File:Britain's birds and their nests (1910) (14568708769).jpg

Identifier: britainsbirdsthe00thom (find matches)
Title: Britain's birds and their nests
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Thomson, Arthur Landsborough, Sir, 1890- Thomson, J. Arthur (John Arthur), 1861-1933 Rankin, George
Subjects: Birds -- Great Britain Birds -- Nests
Publisher: London : W. & R. Chambers
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
Cormorants hasno longer a tenant. THE SHAG (Phalacrocorax graculus). The Shag is a smaller, less ungainly, and, on the whole,less common member of the Cormorant genus. Fromthe prevailing greenish tint in its dark plumage, and theupright tuft which both sexes have on the head in thebreeding season, it frequently receives the names Green *and Crested Cormorant, the adjectives black or greatbeing applied to its larger relative. It is found widelydistributed round all our coasts, but does not penetrateinland. As a breeding species, it is found in localitiessimilar to the maritime haunts of the Cormorant, whichit indeed outnumbers on the south-west of England, onthe west of Scotland, and On the western and northernScottish isles. It resembles the Cormorant in habits, ingeneral appearance, and in nesting aiTangements. Itsthree or four eggs resemble those of the Cormorant incolour, but are smaller. Partially or totally albinisticvarieties of both species, it may be remarked, are notunknown.
Text Appearing After Image:
Plate 5; PEREGRINE FALCON—Falco peirgrinus. Length, 15 in. ; wing, 12-5 in. (AcciPiTRES : Falconidce.) u 166 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 167 ORDER, ACCIPITRES (BIRDS-OF-PREY); Family, FALCONID^ (Falcons, &c.). THE PEREGRINE FALCON (Falco peregrinus).Plate 53. Dimly the features of the coastal moorland stand out,now vaguely visible, now obscured by a denser billow ofthe chill sea - fog that has for hours been stealingsilently over the land. We tread warily on our cliff-toppath, for we can hear the alternate splash and gurgle of alazy sea hidden three hundred feet below us. The cliff-edge air-currents are making endless sport with the fog-wreaths, and the fantastic, ever-changing forms keep ourattention towards the void. Suddenly a vague, dark formshoots rapidly upwards through the fog, reaches our level,poises the merest instant within the restricted limits of clearvision, resolving in the act into the shape of a strong, fiercebird. One swift glance, and it doubles with a de

Note About Images