230 INDEX. 



Bull's-eye, name given by sailors to a terrible hurricane; 

 described, i. 306. 



Bunting, bird of the sparrow kind, iv. 256. 



Burnet, his theory of the earth ; a detail of that work, i. 18. 



Bustard, the largest land-bird that is a native of Britain ; inha- 

 bits the open and extensive plain ; is much larger than the 

 turkey, the male generally weighing from twenty-five to 

 twenty-seven pounds; its description; its food; places 

 where frequently seen in flocks of fifty or more ; they have 

 always sentinels placed at proper eminences, ever on the 

 watch to warn the flock of the appearance of danger : are 

 often run down by greyhounds : in what manner : seldom 

 wander above twenty or thirty miles from home : the males 

 have a pouch, holding near seven quarts of water : they 

 change their mates at the season of incubation, about the 

 latter end of summer : separate in pairs, if there be a suffi- 

 ciency of females for the males ; otherwise the males fight 

 until one of them falls : in France, some of those victims of 

 gallantry found dead in the fields : their nests : they lay two 

 eggs, almost the size of a goose-egg : hatch for about five 

 weeks : the young run about as soon as out of the shell : 

 they assemble in flocks in October, and keep together till 

 April : their food in winter : in parts of Switzerland they 

 are found frozen in the fields in severe weather: when 

 taken to a warm place, they again recover: usually live 

 fifteen years, and are incapable of being propagated in a 

 domestic state, iv. 156. 



Butcher-bird, its description, with its habits : leads a life of 

 continual combat : intrepidity of this little creature, in 

 going to war with the pie, the crow, and the kestril, all 

 above four times bigger than itself: it fights upon the de- 

 fensive, and often comes to the attack with advantage, par- 

 ticularly when the male and female unite to protect their 

 young, and to drive away the more powerful birds of rapine : 

 in what manner they sally forth against them : some- 

 times the combat ends with the destruction of the assailant, 

 and also of the defender; the most redoubtable birds 

 of prey respect them, and they fly in their company with- 

 out fearing their power, or avoiding their resentment i small 

 birds are its usual food ; and when it has killed the bird or 

 insect, as asserted by the best authority, it fixes them upon 

 some neighbouring thorn, and when thus spitted, pulls them 

 to pieces with its bill : the smaller red butcher-bird migrates : 

 the places where they are to be found: their nests, and the 

 number of their eggs : the female feeds her young with 

 caterpillars and other insects, but soon after accustoms 

 them to flesh, procured by the male with great industry : 

 their nature very different from other birds of prey in their 

 parental care ; for, instead of driving out their young from 



