Bird Sentence Examples
Some large bird has stolen it from his palace.
The regiment fluttered like a bird preening its plumage and became motionless.
I had a mug, and little bird and candy.
Even a bird is smart enough to push the fledgling out of the nest when it fails to fly on its own.
Occasionally, he even lent a hand with the chores at Bird Song.
Napoleon rode on, dreaming of the Moscow that so appealed to his imagination, and "the bird restored to its native fields" galloped to our outposts, inventing on the way all that had not taken place but that he meant to relate to his comrades.
Bird Song was an empty nest.
Bird Song is full.
In the open space between the clouds and the black, bubbling sea far beneath, could be seen an occasional strange bird winging its way swiftly through the air.
He turns into a bird in his hands and flies away.
AdvertisementThe ten-year-old girl had resided at Bird Song with David Dean, his wife Cynthia, and Dean's seventy-seven-year-old stepfather, Fred O'Connor, for the past six months.
In her dream Annie is telling her to stick around Bird Song!
The great bird was high in the air and flying towards the far-off mountains with all his money.
I wanted a bird to remind you of Bird Song, and that you're gonna fly back here real soon.
Dean gave the tableau a wide berth as he continued back to Bird Song, whistling the entire trip.
AdvertisementA party of Bird Song's male residents plus the Dawkins gals had gathered in the parlor.
While the Deans didn't like to leave Bird Song unattended, occasionally it was unavoidable.
You can rest up here at Bird Song—give yourself time enough to make logical decisions.
After dawn arrived at last and the couple were showered and dressed, they speculated further on the late night sounds as Cynthia filled Bird Song's breakfast table with fresh baked goodies.
Edith was as nervous as the prior evening, glancing across the hall at her son, as if danger lurked in every corner of Bird Song.
AdvertisementDuring the week before Christmas, Martha had spent an overnight at Bird Song when Janet was forced to report to court in Grand Junction, on some charges she, thankfully, did not detail to the Deans.
Dean told her Donnie was a guest at Bird Song and explained the lad, only slightly older than Martha, did not speak.
You were so nice to us last night and Bird Song feels so warm.
I think she wants me to remain here at Bird Song, at least for a while.
Said you told him his wife wasn't staying at Bird Song.
AdvertisementI told a man on the phone, who didn't identify himself, that Edith Shipton wasn't registered at Bird Song.
Bird Song is in the city of Ouray, not my jurisdiction.
Dean returned to Bird Song and brought Cynthia up to date on his conversation with Sheriff Weller over a quiet lunch of soup and grilled cheese.
And then to have Bird Song's first guest turning up dead!
Once the details to that "caper," as Fred O'Connor called it, were settled, life and business at Bird Song had proceeded peacefully.
There were other guests at Bird Song and enough regular problems running a country inn without creating any more.
When the Deans returned to Bird Song, the place was quiet.
As Dean and his young passenger neared Bird Song, Edith Shipton drove up the street, parked, and entered the inn ahead of them.
She hopped out of the car with a quick thanks ran into Bird Song ahead of him.
Whoever the guy in the Blazer was, he gave Edith the look-see when he drove past Bird Song.
It was a gift from a young lady whom he'd helped when Bird Song first opened.
The bearded man was younger looking than Dean had thought when he first saw him drive by Bird Song, probably no more than late twenties.
It had been originally designed as a maid's quarters and it was the last room they rented when Bird Song was otherwise booked.
Cynthia was still on the phone so after Dean introduced himself he completed the paperwork, without comment or acknowledgment that he knew Ryland's relationship to Bird Song's other guest Edith Shipton and her son.
While the need for such meetings wasn't as dire or sinister as the first few days after Bird Song's opening, the three still gathered here, away from the guests, especially when they wished to discuss one or more of their paying customers beyond their prying ears.
That's why I came over to Bird Song.
That's the way a left-handed person pours and Edith is the only lefty at Bird Song.
Dean started to get out of the car but Weller waved him on and Ryland pulled away from Bird Song.
When her son Randy, visiting Bird Song over his Christmas college break, had expressed an interest in the sport, she had a fit.
Bird Song was now officially at full capacity and would remain so for the next few days.
Their suppertime chatter was limited to the logistics of Bird Song and the care and breakfast feeding of its thirteen guests.
I haven't had a chance with Bird Song packed like a sardine can.
With Bird Song being full, much as I'd like to get to know Miss Annie a little better, she'll have to wait in line.
She said she thought Bird Song held spirits, too.
I'm afraid I'd get evicted from Bird Song, if and when I made it back!
The rest of the climbers followed in the truck but Ryland declined to join them, turning a perturbed eye to Bird Song.
The group walked up to the ice park climbing area from Bird Song.
Finally, it was acknowledged she would return to Bird Song alone.
The other climbers from Bird Song were already here.
But I intend to stay at Bird Song.
They were alone in the kitchen of Bird Song.
I just hope he stays away from her, and Bird Song.
You know, I dreamed Jerome came here, to Bird Song, last night.
We don't want to give Bird Song the wrong reputation and have Sheriff Jake Weller down here busting the place.
Dean pulled Janet aside and asked if she had let any strangers into Bird Song the prior afternoon.
Your marital difficulties aren't our business but Bird Song is and we don't want any hint of trouble here.
Now that the busy morning activity no longer occupied Cynthia's mind, she again was visibly upset about Bird Song's latest guest, Jerome Shipton, and the penchant for trouble that surrounded his presence.
He offered an exchange for a later getaway weekend at Bird Song for the man and his wife.
I'm more interested in live people and guests in Bird Song, not some revenant.
Across the street, right behind the Western Hotel, you had The Bird Cage, The Bon Ton, The Temple of Music and then Ashenfelter's stables that Annie mentions hearing the men loading the pack animals.
Maybe now they'll all check out of Bird Song and things will return to normal.
Bird, The Annals of Natal, 1 495 to 1845 (2 vols., Maritzburg, 1888), a work of permanent value, consisting of official records, &c.; Shepstone, Historic Sketch of Natal (1864).
Bird life is represented chiefly by migratory species, particularly of genera that inhabit the shores of streams and lagoons.
In many cases it appears that only the brilliantly coloured tentacle is pecked off by the bird, and as the snail can easily regenerate a new one, this in turn becomes infected by a fresh branch of the sporocyst ramifying through the snail and thus a new supply of larvae is speedily provided (Heckert).
The mocking bird does not live in the cold north.
After all, he'd abdicated all Bird Song's weekend chores in favor of his flesh-pressing tour, and Cynthia deserved a rest.
A number of Bird Song's more recent guests were bickering over differing rules to Mexican Train Dominoes in the dining room while others were trading Boardwalk and Park Place in the parlor.
I was sure you'd whack the son of a bitch and maybe kill him and I didn't want to be a jailhouse widow and run Bird Song alone.
The phone was as busy as the Bird Song household this Monday morning.
When Dean returned to Bird Song, it was mid-morning, but if he expected a quiet empty building with the Dawkinses at the courthouse and the rest of the clientele enjoying the splendors of Ouray, he was wrong.
Cynthia and I will call a lawyer when I get back to Bird Song.
Cynthia was waiting for Dean at Bird Song—a message left at the library had alerted her to Fred's arrest.
Dean left Bird Song on foot, passing up the temptation to drive his Jeep the short distance to the Main Street delicatessen.
Supper was picked-at leftovers, and neither felt like socializing with Bird Song's guests, who came and went on their own, without their usual afternoon goodies and conversation.
I want to make reservations at Bird Song for a week in August.
When conversation lagged, they apparently took the hint and retreated into Bird Song.
Bird Song switched a few guest, baked a few goodies, cleaned a few toilets and made a few beds, all with a been-there, done-that regularity.
You folks at Bird Song can get into more pickles than any group I know.
Then he added, You might have better luck learning who's been trying to buy the worthless mine and who at Bird Song swiped the itsy-bitsy bone you found.
Like that weird kid you had staying at Bird Song—the one with the shopping cart.
The real celebration of Fred's release from jail didn't begin until the pair returned to Bird Song where Cynthia had baked a fresh apple pie, complete with vanilla ice cream, tagged on to the end of a healthy lunch.
He was back at Bird Song and all was right with the world.
The trio continued to click down the list of people at Bird Song who were around when the bone fragment theft was discovered.
There was attorney Faust but there was no proof he had even set foot in Bird Song.
In celebration of Fred's return to Bird Song, Dean didn't bother to protest.
In spite of the good news of Fred's return, the pall of Martha's continued absence draped over Bird Song.
It read, I want my kid Martha Boyd to live of the deans at Bird Song in Colorado.
Brandon Westlake, the only other guest of long standing, was off on an early morning photo shoot but an unexpected prodigal returned to Bird Song just as the second batch of cinnamon rolls rolled out of the oven.
Dean's feelings were mixed about Pumpkin's visit but on the plus side, there were a few more bucks in Bird Song's bank account.
He explained no cigarettes were found with the remains Fitzgerald brought to Bird Song nor was there any such evidence when the Deans visited the site.
Dean stewed over the question as the business of Bird Song continued.
She turned to the right, up the unpaved Camp Bird Mine Road.
She screeched to a stop at Bird Song and was off almost before he was out of the vehicle.
July stretched into August, and just before the election, Jennifer Radisson spent her promised week at Bird Song.
Before Dean could contact Lydia to offer his congratulations, she visited Bird Song the day after Cynthia returned.
She followed, startled, only to see a massive black bird the size of a pterodactyl coasting along the tops of the waves.
Turn into a bird and carry me with you? she asked.
He jogged through the castle and ran out into the snow, launching himself into the cold air as he changed into the bird form.
Her gaze went to the sky, where the demon bird had appeared in her dream.
With a curse, he rose and ran to the courtyard, changing into his demon bird.
Turn into a bird and carry me with you? she asked, desperation in her voice.
He had been outside, atop a ladder, removing Christmas lights when the two checked in to Bird Song, the Dean's bed and breakfast.
After extensive alterations, Bird Song, a bed and breakfast, was born.
Bird Song's going to be close to empty for a few more days until the ice climbers arrive.
Dean started to protest but his wife began carrying the packed ornaments from the room and asked in her sweetest tone if he could remove the now-dried Christmas tree and finish a short list of Bird Song chores she'd drawn up earlier.
I booked two more rooms for Bird Song as a result of it!
They're coming to Bird Song, just because of that important merchandise you called junk!
What did you tell them to get them so excited they want to travel all the way to Ouray Colorado and Bird Song?
You told these ladies that this Annie Quincy woman probably lived here in Bird Song?
We don't know what Bird Song was at the turn of the century, just that there was a building or some sort on this site.
Even if Bird Song was a boarding house, there must have been scores of lodging places just like it.
Her comments brought to mind the death of Bird Song's very first guest and the strange events that followed.
The couple was back in Bird Song by seven o'clock.
I was telling Mrs. Edith about these here letters and how the two ladies from Boston will be coming to Bird Song.
There were lots of rooming houses but we have no idea how Bird Song was utilized at the turn of the century.
The darkening sky matched the mood of Bird Song's guests and inhabitants as they woke to a busy Saturday morning, the main day of the ice festival.
Donnie had pretty well taken over the project as the chores of Bird Song limited Cynthia's time.
We'd lose Bird Song!
Bird Song was as quiet as a tomb, with Janet either the most silent domestic on record or snoozing away in an unoccupied room.
Yeah. She's run down to Bird Song.
When Dean rushed into Bird Song, Cynthia was standing in the hall, the phone at her ear.
By that time, most of the ice climbers were back at Bird Song.
Cynthia would go alone—that was a given with Bird Song requiring Dean's attention.
And don't you worry none about Bird Song.
After a call to Fred at Bird Song and the necessary schedule changes, they once again boarded the Jeep for the one-hour ride.
They both loved Ouray, the Colorado mountains and hosting the guests of Bird Song, at least most of them.
The snow continued to fall as Dean pulled in front of Bird Song, angled his Jeep as best he could in the drifts, and climbed to the porch.
The climbers are checking out of Bird Song tomorrow.
The way I see it, someone from Bird Song cut his rope.
Thankfully, Janet arrived to take up the inside tasks of Bird Song.
He left Bird Song, telling Janet where he was going and together with Fred, hiked up to the ice park to where Shipton had fallen.
Two unmarked State cars were parked in front of Bird Song, along with, to Dean's surprise, Edith's rental car and Donald Ryland's Explorer.
Why did Mrs. Shipton choose Bird Song to visit?
I didn't lie to him when I told him no one named Shipton was registered at Bird Song but I saw no reason to go out of my way and help him either.
Most of Bird Song's other guests remained, as requested, in their own rooms but Ryland hung around the kitchen, sharing a snack of take-out pizza with Donnie while Edith sat nearby, wringing her hands and looking petrified.
He hadn't spoken to Edith Shipton since her husband's accident and felt, as the host of Bird Song, he owed the woman some sort of condolence.
Both high-stepped their way through the deep snow to the plowed alley in the rear of Bird Song.
Unless they arrest me, I'm still in Bird Song, and that's where all the action is right at the moment.
Dean felt the beginnings of a headache creep along the base of his neck as he tried to concentrate on who, among the cast of characters cloistered snugly in Bird Song, might have been responsible for Jerome Shipton's fall.
Dean took a look at the thawing street in front of Bird Song and went out back and unhooked his bicycle.
He was pleased he'd accepted Fred's offer to stay away from Bird Song.
If you're looking for an update on what's happening at Bird Song, you're out of luck.
Cynthia and the old man do more running Bird Song than you and I'll bet you could use the dough.
As Dean drew close to Bird Song, he resolved to ask his wife point blank if she witnessed Donnie Ryland cutting his stepfather's climbing rope in an attempt to send him to his death.
A small red sports car skidded to a stop in front of Bird Song as Dean dismounted his bike.
I'm sorry about all this but we don't need any more trouble at Bird Song.
There was a moment of realization as he understood her brave actions, and then a snap as the line let loose and he tumbled backwards like some mortally wounded game bird shot from the sky, arms outstretched, scream muffled in his mask.
Pleased to meet any friend of Donnie's and Bird Song.
Dean continued to hold Martha's hand as they walked uptown and found a place open on Seventh Avenue, a couple of blocks from Bird Song.
It had something to do with Bird Song and I think she was afraid you'd fire her.
When the two returned to Bird Song, Donnie met Martha at the stairs and tugged her up to his and Edith's second floor room.
Bird Song was as quiet as an empty church with none of the remaining guests in evidence, nor was there any sign the police had returned.
As he strolled away from Bird Song, Corday pulled up in front.
After trying Cynthia one more time, he gave up and returned to Bird Song.
Everyone else was apparently asleep as Bird Song was as quiet as a tomb.
Dean's mind churned the details of the recent happenings, trying to make sense of Shipton's orchestrated plunge to the river, and the strange reactions of those still sleeping beneath Bird Song's roof, and elsewhere.
He just wanted his wife back in Bird Song.
He lay there, trying to comprehend if the noise were in his mind's fantasies or in the real world of Bird Song.
Unless you're going to charge me with something, get the hell out of Bird Song and leave me alone.
He paused and said a silent prayer for the spirit of this person who had brought so much grief to Bird Song and his previously contented life.
Later, Dean heard the movement of the mortuary men coming for Edith—the hushed conversation and the bumping and thumping as the lifeless shell of this troubled woman was bagged and forever removed from Bird Song.
She even used the same fountain pen she used when she registered here at Bird Song, when she signed 'Edith Jones.'
He leaned across the coffee table and reached for Bird Song's guest register, handing it to Dean.
Cynthia had given him such an instrument at the time the couple signed papers acquiring Bird Song.
Too bad she decided to do it here at Bird Song.
Maybe now you can get back to the future, and running Bird Song.
All of Bird Song was in the room.
Dean spent the afternoon busying himself with the chores of Bird Song, partially out of guilt for having dumped the morning duties on Fred and in part to take his mind off the ever-present feeling he'd caused long term or, heaven forbid, permanent damage to his seven-month marriage.
In spite of all his cleaning, Bird Song didn't seem to have the same shine as it did when Cynthia was in residence.
Instead, he returned to Bird Song to once more try to contact his wife.
Edith Shipton was a very troubled woman, from the first time she stepped into Bird Song.
Besides, we have to accommodate the wishes of the guests of Bird Song, don't we?
If it was Bird Song where Annie lived, perhaps the scratched window pane is still here!
Even if it was Bird Song where she stayed, the place must have been altered a dozen times in the last century.
But more than anything else, there was love at Bird Song.
Do you believe Annie died at Bird Song?
Okay. I'll buy that they're up there keeping an eye on Bird Song and watching out for us.
At least Edith Shipton was alive before she visited Bird Song.
When they entered Bird Song Fred was still in place on the sofa, but as soon as he saw them he jumped up and embraced Cynthia like the returning prodigal child.
It was time for the Deans to talk, to enjoy one another, the first real time together since their May wedding and hectic summer and fall that followed their move West and the opening of Bird Song.
Bird Song, while providing a simple living for them, was never going to bring a fortune to their bank account.
Gladys Turnbull remained Bird Song's sole paying guest, at least for a couple of days longer.
She had joined the three hosts for a game of dominoes when Bird Song welcomed a new guest.
Martha became settled into Bird Song's routine with amazing rapidity.
All of Edith Shipton's belongings were still packed in a closet at Bird Song.
Dean helped Weller carry the remaining articles into Bird Song.
The following weekend, two and a half weeks after Edith's death, Penny and Mick returned to bird Song for a couple of days of ice climbing, a further reminder of the ice park incident.
Come by Bird Song and we'll have to arrange for her to go back with you.
His first inclination was to stay as far away from Bird Song as possible until Shipton was long gone.
As Dean peddled up to Bird Song, he saw no unfamiliar cars.
He even apologized for not calling before he stopped by and for not staying at Bird Song, like maybe he'd be welcomed.
Said it was for all the trouble he and his wife caused Bird Song.
And you still had a key to Bird Song.
I should have remembered you still had your key to Bird Song.
You must have just guessed what happened after I just stopped by Bird Song.
He practically raped her the night he first stayed in Bird Song.
Then off the newborn goes to start a life of vampirism, just like a bird leaving the nest.
Apparently he thought she was heartless, as well - over a stupid bird?
Elise didn't give the bird call they'd agreed on, so Lana said nothing.
The sound of something screaming wiped the smile from Deidre's face. Katie turned to face the direction from which the sound came. It wasn't a bird, and it wasn't human. The single voice was joined by several, and Katie grabbed Deidre's hand.
David and Cynthia Dean, now husband and wife, and owners of Bird Song, a bed and breakfast in Ouray, Colorado, were seated in the Tundra Room of the recently restored Beaumont Hotel.
The only sound was that of Ed walking and an occasional winter bird song.
A bird's nest was built on one end and cobwebs covered the window.
No darkness lasts the ages, Taran…I do not care to remember the sound of a bird's cry, but I wish I remembered the taste of spiced ale.
A bird built a nest in the flower box and it has little baby birds!
Mama bird will be back to feed them.
A bird came and brought a great big worm.
She cleaned the table and then went out to the porch to remove an empty bird nest from the eve.
I was trying to remove that bird's nest.
She glanced down at the bird nest in her hand.
As a child she had wanted a bird.
She was like a walking rectangle with a bird face, and she got outright hostile towards the beautiful women she escorted out of his home every morning.
In 1862 he succeeded John Bird Sumner as archbishop of Canterbury.
The swan played a part in classical mythology as the bird of Apollo, and in Scandinavian lore the swan maidens, who have the gift of prophecy and are sometimes confused with the Valkyries, reappear again and again.
This odd animal is provided with a bill or beak, which is not, like that of a bird, affixed to the skeleton, but is merely attached to the skin and muscles.
No word exists in their language for such general terms as tree, bird or fish; yet they have invented a name for every species of vegetable and animal they know.
This formality having been gone through, the flight of the first bird which passed over the body was watched, the direction being regarded as that in which the sorcerer must be sought.
On the east coast peafowl are found, and throughout the interior the argus pheasant, the firebacked pheasant, the blue partridge, the adjutantbird, several kinds of heron and crane, duck, teal, cotton-teal, snipe, wood-pigeon, green-pigeon of several varieties, swifts, swallows pied-robins, hornbills, parakeets, fly-catchers, nightjars, and many other kinds of bird are met with frequently.
A few specimens of solitary goose have been procured, but the bird is rarely met with.
Prominent among a great variety of song-birds and insectivorous birds are the robin, blue bird, cat bird, sparrows, meadow-lark, bobolink, thrushes, chickadee, wrens, brown thrasher, gold finch, cedar wax-wing, flycatchers, nuthatches, flicker (golden-winged woodpecker), downy and hairy woodpeckers, rose-breasted grosbeak, Baltimore oriole, barnswallow, chimney swift, purple martin, purple finch (linnet), vireos and several species of warblers.
Two more species of Hylactes are known, and 1 Of Spanish origin, it is intended as a reproof to the bird for the shameless way in which, by erecting its tail, it exposes its hinder parts.
It has been sometimes misspelt "Tapacolo," as by C. Darwin, who gave (Journal of Researches, chap. xii.) a brief but entertaining account of the habits of this bird and its relative, Hylactes megapodius, called by the Chilenos "El Turco."
The altar itself is constructed in the form of a bird, because Soma was supposed to have been brought down from heaven by the metre Gayatri which had assumed the form of an eagle.
The consequence of this intussusceptive growth is the " development " or " evolution " of the germ into the visible bird.
Certain ancient stringed instruments were played with a plectrum or plucker made of the quill of a bird's feather, and the word has thus been used of a plectrum made of other material and differing in shape, and also of an analogous object for striking the strings in the harpsichord, spinet or virginal.
One general feature of the adult bird's skull is the almost complete disappearance of the sutures between the bones of the cranium proper, whilst another is the great movability of the whole palatal and other suspensorial apparatus.
Similarly during the growth of the bird the posterior end of the ilium connects itself with the transverse processes of vertebrae which were originally free, thus transforming them from caudals into secondary post-sacrals.
It is absent in the Ratitae, which from this feature have received their name, but considerable traces of a cartilaginous keel occur in the embryo of the ostrich, showing undeniably that the absence of a keel in the recent bird is not a primitive, fundamental feature.
The coracoid is one of the most characteristic bones of the bird's skeleton.
Of wrist-bones only two remain in the adult bird; the original distal carpals coalesce with the proximal end of the metacarpals.
The wing of the bird is folded in a unique way, namely, the radius parallel with the humerus, and the whole wrist and hand with their ulnar side against the ulna; upper and forearm in a state of supination, the hand in that of strong abduction.
The iris is in most young birds at first brown or dull-coloured, but with maturity attains often very bright tints which add considerably to the charm of the bird; sexual dimorphism is in this respect of common occurrence.
During the embryonic stage the lids are fused together, and either become separated shortly before the bird is hatched, as is the case with most Nidifugae, or else the blind condition prevails for some time, in the young Nidicolae.
The bird's liver receives nearly all the blood from the stomach, gut, pancreas and spleen, as well as from the left liver itself, into the right hepatic lobe, by a right and left portal vein.
The usual suggestion, that the warm air contained within them assists the bird in flight, balloon-like, is absurd.
But it also follows that, if every extinct and recent bird were known, neither species, nor genera, nor families, nor orders could be defined.
Marsh, who, after 1870, discovered a great number of bird remains in the Cretaceous strata of North America.
The oldest known bird is theArchaeopteryx, of the upper Oolite in Bavaria.
A wide gap separates Archaeopteryx from the next order of fossil birds of the Cretaceous epoch, and, since freshwater deposits of that age are rare, bird remains are uncommon.
The lower Eocene has furnished a greater number of bird bones.
Remnants of a heron-like bird, Proherodius, of a gull-like creature, Halcyornis, a raptorial Lithornis; and a supposed Passerine from Glarus in Switzerland, called Protornis = Osteornis, complete the list.
The fossil egg of a struthious bird, Struthiolithus, has been found near Cherson, south Russia, and in north China.
In the fens of East Anglia have been found two humeri, one of them immature, of a true Pelecanus, a bird now no longer inhabiting middle Europe.
New Zealand has also yielded many flightless birds, notably the numerous species and genera of Dinornithidae, some of which survived into the 19th century; Pseudapteryx allied to the Kiwi; Cnemiornis, a big, flightless goose; Aptornis and Notornis, flightless rails; and Harpagornis, a truly gigantic bird of prey with tremendous wings and talons.
These are, again in an ascending direction, connected with the Coraciiformes, out of which have arisen the Passeriformes, and these have blossomed into the Oscines, which, as the apotheosis of bird life, have conquered the whole inhabitable world.
The principal crops in addition to wheat are oats, barley, maize, linseed and bird seed.
As a wild bird it breeds constantly, though locally, throughout the greater part of Scotland, and has frequently done so in England, but more rarely in Ireland.
A common and handsome bird is the blue plantain-eater (Corythaeola).
This Strophanthus is not remarkable for its rubber - which is mere bird lime - but for the powerful poison of its seeds, often used for poisoning arrows, but of late much in use as a drug for treating diseases of the heart.
Still it is brisk in its movements, and its variegated plumage makes it a pleasing bird.
The nest, contrary to the habits of most Limicolae, is generally placed under a ledge of rock which shelters the bird from observation,' and therein are laid four eggs, of a light olive-green, closely blotched with brown, and hardly to be mistaken for those of any other bird.
In like manner in the purification of lepers two birds were used; the throat of one was cut, the living bird dipped in the blood mingled with water and the leper sprinkled; then the bird was set free to carry away the leprosy.
In the Centaur battle, having been crushed by rocks and trunks of trees, he was changed into a bird; or he disappeared into the depths of the earth unharmed.
The bird fauna is of considerable interest, the finest species of the upper zone being an eagle-owl, met with at 14,000 ft.
Many bird parasites belonging to the Rippoboscidae have naturally been carried about the world by their hosts, while other species, such as the house-fly, blow-fly and drone-fly, have in like manner been disseminated by human agency.
Of birds some 30 kinds are known, an owl being the only bird of prey; parrots, pigeons, kingfishers, honey-suckers, rails, ducks, and other water birds are numerous.
The cock has a fine yellow bill and a head bearing a rounded crest of filamentous feathers; lanceolate scapulars overhang the wings, and from the rump spring the long flowing plumes which are so characteristic of the species, and were so highly prized by the natives before the Spanish conquest that no one was allowed to kill the bird when taken, but only to divest it of its feathers, which were to be worn by the chiefs alone.
Among the song-birds are the mocking-bird, the Carolina wren and the cardinal grosbeak (or red bird); there are plenty of quail or " bob white " (called partridge in the South).
At the consecration of a church the sacrifice of a dove (the bird of Ishtar) has place among the ceremonies.
Thus it became possible for almost any diligent reader without much chance of error to refer to its proper place nearly every bird he was likely to meet with.
In 1783 Boddaert printed at Utrecht a Table des planches enlumineez, 9 in which he attempted to refer every species of bird figured in that extensive series to its proper Linnaean genus, and to assign it a scientific name if it did not already possess one.
The plates, which show no improvement in execution on those of Martinet, are after drawings by Huet and Pretre, the former being perhaps the less bad draughtsman of the two, for he seems to have had an idea of what a bird when alive looks like, though he was not able to give his figures any vitality, while the latter simply delineated the stiff and dishevelled specimens from museum shelves.
He had, however, the courage to act up to his own professions in collocating the rollers (Coracias) with the beeeaters (Merops), and had the sagacity to surmise that Menura was not a Gallinaceous bird.
The points at issue between Cuvier and Etienne Geoffroy St-Hilaire before mentioned naturally attracted the attention of L'Herminier, who in 1836 presented to the French Academy the results of his researches into the mode Isidore of growth of that bone which in the adult bird he had already studied to such good purpose.
On two occasions, however, there was found in addition, what may be taken for a representation of the first series, a little " noyau " situated between the coracoids - forming the only instance of all three series being present in the same bird.
Be that as it may, he declares that characters drawn from the sternum or the pelvis - hitherto deemed to be, next to the bones of the head, the most important portions of the bird's framework - are scarcely worth more, from a classificatory point of view, than characters drawn from the bill or the legs; while pterylological considerations, together with many others to which some systematists had attached more or less importance, can only assist, and apparently must never be taken to control, the force of evidence furnished by this bone of all bones - the anterior palatal.
More dimly still visions of what the first bird may have been like could be reasonably entertained; and, passing even to a higher antiquity, the reptilian parent whence all birds have sprung was brought within reach of man's consciousness.
The common practice of ordinary collectors, until at least very recently, has been tersely described as being to " shoot a bird, take off its skin, and throw away its characters."
C. Marsh, by finding the imperfect fossilized tibia of a bird in the middle cretaceous shale of Kansas, Marsh, began a series of wonderful discoveries of great im portance to ornithology.
It is unnecessary here to discuss the views of Gadow, as that author himself has contributed the article BIRD to this edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and has there set forth his revised scheme.
All the world over it is held that such people can assume the form of animals; sometimes the power of the shaman is held to depend on his being able to summon his familiar; among the Ostiaks the shaman's coat was covered with representations of birds and beasts; two bear's claws were on his hands; his wand was covered with mouse-skin; when he wished to divine he beat his drum till a black bird appeared and perched on his hut; then the shaman swooned, the bird vanished, and the divination could begin.
One genus of Thomisidae (Phognarachne), which inhabits the Oriental region, adopts the clever device of spinning on the surface of a leaf a sheet of web resembling the fluid portions of a splash of bird's dung, the more solid central portions being represented by the spider itself, which waits in the middle of the patch to seize the butterflies or other insects that habitually feed on birds' excrement and are attracted to the patch mistaking it for their natural food.
This bird is exported in large numbers to northern China, where it is much prized on account of its extraordinary power of imitation.
One of the Brazilian birds whose habits have attracted much interest is the Joao de Barro (Clay John) or oven bird (Furnarius rufus), which builds a house of reddish clay for its nest and attaches it to the branch of a tree, usually in a fork.
The largest is the great emerald bird (Paradisea apoda), about the size of the common jay.
The great emerald bird, so far as yet known, is only found in the Aru Islands.
The lesser bird of paradise (Paradisea minor), though smaller in size and somewhat less brilliant in plumage, in other respects closely resembles the preceding species.
The king bird of paradise (Cicinnurus regius) is one of the smallest and most brilliant of the group, and is specially distinguished by its two middle tail feathers, the ends of which alone are webbed, and coiled into a beautiful spiral disk of a lovely emerald green.
In the red bird of paradise (Paradisea rubra) the same feathers are greatly elongated and destitute of webs, but differ from those in the other species, in being flattened out like ribbons.
The pelvis and hind-limbs much resemble those of a running bird, such as those of an emu or the extinct moa; but the basal bones (metatarsals) of the three-toed foot remain separate throughout life, thus differing from those of the running birds, which are firmly fused together even in the young adult.
There is a state game bird farm (1909) near Sherburne in Chenango county.
Outside the forest country the weka, an almost wingless bird, is numerous, and in the Alps a hawk-like green parrot, the kea, has learned to kill sheep and holds its ground.
The albatross is of course the most conspicuous sea bird.
Its eggs are the wellknown "plovers' eggs" of commerce,' and the bird, wary and wild at other times of the year, in the breeding-season becomes easily approachable, and is shot to be sold in the markets for "golden plover."
The lapwing's conspicuous crest seems to have been the cause of a common blunder among English writers of the middle ages, who translated the Latin word Upupa, property hoopoe, by lapwing, as being the crested bird with which they were best acquainted.
The word Vanellus is from vannus, the fan used for winnowing corn, and refers to the audible beating of the bird's wings.
On the ground this bird runs nimbly, and is nearly always engaged in searching for its food, which is wholly animal.
The birds include eagles - some are called lammervangers from their occasional attacks on young lambs - vultures, hawks, kites, owls, crows, ravens, the secretary bird, cranes, a small white heron, quails, partridges, korhaans, wild geese, duck, and guineafowl, swallows, finches, starlings, the mossie or Cape sparrow, and the widow bird, noted for the length of its tail in summer.
It is a study of social and ethnological conditions, and contains many passages of literary charm, describing bird life, animal life and natural scenery.
For no beast however mighty, no bird however graceful, was a fit companion for God's masterpiece, and, apart from the serpent, the animals had no faculty of speech.
It is a native of the Canary Islands and Madeira, where it occurs abundantly in the wild state, and is of a greyish-brown colour, slightly varied with brighter hues, although never attaining the beautiful plumage of the domestic bird.
During the years of its domestication, the canary has been the subject of careful artificial selection, the result being the production of a bird differing widely in the colour of its plumage, and in a lew of its varieties even in size and form, from the original wild species.
In a state of nature canaries pair, but under domestication the male bird has been rendered polygamous, being often put with four or five females; still he is said to show a distinct preference for the female with which he was first mated.
The work of building the nest, and of incubation, falls chiefly on the female, while the duty of feeding the young rests mainly with the cock bird.
The signs were usually obtained from the inspection of the liver (according to Johns, that of the lamb that was sacrificed); or it took place through birds; hence the name in this case given to the baru of dagil insure " bird inspector."
Unmolested by enemies (Harpagornis, a tremendous bird of prey, died out with the Pleistocene), living in an equable insular climate, with abundant vegetation, the moas flourished and seem to have reached their greatest development in specialization, numbers, and a bewildering variety of large and small kinds, within quite recent times.
He introduced several practical improvements, such as the measurement of time to tenths of a second; and he prevailed upon the government to replace Bird's mural quadrant by a repeating circle 6 ft.
It is said that no representation of any parrot appears in Egyptian art, nor does any reference to a bird of the kind occur in the Bible, whence it has been concluded that neither painters nor writers had any knowledge of it.
Aristotle is commonly supposed to be the first author who mentions a parrot; but this is an error, for nearly a century earlier Ctesias in his Indica (cap. 3),2 under the name of fib-Taws (Bittacus), so neatly described a bird which could speak an "Indian" language - naturally, as he seems to have thought - or Greek - if it had been taught so to do - about as big as a sparrow-hawk (Hierax), with a purple face and a black beard, otherwise blue-green (cyaneus) and vermilion in colour, so that there cannot be much risk in declaring that he must have had before him a male example of what is now commonly known as the Blossom-headed parakeet, and to ornithologists as Palaeornis cyanocephalus, an inhabitant of many parts of India.
An extremely interesting collection is maintained, the variety of bird life, both feral and in captivity, being notable.
One naturally infers from this that the "cherub" was sometimes viewed as a bird.
The bird, however, was probably a mythic, extra-natural bird.
The third, however, was made of the sound of a cat's footsteps, a man's beard, the roots of a mountain, a fish's breath and a bird's spittle.
Among indigenous fruit-bearing trees, shrubs and vines the state has the bird cherry, black cherry, blueberry, cranberry, raspberry, blackberry, gooseberry, strawberry, grape and black currant; and conspicuous among a very great variety of shrubs and flowering plants are the rose, dogwood, laurel, sumac, holly, winterberry, trilliums, anemones, arbutuses, violets, azaleas, eglantine, clematis, blue gentians, orange lilies, orchids, asters and golden rod.
Willughby in 1676 it was the name given by Yorkshiremen to the bird popularly known in England as the " Summer-Snipe," - the Tringa hypoleucos of Linnaeus and the Totanus hypoleucos of later writers, - but probably even in Willughby's time the name was of much wider signification.
To the latter belong the Greenshank and Redshank, as well as the Common Sandpiper, the " Summer-Snipe " above-mentioned, a bird hardly exceeding a skylark in size, and of very general distribution throughout the British Islands, but chiefly frequenting clear streams, especially those with a gravelly or rocky bottom, and mast generally breeding on the beds of sand or shingle on their banks.
This sandpiper is characterized by its dark upper plumage, which contrasts strongly with the white of the lower part of the back and gives the bird as it flies much the look of a very large house-martin.
It is an abundant bird in most parts of northern Europe, migrating in winter very far to the southward.
The bird-life of the country is remarkably rich; one bird of magnificent plumage, the quetzal, quijal or quesal (Trogon resplendens), has been chosen as the national emblem.
It is the home of the southern fox-squirrel, Cotton rat, ricefield rat, wood rat, free-tailed bat, mocking bird, painted bunting, prothonotary warbler, red-cockaded woodpecker, chuckwills-widow, and the swallow-tailed and Mississippi kites.
In certain parts of Ontario the wild turkey is occasionally found and the ordinary quail, but in British Columbia is found the California quail, and a larger bird much resembling it called the mountain partridge.
This bird, which ranges over the North Atlantic, is seldom seen on the European side below lat.
In the old times birds were protected by the native belief that divine messages were conveyed by bird cries, and by royal edict forbidding the killing of species furnishing the material for feather cloaks, contributions towards which were long almost the only taxes paid.
A bird called moho, but actually of a different family, was the Pennula ecaudata or millsi, which had hardly any tail, and had wings so degenerate that it was commonly thought wingless.
From this time the whole structure of the kiwi has certainly been far better known than that of nearly any other bird, and by degrees other examples found their way to England, some of which were distributed to the various museums of the Continent and of America.'
While hunting for its food the bird makes a continual sniffing sound through the nostrils, which are placed at the extremity of the upper mandible.
That the sense of touch is highly developed seems quite certain, because the bird, although it may not be audibly sniffing, will always first touch an object with the point of its bill, whether in the act of feeding or of surveying the ground; and when shut up in a cage or confined in a room it may be heard, all through the night, tapping softly at the walls..
It is amusing to observe the extreme care and deliberation with which the bird draws the worm from its hidingplace, coaxing it out as it were by degrees, instead of pulling roughly or breaking it.
Externally the most striking feature of the bird is its head, armed with a powerful beak that it well knows how to use, and its face clothed with hairs and elongated feathers that sufficiently resemble the physiognomy of an owl to justify the generic name bestowed upon it.
The aborted condition of this process can hardly be regarded but in connexion with the incapacity of the bird for flight, and may very likely be the result of disuse.
A magnetic observatory was equipped at Bogen Atlas range the food of this bird is said to consist chiefly of the Testudo mauritanica, which "it carries to some height in the air, and lets fall on a stone to break the shell" (Ibis, 18 59, p. 1 77).
It is a very plainlooking bird, black above and white beneath, and about the size of a pigeon.
All the bright-hued examples we now see in captivity have been induced by carefully breeding from any chance varieties that have shown themselves; and not only the colour, but the build and stature of the bird have in this manner been greatly modified.
This bird is still more beautifully coloured than the chaffinch - especially in summer, when, the brown edges of the feathers being shed, it presents a rich combination of black, white and orange.
But it is almost as unquestionable that the name was originally applied to the bird which we know as the guinea-fowl, and there is no doubt that some authors in the 16th and 17th centuries curiously confounded these two species.
Much labour has been given by various naturalists to ascertain the date of its introduction to Europe, to which we can at present only make an approximate attempt; 3 but after all that has been written it is plain that evidence concurs to show that the bird was established in Europe by 1530 - a very short time to have elapsed since it became known to the Spaniards, which could hardly have been before 1518, when Mexico was discovered.
In 1555 both sexes were characteristically figured by Belon (Oyseaux, p. 249), as was the cock by Gesner in the same year, and these are the earliest representations of the bird known to exist.
This has been much crossed with the American Bronze, the largest of all, which has the beautiful metallic plumage of the wild bird, with the 1 The French Coq and Poule d'Inde (whence Dindon) involve no contradiction, looking to the general idea of what India then was.
The bird was evidently plentiful down to the very seaboard of.
If this supposition be true, there would be reason to believe in the double introduction of the bird into England at least, as already hinted, but positive information is almost wholly wanting.'
Those who only know the Snipe as it shows itself in the shooting-season, when without warning it rises from the boggy ground uttering a sharp note that sounds like scape, scape, and, after a few rapid twists, darts away, if it be not brought down by the gun, to disappear in the distance after a desultory flight, have no conception of the bird's behaviour at breeding-time.
A few seconds after each of these headlong descents a mysterious sound strikes his ear - compared by some to drumming, and by others to the bleating of a sheep or goat,' which sound evidently comes from the bird as it shoots downwards, and then only.
A similar sound may be made by affixing those feathers to the end of a rod and drawing them rapidly downwards in the same position as they occupy in the bird's tail while it is performing the feat.
Thus the bill becomes a most delicate organ of sensation, and by its means the bird, while probing for food, is at once able to distinguish the nature of the objects it encounters, though these are wholly out of sight.
Sometimes the soul is conceived as a bird.