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Seltne teutsche Vögel
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Birds. LXV. Vol. IV. No. 65., SCARCE GERMAN BIRDS., Fig. 1. The long legged plover. (Charadrius himantopus.), This rare bird belongs to the tribe of the marfh-birds, and especially to the kind of the plovers. Its size may be compared to that of the golden or green plover. Its long, extraordinarily thin and nimbleî; legs give it a peculiar appearance. The back is of a fhining black; the quill -feathers are brown, edged with white; head, neck and breast are white. It occurs on the sides of the Danube and other large rivers, but is also sometimes met with as a bird of passage. It runs and flies with uncommon fwiftness and fubfifts chiefly on Water-infects., Fig. 2. The Avoset. (Recurvirostra avosetta.), This bird is also called the sco per; It belongs on account of the form of its bill to the crooked bills of the marfh-birds; It equals in regard to its size and legs the long legged plover but its body is much thicker and its feet are provided with a fwim-membrane like the feet of a duck. Its colour consists of grey, white and black. It lives in Europe and Asia but is very fréquent, especially in fummer upon the fwedish Island Orland, on the coasts of the Baltic, and in Denmark. It is a bird of passage. that migrâtes with the beginning of winter to warmer régions. Its flesh is eatable., Fig. 3. The Small Bittern or Bittour. (Ardea stellaris.), The fmali Bittern is a folitary but beautiful marfh-bird, which lives in the most fequestered reed-banks, and never cornes forth in day-time. In regard to its size it is superiour to the thrufh; its fhape is that of the common Bittern. Its colour is of a tawny caft mixed with black. It lives on small fïfhes, waterfnails and frogs, and is also a bird of passage., Fig. 4. The Rose-coloured Thrush. (Turdus rossus.), This beautiful bird occurs in Europe as well as in Asia, but is by far not so fréquent in Germany as it is in Sweden, Lapland, and Switzerland. It is a bird of passage and cornes especially in July atid August in large flocks into Turkey and Syria, where it sinds a plentiful fubfifreuce from the locufts, whence in those countries it is still considered as a holy bird. It is also called the field-thrufh from its refiding frequently in the fields or on the dunghills where it feeds on insects. It generally grows to the size of a starling. The body is Rose-coloured but its head, throat, wings and tail are of a dark-blue glittering green. Its head is adorned with a beautiful fhining Greft. It is not easily to be tamed.
