BIRDS. 35] 



live upon animals of one kind or another. The long-billed birds 

 suck up worms and insects from the bottom ; those furnished 

 with shorter bills, pick up such insects as lie nearer the surface 

 of the meadow, or among the sands on the sea-shore. 



*. 

 ed when the wings are extended, are of the same snowy whiteness as the 

 back. The feathers which cover the upper part of the thighs, and tliose near 

 them, are blushed witli a reddish or -vinous colour : the legs are of a deep 

 orange red, and measure, from the end of the middle toe-nail to the upper 

 hare part of the thigh, five inches and a half. 



The Green Sayiripiper.—Tlus bird measures about ten inches in length, to 

 the end of the toes nearly twelve, and weighs about three ounces and a half. 

 The bill is black, and an inch and a half long : a pale streak extends from it 

 over each eye ; between which, and the corners of the mouth, there is a 

 dusky patch. The crown of the head, and the hinder part of the neck, are 

 of a dingy, brownish ash-colour ; in some specimens narrowly streaked with 

 white. The throat is white ; fore-part of the neck mottled or streaked with 

 brown spots on a white or pale ash-coloured ground. The whole upper 

 part of the plumage is of a glossy bronze, or olive brown, elegantly maiked 

 on the edge of each featlier with small roundish white spots • the quills are 

 without spots, and are of a darker brown : the secondaries and tertials are 

 very long : the insides of the wings are dusky, edged with white gray ; and 

 the inside coverts next the body are curiously barred, from the shaft of each 

 feather to the edge, with narrow white lines, formed nearly of the shape of 

 two sides of a triangle. The belly, vent, tail coverts, and tail, are white ; 

 the last broadly barred with black, the middle feathers having four bars, 

 and those next to them decreasing in the number of bars towards the out- 

 Bide feathers, which are quite plain : the legs are green. 



The Danli7i.—Tb\s is the size of a jack-snipe. The upper parts of the 

 plumage is ferruginous, marked with lari;e spots of black and a little white ; 

 the lower parts are white, with dusky streaks. It is found in all the nor- 

 thern parts of Europe. 



The Lapwing or Peewit.— "Ds^s bird is about the size of a common pigeon, 

 and is covered with very thick plumes, which are black at the roots, but ot 

 a diflerent coluur on the outward part. The feathers on tlie belly, thighs, 

 and under the wings, are most of them white as snow ; and tlie under part 

 on the outside of the wings white, but black lower. It has a great liver, 

 divided into two piu-ts ; and, as some authors alVirni, no gall. Lapwings are 

 found in most parts of Europe, as far northward as Iceland. In the wintei 

 tliey are met with in Persia and EgJ'pt- 'I'heir chief food is worms ; and 

 sometimes they may be seen in flocks nearly covering the low marshy 

 grounds in search of these, which they draw with great dexterity from tlieir 

 holes. When the bird meets with one of these little clusters of pellets, 

 or rolls of earth that are thrown out by the worm's perforations, it first 

 gently removes the mud from the mouth of X\w hole, then strikes the ground 

 at the side with its foot, an<l steadily and attentively waits the issue ; the 

 reptile, alarmed by the shock, emerges from its retreat, and is instantly 

 seized. These birds make a great noise with their wings when flying ; and 

 are called pee.witJt, in Si-otland and the north of t-ngland, from their parti- 

 cular crv. In other parts of the island, they are called greou plovers. I'hey 



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