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MORILLON , a name commonly given by fowlers to the See also: female or immature male of the See also: GOLDEN-See also: EYE (q.v.), the Clangula glaucion of See also: modern See also: ornithology, under the belief—which still very generally obtains among them, as it once did among naturalists —that they formed a distinct See also: species of See also: duck
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The See also: mistake no doubt originated in, and is partly excused by, the facts that the birds called Morillons were often of opposite sexes, and differed greatly from the adult male Golden-Eye, whose full and beautiful plumage is not assumed until the second See also: year
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The word is used in French in precisely the same See also: form, but it is in that language applied to the Tufted Duck, Fuligula cristata, and is derived, according to Littre, from more, signifying black
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[back] EDUARD FRIEDRICH MORIKE (1804-1875) |
[next] JEAN MORIN (latinized JOANNES MORINUS) (1591-1659) |
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