Handbook to The Birds of Australia, Volume 2; Volume 6author, 1865 - Birds |
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Handbook to the Birds of Australia, Vol. 2 of 2 (Classic Reprint) Emeritus Professor John Gould, (So,John Gould No preview available - 2016 |
Common terms and phrases
abdomen Aborigines abundant appearance band banksii bill bill black Birds of Australia blackish brown blue bluish Bonap breast breeding brownish black buff Calyptorhynchus centre chest coast Colonists colour Compt crown dark brown deep differ eggs feathers female flanks flocks frequently G. R. Gray genus Gould in Proc green greenish grey greyish ground habits head horn-colour Horsf inches inhabits inner webs irides islands Kakapo l'Acad Lath legs and feet Licmetis light Linn List of Birds male mandible margined mark natives neck nest outer webs pale Parrakeet Petrels Platycercus plumage Port Essington primaries Procellaria procured Psitt Psittacus reddish rump scapularies scarlet seen sexes sides South Australia South Wales species specimens spot Swan River Syst tail tail-feathers tarsi Tasmania Temm throat Total length trees upper surface upper tail-coverts Western Australia wing wing-coverts yellow yellowish Zealand Zool
Popular passages
Page 446 - There was a stream of from fifty to eighty yards in depth, and of three hundred yards or more in breadth ; the birds were not scattered, but were flying as compactly as a free movement of their wings seemed to allow ; and during a full hour and a half this stream of Petrels continued to pass without interruption, at a rate little inferior to the swiftness of the Pigeon. On the lowest computation I think the number could not have been less than a hundred millions.
Page 408 - ... anything to equal the ease and grace of this bird as he sweeps past, often within a few yards — every part of his body perfectly motionless except the head and eye, which turn slowly and seem to take notice of everything.
Page 163 - The Jungle-fowl is almost exclusively confined to the dense thickets immediately adjacent to the sea-beach : it appears never to go far inland, except along the banks of creeks. It is always met with in pairs or quite solitary, and feeds on the ground, its food consisting of roots which its powerful claws enable it to scratch up with the utmost facility, and also of seeds, berries, and insects, particularly the larger species of Coleoptera.
Page 142 - ... it varies in size from two to four cart-loads, and is of a perfectly pyramidal form. The construction of the mound is not the work of one pair of birds, but is effected by the united labours of several : the same site appears...
Page 321 - MEEWA. 709 from one end of the lake to the other, a distance of half or three-quarters of a mile ; but generally they merely rise above the surface of the water and fly off for about a hundred yards. During flight their long legs are thrown out horizontally to their full length. • While feeding, they utter a slowly repeated ' cluck, cluck.' The stomach is extremely muscular, and the food consists of aquatic insects and some kind of vegetable matter.
Page 543 - Shaw in its smaller size, its darker and more rufous colour, its longer tarsus which is scutulated in front, its shorter toes and claws, which are dark horn-coloured, its smaller wings, which have much stronger and thicker quills, and also in having long straggling hairs on the face.
Page 160 - The birds are said to lay but a single egg in each hole, and after the egg is deposited the earth is immediately thrown down lightly until the hole is filled up ; the upper part of the mound is then smoothed and rounded over. It is easily known...
Page 159 - ... seemed to be the result of an innate restless disposition and a desire to use its powerful feet, and to have but little...
Page 142 - Some of the natives state that the females are constantly in the neighbourhood of the heap about the time the young are likely to be hatched, and frequently uncover and cover them up again, apparently for the purpose of assisting those that may have appeared ; while others have informed me that the eggs are merely deposited, and the young allowed to force their way unassisted.
Page 401 - May, 1832, I was surprised to see that many of them were repairing and augmenting nests that had remained through the winter, while others were employed in constructing new ones, and some were already sitting on their eggs. In a great many instances the repaired nests formed masses nearly two feet in height, and yet all of them had only a slight hollow for the eggs, broken shells of which were found among the entire ones, as if they had been purposely placed there.