bastard-sena, in botany; a genus of the decandra order, belonging to the diadelphia class of plants. There are three species, all of them deciduous flowering shrubs, adorned with many lobed leaves, and butterfly-shaped flowers, of a deep yellow or red colour. They are propagated both by seeds and layers, and are hardy enough, though sometimes require a little shelter, when the weather is very cold.

Columbus, in ornithology, a genus belonging to the order of anteris. The bill has no teeth, is subulated, strait, and sharp-pointed; the teeth are in the Columbus throat; the nostrils are linear, and at the base of the bill; and the legs are unfit for walking. This genus includes the grebes and divers. The species are eleven.

1. The grebe is in length 14 inches, in breadth 22; the bill is an inch and an half long, strait, slender, and black; the inside of the mouth red; on each wing is a large bed of white, which in young birds is spotted; the tips of the lesser quill-feathers, and the coverts of the wings, are white except those, the whole plumage is black. In winter it is said to change to white; and a variety spotted with black and white is not uncommon in Scotland. The tail consists of 12 feathers; the legs are red. These birds are found on the Bass Isle in Scotland; in the island of St Kilda; and, as Mr Ray imagines, in the Farn Islands off the coast of Northumberland. It has also been seen on the rocks of Llanddono, in Caernarvonshire, in Wales. Except in breeding-time it keeps always at sea; and is very difficult to be shot, diving at the flash of the pan. The Welsh call this bird cafgan longur, or "the sailor's hatred," from a notion that its appearance forebodes a storm. It visits St Kilda's in March; makes its nest far underground; and lays a grey egg, or, as Steller says, whitish and spotted with rust, and speckled with ash-colour.

2. The troile weighs 24 ounces; its length is 17 inches, the breadth 27½; the bill is three inches long, black, strait, and sharp-pointed; near the end of the lower mandible is a small process; the inside of the mouth yellow; the feathers on the upper part of the bill are short and soft like velvet; from the eye to the hind part of the head is a small division of the feathers. The head, neck, back, wings, and tail, are of a deep mouse-colour; the tips of the lesser quill-feathers white; the whole under part of the body is of a pure white; the sides under the wings marked with dusky lines. Immediately above the thighs are some long feathers that curl over them. The legs are dusky. They are found in amazing numbers on the high cliffs of several of the British coasts, and appear at the same time with the auk. They are very simple birds; for notwithstanding they are shot at, and lose their companions killed by them, they will not quit the rock. Like the auk they lay only one egg, which is very large: some are of a fine pale blue; others white, spotted, or most elegantly streaked with lines crossing each other in all directions. They continue about the Orkneys the whole winter.

3. The leptentrionalis is more elegantly shaped than the others. It weighs three pounds. The length to the end of the tail is two feet; to the toes, two feet four inches; the breadth, three feet five inches. The head is small and taper; the bill strait; the head and chin are of a fine uniform grey; the hind part of the neck marked with dusky and white lines pointing downwards; the throat is of a dull red; the whole upper part of the body, tail, and wings, of a deep grey, almost dusky; but the coverts of the wings and the back are marked with a few white spots; the under side of the body is white; the legs dusky. This species breeds in the northern parts of Europe, on the borders of lakes; but migrates southward during winter. They build their nests upon the shore without art, and lay a couple of eggs; they run with great quickness upon the water; and prefigure storms by flying and crying with a miserable tone of voice.

4. The articulus is somewhat larger than the last; the bill is black, and also the front; the hind part of the head and neck cinereous; the sides of the neck marked with black and white lines pointing downwards; the fore part of a glossy variable black, purple, and green. The back, scapulars, and coverts of the wings, are black, marked, the two first with square, the last with round spots of white; the quill-feathers dusky; the breast and belly white; the tail short and black; legs partly dusky, and partly reddish.

5. The glaciarius is three feet five inches in length; the breadth four feet eight; the bill to the corners of the mouth four inches long; black and strongly made. The head and neck are of a deep black; the hind part of the latter is marked with a large semilunar white band; immediately under the throat is another; both marked with black oblong strokes pointing down; the lower part of the neck is of a deep black, glossed with a rich purple; the whole under side of the body is white; the sides of the breast marked with black lines; the back, coverts of the wings, and scapulars, are black marked with white spots; those on the scapulars are very large, and of a square shape; two at the end of each feather. The tail is very short, and almost concealed by the coverts, which are dusky, spotted with white; the legs are black. These birds inhabit the northern parts of Britain, live chiefly at sea, and feed on fish; but it is not known whether they breed here as they do in Norway, which has many birds in common with Scotland. In the Highlands it is called mur-bhachail, or "the herdman of the sea," from its being so much in that element.

6. The immer, or ember-goose, is superior in size to a common goose. The head is dusky; the back, coverts of the wings, and tail, clouded with lighter and darker shades of the same. The primaries and tail are black; the under side of the neck spotted with dusky; the breast and belly silvery; the legs black. They inhabit the seas about the Orkney Islands; but in severe winters visit the southern parts of Great Britain. They live so much at sea, that it has been imagined they never quitted the water; and that the young were hatched in a hole formed by nature under the wing for that end. Their skins are uncommonly tough, and in the northern countries have been used as leather.

7. The crystalus, or cargoose, weighs two pounds and an half. Its length is 21 inches, the breadth 30; the bill is two inches and a quarter long, red at the base, and black at the point; between the bill and the eyes is a stripe of black naked skin; the irises are of a fine pale red; the tongue is a third part shorter than the bill; slender, hard at the end, and a little divided; on the head is a large dusky crest, separated in the middle. The cheeks and throat are surrounded with a long pendent ruff, of a bright tawney colour, edged with black; the chin is white; from the bill to the eye is a black line, and above that a white one; the hind part of the neck and the back are of a foot hue; the rump, for it wants a tail, is covered with long soft down. The covert-feathers on the second and third joints of the wings, and the under coverts are white; all the other wing-feathers, except the secondaries, are dusky, those being white; the breast and belly are of a most beautiful silvery white, glossy as satin; the outside of the legs, and the bottom of the feet, are dusky; the inside of the legs, and the toes, of a pale green. These birds frequent the meres of Shropshire and Cheshire, where they breed; and the great fen of Lincolnshire, where they are called gaunts. Their skins are made into tippets, and sold at as high a price as those which come from Geneva. This species lays four eggs of a white colour, and the same size with those of a pigeon. The nest is formed of the roots of bugbane, stalks of water-lily, pond-weed, and water-violet, floating independent among the reeds and flags; the water penetrates it, and the bird sits and hatches the eggs in that wet condition; the nest is sometimes blown from among the flags into the middle of the water; in these circumstances the fable of the halcyon's nest may, in some measure, be vindicated. It is a careful nurse of its young; being observed to feed them most affluently, commonly with small eels; and when the infant-brood are tired, the parent will carry them either on its back, or under its wings. It preys on fish, and is almost perpetually diving; it does not show much more than the head above water; and is very difficult to be shot, as it darts down on the least appearance of danger. It is never seen on land; and, though disturbed ever so often, will not fly farther than the end of the lake. Its skin is out of season about February, losing then its bright colour; and in the breeding time its breast is almost bare. The flesh is excessively rank.

8. The auritus, or eared dob-chick, is in length one foot to the rump; the extent is 22 inches; the bill black, slender, and slightly recurved; the irides crimson; the head and neck are black; the throat spotted with white; the whole upper side of a blackish brown, except the ridge of the wing about the first joint, and the secondary feathers, which are white; the breast, belly, and inner coverts of the wings are white; the subaxillary feathers, and some on the side of the rump ferruginous. Behind the eyes, on each side, is a tuft of long, loose, ruff coloured feathers hanging backwards; the legs are of a dusky green. They inhabit the fens near Spalding, where they breed. No external difference is to be observed between the male and the female of this species. They make their nest not unlike that of the former; and lay four or five small eggs.

9. The urinator differs from the crystalus only in being rather less, and wanting the crest and ruff. The sides of the neck are striped downwards from the head with narrow lines of black and white; in other respects the colours and marks agree with that bird. This species has been shot on Roffern Mere in Cheshire. It is rather scarce in England, but is common in the winter time on the lake of Geneva. They appear there in flocks of ten or twelve; and are killed for the sake of their beautiful skins. The under side of them being dressed with the feathers on, are made into muffs and tippets; each bird sells for about 14 shillings.

10. The dominicus, with lobated feet, a smooth head, and the belly very much spotted.

11. The padiceps, or pied-bill dob-chick, weighs half half a pound; the eyes are large and encompassed with a white circle; the throat has a black spot; a black list crosses the middle of the bill; the lower mandible next the basis has a black spot. The head and neck are brown; the crown of the head and back part of the neck are darkest; the feathers of the breast are light brown mixed with green; the belly is dusky white; the back and wings brown; they frequent many of the fresh water ponds in the inhabited parts of Carolina.