i 7 8 , 0%?NilTHOLOgr. Book II. 



This is the Bird which Bellonius call the Attagen, as we faid before in the Chapter 

 of the Attagen of Aldrovandus, and takes that Bird which the Savoyards call, the 

 •white Partridge, and Pliny, Lagopus, to be a variety of this 5 for it is all ovar white, and 

 hath the Legs covered with feathers ( though finer ) like the Attagen : The Italians 

 alio call both kinds Francolino. And indeed the colour and bignefs excepted, the 

 Red Game differs little from the Lagopus. The figure of the Bill and whole body is 

 the fame.in both : The Feet alike feathered to the very Claws : So that Mr. Willughby 

 aHo, together with Bellonius, did fometimesfufped that they differed rather acciden- 

 tally than Ipecifically. But to me fo great difference of colour and bignefs do neceffa- 

 rily infer adiverfity of kind. The flefti of thefe, and the reft of this Tribe, doth 

 Suddenly corrupt, and therefore the Fowlers,fo foon as ever they take them,prefent- 

 ly exenterate them, and fluff the Cavity of the Belly with green Ling. 



§. VIII. 



* Bellonim his Damafcus Partridge, which Aldrovand fuppofes to he the ether 



Lagopus of Pliny. 



THere are ( faith he ) no wild Birds at Damafcus more notable than the Partridges 

 of that Country. They are lets than the red or alh-coloured. In the colour 

 of the Back and Neck they refemble a Woodcock • But their Wings are of a different 

 colour. For where they are joyned to the body they are covered with white, 

 dusky, and fulvous feathers : Ten of the prime feathers are cinereous. The inner 

 fide of the Wings and the Belly are white. It hath a collar-like mark on its Breaft, 

 * The Ring like the* Merula torquata, confiding of red, fulvous, and yellow colours : Elfe in the 

 colour of the lower part of the Head and Neck, in the Bill and Eyes it is like a Par- 

 tridge, and hath a ftiort Tail. We had ranked it with the Water Rail, or Woodcock?? 

 Plover, but that its Legs were feathered, like the Savoyard white Partridges ( which 

 is the Lagopus ) or a rough-footed Doves. This, if rightly defcribcd, is a kind of La- 

 gopusox Heath toc\, which we have not yetfeenj and the leaft of that kind that we 

 have yetfeen or heard of 



Chap. XIII. 



Birds of th foukr^kind that want the back-toe. 



* 



f I. 

 The Buftard, Otis feu Tarda avis. 



T is for bignefs nothing inferiour to a Turkey. Its length meafuring from the be- 

 ginning of the Bill to the end of the Tail was fixty inches. Its breadth, or di- 

 ftance between the tips of the Wings fpread two yards and an half. Its Bill like 

 a Hens, the upper Chap being fomething crooked. The Head and Neck are aih-co- 

 loured} the Belly white: The Back variegated with red and black tranfverfe lines. 

 It wants the back-toe, which is especially remarkable: For by this note alone and its 

 bignefs, it is furficiently diftinguiftied from all other Birds of this kind. It feeds up- 

 on Corn, Seeds of Herbs, Colewort, Dandelion leaves, &c. In the Stomach of one 

 differed we found a great quantity of HemlockSeed, with three or four grains of Bar- 

 ley, and that in Harveft time. On New-market and Royjion Heaths in Cambridgefiire 

 and Suffolk^ and elfewhere in Wafts and Plains,. they are found with us. 



They are of flow flight, and when they are lighted can hardly raife themfelves 

 from the earth, by realon of the bulk and weight of their bodies, from whence 

 without doubt they got the Latine name Tarda. They are called by the Scots Gufiar- 

 d£, 7k%HeBor Boethius witnefleth in thefe words: In March, a Province of Scotland, 

 are Birds bred, called in the Vulgar DialeU Guftardes, the colour cfwhofe feathers and 

 their flefj is not unlike the Partridges, but the bulktf their body exceeds the Swans v 



Some fay, one may catch them with ones hands before they can compofe themfelves 

 to fly 5 but thisisamiftake, for though (as we faid before) it be long ere they can 

 raife themfelves from the earth, yet are they very timorous and circumipecl:, and 



will 



