BOONK. 
49 
peculiar habits, and the place of its nidification is still a matter of 
doubt, although it is said to breed in the more northern parts, where 
it is supposed to build in the holes of rocks. A fine specimen is 
said to have been shot near Coventry, in December last, where it 
appeared to associate with the starlings, and not less than twenty 
have been killed in the counties of Suffolk and Norfolk, during the last 
three winters. * 
BOHEMIAN CHATTERER. — A name for the Bohemian Wax 
Wing. 
BOMBYCIVORA (Temminck.) — * Wax Wing, a genus thus cha- 
racterised. Bill strong, short, and strait ; the upper mandible slightly 
bent at the tip, and notched ; nostrils, at the base, of an oval shape and 
open, concealed by closely set feathers directed forwards ; wings long, the 
first and second quill feathers feeing the longest ; secondary quills having 
their tips ornamented with a wax-like appendage ; legs with three toes 
before, and one behind, the outer toe joined at its base to the middle 
one ; shank shorter than the middle toe. 
This genus has been established by Temminck, who has very judi- 
ciously removed it from the genus Ampelis, (Chatterer), where it 
was left by Linnseus and Latham ; but which possess distinct and 
peculiar characters, and belong to a different order.* 
BONES OF BIRDS. — *Are nearly all hollow, and communicating 
with the lungs, are thence filled with air, so as to render them more 
buoyant for flight. The breast bone (^Sternimi) extends much lower than 
in quadrupeds, and is distinguished by a ridge like the keel of a ship, 
exce|)t in the ostrich, &c., which do not fly. The bones of the wings 
are similar to the fore legs of quadrupeds.* 
BONXIE. — A name for the Skua. 
BOONK {Ardea minuta, LiNNiEUS.) 
GmeL Syst. 2. p. 646. — Ind. Orn. 2. p. 683. 27.. — Echo. t. 275 Ardea danubi- 
alis, GmeL — Little Bittern, Br. Zool. App. p- 537. t. 8, — Arct. Zool.2.No. 359. 
— Lath. Syn. 5. p. 65. 27. — Ib. Supp. p. 235. — Leivin’s Br. Birds, 4. t. 147. — 
• Wale. Syn, 2. t. 128. — Mont. Orn. Diet. & Supp. — Don. Br. Birds, 3. t. 54. — 
Pult. Cat. Dorset, p. 14.-— Bewick's Br. Birds, 2. p. 511. — Tlufous and Rayed 
Bittern, Lath. Syn Le Blongois, Buff. 7. p. 395 Ardeola naevia, Briss. 5. 
p. 500. 47. t. 40. fig. 2. — Ib. 8vo. 2. p. 342. — Botaurus rufus, Briss. 
Provincial. — Long-neck. 
This beautiful species is scarce larger than a fieldfare in the body. 
The length, to the end of the tail, is fifteen inches ; the lull two 
inches long', dusky at the point, yellow on the sides ; the top of the 
’ Mag. Nat, Hist. iv. p. 165 
E 
