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Alive and on the wing they may be immediately distinguished by the pure white rump and tail-coverts of the Green Sandpiper, which are very conspicuous, especially as the bird rises; the white on the same parts of the Wood Sandpiper is much marked with brown, and consequently never appears so conspicuously.
This ornament as also the head, throat, back, wings, and upper tail-coverts is of the very richest green, with a gloss of gold, which glows, when moved by the breeze, with a changeable sheen. The upper tail-coverts are exceedingly long, projecting considerably beyond the tail, and flowing gracefully over the stiffer feathers beneath them. The lower part of the body is of a rich carmine.
The rest of the bath is orange-brown, the tail-coverts and tail dark bronzy, the wings light orange-buff: The whole under surface is covered with an abundance of plumage springing from the margins of the breast, and of a rich deep green colour, with changeable hues of purple.
If we admit the principle of gradual evolution, there must formerly have existed many species which presented every successive step between the wonderfully elongated tail-coverts of the peacock and the short tail- coverts of all ordinary birds; and again between the magnificent ocelli of the former, and the simpler ocelli or mere coloured spots on other birds; and so with all the other characters of the peacock.
The tail-feathers are frequently increased in length; as we see in the tail-coverts of the peacock, and in the tail itself of the Argus pheasant. With the peacock even the bones of the tail have been modified to support the heavy tail- coverts. Dr. W. Marshall, 'Uber den Vogelschwanz, ibid.
The nuthatch of England belongs to the species just named. He does not wear a black hood or mantle, but merely a black ribbon on the side of his head, enclosing the eye. His upper parts are bluish gray, save the outer tail feathers, which are black; his cheeks and throat are white, his breast and belly buff, and his flanks and lower tail-coverts chestnut red. A graphic English writer, Dr.
The lower part of the back, and the upper tail-coverts, are of a resplendent green with an orange gloss; and the wings and tail of purple-black, the two elongated feathers of the tail excepted they being of a purplish-green. Its nest appears as if formed of leather, and is so cleverly woven that it can scarcely be distinguished from the bark or fungi growing on the branch to which it is fixed.
The chin is black, with a green gloss; the throat is of a deep metallic purple; while a large crescent-shaped mark of huff appears on the upper part of the chest. There is a grey spot in the centre of the abdomen, and a buff one on each flank, the under tail-coverts being of a greenish hue. The female differs greatly from her consort.
In the neighbourhood of Santa Fe, another very beautiful and curious little bird, the copper-bellied puff-leg, is found, at an elevation of about 9000 feet. The head of the male, the sides of the neck, and back, are green, with a bronzed tint, except on the tail-coverts, where the green is pure, and of metallic brilliancy.
Buffalo, Italian, mode of fighting of the. Buffon, on the number of species of man. Bufo sikimmensis. Bugs. Buist, R., on the proportion of the sexes in salmon; on the pugnacity of the male salmon. Bulbul, pugnacity of the male; display of under tail-coverts by the male. Bull, mode of fighting of the; curled frontal hair of the. Buller, Dr., on the Huia; the attachment of birds.
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