Identifier: birditsformfuncti00beeb (find matches)
Title: The bird, its form and function
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: Beebe, William, 1877-1962
Subjects: Birds -- Anatomy Birds -- Physiology
Publisher: New York, H. Holt and company
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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Next in the list of strenuous seekers after fish wemust mention the osprey, which hovers on slowly vibrat-ing wings, treading the air, as it were, over some favouritespot, until a finny back shows itself near the surface,when, giving itself to gravitation, the bird drops like aplummet. It seizes its prey in its talons, while our com-mon kingfisher, after watching patiently from somebranch overhanging the water, uses its bill to capturethe fish. Terns dive for their fish, gulls usually snatchthem from the surface, and skuas and jaegers get theirsat second hand, stealing fish from the more skilful fishersof the sea. When schools of mullet leap in frantic fearfrom the water to escape the attacks of porpoises, orwhen the dolphins force the flying-fish above the surface,the merciless Frigate-bird has but to pick and choose.Certain cormorants are the analogues of mans gill-nets,a flock of these birds surrounding a school of fish in ahalf-circle and driving them ashore or into shallow water.
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?5 156 The Bird Herons are the still-fishers of the bird world, and standin the shallows, silent and motionless as the reeds aroundthem, with their lance-like beaks in rest and their necks

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