OAR COCK.-A name for the Water-rail. OAT FOWL.-A name for the Snow-fleck. OKE.-A name for the Auk, and for the Razor-bill. OLIVACEOUS GALLINULE (Gallinula Foljambei, MONTAGU.) *Gallinula Bailloni, Temm. Man. d'Orn. 2. p. 692.-Flem. Br. Anim. p. 99.-Supp. to Mont. Orn. Dict. This species of Water-hen, was fortunately rescued by the hands of Mr. Foljambe, who discovered it in a poulterer's shop, early in the month of May, 1812, together with some other valuable birds, which had recently been received from the fens in Norfolk. The following description was originally taken from the bird when it was recently. killed. The weight was not noted; but the length is seven inches and a half; breadth ten inches and a half. The bill is nearly three quarters of an inch long, of a greenish-yellow colour, the base red; irides and orbits bright red, inclining to orange; cheeks and forehead dusky cinereous; sides of the neck and throat pale cinereous; breast, belly, and thighs plain dark cinereous or slate-colour, like the water-rail, without spots or markings of any kind; the back of the head deep olive-brown; hind neck lighter, being of a yellowish-olive; the feathers of the back have a mixture of olive-brown and dusky-black, the margins being mostly of the former colour, with paler edges; scapulars dusky-black, with broad olive margins; coverts of the wings olive-brown; quills dusky, the outer webs edged with olive; rump and upper coverts of the tail very dark olive-brown, with a mixture of dusky-black; the feathers of the tail are of a deep dusky-brown, the shafts paler and the lateral ones margined with olive-yellow; vent and under coverts of the tail dusky-cinereous, some of the feathers deeply margined with sullied white; sides behind the thighs olive, slightly margined as the last; the legs, toes, and knees olive. The tail, when examined by Mr. Foljambe, had only ten feathers; but this must be considered as accidental, as we believe all the species of this genus have invariably twelve feathers in that part when perfect. It is rather rounded at the end, the exterior feathers being half an inch shorter than the middle ones. When this bird was first examined, it was suspected to be the Soree Gallinule, Gallinula Carolina of Index Ornithologicus, but except in size, it has no other characters of that bird, for all authors record that species as having a bare space on the forehead; a circumstance not unusual in several of the genus, exemplified in the common Gallinule. The face round the bill, the chin, and part of the neck before, is in the Soree black. Mr. Pennant says, the greater part of the front of the neck is deep black; the belly and sides dirty white, the latter barred downwards with black. Highly laudable as it is, to avoid a useless multiplication of species, yet we must not conclude the subject is exhausted, and that new objects are not to be found, even within our own limited sphere. Some of the aquatic birds belong equally perhaps to the north of both the American and European continents, as the distance between these two quarters of the globe is there not very distant, or at least is in a manner connected by an extended chain of islands that may favour an interchange; but we must consider, that whatever migrations take place from the higher latitudes of either country, on the approach of the rigorous season they are performed over land, or coastwise southerly, each in their respective country, which could not be the case with this species, and the short wings of this certainly render it equally improbable that it could be the Soree Gallinule. Strange as it may appear, that a bird so ill calculated for migration should be for the first time discovered in a country so populous and so cultivated, and where the science of natural history is more generally diffused in the present era than in any part of the world; yet it is probable that the Foljambean Gallinule may hereafter be found to breed in the fens of the eastern parts of Great Britain. It is more than bable the bird in question would be mistaken for the water-rail, by the generality of sportsmen who might meet with it, and consequently may have frequently been consigned to oblivion, for want of the eye of the naturalist, and the rescuing hand of science. pro The habits of the smaller species of Gallinules, are their principal security; they are equally capable of diving and concealing their bodies under water, with only the bill above the surface to secure respiration, and to run with celerity and conceal themselves amongst the rushes and flags of swampy places, from which they are with great difficulty roused, even with the assistance of dogs, depending more on concealment in thick cover, than upon their wings, to avoid danger, which combine to keep these species of birds in obscurity. It is somewhat remarkable that this hitherto concealed species should be discovered in different quarters at the same time, Mr. Plasted, of Chelsea, having procured another specimen on the banks of the Thames, about the same time with Mr. Foljambe, which prevents its being considered as a lusus variety of any other species. About seven years after, another specimen was named Gallinule Bailloni, after M. Baillon, the coadjutor of Buffon, by Temminck, who describes it as haunting the banks of rivers and lakes, in many provinces of France, and in the whole of Italy. Its nest, he adds, is formed near the water, generally laying seven or eight eggs, of the shape of an olive, and of a brownish-olive colour, while its principal food consists of insects, snails, water-plants, &c.* OLIVE. A name for the Oyster Catcher. OLIVE TUFTED DUCK.-A name for the Golden Eye. ORANGE-LEGGED HOBBY (Falco Rufipes, BECHSTEIN.) Faucon, Temm. Man. d'Orn. 1. p. 33.-Falco Rufipes, Beseke. Vög. Kurlands, p. 13. 14. male and female.-Bechst. Tasschenb. Deut. 2. p. 39.-Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. 1. p. 64.-Ib. Vög. Liv. und. Esthl. p. 23.-Falco Vespertinus, Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 282.-Lath. Ind. Orn. 1. p. 46.-Buff. pl. Enl. 431.-Ingrian Falcon, Lath. Syn. 1. p. 102.—Orange-legged Hobby, Lath. Syn. and Supp. 2. p. 46. Several specimens of this small falcon having been lately met with in this country, a brief description may not be unacceptable. Three of these were seen at Horsing, Norfolk, and proved upon examination to be an adult, male, and female; a fourth has also been shot at Holkham Park.' The general plumage is described by Temminck as being of bluish colour, with occasional spots; cere and legs red; claws yellow; the head, neck, and breast, vent, and, in general, all the upper parts of the body, of a greyish-lead colour, without spots; the thighs, belly, lesser coverts, and the tail spotted with red; it measures ten inches and six lines in length; the female is a little larger than the male; the head, with black longitudinal streaks behind the neck, which is brown with black margins; the upper part of the body of a bluish-black colour; the sides of the head and throat of a bright red. The young male resembles the female till after the second moulting, when they begin to assume the plumage of the adult male. It is common in Russia, Poland, Austria, and in Italy, and beyond the Alps. It is very rare in France and Holland. ORBIT.-The skin that surrounds the eye, which in some birds is bare of feathers, as in the Heron. ORIOLUS (TEMMINCK.)- Oriole, a genus thus characterised. Bill somewhat conical, flattened at its base, straight, and sharp pointed; the cutting edges (tomia) scymetar-shaped, and bending a little inwards; the upper mandible slightly notched, and longer than the lower one; nostrils at the side of the base, and naked, pierced in a large membrane; wings having the first quill very short, and the third the longest; shank shorter, or at most, not longer than the middle toe; feet with three toes before and one behind, and having the outer toe joined to the middle one." OSPREY (Pandion haliaetus, SAVIGNY.) *Balbusardus Haliæetus, Flem. Br. Anim. p. 51.-Falco Haliæetus, Linn. 1. p. Mag. of Nat. Hist. iv. 116. p. P. 13. 2 347 Provincial.-Fishing Hawk. Fishing Eagle. Bald Buzzard.* This large species of falcon weighs between four and five pounds; length near two feet; the bill is black; cere blue; irides yellow; the feathers on the head are brown, with white margins; the back part of the head, throat, and neck, white, with a little mixture of brown; beneath the eye is a band of brown, reaching almost to the shoulder; the body is brown above, the under parts are white; the feathers of the tail are transversely barred with white on the inner webs, except the two middle ones, which are wholly brown; legs short, strong, naked, of a bluish-ash colour; claws long, much hooked, and black; the outer toe turns easily backwards; and, what is remarkable, the claw belonging to it is larger than that of the inner toe. These birds seem to vary a little in plumage; that from which Mr. Pennant took his description, had a spot of white on the joint of the wing next the body; the breast spotted with dull yellow; the greater quills black; the interior webs varied with brown and white. This species is now rarely met with in England, and more frequently in Devonshire than elsewhere; it resides chiefly near water, especially large rivers and lakes. Its principal food is fish, which it catches with great dexterity, by pouncing on them with vast rapidity, and carrying them off in its talons. We are informed that it is frequently seen about the lake of Killarney, in Ireland; and at particular seasons, no doubt, breeds there. It is said to make its nest generally on the ground by the side of water, composed of flags and rushes; but we once saw the nest of this bird on the top of a chimney of a ruin, in an island on Loch Lomond, in Scotland; it was large and flat, formed of sticks laid across, and resting on the sides of the chimney, lined with flags. It is said to lay three or four white eggs, of an elliptical form, rather less than those of a hen. Many of the ancient writers have described this bird to have one foot subpalmuted, a circumstance that has never occurred in any animal; each side always corresponding in size and shape. The Osprey can neither swim nor dive, but takes its prey as they approach the surface of the water. *The manœuvres of this bird, while in search of his prey, is described by Wilson, in his usual eloquent manner:-" On leaving his nest,” he says, “he usually flies direct till he comes to the sea, then sails round in easy curving lines, turning sometimes in the air as on a pivot, apparently without the least exertion, rarely moving the wings; his legs extended in a straight line behind, and his remarkable strength and curvature of wing distinguishing him from all other hawks. Suddenly he is seen to check his course, as if struck by a particular object, which |