Identifier: britainsbirdsthe00thom (find matches)
Title: Britain's birds and their nests
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Thomson, Arthur Landsborough, Sir, 1890- Thomson, J. Arthur (John Arthur), 1861-1933 Rankin, George
Subjects: Birds -- Great Britain Birds -- Nests
Publisher: London : W. & R. Chambers
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
eaths of the chalk-country are its typical British haunts,and the breeding area may be said to include most ofthe south and east of England and the southernmidlands. It is, however, most abundant in the south-eastern counties. To the west and north of England,and to Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, the species is onlyan occasional wanderer. Before the autumn emigrationthe birds collect in flocks. The nest is a mere hollow scraped on the open ground.The eggs may be laid soon after the birds arrival inApril. They are usually only two in number. They arepale buff in ground-colour, with two sets of markings,ash gray and deep brown respectively. Incubation lastsfor nearly four weeks, the male taking his share. Thedown plumage of the active young chicks has a verycharacteristic pattern of a few longitudinal black stripesrunning through the sandy-coloured down of their upper-parts ; there is also a dark horse-shoe mark on theforehead. They make full use of the crouching habitalready alluded to.
Text Appearing After Image:
Plate 29. TYPES OF NIDIFUGOUS NESTLINGS.For key see page 90. L 88 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 89 NIDIFUGOUS NESTLINGS. Plate 29. Owing to the impracticability of showing young birds aswell as eggs in the ordinary illustrations, two extra plateshave been added to deal with this important part of oursubject. These show typical nestlings of the two groupsof Nidifugous (iiest-feemg) and Nidicolous (nest-dwelling)birds. The division, it may be remarked, is not of anyimportance for purposes of classification, a varied collectionof natural Orders falling into each group, while othei-sdisplay intermediate characters. The various types arediscussed in detail under the headings of appropriatespecies (see Index), and it is here only necessary tosummarise briefly the most salient features of Nidifugousnestlings. Nidicolous birds are similarly treated atpage 225. Birds with nidifugous young nest on or near the giound.The incubation period is relatively long, and the youngtherefore emerge from

Note About Images