[ *37 ] 
fpume itfelf. After this character given of the om- 
nivorous cepphus, it is fomething extraordinary, that 
Valerianus fhould refufe ranging it in the clafs of 
lari, bccaufe it was not fufficiently voracious. 
Another reafon, why this bird may be fuppofed to 
be the true cepphus, is the fimple manner, in which 
it was taken. In a field adjoining to Oxford, called 
the Parks, was fome radifh, or fome fuch fort of 
feed, covered with old nets, to keep off the final! 
* birds. In thefe nets was the bird entangled, and 
taken. Its being io far in land was pofiibly occa- 
iioned by the late fiormy weather. 
A Defcription of Aldrovandus’s Cepphus. 
It weighed eleven ounces. Its meafure was, from 
the tip of the bill to the end of the tail, i 5 inches. 
From the tip of one wing to the tip of the other, 
when extended, 39 inches. Round the body, where 
the wings are fet on, 1 1 inches. Round the body, 
where the legs are fet on, 8 inches and an half. 
From the angle of the mouth to the point of the 
beak, an inch and three quarters. 
The anterior par t of the upper mandible is of a lead 
colour, and rough, refembling horn in appearance. 
The point of the bill is black, crooked at the end, 
imooth, and of a harder iubftance than the other 
part. The inferior mandible is, in its anterior part, 
of >a lead colour, the point black, but all fmooth. 
Where the two tides of the lower chap meet in an 
.acute angle underneath, is a final! prominence, or 
knob. Its nofiril extends almofi the length of the 
beak, the aperture being widefi towards die point j 
■as it approaches the head, it is almofi; clofed up 
Vol. LII. T 
Its 
