the 

 following families : 



Analidte, Leach. 

 Oolymbida, Leach. 



Alcadte, 

 Pelecanida, Leavh. 



Laridte, Leach. 

 Or, with reference to the typical groups 



Normal Group. 



With short wings, which are sparingly feathered, and "1 Colymbida. 

 with feet placed behind the equipoise of the body . . j Alcadae. 



M. Lesson, in his ' Manuel,' makes the Colymbidce (Plongeurs, ou 

 Brachypteres, Cuvier ; Urinatores, Vieillot) the first family of the 

 sixth order of birds, Les Palmipedes (Nafatores of Illiger and Vieillot) ; 

 and the family comprises the genera Podiceps, Latham ; Colymbwt 

 (part), Linnaeus ; and Cephus, Cuvier. 



The Prince of Canino places Podiceps under his order Anieres in 

 the family Lobipedes, and Colymbus under the same order in his family 

 Pygopodes. . . . 



In the ' Fauna Boreali-Americana,' Podiceps is placed at the head 

 of the order Natatores, and is immediately succeeded by Sterna (the 

 Terns) : the position of Colymbus is between Pelecanus and Uria,. 

 which last-mentioned genus concludes the order. 



Podiceps. Bill longer than the head, robust, slightly compressed or 

 nearly cylindrical, subulated, straight, entire, pointed ; upper m:xn- 

 dible straight, or hooked at the point ; nostrils oblong, half-closed. 

 Wings short, the first three quills of equal length and longest. Tail 

 none. Toes bordered with Iar r e fitubriatious ; hallux pinnated. 



Aberrant Group. 



With longer and well-feathered wings, and feet espe- I ' 

 dally placed within the equipoise of the body . . J ^^' (c 



Head and Foot of the male Eared Grebe; summer plumage. The head from 

 Mr. Gould's * British Birds ;' the foot from u specimen in the Museum of the 

 Zoological Society. 



The species of Podiceps are called Grebes. They haunt the sea as 

 well as the rivers, are excellent swimmers, and dive frequently, as all 

 who have watched the Dabchick or Little Grebe (Podiceps minor), 

 and have been amused by its quickly-repeated pluugings, well know. 

 They feed on small fishes, frogs, crustaceans, and insects, and their 

 nests, formed of a large quantity of grass, &c., are generally placed 

 among reeds and carices, and rise and fall with the water. 



The geographical distribution of this genus is very wide. Five 

 European species are enumerated, and the foreign species are very 

 numerous. The form seems capable of adaptation to great varieties of 

 climate. In the ' Tables ' published in the ' Introduction to Fauna 

 Boreali-Americana,' we find P. cornutus and P. Carolinensis among 

 the birds which merely winter in Penusylvania, and migrate in 

 summer to rear their young in the Fur Countries ; and P. crista- 

 tun, P. rubricollu, and P. cumulus in the list of species common to 

 the Old World and to the Fur Countries. Sabiue gives a description 

 of a mature individual of P. rubricollis killed at Great Slave Lake, 

 and of a specimen of P. Carolinensis killed at the same place, both in 

 Sir John Franklin's first expedition and in May 1822 ; and Sir John 

 Richardson notes P. crit'atus as having been killed on the Saskatche- 

 wan, and P. cornutiu at Great Slave Lake ('Fauna Boreali-Ainericaua '). 

 P. Chilean* and P. Amencanus are natives of the warm parts of 

 America ; the first, as its name implies, having been found in the Bay 



