The architecture of birds / [Anon].

  • Rennie, James, 1787-1867.
Date:
[1831]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The architecture of birds / [Anon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ‘he other is sure not to be far distant; and the one may often be seen flying low and beating the bushes, while the other floats high in air, in order to pounce upon the frightened prey.”* These accounts agree with the description in the book of Job, which is throughout rich in natural history. ‘Doth the eagle mount up at thy com- mand and make her nest on high? She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place. From thence she seeketh her prey, and her eyes behold afar off.’ We may remark, in passing, that the descriptions of the golden eagle given by systematic authors correspond but little with the name. Willughby says, that, ‘the small feathers of the whole body are a dark ferruginous or chestnut;’ Linneus, that ‘ the ‘body is variegated with, brown and rusty;’ Latham, that the ‘ head and neck are deep brown, the feathers bordered with tawny, hind-head bright rust colour, body dark brown;’ Bewick, that ‘the general colour is deep brown, mixed with tawny on the head and neck;’? Fleming, that ‘the acuminated feathers on the head and neck are bright rust colour, the rest of the plumage dusky brown;’ Baron Cuvier, that it is “more or less brown;’ Temminck, that ‘the young at the age of one or two years have all the plumage of a ferruginous or reddish brown, clear and uniform on all parts of the body; and in proportion as they advance in age the colours of the plumage become more embrowned (rembrumnissent) ;’ while Buffon alone says, the plumage ‘at first is white, then faint yellow, and afterwards it becomes a bright copper colour.’ Belon even ventures to infer that when Aristotle first used the term golden (xpucasres), he * British Naturalist, p. 68-9, + Job, chap. xxxix, 27-29. VOL. IX. 15* #: