THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



3 



NOTES, CAPTURES, &C, 



It might be interesting to some of the read- 

 ers of the " Young Naturalist " to hear that 

 on the nth of last month, whilst out shoot- 

 ing in a clover field near here, I captured a 

 very fair specimen of the Crimson Speckled 

 Moth (Dciopeia pukhtlla ). — E. Du Buisson, 

 Breinton Court, Nr. Hereford, Oct. 23, 18S0. 



EXCHANGE. 



I have between 300 and 400 duplicate 

 Lepidoptera, and will endeavour to help any 

 beginners who like to send boxes with a 

 marked list and return postage. — R. J. Attyb, 

 c'o. Rev. F. Vernon, Storrington, Sussex. 



BRITISH BIRDS ; THEIR 

 NESTS AND EGGS. 



By S. L. MOSLEY. 



DESCRIPTION OF PARTS. 

 Birds are so well known that it need not 

 be feared that any person will mistake any 

 other animal for a bird, or a bird for any 

 other animal, but there are certain parts of a 

 bird which are known by technical terms 

 which would be unintelligible to the general 

 reader if not explained. The beak is com- 

 posed of two parts, called the upper and 

 lower mandibles, the upper one being fre- 

 quently, especially in the birds of prey, 

 clothed at the base with a soft leathery sub- 

 stance called the cere, in which the nostrils 

 are placed. In giving the color of eyes the 

 iris is always intended being the colored 

 portion, which surrounds the black central 

 pupil. The wing bone is composed of three 

 parts, joined together ; the first, or tip joint, 

 carries the large pinion feathers, usually ten 

 in number, and called the primaries. The 

 second joint carries a series of shorter and 



softer feathers, called the secondaries, which 

 vary in different species. Between these and 

 the body is a group of feathers which varies 

 greatly in size in different species, called the 

 tcrtiaries. The primaries and secondaries are 

 covered at the base by, first the greater wing 

 I covets, and then by the lesser wing covets, the 

 latter being laid in regular scale-like fashion 

 along the bones of the wing. Under the 

 wing is a series of feathers called the under 

 wing covets. At the tip of the wing is a kind 

 of small thumb, or finger, usually called the 

 spurious wing, and has a few stiff feathers, 

 probably to protect the bases of the large 

 quill feathers. The tail is generally com- 

 posed of twelve feathers, the base being 

 clothed above and below by the upper and 

 under-tail covets. The legs will be described 

 as thigh (above the knee), tarsus (below the 

 knee), toes, and claws, the latter being the 

 horny appendages at the extremities of the 

 toes, and generally called talons in birds of 

 prey. By the above explanations it is hoped 

 the reader will be able to understand the few 

 technicalities that will be made use of during 

 the progress of this work. 



Birds were divided by the late Mr. Yarrell 

 into five great orders, according to their 

 different modes of life, and as these Orders 

 seem to be natural divisions they will be 

 taken as the ground-work of our classifica- 

 tion. They are as follows : — 



I. Raptores Birds of prey. 



II. Ixsessores Perchers. 



III. Rasores Scratchers. 



IV. Gallatores ...Waders. 

 V. Natatores Swimmers. 



Each of these Orders are again sub- 

 divided into families, the families into genera, 

 and the genera into species. The characters 

 *of these will be described in turn during the 

 progress of the work, 



(Met I — Raptores 



Raptores, Raptor (Lat.), robber. From 

 their habit of preying upon other animals, 



