The Birds of Ontario: Being a Concise Account of Every Species of Bird Known to Have Been Found in Ontario, with a Description of Their Nests and Eggs, and Instructions for Collecting Birds and Preparing and Preserving Skins, Also Directions how to Form a Collection of Eggs

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W. Briggs, 1894 - 426 pages

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Page 387 - Then from a neighboring thicket the mockingbird, wildest of singers, Swinging aloft on a willow spray that hung o'er the water, Shook from his little throat such floods of delirious music, That the whole air and the woods and the waves seemed silent to listen...
Page 144 - As we draw near the mother sees us, and nestles closer still over her treasures, quite hiding them in the covering of her breast, and watches us with timid eyes, all anxiety for the safety of what is dearer to her than her own life. Her mate stands motionless, but not unmoved, hard by, not venturing even to chirp the note of encouragement and sympathy she loves to hear. Alas! hope fades and dies out, leaving only fear; there is no further concealment — we are almost upon the nest — almost trodden...
Page 387 - ... the tones and sad; then soaring to madness Seemed they to follow or guide the revel of frenzied Bacchantes. Single notes were then heard, in sorrowful, low lamentation; Till, having gathered them all, he flung them abroad in derision, As when, after a storm, a gust of wind through the tree-tops Shakes down the rattling rain in a crystal shower on the branches.
Page 204 - Though really strong and sufficiently fierce birds, they lack the "snap* of the Falcons and Asturs; and I scarcely think they are smart enough to catch birds very often. I saw one make the attempt on a Lark Bunting. The Hawk poised in the air, at a height of about twenty yards, for fully a minute, fell heavily, with an awkward thrust of the talons — and missed. The little bird slipped off, badly scared no doubt, but unhurt, while the enemy flapped away sulkily, very likely to -i around a gopher-hole...
Page 131 - Wilson's Snipe. Crown, black, with a pale middle stripe; back, varied with black, bright bay and tawny, the latter forming two lengthwise stripes on the scapulars; neck and breast, speckled with brown and dusky; lining of wings, barred with black and white; tail, usually of sixteen feathers, barred with black, white and chestnut; sides, waved with dusky; belly, dull white; quills, blackish, the outer white-edged. Length, about 10.50-11.50; wing, 5.00-5.60; tail, 2.60; bill, 2.502.70. RANGE. — America;...
Page 143 - Fogs hang low and heavy over rock-girdled Labrador. Angry waves, palled with rage, exhaust themselves to encroach upon the stern shores, and baffled, sink back howling into the depths. Winds shriek as they course from crag to crag in mad career, till the humble mosses that clothe the rocks crouch lower still in fear.
Page 413 - And millions of warblers, that charmed us before, Have fled in the train of the sun-seeking swallow; The Blue-bird, forsaken, yet true to his home, Still lingers, and looks for a milder to-morrow, Till forced by the horrors of winter to roam, He sings his adieu in a lone note of sorrow.
Page 291 - ... a bird of distinguished appearance, whose very name suggests the far-away land of the dipping sun, and the tuneful romance which the wild bird throws around the fading light of day; clothed in striking color-contrasts of black, white and gold, he seems to represent the allegory of diurnal transmutation; for his sable pinions close around the brightness of his vesture, as night encompasses the golden hues of sunset, while the clear white space enfolded in these tints foretells the dawn of the...
Page 326 - Plains, accidentally to Utah, north to the British Provinces, including Newfoundland and Labrador. Breeds from the Northern States northward, and winters in the Middle States and southward.
Page 34 - Loon. Adult. — Blackish; below, white; dark along the sides and on the vent and crissum; most of the head and fore neck, bluish-gray; the throat with a large chestnut patch; hind neck, sharply streaked with white on a blackish ground; bill, black. (Wheaton.) Immature. — Lacking the markings on the head and neck; the back marked with round or oval spots. Length, 18.00-27.00; wings, 10.00-11.50; bill, 2.25.

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