File:Natural history of birds, fish, insects, and reptiles (1808) (14727292186).jpg

Identifier: naturalhistoryof03buff (find matches)
Title: Natural history of birds, fish, insects, and reptiles
Year: 1808 (1800s)
Authors: Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de, 1707-1788
Subjects: Natural history Birds Fishes Entomology
Publisher: London, Printed for the Proprietor and sold by H. D. Symonds
Contributing Library: NCSU Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: NCSU Libraries

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that the male hasa very full and large crest, the female only therudiment of one. The hoodt^d Merganser is a native of NorthAmerica. It is about the size of a widgeon.The head and neck are dark brown, the formersurrounded with a large round crest, the middleof which is white. The back and quills areblack , the tail dusky; the breast and bellywhite, undulated with black. The female isfainter in the colour of her plumage, and hasa smaller crest. The Smeiv measures from the end of the billto the end of the tail nearly eighteen inches, andfrom the extremity of each wmg, when ex-tended, upwards of two feet, and weighs abouta pound and a half. It has a fine crest upon thehead, v/hich falls down towards the back partof it, under which, on each side of the head,is a black spot; the rest of the head and theneck are white, as arc the under parts of thebody; the back and the wings are of an agree-able mixture of black and white. The tail .isabout three inches long, of a sort of dusky ash colour.
Text Appearing After Image:
Thx:. Swiui ■ OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 137 colour, the feathers on each side shorteninscgradually. The bill is of a lead colour, at theextremity of which is a dirty coloured spot ofwhite; it is something less than the generalitvof the duck kind3 a little hooked, with largeopen nostrils, and darkish coloured eyes ; thelegs are pretty much of the same colour as thebill. The female of this bird has no crest; thesides of the head are red, the throat white^the wings of a dusky ash-colour ; in other re-spects it agrees with the male. They feed onfish, but are very rarely seen in England,. ex-cept in very hard seasons, and then not morethan three or four of them together. OF THE GOOSE OR DUCK KIND. Tl-IIS genus comprehends above one hun-dred species, diifcring considerably in size andplumage from each other: many of them havebeen rendered domestic, but a still greater VOL.1 II. T proportion 138 NATURAL HISTORY proportion remain in their native untamed state.The whole of them are distinguish

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