Book III. 2? "$£ lTHOLOC/T. \ 347 



This Bird is eafily known and diftinguifhed from all others of this kind, that we have 

 hitherto obferved by its wanting the back-toe. It is common on our Sea-coafts. 



The Pewit or Blackcaps called in fome places, The Sea-Grow and Mire-Crow : Lams 



cinereus, Ornithologi * Aldrov. Alfo the Lams cinereus jtertius, Aldrov. * Tom. 5 , 



The Cepphus of Timer and Gejhcr. V*&<%3> 



T is about the bignefs of a tame Pigeon. That which we defcribed weighed about 

 ten ounces: Its length from tip of Bill to end of Tail was fifteen inches: Its breadth 

 'thirty feven. Its Bill was of a fanguine colour, bending fomething downwards, from 

 the point to the angles of the Mouth two inches long. The Palate was of a red-lead 

 colour : The Eyes hazel-coloured , The edges of the Eye- lids red : Both upper and 

 lower Eye-lids towards the hind-part of the Head were compafled with white fea- 

 thers. The Head and Throat were black, but dilute. The middle of the Back afti- 

 coloured : The Neck, Tail, Breaft, and Belly white : The number of quil-feathers in 

 each Wing twenty nine : The tip and extreme edges of the firft were white, the reft 

 of the feather black 5 the following feathers to the tenth had black tips, yet with 

 fome diverfity in feveral birds 5 elfe the whole Wings were afti-coloured. The 

 Tail all fnow- white, of about five inches length, not forked, confiding of twelve 

 feathers. The Wings gathered up reach beyond the end of the Tail. The Legs were 

 of a dark fanguine colour : The back-toe fmall : The Claws little, and black. The 

 Males differ little from the Females in colour or outward appearance. Near Grave]- 

 end a huge number of thefe birds frequent the River Thames. 



We faw and defcribed at Chefier a Bird of this kind, which there they called the 

 Sea-Crow, which differed from the precedent in fome accidents of lefs moment, w'*.The 

 crown or top of its Head only was black, not its Throat. Each Wing had twenty 

 eight quil-feathers, the outmoft of which had its tip and exteriour edge black 5 the 

 three next in order had their outer Webs white, their tips and interiour edges black, 

 the three fucceeding had only their tips black. [ The third, fourth, and fifth, and in 

 fome alfo the fecond feathers have a fpot of white on their tips. ] Of this kind alfo 

 are thofe birds which yearly build and breed at Norbury'm Stajfordjlrirc, in an Ifland in 

 the middle of a great Pool, in the Grounds of Mr. SkrimJIiew, diftant at leaft thirty 

 miles from the Sea. About the beginning of March hither .they come 5 about theen<J 

 of April they build. They lay three, four, or five Eggs, of a dirty green colour, 

 fpotted with dark brown, two inches long, of an ounce and half weight, blunter at 

 one end. The firft Down of the Young is afti-coloured, and fpotted with black: 

 The fir ft feathers on the Back after they are fled g dare black. "When the Young are 

 almoft come to their full growth, thofe entrufted by the Lord of the foil drive them 

 from off the Ifland through* the Pool into Nets fet on the banks to take them. When 

 they have taken them they feed them with the entrails of beafts, and when they are 

 fat fell them for four pence or five pence apiece. They take yearly about a thoufand 

 two hundred young ones : Whence may be computed what profit the Lord makes of 

 them. About the end of July they all flyaway and leave the Ifland. 



Some fay, that the crowns of thofe Birds are black only in Spring and Summer. A 

 certain friend of mine (faith Aldrovand ) did fometime write to me from Conzachio, 

 that the feathers on their Heads grow black in March, and that that.blacknefs con- 

 tinues for three months, m%. folong as they are breeding and rearing their Young, 

 and that the other nine months of the year they are white. Which thing if it be true 

 (for to me indeed it feems not probable) no wonder that of one and the fame Species 

 of Bird defcribed at feveral times of the year there {hould be three or four made. Al- 

 drovandus writes, that the defcription o£Gefner agrees in other things to his afti-co- 

 loured Ga#,difagreeing only in thecolour of its Bill and Feet. But perhaps (faith he) 

 the colour of the Bill and Feet may vary in birds of the famefpecies, which I will 

 not eafily grant, unlefs they differ in Age or Sex. 



Yy 2 §.VIL 



