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SHEATHBILL , a See also:bird so-called by T. See also:Pennant in 1781 (Gen. Birds, ed. 2, p. 43) from the horny See also:case 4 which ensheaths the basal See also:part of its See also:bill. It was first made known from having been met with on New-See also:Year See also:Island, off the See also:coast of Staten See also:Land, where See also:Cook anchored on New Year's See also:eve 1774.5 A few days
1 Meaning, no doubt, skimming or " hovering," the latter the word used by See also:- BROWNE
- BROWNE, EDWARD HAROLD (18,1–1891)
- BROWNE, ISAAC HAWKINS (1705-1760)
- BROWNE, JAMES (1793–1841)
- BROWNE, MAXIMILIAN ULYSSES, COUNT VON, BARON DE CAMUS AND MOUNTANY (1705-1757)
- BROWNE, PETER (?1665-1735)
- BROWNE, ROBERT (1550-1633)
- BROWNE, SIR JAMES (1839–1896)
- BROWNE, SIR THOMAS (1605-1682)
- BROWNE, WILLIAM (1591–1643)
- BROWNE, WILLIAM GEORGE (1768-1813)
Browne in his See also:Account of Birds found in See also:Norfolk (See also:Mus. Brit. MS. See also:Sloane, 183o, fol. 5. 22 and 31), written in or about 1662. See also:- EDWARDS, AMELIA ANN BLANDFORD (1831-1892)
- EDWARDS, BELA BATES (18o2-1852)
- EDWARDS, BRYAN (1743–1800)
- EDWARDS, GEORGE (1693–1773)
- EDWARDS, HENRY THOMAS (1837–1884)
- EDWARDS, JONATHAN (1703—1758)
- EDWARDS, LEWIS (1806–1887 )
- EDWARDS, RICHARD (c. 1523–1566)
- EDWARDS, T
- EDWARDS, THOMAS CHARLES (1837–1900)
Edwards (Gleanings, iii. 315) speaks of comparing his own See also:drawing " with See also:- BROWN
- BROWN, CHARLES BROCKDEN (1771-181o)
- BROWN, FORD MADOX (1821-1893)
- BROWN, FRANCIS (1849- )
- BROWN, GEORGE (1818-188o)
- BROWN, HENRY KIRKE (1814-1886)
- BROWN, JACOB (1775–1828)
- BROWN, JOHN (1715–1766)
- BROWN, JOHN (1722-1787)
- BROWN, JOHN (1735–1788)
- BROWN, JOHN (1784–1858)
- BROWN, JOHN (1800-1859)
- BROWN, JOHN (1810—1882)
- BROWN, JOHN GEORGE (1831— )
- BROWN, ROBERT (1773-1858)
- BROWN, SAMUEL MORISON (1817—1856)
- BROWN, SIR GEORGE (1790-1865)
- BROWN, SIR JOHN (1816-1896)
- BROWN, SIR WILLIAM, BART
- BROWN, THOMAS (1663-1704)
- BROWN, THOMAS (1778-1820)
- BROWN, THOMAS EDWARD (1830-1897)
- BROWN, WILLIAM LAURENCE (1755–1830)
Brown's old See also:draught of it, still preserved in the See also:British Museum," and thus identifies the latter's " See also:shearwater " with the " See also:puffin of the Isle of See also:Man."
2 Lyrie appears to be the most See also:common See also:local name for this bird in See also:Orkney and See also:Shetland ; but Scraib and Scraber are also used in See also:Scotland. These are from the Scandinavian Skraape or Skrofa, and considering See also:Skeat's remarks (Etym. See also:Dictionary) as to the See also:alliance between the words shear and scrape it may be that Browne's hesitation as to the derivation of " shearwater ' had more ground than at first appears.
' The See also:chief exception would seem to be the See also:Bay of See also:Bengal and thence throughout the W. of the See also:Malay See also:Archipelago, where, though they may occur, they are certainly uncommon.
4 A See also:strange See also:fallacy arose that this case or sheath was movable. It is absolutely fixed.
5 Doubtless some of the earlier voyagers had encountered it, as See also:Forster suggests (Descr. animalium, p. 330) and See also:Lesson asserts
later he discovered the islands that now See also:bear the name of See also:South See also:Georgia, and there the bird was again found—in both localities frequenting the rocky shores. On his third voyage, while seeking some land reported to have been found by Kerguelen, Cook in See also:December 1976 reached the cluster of desolate islands now generally known by the name of the See also:French explorer, and here, among many other kinds of birds, was a Sheathbill, which for a See also:long while no one suspected to be otherwise than specifically identical with that of the western See also:Antarctic Ocean; but, as will be seen, its distinctness has been subsequently admitted.
The Sheathbill, so soon as it was brought to the See also:notice of naturalists, was recognized as belonging to a genus hitherto unknown, and J. R. Forster in 1788 (Enchiridion, p. 37) conferred upon it, from its snowy plumage, the name Chionis, which has most properly received See also:general See also:acceptance, though in the same year the compiler See also:Gmelin termed the genus Vaginalis, as a rendering of Pennant's See also:English name, and the See also:species See also:alba. It has thus become the Chionis alba of See also:ornithology. It is about the See also:size of and has much the aspect of a See also:Pigeon;' its plumage is pure See also:- WHITE
- WHITE, ANDREW DICKSON (1832– )
- WHITE, GILBERT (1720–1793)
- WHITE, HENRY KIRKE (1785-1806)
- WHITE, HUGH LAWSON (1773-1840)
- WHITE, JOSEPH BLANCO (1775-1841)
- WHITE, RICHARD GRANT (1822-1885)
- WHITE, ROBERT (1645-1704)
- WHITE, SIR GEORGE STUART (1835– )
- WHITE, SIR THOMAS (1492-1567)
- WHITE, SIR WILLIAM ARTHUR (1824--1891)
- WHITE, SIR WILLIAM HENRY (1845– )
- WHITE, THOMAS (1628-1698)
- WHITE, THOMAS (c. 1550-1624)
white, its bill somewhat yellow at the See also:base, passing into See also:pale See also:pink towards the tip. See also:Round the eyes the skin is See also:bare, and beset with cream-coloured papillae, while the legs are bluish-See also:grey. The second or eastern species, first discriminated by G. Hartlaub (Rev. zoologique, 1841, p. 5; 1842, p. 402, pl. 2)2 as C. See also:minor, is smaller in size, with plumage just as white, but having the bill and bare skin of the See also:face See also:black and the legs much darker. The See also:form of the bill's " sheath " in the two species is also quite different, for in C. alba it is almost level throughout, while in C. minor it rises in front like the See also:pommel of a See also:saddle. The western and larger species gathers its See also:food, consisting chiefly of See also:sea-weeds and See also:- SHELL
- SHELL (O. Eng. scell, scyll, cf. Du. sceel, shell, Goth. skalja, tile; the word means originally a thin flake,. cf. Swed. skalja, to peel off; it is allied to " scale " and " skill," from a root meaning to cleave, divide, separate)
shell-See also:fish, on rocks at See also:low See also:water; but it is also known to eat birds' eggs. As to the flavour of its flesh, some assert that it is wholly uneatable, and others that it is palatable. Though most abundant as a See also:shore-bird, it is frequently met with far out at sea, and has once been shot in See also:Ireland. It is not uncommon on the See also:Falkland Isles, where it breeds. C. minor of Kerguelen Land, See also:Prince See also:Edward Island, See also:Marion Island and the Crozets, is smaller, with pinkish feet. The eggs of both species, though of See also:peculiar See also:appearance, bear an unmistakable likeness to those of See also:oyster-catchers, while occasionally exhibiting a resemblance to those of the tropic-birds.
The systematic position of the sheathbills has been the subject of much hesitation, but they are now placed in a See also:special See also:family, Chionidae, amongst Charadriiform birds (see BIRDS), not far from the curious little See also:group of " See also:seed-snipes " of the genera Thinocorys and Attagis, which are peculiar to certain localities in S. See also:America and its islands. (A.
End of Article: SHEATHBILL
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