y; and a yellow butterfly with
blue and red spots, and black-speckled wings (Papilio Machaon), to
harmonize both. It is just as if the flower were gradually turning into
the bird. Examples of the Starry Allegret _have_ been 'obtained'--in
the British Islands. It is said to be numerous, unobtained, in India,
China, Japan, Persia, Greece, North Africa, Italy, and France. I have
never heard of anybody's seeing it, however.
II.C.
ALLEGRETTA NYMPHAEA, MINUTA. TINY ALLEGRET.
98. 'Tiny Allegret,'--Yarrell's 'Little Crake,' (but see names in
Appendix). It is a little more rosy than 'Stellaris' in the gray of its
neck, passing into brown; and Mr. Gould has put it with a pink water
plant, which harmonizes with it to the bird's advantage; while the tiny
creature stands on the bent leaf of a reed, and scarcely bends it more!
"It runs with rapidity over broken reeds, and moves gracefully, raising
and displaying its tail at every step." It has so very small a tail to
display, however, that I should hardly think the display was worth
while. "It is very cunning, and especially noticeable for the subtlety
with which it wearies the dog of the sportsman by executing a thousand
evolutions with surprising celerity; whence comes the trivial name of
'kill-dog' bestowed upon it in some localities. Pursued to extremity,
it casts itself into the water, swims with ease, and dives at the
moment its enemy is about to seize it; or it conceals itself in a tuft
of reeds or a bush, and by this means often escapes with impunity. It
loves to breed among the reeds, and in long and thick grass, frequently
in small companies of its own species, or of the Stellaris. The female
lays her eggs on an inartificially constructed platform of decayed
leaves or stalks of marsh plants, slightly elevated above the water."
How elevated, I cannot find proper account,--that is to say, whether it
is hung to the stems of growing reeds, or built on hillocks of soil,
but the bird is always liable to have its nest overflowed by floods.
The full-grown bird is dressed in an exquisite perfection of barred
bodice, spotted chemisette, and waved feathers edged with gray on the
back.
99. The reader will please recollect these three Allegrets as the
second group of the dab- or dabble-chicks; and, while the water-ouzel
is a mountain and torrent bird, these inhabit exclusively flat lands
and calm water, belonging properly to temperate, inclining to warm,
climates, and able
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