424 The Hiftory of A N I M A L S* 
and their afpedl bright and piercing: the beak is very large and long j it’s length is not 
lefs than three inches; it is not fo flatted, as in many of the Anas kind, but of a re¬ 
gularly femicylindric figure : the end is obtufe, and the whole verge is pectinated : 
the bafe is covered with a rugofe membrane, divided into two portions at the top the 
noftrils are large and black. 
The top of the head is black, and the large fpot of this colour, In that part fo 
different from the reft, has the appearance of a hat on the head of the bird: this large 
fpot is divided into two parts behind, and terminates in three points before; the 
feveral angles being directed toward the finus in the membrane which covers the 
bafe of the beak : the back is white, but the lower parts of the bread: and belly are 
black : the rump alfo is black, and fo are the long feathers of the wings, and thofe 
which cover the thighs: the tail is fhort, and all the feathers which compofe it are 
black: the hinder part of the head, clofe behind the fpot which forms the appear-* 
ance of a hat, is of a fine glofiy, changeable green : in feme the anterior part of the 
bread: is fimply white, in others, though all males, it has a tinge of reddifh, and this 
flefliy tinge varies extreamly in thofe which have it. 
The female is of a quite different appearance; her body is all over of the colour of 
that of a wood-cock, a dufky grey, with brown fpots, and fome black ones, and has 
a very remarkable and narrow line of white running acrofs the wings. 
We have this fpecies in plenty among us. It builds on our coafts among the rocks* 
and in the hollows and crannies of the cliffs, and lays a number of large and very 
well-tafted eggs. The nefts are fo often plundered for thefe, that one would almoft 
wonder at there remaining enough to continue the furprifing plenty of the fpecies, 
that we fee about the fame places the next feafon. The feathers of this fpecies are alfo 
fofter than thofe of almoft any other bird, and are greatly valued for fluffing of beds* 
and other fuch purpofes. Bartholine calls it Anas plumis molliffimis vulgo Eider ; 
Wormius, Willughby, and mod: of the other writers have continued to it the name of 
Anas plumis molliffimis; and our authors have alfo called it Anas fandti CuthbertI 
and Anas Farinenfis. The peafants, in fome part of the kingdom, where it builds in 
the mid ft of high cliffs, venture themfelves from the top with ropes about their middle, 
in a furprifing and frightful manner, for the fake of their eggs. 
Anas cauda cuneiformi forcipata, 3 Zljt 
"The Anas, with a forked, cuneiform tail f&ttt, OJ 
This is a very beautiful bird, but it is much fmaller than any of the preceding fpe¬ 
cies ; the fize is about that of our widgeon : the male and female of the Anas kind 
differ extreamly, but in few more than in this ; the male is fomewhat the larger : the 
head is large and round; the eyes are large; the beak is alfo large, in proportion to 
the fize of the bird : it is convex on the back of a femicylindric figure, and obtufe at 
the extremity j it’s general colour is black, but in the middle it is of a bright red : 
the noftrils are large and oblong ; the verge of both chaps is dentated, by means of a 
kind of patulous fquammffi : the fauces alfo are dentated, and the tongue is divided 
into three obtufe portions at it’s extremity : the two lateral ones are fmall, and the 
middle one large. 
The head and nepk are white, but there are two large black fpots on the head, one 
on each fide; the back is black; the breaft is alfo black, and the wings are, on their 
upper fide, black, without a fingle fpot of any other colour, and on the under-part 
they are uniformly grey: the tail is of a cuneiform figure, and is black on the upper 
fide, and white underneath : the feathers which compofe the tail are fixteen in num¬ 
ber, and their proportions, as well as number and arrangement, are different from thofe 
of any other fpecies: the two middle ones are confiderably longer than any of the 
others, and run out into flender and fharp points; ’tis from this Angularity that the bird 
has obtained the name of the Sea-pheafant. 
The 
