Volume 2

The feathered tribes of the British Islands / By Robert Mudie.

  • Mudie, Robert, 1777-1842.
Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The feathered tribes of the British Islands / By Robert Mudie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    plumage is firmer in its texture, and (generally) more decided in its colours than that of the insectivorous birds, and the general expression is more energetic and lively. In some respects, they have a resemblance to the omnivorous birds, and in others to the gallinaceous. They pair for the whole year, perhaps for life ; and they flock in the winter, different species mingling peacefully together on the same pasture. The males are in general much richer in the tints of their plumage than the females; but those gay tints are chiefly the livery of the nuptial season, and they are often accom¬ panied by peculiar feathers, which, as well as the tints, dis¬ appear at other times, and the sexes more resemble each other. We shall notice them in those families or groups to which peculiar names have been given. LARKS. (Alauda.) The sky-lark, which is the type of this tribe, being a very general favourite, the name “ lark” has been applied, both popularly and by authors, to birds which have none of the true characters : the pipits, and some of the warblers have, in this way, been called larks. There are only two British larks, the sky-lark and the wood-lark, which resemble each other, and are peculiar and different from all other birds, both in appearance and in habits. Their hills are less conical, and consequently weaker; and they are much less graminivorous than most of the order, though more so than those of the pipits, with which they have been confounded. They are also much better formed for run¬ ning ; and the great length of claw upon the hind toe enables them to run on the surface of thick-matted grass, or rise from it, or alight on it with much less inconvenience than almost any other birds. The form of the lark’s foot, as contrasted with that of the wagtail, w^hich walks on soft weed, may be seen by looking back to the cut in page 271, vol. i. They are field birds, and resemble, in their general air, and