NEW DICTIONARY 
GF 
NATURAL HISTORY; 
O R, 
COMPLEAT UNIVERSAL DISPLAY 
OF 
ANIMATED NATURE. 
A. 
ABE 
ABACATUAIA. An American fifh, in 
fhape, fize, and figure, refembling the 
common plaife 5 or, rather, the European 
doree, or faber. It's mouth is fmall, and deftitute 
of teeth ; and the eyes have each a black pupil, 
with a fine filvery iris. It is furnjfhed with five fins: 
one of which is dorfal, and another abdominal, 
each running to the tail ; there are two at the gills ; 
and the tail, which is confiderably forked, makes 
the fifth. This fifh, which is commonly caught on 
the fhores of the Brazils, is efteemed wholefome 
food. Artedi makes it a fpecies of the zeus; and 
Linnaeus the zeus gallus, belonging to the tho- 
racic order of fifhes. 
ABAC AY. One of the numerous fpecies of par- 
rots found in the Philippine iflands, called alfo by 
the natives calangay. 
ABDOMINAL. FISH. A diflinft order in the 
IJnnjEan fyflem, diftinguifhed by having the ven- 
tral fins placed behind the pe6loral in the abdomen ; 
and comprehending feventeen genera, and an hun- 
dred and twcnty-feven fpecies. 
ABERDAVINE. The name ufually given in 
London to the iiflcin, where it is fold as a fong- 
bird, and fomctimes at a very confiderable price. 
The crown of the male is black, the neck and back 
are green, except the fhafts on the latter, which are 
black ; the rump, throat, and breaft, are of a green- 
ifh3 e]low; "the belly is white; the vent feathers are 
yellowifh, and marked with central oblong duflcy 
Ipots; the pinion quill is of a duflcy hue, edged 
with green ; and the exterior webs of the nine fuc- 
ceeding quill-feathers are green, which colour 
widens by degrees on every feather, till it occupies 
half the length: from the tenth feather nearly the 
lower half of each feather is yellow, and the upper 
black; the exterior coverts of the wings, and the 
two middle feathers of the tail, are black; the reft 
of the tail above half-way up is of a delightful yel- 
low, tipped with black. 
The female is diftinguifhed by the palenefs of 
her colours, and by her tliroat and fides being. 
A C A 
white fpotted with brown ; and her head and back 
are of a greenifh afh-colour, alfo fpotted with brown. 
In Suffex the Aberdavine obtains the name of 
the barley-bird, becaufe it ufually vifits that coun- 
ty about the barley feed-time ; though the feafons 
at which it arrives in England are very uncertain. It 
is a bird of pafTage, and fuppofed to come from 
Ruffia and Germany. In the woods on the banks 
of the Danube, we are informed by Kramer that it 
forms it's neft" with fuch amazing fecurity, that 
though there are an infinite number of young birds 
to be feen, no one could ever difcover a neft. 
ABLET, or ALBLEN. A name given by 
fomenaturaliftsto the common bleak, a fmall frefh- 
water fifh, called in Latin alburnus, and which ap- 
pears to be tnily and properly a fpecies of the cypri- 
nus. Artedi diftinguifhes it by the name of the five- 
inch cyprinus with twenty rays in the pinna ani. 
ACACALOTL. An American bird, by fome 
called the corvus aquaticus, or water- raven. The 
male of this fpecies meafures four fpans from it's 
beak to the tip of it's tail ; and it's legs are a fpan 
and a half long. The beak is about fix inches 
long, of a blue colour, and incurvated like a bow. 
The head is fmall ; the breaft and belly are of a va- 
riegated red and brown colour; and the back is 
beautifully intermixed with a vivid purple, black, 
and green. The wings are of a delightful green, 
which looks very bright and gloffy in the fiin. 
This elegant bird is a native of Mexico, and fre- 
quents the rivers and lakes, where it feeds on fifh. 
It is moderately flefhy, but coarfe, and of a rank 
fifhy tafte, though not reckoned unwholefome. 
ACANTHI AS. A name ufually given to the 
fifli whofe fl<in is ufed in polifhing by cabinet- 
makers and other artificers, and by them called 
fimply fifli-fkin. See Galeus. 
ACANTHOPTERYGII. A diftinft order of 
fifhes ; whole general chara6leriftic is, that the 
rays of the fins are bony, and fome of them prickly 
at their extremities. Under this clafs are compre- 
hended the feventeen following genera: gafterefte- 
