A L C 



A L C 



and blue wings and tail ; and A. with a wliite collar. 

 This fpeeics inhabits the Society Iflands ; the third va- 

 riety is found in New Zealand ; and the fourth, in the 

 Philippine Iflands. It is nine and an half incheu long, and 

 reckoned facred by tlie inliabitants. 31. A. chlororephala, 

 grcen-headed K. of Latham, is green, with a white neck 

 and black collar, the wings and tail of a fea-green. The 

 bill, under part of the tail, and feet, arc blackifli. It is 

 nine inches long, and found in Bouro, one of the Molucca 

 iflands. 32. A.cienilca, white-collared K. of Latham, is 

 blue, rufous below, with white eye-brows and collar. It is 

 alnioft fcven inches long, and inhabits India.- 33. A. fufca, 

 great brown K. of Latliam, is crelled, olive-coloured, below 

 whitifh oblcurely (Iriated, with the temples and back of the 

 head dingy wliite ; the tail roundifli, of a rutty fulvous, croflcd 

 with black waves, and white at the end. Tlie upper mandible 

 is black ; the lower white, and black at the bafe ; tb.e female 

 has no creft. The crown of the female and the fides of the 

 chin and neck of both fexes blackifli brown; the collar of the 

 female white, and the back olive; that of the male, at its lower 

 part with the rump, pale fea-colour, withafpot of the fame 

 in the middle of the coverts of the wings; the tail-feathers of 

 the female greeniib-brown ; the exterior margin of thofe of 

 the male blue, but black within, and at their tip, fometimcs 

 white at the bafe, yellow feet, and black claws. This bird 

 is the largeft of the kind, its length being 18 inches, and in- 

 habits New Guinea. 34. A. ninxJma, great African K. of 

 Latham, is fub-crefted, lead-black colour, pointed with 

 white, with white throat, black neck, and fanguineous brcaft 

 and abdomen. The bill is black, with linear nollrils, and 

 the feet are very black. It is about the fize of a crow, and 

 inhabits Africa. 3). A. leiicocephala, white-headed K. of 

 Latham, is blue-green, with its head, neck, and under fur- 

 face white, and wing-quills brown. It is 12 inches long, 

 and inliabits Java. 36. A. Jla-vicaiis, is yellowilli below, 

 with the head and back green ; the bill red, and the tail 

 blue. It inhabits the ifland of Ceylon, where it is called 

 by tlie natives, ten-rou-joulon. This bird is peculiarly dex- 

 trous in catching its prey : when it fees the fifli in the river 

 it darts upon it and feizes it with its bill, tranfports it to its 

 iielt, fublifls a day or two upon the fpoil, and fpends the 

 whole time in finging. 37. A. Novte Guinea, New Guinea 

 K. of I^athani, is black fpotted with white. 38. K.JEgyp- 

 i'ta, .Egyptian K. of Latham, is brown, with ferruginous 

 fpots, and whitifli below with cinereous fpots. The bill is 

 blackifli ; the throat fen'uginous-white ; the upper coverts 

 of the tail wholly white ; the tail afliv, the feet greenifh, 

 and the claws blackifli. It is about the fize of a crow, 

 nefts in the fycamore and palm-trees, feeds on frogs, fifh, 

 and infetts, and is found in Egypt. HafTelqnill has parti- 

 cularly defcribed tliis bird. 39. A. grandh, great jaca- 

 mar of Latham, is copper-gold coloured, btlovv ferruginous, 

 with the head and limbs green-gold, and the feet fcanfor)'. 

 40. A. tfidadyla., three-toed K. of Latham, is rich and 

 brilliant in its phmiage ; the upper fide of the head and 

 back is of a deep lilac, the feathers of the wings are of a 

 dull indigo, heightened by a border of vivid and fliining 

 blue that furrounds each feather ; the under fide of the body 

 is white ; the bill and legs are reddifli. It is about four 

 inches long, and inhabits Surinam and India, and the iflands 

 of the Indian ocean : Sonnerat found it in the ifland of 

 Lu9on. 41. A. fcmicii7-uha, is (hort-tailed, with the hind 

 part of the back, the tail, and the middle of the wings 

 blue, the fhoulders black, the head and breaft cinereous, 

 and the belly ferruginous. The bill and feet are vermilion. 

 This bird is foiuid near Yemen in Arabia, and is about 3 

 fpanlong. Linnsus by Gmelin. Latham, Buffon, 

 Vol. L 



ALCEDO vocalis, a name by which Bellonius, Aldro- 

 vandus, and foine others have called the recd-fpanow.. Sec 

 the preceding article. 



ALCES, in Enlomolot^y, a fpeeics of Lucanus, with 

 exferted mandibles quadridentaled at the apex. It inhabits 

 Afia. 



Ai.CES, in Zoology, a fpeeics of Cervus. See Elk. 



ALCESTER, or Alncfstkr, in Geography^ an ancient 

 fmall town of England, in the county of Warwick, fituatcJ 

 at the union of the rivers Aln and Arrow ; tlic chief ma- 

 nufafture is needles, and the market-day Tuefday. It is 

 103 miles north-well of London, and near it is Ragley, a 

 noble feat of the Maiquis of Hertford. 



ALCHABITUS, in Biography, an Arabian aftrologer, 

 wrote an introduftion to the knowledge of the ccleflial in- 

 fluences, entitled, " Ifagogcad Magillerium Judiciorum Af- 

 trorum," " a Treatife on the Coiijunttion of the Planets," 

 and another " On Optics." His aflrological works were 

 tranflated by J. Hifpalenfis, and printed at Venice in 149 1» 

 with explanations by Joannes de Saxonia, and in IJ21 with 

 the corrediou of Antony De Fantis, pliylieian of Trcvife, 

 in Italy. It is not known at what time Alchabitus lived. 

 Gen. Dia. 



ALCHABUR, in Geograj^hy, a town of Afia, in Diar- 

 bekir, upon the Euphrates, in a very agreeable fituation, 

 louth-eatt of Aleppo and fouth-well of ^Iozul. It ferve* 

 as a relling-place for the caravans from BuiTora. N. lat. 34-'. 

 E. long. St 54'- 



Alch ABUR is alfo a river of Afia, in the fame province. 



ALCHAiVIARUM, a town of Arabia, fituated on a 

 high mountain, near the river Ormannus. The aceefs to it 

 is fo narrow and difficult, that two men can guard it. The 

 fumniit of the mountain is very fertile, aiid affords all ne- 

 cefiary fupplies to the inhabitants. This is the refidence of 

 an Arabian king. 



ALCHARISI, JuDAH, in Biography, a celebrated Jew 

 of the 1 2th century, vras reckoned at tiie period in wliiclx 

 he lived a great poet, and undertook to tranflate tlie com- 

 ments of Maimonides on the Mifhna, and his Moreh Ne- 

 vochim, at the requeft of the Marlilian doftoi-s, who did 

 not underftand Arabic. 



ALCHATA, in Ornithology, a fpecies of TetrAO. 



ALCHEMILLA, Ladiks' Mantle, in Botany, a 

 genus of the lelrandria monogynia clafs and order, of tha 

 natural oxAcr oi fenticofx, and rofacej' ai Juflieu. Its ciia» 

 rafters are, that the calyx is a one-leafed, tubulous, per« 

 manent perianthium, witii edge flat, divided into eight feg- 

 ments ; no corolla; theilamina have eredt, awl-fhaped, very 

 fmall filaments on the edge of the calyx, the anthsrs round- 

 ifli ; the piftillum has an ovate germ, flylc filiform, of the 

 length of the (lamina, inferted at the bafe of the germ, 

 lligma globular ; no pericarpium, the neck of the calys 

 clofing and never opening ; the feeds are folitary, elliptic and 

 comprefTed. There are four fpecies, fiz. I. A. vulgaris, 

 common ladies' mantle orbearsfoot, with leaves lobcd. This 

 fpecies is frequent in meadows and pallures in England. It 

 is peveHnial, and flowers in June and July. Horfes, flieep, 

 and goats eat it. Cows are faid not to be fond of it ; and 

 yet Haller, in his Iter Hclveticum, informs us, that the 

 aftonifliing lichnefs of the milk in the famous dairies of the 

 Alps, defcribed by Scheuchzer, is attributed altogether ta 

 the plenty of this plant, and that of the ribwort plantain. The 

 whole plant is allringent. In the province of Smolundia, 

 in Gothland, they make a tinfture of the leaves, and give 

 it in fpafmodic or convulfive difeafes. In an epidemic com- 

 plaint of this kind, which occurred in 1754, 'twas found 

 of great ufe. Before this period the infulion, tinfture, and 

 4 Ji cstraS 



