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akes mounds or ant-hills over its nests. -- Hill myna (Zoöl.), one of several species of birds of India, of the genus Gracula, and allied to the starlings. They are easily taught to speak many words. [Written also hill mynah.] See Myna. -- Hill partridge (Zoöl.), a partridge of the genus Aborophila, of which numerous…

Covered with hairlike feathers, as the feet of certain birds.

A genus of birds including the swallows and martins.

on; to perform successfully; to attain to; to accord with; to be conformable to; to suit. Birds learning tunes, and their endeavors to hit the notes right. Locke. There you hit him; . . . that argument never fails with him. Dryden. Whose saintly visage is too bright To hit the sense of human sight. Milton. He scarcely…

A remarkable South American bird (Opisthocomus cristatus); the crested touraco. By some zoölogists it is made the type of a distinct order (Opisthocomi).

g a single series of large scutes on the posterior side of the tarsus; -- said of certain birds.

Having the main artery of the leg parallel with the sciatic nerve; -- said of certain birds.

homoplasmy). Thus, there is homogeny between the fore limb of a mammal and the wing of a bird; but the right and left ventricles of the heart in both are only in homoplasy with each other, these having arisen independently since the divergence of both groups from a univentricular ancestor.

nd arm of a man; or that between the arm of a man, the fore leg of a horse, the wing of a bird, and the fin of a fish, all these organs being modifications of one type of structure.

Having the head conspicuously different in color from the rest of the plumage; -- said of birds.

he opposite edges of a garment, etc. -- Hook bill (Zoöl.), the strongly curved beak of a bird. -- Hook ladder, a ladder with hooks at the end by which it can be suspended, as from the top of a wall. -- Hook motion (Steam Engin.), a valve gear which is reversed by V hooks. -- Hook squid, any squid which has the arms…

Having the form of a hookl curvated; as, the hooked bill of a bird.

A European bird of the genus Upupa (U. epops), having a beautiful crest, which it can erect or depress at pleasure. Called also hoop, whoop. The name is also applied to several other species of the same genus and allied genera.

To move by successive leaps, as toads do; to spring or jump on one foot; to skip, as birds do. [Birds] hopping from spray to spray. Dryden.

opping Dick (Zoöl.), a thrush of Jamaica (Merula leucogenys), resembling the English blackbird in its familiar manners, agreeable song, and dark plumage.

A projection from the beak of a bird, as in the hornbill. (b) A tuft of feathers on the head of a bird, as in the horned owl. (c) A hornlike projection from the head or thorax of an insect, or the head of a reptile, or fish. (d) A sharp spine in front of the fins of a fish, as in the horned pout.

Any bird of the family Bucerotidæ, of which about sixty species are known, belonging to numerous genera. They inhabit the tropical parts of Asia, Africa, and the East Indies, and are remarkable for having a more or less horn-like protuberance, which is usually large and hollow and is situated on the upper side of the b…

A yearling; a bird of the year.

t or over a place or object; to be suspended in the air above something. Great flights of birds are hovering about the bridge, and settling on it. Addison. A hovering mist came swimming o'er his sight. Dryden.

A humming bird.