File:The birds of Europe (1837) (14748842421).jpg

Identifier: birdsEuropeIIIGoul (find matches)
Title: The birds of Europe
Year: 1837 (1830s)
Authors: Gould, John, 1804-1881
Subjects: Pictorial works Birds
Publisher: London, Printed by R. and J.E. Taylor, pub. by the author
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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Text Appearing Before Image:
ritish Islands,which afford it an asylum congenial to its peculiar habits and mode of life. It commences the work of nidi-fication in the month of March, constructing a large nest of sticks, lined with a coating of clay and fine grasses.The eggs are five in number, of a blueish green blotched with darker stains of brown. The young for the firstten or twelve months do not lose the feathers which cover the nostrils ; and during this period they so nearlyresemble the Crow that a more than usually minute examination is required to discover the difference, thougha careful attention to the peculiar form of the bill will obviate any difficulty. The sexes are so strictly similar in the colouring of their plumage that actual dissection is requisite todistinguish them. Bill and feet black; the whole of the plumage black glossed with changeable hues of green and violetpurple ; feathers on the back of the neck long and filamentous. The Plate represents an adult, rather less than the natural size.
Text Appearing After Image:
(G-KJJAT MACE WO O ID)FIE I:Picus martins, fLmi-v). ..... TO Genus PICUS. Gen. Char. Beak long, straight, pyramidal; and cutting towards the point. Nostrils basal,oval, inclosed by membrane; covered with hairs, directed forwards. Tongue* long, taper,capable of protrusion, armed with a horny tip. Toes four; in pairs; antagonizing; thefront pair united at their base. Tail, twelve feathers; graduated short; shafts stiff andelastic. Wings, third and fourth quill-feather longest. GREAT BLACK WOODPECKER. Picus Martius, Linn.Le Pic noir. The Woodpeckers form a family more numerous perhaps than any other in the whole range of Ornithology;and, if we except Australia and the South Sea Islands, are equally extended over the old and new portions ofthe globe. Abundant, however, as the species may be, they are so united by a pervading similarity of habits,food, manners, and even colouring, as to constitute a group pre-eminently natural and well defined;—hencethe description of one species is to a

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