On the anatomy and habits of the water-ousel (Cinclus aquaticus) / by Edwards Crisp.

  • Crisp, Edwards, 1806-1882.
Date:
[1865]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the anatomy and habits of the water-ousel (Cinclus aquaticus) / by Edwards Crisp. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    examined them, as I had done on former occasions, in relation to the two questions above referred to. As the evidence of one inquirer in reference to the habits of this or of any other bird is comparatively valueless, let me quote a few authorities upon the subject. Montagu, in his Ornithological Dictionary, says he “ discovered the nest of this bird in consequence of the old bird flying, with a fish in its bill, to the young. These were nearly fledged, but incapable of flight; and the moment the nest was disturbed, they fluttered out and dropped into the water, and, to our astonishment, instantly vanished, but in a little time made their appearance at some distance down the stream, and it was with difficulty two out of five were taken, as they dived on being approached. The motion under water,” he says, “ is effected by short jerks from the shoulder-joint, not, as in all other diving-birds, with extended wings.” Yarrell dissected this bird, and found nothing in its structure to account for its diving and remaining on the ground without any muscular effort. Mr. Macgillivray (Naturalist, vol. i. p. 105) says, “ I have seen the Dipper moving under water in situations where I could observe it with certainty, and I readily perceived that its actions were similar to those of the Divers, Mergansers, and Cormorants, which I have often watched from an eminence as they pursued the shoals of sand- eels along the sandy shores of the Hebrides. It in fact flew, not merely using the wing from the carpal joint, but extending it con- siderably, and employing its whole extent as if moving in the air. The general direction of the body is obliquely downwards ; and great force is evidently used to counteract the effects of gravity, the bird finding it difficult to keep at the bottom.” Other observers have given similar testimony, some asserting that hubbies of air appeared on the surface after the bird was submerged : but these must have arisen from the disturbance of the earth at the bottom of the river; for no diving-bird, I believe, emits air from its lungs when under water. The air is got rid of before the act of diving takes place. But let me now speak of some parts of the anatomy of this bird, before I attempt to answer the first question. The average weight of this bird is said to be 2^ oz.; but in four that I have weighed the average weight has been about 2^ oz., the males being a little heavier than the females; the length 7 j inches, and II inches from the tip of each wing. The brain weighed 10 grains, the eyes 12 grains, the skin and feathers 132 grains, the pectoral muscles 135 grains. The gizzard moderately thick, and lined with a tough cuticle. The length of the whole alimentary tube was 1G inches; the oesophagus, as in the other Merulidce, not dilated into a crop. The trachea of nearly uniform calibre, and consisting of 36 rings; the vocal muscles largely developed, as in the other members of this family. The tail-glands comparatively of large size. I have depicted all the above parts in the drawing before the Society; but the parts of the anatomy of this bird to which I am anxious to direct attention are the shortness of the wing and the great development of the wing-muscles—features which l believe will in [2]