158] A TOPOGRAPHICAL 



2. PRATENSIS The Tit Lark: Bill, spats on the head, breast, 

 and back black ; above greenish brown ; breast yellow, throat and 

 belly white, sides of the tail white. 



3. ARBOREA The Wood Lark: A white ring round the head; 

 crown, throat, and back, spotted with black ; breast tinged with 

 red; belly white; tail black edged with white. Sings in the night 

 soaring in the air, or in early morn. 



STURNUS VULGARIS The Stare or Starling : Bill yellow, depres- 

 sed, the base of the lower mandible furrowed on each side, a promi- 

 nent margin round the nostrils, tongue bifid, horny; irides hazel; 

 plumage black, tinged with green purple; tips of the feathers yel- 

 lowish, legs and feet reddish black. 



COLUMBA (ENAS The Common Pigeon : Plumage deep, bluish 

 ash colour, breast tinged with purple green, two black bars on the 

 wings, and one near the end of the tail, back whjte. All our tame 

 pigeons are varieties of this species. 



2. PALUMBUsTAe Ring Dove; Queest: Above bluish ash colour, 

 breast tinged with purple, belly dirty white, on the back of the 

 neck a semicircular white line; weight 20 ounces, length 18 inches. 

 In winter they congregate in vast flights, and feed on the shoots of 

 turnips ; in spring they separate in pairs, and seek remote places : 

 their nest is very slightly constructed of a few short sticks only. 



AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS. 



ORDER I. REPTILES. 



BUFO The Toad: Back broad, black, beset with tubercles, 

 belly swollen, yellow with black spots ; crawls : a loathsome crea- 

 ture. Many well-authenticated instances are recorded of toads 

 found in solid stones, and timber trees : they are supposed to have 

 crept in through an aperture, and growing, could not get out 

 again, and so are grown round, in trees by vegetation, and in 

 stones by petrifaction ; and in that dormant state require little or 

 no sustenance, having little or no stimulus to exhaust them : they 

 generally die upon the access of fresh air. 



2. TEMPERARIA The Frog : Less than the toad, back smooth, 

 margin of the upper jaw white; leaps: torpid in winter: in ponds and 



