148] A TOPOGRAPHICAL 



under yellow, wings dark green, spotted with blue ; scapulars and 

 coverts of the tail bright azure, beneath orange, tail deep blue, feet 

 orange ; weight If oz. length 7 inches. It skims along our rivers 

 and brooks, and devours small fish. 



CUCULUS CANORUS The Cuckoo: Bill roundish, and curved a 

 little ; nostrils circular, with a raised margin, tongue entire, 

 two fore, and two hind claws ; above ash colour, beneath white, 

 waved with transverse black lines, tail rounded and spotted with 

 white; weight five ounces, length 14 inches: migrates. Zoolo- 

 gists have in all languages assigned to this harbinger of nature's 

 fairest season, a name expressive of its singular note. Cuckoos 

 were known in Greece in the time of the poet Hesiod. These 

 birds are observed to rest twice annually on Malta, at times which 

 prove them to be on their migration to and from Europe. In 

 Staffordshire, a vulgar error prevails, that cuckoos feed entirely 

 on the eggs of other birds; but this is disproved by anatomists, 

 who have found in their stomachs worms and insects. 



SITTA EUROPE The Nut Hatch or Wood Cracker: Upper 

 mandible black, lower white, crown black, black stroke across the 

 eyes, cheeks and chin white, coverts of the wings bluish ash co- 

 lour, beneath dull orange, legs pale yellow, twelve feathers in the 

 tail; weight one ounce, length six inches : rare, but found in Earl 

 Bradford's woods, at Weston. 



CERTHIA FAMILIARIS The Creeper: Bill arched, slender, and 

 somewhat angular, tongue sharp, above brown, streaked with black, 

 quills tipped with white, beneath white, tail of twelve long fea- 

 thers ; weight five drams, length 5| inches. 



ORDER III. ANSERES. 



ANAS ANSER The Grey Lag Goose: Weighs lOlb. length two 

 feet nine inches, extent five feet, bill pale yellow, general colour 

 grey, legs flesh colour. Origin of the domestic goose : originally 

 from the fens. Other varieties are sometimes met with, as the Anas 

 Canadensis, shot at Shenstone. The French Goose, kept about 

 Amerton near Chartley, called, from the blackness of its bill, 

 Anser Guineensis, and Swan, are met with near Rugeley, with 

 legs flesh-coloured, like those of a goose, and may be termed 

 Anser Cygnoides. 



2. BOSCHAS The Mallard or Wild Duck : Bill green yellow, 

 tail of 24 feathers, four middle ones black. Origin of the tame 

 duck. Found in vast numbers on Aqualate-mere,Chillington-pool,&c. 



