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INTRODUCTION

TO THE

>

BEING THE ARTICLE “ ORNITHOLOGY,” FROM THE SEVENTH EDITION

OF THE

ENCYCLOPADIA BRITANNICA.

WITH ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE FIGURES.

BY

JAMES * WILSON, _F.R.S.E. M.W.S.

tenor

AND OF THE. ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF FRANCE.

ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK, EDINBURGH;

SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., WHITTAKER & CO., AND HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO. LONDON; AND JOHN CUMMING, DUBLIN.

M. LION, XXXIX.

545

ORNITHOLOGY.

thyological department, but even in his Historia Avium, History.

ORNITHOLOGY, from ogus, bird, and Aédyos, discourse, is 1 vol. folio, 1551, we may trace an improved spirit of ob- —~~—

History. —,— that department of Zoology which treats of the history

and attributes of the feathered race. Birds form the se- cond great division of the animal kingdom, being usually placed immediately after the Mammalia, and antecedent to the reptile class. They may be defined as vertebrated, oviparous animals, covered with feathers, organized for flight, and enjoying a double system of circulation and re- spiration ; that is, their whole blood, like that of quadru- peds, must visit the lungs and return to the heart before it is propelled to the extremities,—and the entire system is provided with reservoirs of air, in addition to the lungs properly so called.

The vast extent which the science of Ornithology has acquired in recent times renders a full exposition impos- sible within our necessarily prescribed limits ; but we shall endeavour at least to indicate the majority of the more important groups, to figure and describe in each some in- teresting species, and by frequent reference to such au- thors as have most successfully treated of the different branches in detail, enable such of our readers as desire a more elaborate view, to follow out the subject for them- selves. We presume it matters not with which depart- ment we commence. Let us begin, then, with the Bib- liography, which, however, need not detain us long.

Few if any important works have been transmitted to us from antiquity. In the third book of Aristotle’s His- tory of Animals (Teg Zawy ‘Iorogiz, the period being about 300 years before the Christian era) we find recorded sundry observations, but brief and superficial, on the fea- thered race.' His division seems to be into such as have hooked claws, such as have separated toes, and such as are web-footed ; and he observes, that the first have the breast the most robust. He describes the differences in the structure of the feet, and notices, that although the generality have three toes in front, and one behind, yet a few have only two toes in front. The bill supplies the place of lips and teeth, and passages in different parts of the head supply the place of the external organs of the senses of smell and sound. The eyes are furnished with a membrane like that possessed by lizards, but want eye- lashes. No bird with hooked claws has likewise spurs upon its legs. These are a few examples of Aristotle's style of observation on the class in question.

Pliny was born about the twentieth year of the Chris- tian era. The tenth book of his Historta Naturalis treats in part of birds, but in a very meagre and immethodical manner. He tells us of the raven and the phenix, of the owl, the ibis, and the nightingale, of capons, and the cock- fights of Pergamus, and of the character and conduct. of various other birds.

For 1500 years from the time of Pliny we have no re- corded observations on Ornithology deserving of the read- er’s recollection. About the middle of the 16th century Conrad Gesner, a native of Zurich, and a noted French- man called Pierre Belon, each published works in part devoted to Ornithology. . The writings of Gesner (Histo- ria Animalium, 8 vols. folio) exhibit a cumbrous erudition, with a sprinkling of original observation, but are chiefly extracted from ancient authors. » Baron Cuvier regarded him as an excellent compiler. His arrangement is alpha- betical. Belon’s most successful efforts were in the ich-

servation, although the basis of his classification would scarcely suffice to support a system now-a-days. He di- vides the class of birds into six primary divisions. 1s¢, The birds of prey, among which, misled probably by some false analogy of plumage, he includes the cuckoo. 2d, The Palmipedes. 3d, The Grallz, including, however, the king-fisher, bee-eater, and other anomalous species. 4¢h, All the species which place their nests upon the ground, —an extraordinary bond of union, which of course brings together the pheasant, the lark, and the woodcock. Ne- vertheless, our author does not confound them in his lesser groups. 5th, The omnivorous and -insectivorous birds, among which are placed the pigeons. 6th, The insecti- vorous and granivorous species, which habitually frequent shrubs and hedges.

Another noted writer of the sixteenth century was Ulys- ses Aldrovandi of Bologna, whose works amount to thirteen volumes folio ;—the majority of them, however, were not published till after his death in 1606. The first three, which treat of birds (as well as one on insects), made their appearance in his lifetime, that is, from 1599 to 1603. They contain some amusing information, amid a vast mass of learned rubbish borrowed from his predecessors. Profes- sor Savi, however, characterised the ornithological portion as “un monumento glorioso del suo instancabile zelo, delle sue estese cognizioni ornithologiche, e della sua universale erudizione.” It is at the same time entirely deficient in scientific precision, and contains, amid much truth, a sad intermixture of unmeaning fable. The edition with which we are best acquainted is that of Bologna, 1634.

About nearly the same period a treatise was published by Gommer de Luzaney, with the title of De [ Autour- serie, which contains some good figures of the birds of prey used in falconry. One of the earliest sketches of the history of European birds is that given by Schwenkfeld, a Prussian naturalist, in a volume entitled Zheorto- Trophe- um Silesie, 1603. The arrangement is alphabetical. Olina’s Uccelliera, which contains tolerable figures of a few species not previously published, appeared at Rome in 1622. It is a small affair, restricted to the description of very few species, but contains accurate and interesting records of their history and mode of capture, as practised by the Italians, with whom da caecia, very different from that of Melton Moubray, is a noted passion. A swarthy, fire-eyed hunter of sixty-five is as proud of a string of. dead linnets as any young Scotchman of sixteen may be of his first well-filled bag of grouse or black game.

We have next a dissertation on storks, cranes, and swallows, by J. G. Swalbacius (Spire, 1630); a natural history of Nurenberg (Antwerp, 1633); a description of the birds of the West Indies, by De Laet (Leyden, same year); a history of the birds of Brazil, by Marcgraaff (in his Hist. Rerum Nat. Brasilie, Amsterdam, 1648); and of those of Mexico, by Hernandez (in his Nova Plant. Animal. et Min. Mexicanorum Hist. Rome, 1651): A Scoto-Pole of the name of Johnston published about this period (some years elapsing during the completion of the various parts) his Historia Animalium, of which the second portion treats of birds. He is a follower, not so much of nature, as of Belon, and other authors of the pre-

1 As in some of our preceding treatises on Natural History in this work (see, for example, the article Mammatta, vol. xiv. p. 74) we have entered at greater length into the general character of the most ancient writers, our present notices are therefore extremely

slight.

*

546 ORNITHOLOGY.

History. ceding century, and was himself followed by Ruysch,

a tooth-like process near the tip; the feet short, robust, History. —\—" whose Theatrum Universale Animalium Omnium may be °

with acute hooked claws.

regarded as a second edition of Johnston’s work. ‘The Natural and Medical History of the East indies, by Bon- tius, appeared in 1658, and contained descriptions of va- rious birds at that time new. Soon afterwards Perrault, Borrichius, and Bartolinus, began to furnish the earliest modern contributions to the anatomy of the feathered race.

Willughby’s Ornzthologia (a posthumous work, believ- ed to have been greatly amended and increased by Ray) was published in 1676, The first edition is in Latin, but an English translation, enlarged, made its appearance two years after. Ray’s own Synopsis Methodica Avium (et Piscium) was likewise published posthumously, under the care of Dr Derham, in 1713. The writings of these au- thors are remarkable, as manifesting an approach to a more natural system of arrangement than had hitherto prevailed; but as they have been so frequently analysed, we deem it unnecessary to occupy our space with any de- tailed exposition of their views. Baron Cuvier has term- ed Ray “le premier véritable méthodiste pour le régne animal, guide principal de Linneus dans cette partie.” In Sir Hans Sloane’s Voyage to Jamaica, &c. (1707-25), we have notices of various birds, accompanied by rather poor engravings; but the work was of great use to science in England, by the attention and emulation which it ex- cited in regard to natural objects, of which the author had brought together upwards of 36,000, besides 200 volumes of preserved plants. His collections formed the original basis of the British Museum. A showy but inaccurate work by Marsilli (1726) is devoted to an interesting sub- ject, the birds of the banks of the Danube. Albin’s Na- tural History of Birds, in 3 vols. 4to (1731-38), contains above three hundred coloured figures. of no great merit. Yet it was afterwards reprinted in French, with additions, at the Hague. About the same period was published Catesby’s Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands, in 2 vols. tolio, and appendix (1731-43), with numerous coloured plates of birds and other beings. Frisch’s excellent work on German birds ( Vorstellung der Vogel Deutschlands) was commenced at Berlin in 1734, and was not completed when the author died. It was continued by a stranger, and a collected edition of the whole work, with two hundred and fifty-five plates, was published in 1763. Although by no means highly finish- ed, these engravings are accurate, and exhibit a good deal of the truth of nature. The arrangement is defective, and retrogrades from that of Ray. Seba’s great, or rather large work, the Locupletissimi rerum naturalium Thesauri accurata descriptio, was being carried on during this period at Amsterdam, in four volumes folio (1734-65). It is un- worthy of being quoted, except in reference to the plates.

By this time the illustrious reformer of systematic na- tural history had made his appearance as an author; the first edition of the Systema Nature, consisting of only fourteen pages folio, having been published at Leyden in 1735, when Linnzus was not more than eighteen years of age. It ran through twelve editions in little more than thirty years; the twelfth impression, the last which the author could himself revise, appearing at Stockholm in 1766-68. The influence exercised by the writings of the great Swedish naturalist is too important to admit of our proceeding farther without exhibiting a view of his clas- sification, so far at least as concerns the feathered race. The following table presents an outline of the Linnean arrangement of birds, which he divides into six primary groups called orders.

Orver I. Accirirrss, or birds of prey. The bill more or less curved, the upper mandible dilated, or armed with

Genus Vultur. Vultures. Beak hooked; head bare: eight

species.

Faico. Eagles and hawks. thered: thirty-two species.

Striz. Owls. Beak hooked, feathers at its base di- rected forwards : twelve species.

Lanius. Shrikes. Beak straightish, notched: twenty- siX species.

Beak hooked ; head fea-

Orver II. Picm. The bill cultriform, with the back convex ; the feet short, rather strong.

Genus Pstttacus. Parrots. Beak hooked ; upper mandible furnished with a cere: forty-seven species.

Rhamphastos. Toucans. Beak very large, hollow, con- vex, serrated ; both mandibles incurved at the tip: eight species.

Buceros. Hornbills. Beak convex, curved, cultrate, large, serrated; forehead covered by a horny plate: four species.

Buphaga. Beef-eaters. Beak straight, somewhat quad- rangular; the mandibles bulging : one species.

Crotophaga. — Plantain-eaters. Beak compressed, half egg-shaped, arched, keeled on the back : two species.

Corvus. Crows. Beak convex, cultrate; nostrils co- vered by recumbent bristly feathers: nineteen species.

Coracias. Rollers. Beak conical, convex, straight, acute; upper mandible slightly longer, and indistinct- ly notched: twenty species.

Gracula. -Grakles. Beak cultrate, convex, somewhat bare at the base: eight species.

Paradisea. Birds of Paradise. Beak covered with the downy feathers of the forehead ; feathers of the sides long: three‘species.

Trogon. Curucuis. Beak shorter than the head, cul- trate, hooked, serrated: three species.

Bucco. Barbets. Beak cultrate, laterally compress- ed, notched at the tip, incurved, opening to beneath the eyes: one species.

Cuculus. Cuckoos. Beak roundish; nostrils with a prominent margin: twenty-two species.

Yunx. Wrynecks. Beak roundish, sharp pointed ; nostrils concave: one species. Picus. Woodpeckers. Beak angular, straight, the

tip wedge-shaped ; the nostrils covered with recum- bent bristly feathers: twenty-one species.

Sitta. Nut-hatches. Beak awl-shaped, roundish, straight: three species.

Todus. ‘Todus. Beak awl-shaped, a little flattened, obtuse, straight, with spreading bristles at the base: two species.

Alcedo. King-fishers. Beak three-cornered, thick, straight, long: fifteen species.

Merops. Bee-eater. Beak eurved, compressed, keel- ed: seven species.

Upupa. Hoopoes. Beak arcuate, convex, a little com- pressed, rather cbtuse: three species.

Certhia. Creepers, Beak arcuate, slender, acute: twenty-five species.

Trochilus. Humming-birds. Beak slender, longer than the head, its tip tubular: twenty-two species.

OrpeER III. Awnsreres. Web-footed water-fowl. Bill smeoth, covered with epidermis, enlarged at the tip; the toes united by a web, the legs compressed and short.

Genus Anas. Swans, geese, ducks. Beak lamellated at the margin, convex, obtuse: forty-five species.

DS;

*

ORNITHOLOGY. 547

History. Genus Mergus. Mergansers. Beak denticular cylindrical,

the tip hooked: six species.

Alea. Auks. Beak short, compressed, convex, fur- rowed, the lower mandible with a prominent angle: five species.

Procellaria. Petrels. Beak a little compressed ; the upper mandible hooked, the lower channelled and compressed at the tip: six species. y

Diomedea. Albatrosses. Beak straight; upper man- dible hooked at the tip, lower abrupt: two species.

Pelecanus. Pelicans, solan-geese, cormorants. Beak straight, the tip hooked, unguiculate : eight species.

Plotus. Darters. Beak straight, sharp-pointed, den- ticulate: one species.

Phaeton. Tropic birds. Beak cultrate, straight, acu- minate: two species.

Colymbus. Divers. Beak slender, straight, sharp-point- ed: eleven species.

Larus. Gull. Beak straight, cultrate, the tip slightly hooked, the lower mandible with an angular pro- minence: eleven species.

Sterna. Terns or sea-swallows. Beak slender, nearly straight, acute, compressed: seven species.

Rynchops. Skimmers. Beak straight ; upper mandible much shorter, lower abruptly terminated : two species.

OrveER IV. Gratiz. Waders or shore-birds. Bill

Orpver V. Gaiine. Pouliry and other gallinace- History. ous birds. Bill convex, the upper mandible arched over —~~—~ the lower, the nostrils arched with a cartilaginous mem- brane. Feet with the toes separated, and rough beneath.

Genus Didus. Beak contracted in the middle, with two transverse ruge; the tip of both mandibles bent in- wards: one species, now extinct. Pavo. Pea-fowl. Head covered with feathers, those of the rump elongated, with eye-like spots: three species. Meleagris. Turkeys. Head covered with spongy ca- runcles ; the throat with a longitudinal membranous wattle: three species.

Crax. Curassoes. Beak with a cere at the base; head covered with recurved feathers: five species.

Phasianus. Domestic fowls and pheasants. Sides of the head bare: six species.

Numida. Guinea-fowls. Carunculated wattles on each side of the face ; head with a horny crest: one species.

Tetrao. Grouse and partridges. Bare papille near the eyes: twenty species.

Orper VI. Passrres. Passerine birds, and others. Bill conical, sharp pointed; feet slender, the toes separated.

Genus Columba. Pigeons. Beak straight; nostrils with a tumid membrane : forty species.

somewhat cylindrical; the feet long, bare above the tarsus, Alauda. Larks. Beak slender, pointed; tongue slit ; and formed for wading. hind claws very long: eleven species.

Sturnus. Starlings. Beak slender, pointed ; flattened Genus Phenicopterus. Flamingoes. Beak incurvated as

if broken, denticulate ; feet webbed: one species.

Platalea. Spoon-bills. Beak flattish, the tip dilated, rounded, and-flat: three species.

Palamedea. Screamers. Beak conical; the upper man- dible hooked : two species.

Mycteria. Jabiru. Beak acute; lower mandible tri- gonal, ascending’; upper three-cornered, straight : one species.

Cancroma. Boat-bills. Beak bulging; the upper man- dible resembling a boat with the keel uppermost: two species.

Ardea. Herons and cranes. Beak straight, acute, long, a little compressed, with a furrow from the nostrils to the tip: twenty-six species.

Tantalus. Ibis. Beak long, slender, arcuate; face bare: seven species.

Scolopax. Snipes and curlews. Beak long, slender, ob- tuse; face feathered: eighteen species.

Tringa. Sand-pipers, or shore-larks. Beak roundish, as long as the head; nostrils linear; feet with four toes: twenty-three specits.

Charadrius. Plovers. Beak roundish, obtuse; feet with three toes ; twelve species.

Recurvirostra. Avosets. Beak slender, recurved, point- ed, the tip flexible: one species.

Hematopus. Ovyster-catchers. Beak compressed, the tip wedge-shaped : one species.

Fulica. Coots. Beak convex; upper mandible arch- ed over the lower, which has a prominent angle: seven species.

Parra. Jacanas. Beak roundish, rather blunt; fore- head wattled ; wings spurred: five species.

Fiallus. Rails. Beak thicker at the base, compressed, acute: ten species.

Psophia. Trumpeter. Beak conical, convex, rather sharp; the upper mandible longer: one species.

Otis. Bustards. Beak with the upper mandible arch- ed: four species.

Strutlio. Ostrich and cassuary. Beak somewhat co- nical ; wings unfit for flying: three species.

towards the point: five species.

Turdus. Thrushes. Beak subulate, compressed, notch- ed: seven species.

Ampelis. Chatterers. Beak awl-shaped, depressed at the base, notched: seven species.

Eoxia. Gross-beaks, bullfinches, &c. Beak conical, bulging at the base: forty-eight species.

Eimberiza. Bunting. Beak somewhat conical; lower mandible broader : twenty-four species.

Tanagra. Tanager. Beak notched, awl-shaped, coni- cal at the base: twenty-one species.

Motacilla. Wagtails and warblers. Beak awl-shaped ; tongue jagged; claw of the hind toe of moderate length: forty-nine species.

Pipra. Manakin. Beak awl-shaped, feathers at its base directed forwards ; tongue abrupt: fourteen spe- cies.

Hirundo. Swallows. Beak very small, depressed at the base, incurved; the mouth wider than the head: twelve species.

Caprimulgus. Goat-suckers. Beak very small, incurv- ed, depressed at the base; large bristles; the mouth very wide: two species.

The amount of species in the class of birds with which Linnzeus had to form his system did not greatly exceed nine hundred. Yet with what admirable tact has he seized upon the characteristic forms which so long served as the nuclei around which so many other species were assem- bled! It is true that his arrangement, like all other in- ventions of human genius, is liable to many objections, and may not suit the subject in the wide extent acquired in re- cent times ;—but when we see how closely his ordinal di- visions accord even with the most elaborate arrangements of modern days, and how gracefully his generic groups may now be formed into more extended families, each retain- ing such strong affinities in its constituent parts, we the more incline to marvel at the two following circumstances ; —Ist, That Linnzus himself should have so. far advanced before his age, and anticipated the labours of posterity : 2d, that that posterity, or such portion of the same as in-

548

*

ORNITHOLOGY.

History. cline not seldom to sneer at his unprecedented ‘and even —\— now unequalled labours, should not perceive that it is to

his system they are indebted for almost all that is of any value in their own. But on this subject we shall not here enlarge.

It has been sometimes remarked, that the characters given by Linnzus to his orders are totally inapplicable to many of the species which each contains. Thus the vul- tures, it is said, which belong to the first order, have no projecting processes on the upper mandible; the parrots, which are referred to the second, have the bill hooked, not cultriform, and bear no resemblance to the other species ; among the Anseres, which are characterised as having the bill smooth, covered with epidermis, and enlarged at the tip, are the gannets, with a bare and pointed bill, and the divers, terns, and gulls, with bills not at all answering to the description given ; among the Grallz, with a cylindri- cal bill, are the ostrich, with a short depressed one, the canchroma, with one resembling a boat, the spoon-bill, the heron, the flamingo, and others, the bills of which differ from each other as much as from those of the snipes and curlews ; the character given to the bill of the Galline agrees with that of many Passeres; and the wag-tail, the swallow, the tit-mouse, the red-breast, and numerous other small birds, have bills very different from those of the gold- finch, bunting, bullfinch, and cross-bill, which, neverthe- less, are all defined under the same order, and by a similar phrase.’ We believe the truth to be, that the more natu- ral an order is, the greater the difficulty becomes of ex- pressing its characters in a single line, in accordance with the briefness of the Linnzan method,—because none of these characters, taken in disconnection, remain unmodi- fied throughout the extended series of beings which they are intended to define. There is always a blending or transition towards other groups, so that the character ex- pressed in words must be regarded as applying in force rather to certain species which exemplify the whole, and towards which the others ¢end, than to the entire as- semblage. Now the Linnzan genera are often natural as family groups, though their constituent portions may not accord with the definition ; and as they become ex- tended, or rather filled up, by the discovery of new species, the difficulty increases. Many of the modi- fying species, or connecting links, were totally unknown in the time of the great Swedish observer, who seized chiefly upon the more prominent and tangible points; and the necessity of forming new subdivisions in no way invalidates his claims upon the gratitude of all lovers of the lucidus ordo. At the same time his early disciples erred (though less grossly than many of the later rene- gades) in viewing all living things as merely destined to clothe with flesh and blood the gigantic frame-work which he had erected,—as if his exposition of the system of nature were in fact itself that system,—as if the highest attainments of any one, however gifted, in either art or science, were ever more than the passionate expression of some dim vision of truth, perceived through the influence of the love of knowledge. With all the lights of modern method, and the vaunted improvements in classification, see we not still “ through a glass darkly?” Have not some of those who talk slightingly of the Swedish sage never contrived to see through the glass at all ?

During the thirty years which elapsed between the first and twelfth editions of the Systema Nature, several im- portant additions were made to Ornithology from other quarters. Edwards, especially, in his Natural History of Birds, and other rare undescribed Animals, and in his Gleanings in Natural History, amounting in all to seven

1 Macgillivray’s Lives of Zoologists, vol. i. p. 279.

volumes 4to (1743 and after years), made known in a History.

rough but recognisable style, many new and interesting species. “C’est le recueil,” says Cuvier, “le plus riche pour les oiseaux aprés les planches enluminées de Buffon.” During the same period a letter was published at Pappen- heim, on the birds of the Black Forest, by J. H. Zorn, Epistola de Avibus Germania, presertim Sylve Hercynia, which contains many excellent observations ; and the cor- respondence was afterwards extended by Briickmann in his Aves in Germania obvie Epistolar. Itinerar. cent. ii. epist. 18, and Aves Sylve@ Hercynia, ibid. epist. 17. In Ander- son’s Natural History of Iceland and Greenland (1750), we have among the earliest authentic notices of the Zoology of these northern regions. Klein and Maering each pub- lished systematic works, but based on very artificial prin- ciples, at this epoch. In Brown’s Civil and Natural His- tory of Jamaica, there are several ornithological contribu- tions ; and we may here name another excellent English work, Borlase’s Natural History of Cornwall, which appear- ed at Oxford in 1758. In 1760 Brisson published his great systematic Ornithologie, in six volumes 4to, still of value for the minute though laborious exactness of the descrip- tions. His method is founded entirely on the form of the bill and feet, the number of the toes, and the manner in which these are united, with or without membrane, to each other. The Ornithologia Borealis of Brunnich ap- peared at Copenhagen in 1764.

The Storia Naturale degli Uccelli, printed at Florence in 1767, is the most extensive of all the Italian works on Ornithology, after that of Aldrovandi. It is frequently named by Temminck and other modern writers, most of whom, however, from their vague references, may be safe- ly inferred to quote at second hand. It consists of a large collection of plates both of indigenous and exotic birds, executed with sufficient exactness, considering the slight practice which obtained in those days in the representa- tion of natural objects. The position of most of the figures, as Signor Savi remarks, is forced and unnatural; and we may see at once that the artist was guided more by his own fancies than the accustomed observance of living na- ture. “ Illuminatio non semper optima, nec optimus sem- per avium situs,” are the observations made by Boehmer.? The plates were engraved from drawings in the collection of a Florentine patrician, the Marchese Giovanni Gerini, a passionate lover of Ornithology, who passed much of his time in collecting, and causing to be described and figured, whatever birds he could procure from every clime and coun- try. After his death some learned men, unfortunately not much skilled in Ornithology, supposing either that general erudition might suffice for science, or that the superficial study of a few books might compensate the want of laborious observations carried on from’year to year, undertook to pub- lish Gerini’s uncompleted work, to fill up the voids which he had left, and even to alter what he had already done. They thus compiled a superficial text, in which they con- fused the classification, mistook the species, omitted seve- ral of the most interesting, and neglected the localities,—so that a work which, in the hands of an able editor, might have added a new glory to the already illustrious literature of Italy, became nothing more than a disorderly collection of figures. It is, however, of some value, chiefly as con- taining representations of species not previously known, such as Falco cenchris, Fringilla cisalpina, Sylvia provinci- alis, melanocephala, and melanopogon, Sterna leucoptera, &c.

From the year 1767 onwards, Pallas, in his Spicilegia Zoologica, the narrative of his various Travels, and the Acta of the Royal Academy of St Petersburg, contributed to Or- nithology, as to most other branches of zoological science ;

2 Bibliotheca Scriptorum Historie Naturalis, &c. tom. iii. p. 502.

ORNITHOLOGY. 549

lumes 4to, 1823. Sparmann, a pupil of Linnzus, and a History.

‘History. and about the same time the industrious Pennant was ac- well-known traveller, published in 1786 the Museum Carl- —~——

—\—" tively engaged in his important labours. His numerous

well-known works need not be here particularised. The great collection published at Nuremberg by Schligmann in 1768, though amounting to nine volumes folio, including an indifferent text, seems chiefly copied from preceding works, such as those of Catesby and Edwards. In 1770 and following years, Noseman, in conjunction with Sepp the engraver, published, in Dutch, his History of the Birds of the Low Countries. The concluding fasciculi are by Houttuyn. Baron Cuvier thinks the figures “ remarkable for their elegance.” Mr Swainson regards them as “ poor and unnatural.” The year 1770 is farther marked as an important epoch, by the appearance of the first two volumes of the Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux, by Buffon. That illustrious writer was the first to clothe the descriptive portion of the science ‘with colours as bright and varied as those which beautify the fairy forms of which he treats, but which had hitherto been viewed as it were only by the half-closed eye of the technical describer. The Planches Hnluminées, afterwards published by Daubenton the youn- ger, in illustration of Buffon’s work, amount to above a thousand plates of birds, being the greatest and most important collection yet achieved in this department. In 1774 we have the Elementa Ornithologica, by Schceffer, whose system rests entirely on the legs and feet of birds, the primary sections being divided into nudipedes and plumipedes, while the orders and genera are determined by the number, position, and connection of the toes. He never employs the bill when he can help it; from which we may infer the nature of the work, and its probable uti- lity to the student.

The Voyages aux Indes, &c. by Sonnerat (1775 and suc- ceeding years), contains figures and descriptions of many new exotic species. Scopoli’s Introductio ad Historiam Na- turalem, published at Prague in 1777, exhibits a systematic distribution of birds, based on the form of the scales which cover the tarsi. Thus the species which, lke the gene- rality of the accipitrine kinds, parrots, the gallina, grallee, and palmipedes, have those parts covered by small poly- gonal scales, form the section called retepedes ; while the others, which have the tarsi protected in front by semicir- cular plates, bordered behind on each side by a longitu- dinal furrow, constitute the scutipedes. The general result, however, of this view is by no means successful. In 1776 Francesco Cetti published his Uccelli di Sardigna, a small octavo volume, containing descriptions of only a portion of the Sardinian birds, but valuable, from its notices of their habits, and the description of various new species.

Latham’s General Synopsis commenced in 1781. How- ever faulty in relation to the present state of the science, it was a work of great merit for its time, and contains, un- der not very appropriate names, by no means inaccurate descriptions of many rare birds, some of which have since been published, by more recent writers, as entirely new. Under this head we may mention both the Index Orni- thologicus of the same author (1790), and his greatly en- larged and more modern work, the General History of Birds, ten volumes 4to, 1821-24, which combines the two preceding (with their supplements); but is, we regret to say, a mere combination of those rather obsolete mate- rials, without critical discrimination, or any correction of the ancient errors. There is great increase without much progression. Nearly contemporaneous with Latham’s first work, we find contributions to Ornithology by Gilius, Merrhem, and Jacquin. About 1783 Mauduit commenced the Ornithology of the Encyclopédie Méthodique, for which Bonnaterre formed the system of classification which ac- companies the volume of indifferent plates. Of the de- scriptive portion an excellent modern continuation, if not completion, has been published by M. Vieillot, in three vo-

sonianum, in which several new species are represented and described. In 1787 R. L. Desfontaines (in the Mé- moires de ! Académie des Sciences) contributed some no- tices of birds which frequent the coasts of Barbary; and, in the same year, Martinet, who had acted under the younger Daubenton as a superintendent of the Planches Einluminées, took it into his head to publish, on his own account, a collection of figures and descriptions of birds, amounting to no Jess than nine volumes octavo. number was not more alarming than their nature.

In 1789 and following years, J. F. Gmelin published the thirteenth edition of the Systema Nature of Linnzus. “ Son travail,” says Baron Cuvier, “ tout indigeste et dé- nué de critique et de connaissance des choses, est cepen- dant nécessaire, comme la seule table un peu complete de ce quia été fait jusque vers 1790.” About a volume and a half is devoted to Ornithology. White's Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales appeared in 1790, forming ,an interesting addition to the natural history of a country which still offers a vast field for zoological research ; and soon afterwards Shaw announced his Zoology of New Hol- land, which advanced no farther than a few fasciculi. We have likewise in 1790 the Fauna Groenlandica of Otho Fabricius, a work of great merit for the time, and still holding a high place in the estimation of the naturalist, from the accuracy of its descriptions, although in some in- stances the names are misapplied. In 1792 M. Beseke published in German his materials for the Natural His- tory of the Birds of Courland. The works by Lord, Hayes, Lewin, and others, which appeared about this epoch, in il- justration of the birds of Great Britain, were so soon af- terwards superseded by the admirable and unequalled wood engravings by the inimitable Bewick, that it is scarcely ne- cessary to bring their names to the readev’s recollection. We may close our imperfect sketch of the Ornithology of the eighteenth century by the mention of Cuvier’s first work, the Tableau Hlémentaire d’ Histoire Naturelle (1798), which contains the methodical distribution of birds, which he afterwards completed in his Régne Animal.

We may commence the present century with the title of Daudin’s work, the Trazté Elémentaire et complet @ Or- nithologie, two vols. 4to, 1800. It is an unfinished compi- lation, of no great merit, containing only the accipitrine birds, anda portion of the Passeres. Although Le Vaillant commenced his magnificent series of ornithological illus- trations during the preceding season, and continued them at intervals for several years, we shall here group together the most important, for the convenience of the reader : Ist, Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux de [ Afrique, six vols. 4to, 1799-1800. The plates amount to 300, but are in- ferior to those of the other works of the samé author. 2d, Histoire Naturelle d’une Partie d’ Oiseaux Nouveaux et Rares de ? Amérique et des Indes, one volume 4to, 1801. This volume illustrates the Buceride or horn-bills, and the Ampelide or fruit-eaters. 3d, Histoire Naturelle des Perro- quets, 2 vols. 4to, 1801-5. Almost all the plates (139 in number) of this exquisite work are from drawings by Barrabaud, an almost unrivalled artist in the ornithological department. 4th, Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux de Paradis, et des Rolliers, suivie de celle des Toucans et des Barbus, 2 vols. folio, 1806. ‘ Equally splendid,” says Mr Swainson, “with the preceding. The size and extraordinary plu- mage of the paradise birds require a scale fully equal to the dimensions of this volume, which exceeds any other of the author’s in the beauty and splendour of its contents.” We believe that the two volumes, though generally regard- ed as one series, were published separately, with distinct titles. 5th, Histoire Naturelle des Promerops, et des Gué- piers, 1 vol. folio, 1807. This rare and beautiful volume

Their -

550

ORNITHOLOGY.

History. sometimes occurs alone, sometimes as forming volume

third of the preceding series. A complete collection of Le Vaillant’s works forms of itself a noble gallery of or- nithological portraits. The letter-press, more especially that of the Oiseaux d’ Afrique, is also of great value, and will be studied with additional advantage by those familiar with the delightful narrative of his first and second Tra- vels into the Interior of Africa, 1790-95.

As belonging to the same class of works, and also of ex- cellent execution, may be mentioned Desmaret’s Histoire Naturelle des Tangaras, des Manakins, et des Todiers, 1 vol. folio, 1805. M. Vieillot, who died in 1828, after a very active career in Ornithology, is the author of the following works, all of a sumptuous character, and of considerable value in their way, though inferior in beauty to those of the two preceding authors. Histoire Naturelle des plus beaux Oiseaux Chanteurs dela Zone Torride, 1 vol. folio, 1805 ;— Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux del Amérique Septentrionale, 2 vols. folio, 1807 ;—Galerie des Oiseaux, 4 vols. 4to, 1826, an extensive series of figures, chiefly from the col- lection of the museum in the Garden of Plants. M. Vieil- lot is likewise the continuator of Audebert’s Histoire des Oiseaux dorés, ou a reflets métalliques (2 vols. folio, com- menced in 1802); and has written largely on systematic Ornithology in the Encyclopédie’ Méthodique ( Ornitholo- gee, by the Abbé Bonnaterre, continued by M. Vieillot, 3 vols. 4to, besides the plates, Paris, 1825); and in the Nouveau Dictionnaire d’ Histoire Naturelle. Lastly, he in- dicated various new groups, or at least a variety of groups under new names, in his Analyse d’une Nouvelle Ornitholo- gie Elémentaire, Paris, 1816; a work which seems to have occasioned great offence to M. Temminck,' and some dis- satisfaction to Baron Cuvier.’

Alexander Wilson’s admirable American Ornithology, or Natural History of the Birds of the United States, was pub- lished in nine volumes quarto (including Mr Ord’s Supple- ment) between 1808-14. It still maintains its character as a work of the highest value, and although it has been since surpassed by other works in elegance of design and beauty of colouring, its descriptive or narrative portion has been scarcely equalled. Of this most remarkable production several editions have been published in America, and two in this country, viz. one by Professor Jameson, in a cheap and commodious form (four small volumes of Constable’s Miscellany, No. 68—71, 1831), with the advantage of a systematic arrangement of the original materials,—another by Sir William Jardine (in three large 8vo volumes, 1832), with plates, and consequently of higher price, but enriched by numerous notes of great value.

We may here name the General Zoology, in fourteen volumes octavo, 1800-26, commenced by Dr Shaw, and concluded by Mr Stephens. ‘The last seven volumes are devoted to Ornithology. Most of the plates are copies. Il- liger’s excellent Prodromus Mammalium et Avium was pub- lished at Berlin in one volume octavo, 1811. It establishes several new and important genera.

The first edition of the Régne Animal of Baron Cuvier (four vols. 8vo) appeared in 1817; the second (in five vols. 8vo) was published in 1829. We need say nothing of the surpassing excellence of a work which cast the whole sub- ject of Zoology into a new and more natural form, nor of the unequalled labours of the illustrious author, by whom the structure and characters of so many important groups have been brought from darkness into light. The general

teatures of his system have, with few exceptions, been’

steadily adhered to throughout the zoological treatises of

this Encyclopedia, and (which is more to be admired) do History.

equally pervade and illumine the labours of many modern authors who yet place themselves in opposition to his doc- trines, and seem to have forgotten, or been blinded by, the dazzling source from which they drew their “ golden light ;” as if the false though gorgeous glory of a cloud could of it- self adorn the beauty of the azure heavens,—as if the re- flection of a sparkling river were any thing more than the borrowed lustre of the “ Great Apollo.” Let the reader rest assured, that however praise-worthy may be the skill and devotedness of our ingenious system-makers, or how- ever valuable may be the materials which they have brought to bear upon isolated portions of nature’s most majestic kingdom, they are yet separated, by the will of God, in head and hand, “longissimo intervallo,” from their great master. This is no reason, but the reverse, for their ceasing to exercise their useful talents and natural powers of obser- vation with assiduity and patience, as becomes alike the aspiring philosopher and the humble Christian ;—but let no man mistake “ the spirit he is of,” nor suppose an owl an eagle, seeing that not in every acceptation of the phrase is it true, that “a living dog is better than a dead lion.”

The natural history of the birds of Germany has been amply and successfully illustrated by the well-known works of Naumann (father and son), by those of Bechstein, and of Messrs Meyer and Wolf. We owe to M. Leisler a Supplement to the work of Bechstein (Hanau, 1812-13), and of Naumann’s Naturgeschichte der Vogel Deutschlands, a second edition (in octavo ), with beautifully coloured plates, was commenced in 1820, but has not yet attained comple- tion. Meyer and Wolf’s Taschenbuch der Deutschen Vo- gelkunde now amounts to three volumes, and is filled with excellent observations, while their large illustrated work on German birds, commenced so far back as 1804, and re- cently brought to a conclusion, is one of the most beauti- ful with which we are acquainted. M. Brehm published his Beitrage zur Deutschen Vogelkunde in 1820-22, in three large volumes, filled with minute details, which exhibit an accurate practical knowledge of the science. The author’s views of species are peculiar. His Lehrbuch der Natur- geschichte aller Huropaischen Vogel (two volumes) was pub- lished in the following year. In this, too, he surely describes Jocal races, or accidental varieties, as distinct species. To M. Brehm we likewise owe several fasciculi of a work com- menced in 1824, and published at intervals, under the title of Ornis. It consists of memoirs and memoranda, by va- rious authors, relating chiefly to Ornithology. Lastly, we may here name his Handbuch der Naturgeschichte aller Vo- gel Deutschlands (Imenau, 1831), forming a goodly volume of 1100 pages octavo (with plates), which, M. Temminck remarks, may be reduced to at least one half, by suppress- ing the numerous indications of what the author calls sub- species. His system is partitioned into twenty-three orders, variously subdivided, and containing 196 genera.

Some important additions have been made of late years to the Ornithology of northern countries. The birds of Sweden are described by Professor Nilson of ‘Lund, in his Ornithologia Suecica, Copenhagen, 1817-21. The same author published a Skandinavischen Fauna in 1824; and a much more sumptuous work appeared at Lund in 1832, under the title of Zlduminerade figurer till Shandi- naviens Fauna, mit text. The first volume contains, be- sides quadrupeds, seventy-five figures of birds. In 1822 M. Boié gave forth his Tagebuch gehalten auf einer Reise durch Norwegen, in which, along with the narrative of his travels, he furnishes many valuable observations on the

T See his Observations sur la Classiyication Méthodique des Oiseaux, &c. 1817 ; and Manuel a’ Ornithologie, Introduction to the second

edition, p. x. * Régne Animal, second edition, tom. i. note to Preface, p. 23,

ORNITHOLOGY. 551

recently commenced the Jconografia della Fauna Mtolica, UUistory-

History. history and manners of the birds of Norway. The same Rome, 1832,—a sumptuous lithographic work, in large —~~7—~

—~.— author published a work under the title of Ornithologische

Beitrage, in 1824. M. Faber’s excellent little volume, the Prodremus der Islandischen Ornithologie, appeared in 1822. It contains most interesting accounts of the birds of Iceland, especially the aquatic kinds; and not less va- luable is his later publication, Uber das Leben der hoch- nordischen Vogel, 1825, in which we have many acceptable observations on the geographical distribution, and the modes of life, of northern species. While on the subject of northern birds, we need searcely recall to the reader's re- membrance the various appendices to the Voyages of Cap- tains Parry and Franklin,—Captain Sabine’s Memoir on the Birds of Greenland (Linn. Trans. vol. xii.),—or the beautiful work by Dr Richardson and Mr Swainson on the birds of Northern America, which constitutes the second volume of the Fauna Boreali-Americana, 1831.

We have few systematic works devoted to the Ornitho- logy of the more southern countries of the European con- tinent. We are ourselves acquainted only by name with the Ornitolegia dell’ Europa Meridionale (dedicatio sig- nata 1772), in fol. max., by Clement Bernini, a teacher of drawing. The birds of France in general are described by M. Vieillot in the corresponding portion of the Faune Fran- ¢aise,an octavo work, still incourse of publication; and those of Provence in particular, by M. Polydore Reux in his Or- nithologie Provencale, 1825. Of a more general character, though not without its bearings on our present subject, is the Histoire Naturelle de ! Burope Meridionale by M. Risso of Nice, in five volumes 8vo, 1826. We have already had occasion to name the Storia Naturale degli Uccelli, pub- lished at Florence in 1767; and Cetti’s more restricted one, Gk Uceelli di Sardigna, 1776. In. more recent times (1811), Professor Bonelli of Turin published a Catalogue des Oiseaux du Piémont, containing two hundred and sixty- two species. In 1822, Giambatista Baseggio inserted in the twenty-eighth volume of the Biblioteca Ltaliana an enumeration of the birds observed by him in the neigh- bourhood of Bassano, amounting to a hundred and thirty- seven species. In 1823, Fortunato Luigi Naccari printed at Treviso his Ornitologia Veneta, ossia Catalogo degli Occelli della provincia di Venezia, in which he notices two hundred and six species. In the same year Savi the younger published, at Pisa, his Catalogo degli Uccelli del- la Provincia Pisana, e loro Toscana Sinonimia. The spe- cies are classed in accordance with M. Temminck’s sys- tem, and amount to two hundred and twenty. From 1819 to 1826, Professor Ranzani of Bologna gave forth his ex- ceilent Elementi di Zoologia, of which the third volume, consisting of nine parts, is devoted to the natural history of birds. It is, however, a general system, treating of exotic as well as of indigenous kinds; yet a good deal may be gleaned from it regarding the Italian species. A work of more special interest is the Specchio comparativo delle Ornithologie di Roma e di Filadelfia, by Carlo Bonaparte, commonly called the Prince of Musignano. In this slight but highly interesting volume (republished in the Nuovo Giornale de’ Letterati of Pisa), the author compares the Ornithology of two distant regions of Europe and America, lying, however, under nearly the same latitude, and re- cords his observations on their history and manners. Of the species of the Roman territory we had previously scarcely any knowledge, and the Prince makes us ac- quainted with not fewer than two hundred and forty- seven. By the same author we have also Osservazioni sulla Seconda Edizione del Regno Animale del Baron Cu- vier, inserted in the tenth and eleventh fasciculi of the Annali di Storia Naturale of Bologna; and he has more

quarto, devoted to Italian zoology. Not more than half a dozen numbers have as yet appeared, and these contain but few examples of the feathered race. Though not re- lating to Italy, we may here mention our author’s other works, viz. American Ornithology, or the Natural History of Birds inhabiting the United States, not given by Wilson, with coloured figures, three volumes quarto, Philadelphia, 1825-28 (only the land-birds have yet been published) ;— Observations on the Nomenclature of Wilson’s Ornithology, Philadelphia, 1828 ;—and Genera of North American Birds, with a Synopsis of the species found within the territory of the United States, New York, 1828 (published in the An- nals of the Lyceum of that city). The birds of Liguria are enumerated and briefly described, particularly the im- mature conditions of the plumage, by Girolamo Calvi in his Catalogo d’ Ornitologia di Genova, 1828.

The latest but most important work with which we are acquainted on the birds of Italy, is the Ornitologia Tos- cana of Professor Savi, in three vols. 8vo, with additional synoptical tables, Pisa, 1827-31, Though more specially devoted to the birds of Tuscany, it also contains descrip- tions of all the other Italian species, and may be regarded as a most valuable addition to our knowledge of the feathered tribes of Europe. The southern positicn and de- lightful climate of the Italian Peninsula induce the wan- dering wings of many species elsewhere rare aves to wend their way towards the olive groves and richly laden fig- trees of that favoured land,—thus connecting the Ornitho- logy of Europe with that of Africa and other sultry re- gions.

We may be thought, in some of our preceding notices, to have entered too minutely into the enumeration of de- scriptive local works, but we have been guided in so do- ing by two considerations: 1st, That none of our English writers ever make any allusion to Italian Ornithology, ex- cept by casual reference to Carlo Bonaparte; and, 2dly, that Buffon has recorded as his opinion, that “le seul moyen d’avancer l’ornithologie historique, seroit de faire l'histoire particuliére des oiseaux de chaque pays ; d’abord de ceux d’une seule province, ensuite de ceux d’une pro- vince voisine, puis de ceux d’une autre plus eloignée ; re- unir aprés cela ces histoires particuliéres pour composer celle de tous les oiseaux d’une méme climat; faire la méme chose dans tous les pays et dans tous les differens climats ; comparer ensuite ces histoires particuliéres, les combiner pour en tirer les faits, et former un corps entier de toutes ces parties separées.”

The Natural History of British Birds, by Donovan, in ten volumes octavo, is a work of no great merit. Its period of publication extends from 1799 to 1816.

To no one of our contemporaries is Ornithology more deeply indebted than to M. Temminck. His Histozre Na- turelle Générale des Pigeons ef des Gallinacées, three volumes octavo, appeared in 1813-15. The portion which concerns the pigeons was also published in folio, with beautiful co- loured plates, by Madame Knipp. His Manuel d’ Ornitho-

logie, ou Tableau Systématique des Oiseaux qui se trouvent en

Hurope, 1815, consisted at first of a single octavo volume ; but a greatly improved and extended edition in two vo- lumes appeared in 1820. Whatever difference of opinion may prevail in regard to the author’s system, naturalists are agreed that this is by far the most valuable work we yet possess on the birds of Europe. Its main excellence con- sists in the attention bestowed upon the sexual distinc- tions, and the successive changes of plumage from youth to age. The first volume contains, under the title of Ana-

* Histoire Nat. des Oiseaux, Plan de l’Ouvrage.

ORNITHOLOGY.

Himalaya Mountains ;—a Monograph of the Toucans ;— History. a Monograph of the Trogons ;—and, a Synopsis of the —~—~

552

History. lyse du Systeme Générale d’ Ornithologie, a classification of —~—’ birds in general. Instead of a third edition of his Manuel,

the author has recently published (in 1835) a third part, as a supplement to the first volume, and he is now about to give out a fourth part, or supplement to the second vo- lume. These parts contain the corrections and additions rendered necessary by the lapse of many years. But M. Temminck has not confined his attention to the birds of Europe. In 1820 he commenced (in conjunction with M. Meiffren de Laugier) his Planches Coloriées, a work in- tended as a continuation and completion of the well-known Planches Enluminées of Buffon. It is printed in both a quarto and a folio form, now amounts to above ninety parts, and will be concluded (so far, at least, as the first great series is concerned) on the publication of the hun- dredth number. It will then form five volumes, composed in all of five hundred and ninety-five plates, exhibiting seven hundred and fifty-five figures of birds, the majority unknown to prior writers. Each plate is accompanied by corresponding letter-press, containing the generic charac- ters, the description of the species figured, and in many instances by general observations on the distribution and construction of groups. The two concluding numbers are to contain a general index, as well as the tables and titles of the volumes. On the completion of this “century,” we trust M. Temminck will be encouraged to proceed to ano- ther series, as we know his materials are abundant, if not inexhaustible. It would in truth be desirable that some such established work should be generally regarded as a proper medium for the publication of new or rare subjects in Ornithology, for it is the bane of natural history in ge- neral, that every year should be distinguished by the ap- pearance of numerous abortive attempts, which each suc- ceeding season condemns to oblivion. Thus the tax be- comes both heavy and unproductive, yet we fear that na- tional pride and personal vanity will Jong prevent the in- troduction of a better system. We do not mean to say that we possess not among ourselves individuals compe- tent to do the subject justice, but assuredly there is much labour lost by a want of concentration.

In connection with the labours of the last-named author, we may here mention M. Werner’s lithographic work, en- titled Adlas des Oiseaux d Europe, pour servir de complé- ment au Monuel d’ Ornithologie de M. Temminck, of which thirty-two livraisons have now appeared. M. Temminck had figured a few European novelties in his Planches Coloriées, but he appears to have remitted most of his rare indigenous kinds to M. Werner ; and we are happy to find he is now in immediate communication, so far as the publication of his European species is concerned, with our zealous and intel- ligent countryman Mr Gould. This leads us to record the title of one of the most sumptuous and beautifully execut- ed works within the whole range of ornithological illustra- tion, viz. The Birds of Europe, by John Gould, F.L.S. now completed in five volumes royal folio. The plates are chiefly from lithograph drawings by Mrs Gould, but many are also by Mr Lear, one of the best ornithological drafts- men the world has yet seen. Mr Gould’s other works, all of recent date, and of the same form and character as the preceding, are as follow:—a Century of Birds, from the

Birds of Australia. The latter is in a more portable form than the others; but it is the author's intention to illus- trate the Ornithology of New Holland in the same mode as that in which he has treated the birds of Europe.

To M. Lesson the Ornithologist stands indebted for se- veral publications, both of a sumptuous and useful charac- ter. The last edition of his work on humming-birds bears the following title: Les Trochilidés, ow les colibris et les oiseaux mouches, suivi dun index général, dans lequel sont décrites et classées méihodiquement toutes les races et especes du gexre Trochilus, Paris, 1832, with seventy co- loured plates. Conjointly with M. Garnot, he has pub- lished some figures of birds in the Zoological Atlas to Du- perrey’s Voyage autour du Monde, as well as in his own Centurie de Zoologie. His other works specially devoted to our present subject are,—Manuel d’ Ornithologie, two volumes 18mo, 1829; Zraité d’ Ornithologie, two volumes 8vo (with 119 plates), 1831; and Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux de Paradis, des Séricules, et des Epimaques, one volume 8vo (with 41 coloured plates), 1835.

Mr Swainson’s beautiful Zoological Mlustrations (First Se- ries 3 vols. 8vo, 1820-23, Second Series 3 vols. 8vo, 1832-3) contain representations of many rare and remarkable birds, and yield to none with which we are acquainted, either in elegance or accuracy. By the same author (conjointly with Dr Richardson) we have, as already noted, the Fau- na Boreali-Americana, Part Second; and (without other aid than his own delightful pencil) several fasciculi of the Birds of Brazil. More recently Mr Swainson has en- tered into a minute as well as extended exposition of the Natural History and Classification of Birds, in two vo- lumes (1836-7), which form the ornithological portion of Dr Lardner’s Cyclopedia. These will amply repay the most attentive study.

The birds of South America, which, like all the pro- ductions of that splendid country, are extremely gorgeous, have been here and there illustrated in various works, and are partially so by Mr Swainson in one of those just named, In Azara’s Voyages dans Amérique Méridion- ale (1809, 3d and 4th volumes) there are descriptions of many hundred species from Paraguay and La Plata. The ornithological portion of the French edition was translat- ed, with notes, by Sonnini.! A great mass of Brazilian species is described and figured in Spix’s Aviwm Species Nove, &c. 2 vols. 4to, 1824-26; while the habits of se- veral of the more curious birds of Demerara are record- ed in Mr Waterton’s eccentric and well-known Wan- derings.

The Ornithology of North America has been illustrat- ed in an extremely full and satisfactory manner. Indeed, of the feathered tribes of no country out of Europe, equal in extent, do we possess so ample and accurate a know- ledge as we do of those of the United States. We have already mentioned the immortal work of Alexander Wil- son, and its excelient continuation by Charles Lucien Bo- naparte; but at present we have to record the title of a much more magnificent publication than either, we mean The Birds of America, engraved from Drawings made in

SESE aT aaa aveaaa a E U PTLD GEE Ee oI I vS

? The truly important works of Don Felix Azara seem better known to European readers by the French translations than the original Spanish publications. He devoted all his leisure hours, whilst in South America, to the pursuits of natural history, from the year 1782 to 1801. He then transmitted the manuscript of his Apuntamientos para la Historia Natural de los Quadrupedos del Paraguay to his brother, Don Josef Nicolas, who handed it over to a French professor, M. Moreau de Saint Méry, by whom it was translated, and published under the now well-known title of Essai sur ’Histoire Naturelle des Quadrupédes du Paraguay, 2 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1801. The original, however, appeared at Madrid in the following year, with corrections and additions by the author. In 1802 he likewise published his ornithological work under the title of Apuntamientos para la Historia Natural de los Pajaros del Paraguay y Buenos Ayres ; and this portion of his labours forms the two concluding volumes of the French translation, entitled Voyages dans ’ Amérique Méri-

dionale de 1781 jusqu’en 1801, 4 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1809.

We are glad to understand that Mr W. Perceval Hunter proposes to publish

an English translation of both works, from the original Spanish, with notes.

ORNITHOLOGY.

History. the United States, by John James Audubon, F.R.S., &c.

3 vols. folio, London, 1831-37 ; an undertaking which far exceeds in size and splendour all its predecessors in this, or indeed in any other department of Zoology. The di- mensions of the work, as we have elsewhere noticed, are such as to enable the author not only to represent the largest birds of the United States, of the size and in the attitudes of living nature, but to figure a great proportion of them in family groups, so admirably conceived and skil- fully executed, as really to form historical pictures of the highest interest to the general observer, and of the great- est utility to the student of Ornithology. The completion of each volume of plates is immediately followed by a large octavo volume of descriptive and general history of all the species therein contained. Mr Audubon far excels Wil- son as an ornithological draftsman, and often equals him in his lively, eloquent, and interesting details of the life and manners of the feathered tribes. His descriptive vo- lumes are entitled Ornithological Biography, or an Ac- count of the Habits of the Birds of the United States. They at present amount to three in number; and a fourth and final one, to accompany the concluding fasciculus of his splendid plates, is now on the eve of publication.

An extremely useful and well-concocted work, of less ambitious form than the preceding, is the Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and of Canada, by Thomas Nuttall, F. L.S., in two compact octavo volumes, Cambridge and Boston, 1832-34. The author has recent- ly returned from a scientific tour through the great west- ern territories, including an extended range of the Rocky Mountains ; and, we doubt not, the public will benefit by whatever account he gives of his researches.

Although we have hitherto confined our bibliographical notices chiefly to the works of foreign writers, we have done so not in consequence altogether of our own poverty, but rather for the more ample information of the English reader, who may be supposed to require less assistance in regard to British authors. We have scarcely even named the British Birds of the unequalled Bewick. We name it, and nothing more, believing that every one who de- lights to see nature in art, is familiarly acquainted with a work which may be keenly relished without any arduous study, but which those who study most will best appreciate and enjoy. Although the descriptive portion is written with accuracy and intelligence, we doubt not it would be ad- vantageous to the author’s family, and prove a labour of love to one or more of the many skilful Ornithologists of the present day, that the plates should be re-arranged in conformity with modern views, the supplement incorporat- ed, the synonyms increased, and such rational alterations or additions effected, as would render it the manual of British Ornithology, if not for all time coming, yet for many future years. If accompanied by portions of the author’s autobiography, so much the better. We regret that the latter, so racy and original, should have not yet seen the light. The most recent and complete edition of Bewick’s Birds is that of 1832. A very beautiful pre- face is prefixed to the one published in 1826.

The most original descriptive works on the birds of Bri- tain are Montagu’s Ornithological Dictionary, 2 vols. 8yvo, 1802, and Supplement to the same, | vol. 8vo, 1813. These were not only excellent works on British birds simply as such, but valuable additions to the actual history of European species,—the chief merit of many of our other publications consisting in their applying the knowledge acquired by foreign writers to our indigenous kinds ; whereas Montagu rather gave than borrowed, his obser- vations being almost entirely original. His volumes are now extremely rare in their first form; but a new edition, combining both works in one, was brought out in 1831, with notes, by Mr Rennie.

553

Dr Fleming, in his History of British Animals, one vol. History. octavo, 1828, enumerates and describes the birds of Bri- =~

tain. Of this work, which has been very useful to some who say rather too little about it, we should desire to see a new edition, remodelled in accordance with the altera- tions and additions rendered necessary by the lapse of years. It is a publication of great merit. The letter-press to Mr Selby’s folio Zilustrations of Bri- tish Ornithology (we mean the second edition, in two vols. 8vo, 1833) forms the best completed work we yet possess in accordance with the modern method of arrangement. Jointly with Sir William Jardine, Mr Selby has also brought out many fasciculi of Z/lustrations of Ornithology (small folio), in which are figured various interesting and curious forms of foreign species; and his well-instructed coadjutor is editor (and of several volumes author) of the Naturalists Library, in which a due portion is success- fully devoted to the history and representation of the feathered tribes. Both publications continue at the pre- sent time (1838). F One of the most valuable and carefully constructed works with which we are acquainted is the Systema Avi- um of Dr Wagler, pars prima, Stuttgard, 1827. It con- sists of a series of monographs, not in systematic order, but including several extensive and difficult genera, such as Picus, Columba, &c. The author unfortunately died not long ago, in consequence of a gun-shot wound accidentally inflicted by himself while sporting, and the non-comple- tion of his work may be regarded as a great loss to Orni- thologists. Various additional though detached portions of it, however, may be found in the /sis, a German perio- dical published at Frankfort. Wagler is also the author of the most recent descriptive summary of the parrot tribe, under the title of Monographia Psittacorum, one vol. 4to, Munchen, 1835. Our best previous treatise on that gorgeous family was published by the lamented Kuhl, in the Nova Acta of Bonn, vol. x. Of illustrated works on the subject, we have already mentioned that of Vaillant ; and the English reader need scarcely be reminded of the extreme beauty of Mr Lear’s more recent Illustrations of the Psittacide, in one vol. royal folio. A considerable flock of ornithological authors has re- cently appeared above the horizon, to enlighten, however, rather than obscure our vision. We shall name a few. Outlines of the Smaller British Birds, by R. A. Slaney, Esq. 12mo, 1833.

Familiar History of Birds, by the Rev. Edward Stan- ley, 2 vols. 12mo, 1835.

Manual of British Vertebrate Animals, by the Rey. Leonard Jenyns, 1 vol. 8vo, 1835.

Feathered Tribes of the British Islands, by Robert Mu-

die, 2 vols. 8vo, 1836. —

History of the rarer British Birds, intended as a sup-

plement to Bewick, by T. C. Eyton, Esq. 1836.

Of these, and other contemporary writers, the reader will find more ample notice in Mr Neville Wood’s Orni- thologist’s Text-Book of 1836.

The following works relate particularly to the more mu- sical of the feathered tribes: Harmonia Ruralis, or Natu- ral History of British Song Birds, by James Bolton, folio, 1794 ;—British Warblers, by Robert Sweet, F. L.S. 8vo, 1823-32 ;— Treatise on British Song Birds, by Patrick Syme, Esq. 8vo, 1823 ;—British Songsters, by Neville Wood, Esq. 8vo, 1837 ;—Cage Birds, their Natural His- tory, Management, &c. (translated from the German), by J. M. Bechstein, 12mo, 1837.

Mr Yarrell has commenced his much-desired History of British Birds, illustrated by a wood-cut of each species, and numerous vignettes. The illustrations are for the most part remarkably accurate as ornithological represen- tations, and of extreme beauty in a pictorial point of view.

554 ORNITHOLOGY.

Structure. From the author's excellent reputation as a naturalist, as —— well as from the specimens hitherto published, we should

in the determination and construction of which it affords Structure, characters of the highest importance. As its modifications ~~

angur that this work, on its completion, will form as valua- ble a manual of British Ornithology as can be well de- sired.

Last in our list, though the reverse of lowest in our es- timation, stand Mr Macgillivray’s characteristic volumes, the Rapacious Birds of Greot Britain (1836), and the History of British Birds, Indigenous and Migratory (vol. Ist, 1637). In regard to these two works, readers may pro- bably differ in their appreciation of some insulated passages, critical or otherwise, not essential to the exposition of the subject in hand; but we think all must agree that they are written in a clear, vigorous, and original manner, and de- void of that vapid spirit of compilation which pervades the labours of so many of the ingenious author’s predecessors and contemporaries.

We shall not here enter into any detailed exposition of the internal structure of birds. Our space would not ad- mit of our doing so in a manner likely either to satisfy our- selves or to instruct our readers. The subject is of too great importance to be superficially treated, and a deeper scientific examination is not to be looked for here. We regret to say, there is much reason to accuse the naturalist of confining his attention to the external characters of liv- ing beings, which, though important portions of the ani- mal economy, are nevertheless only portions, though too often looked upon as all in all. It is no reason for ne- glecting the internal structure, that a knowledge of such structure is not required to comprehend the modern sys- tems. This, we must admit, is true; but the systems are thereby so much the more defective. An assured anato- mical basis will never cause confusion or contrariety in any good arrangement formed on the groundwork of ex- ternal characters; for the best of these are sure to conform themselves with all the important modifications of internal structure, while the sooner a bad arrangement is under- mined the better. At the same time, that Zootomist would know little of the practical importance of external forms who should not endeavour to connect these with his de- monstration of more recondite characters. In truth, how- ever desirable it may be to know the whole of the animal structure, whether external or internal, we must in rela- tion to museum specimens and to zoological collections in general, necessarily have recourse to superficial, or at least external characters, because none other are visible, or in- deed exist, in the subjects of natural history as usually preserved ; and we should debar a vast multitude from a most delightful study of graceful forms and gorgeous plum- age, if we could learn nothing important of beast or bird without prying into all the hidden wonders of its interior. Whatever progress comparative anatomy may in future make, we trust the Zootomist will ever bear in mind that the establishment of good external characters is a matter of the highest and most indispensable importance to the present state and future progress of natural history, of which the practical pursuit will ever mainly depend upon the class of characters in question. As we cannot here enter into the anatomical department of our subject, we shall give, in the subjoined note, the names of a few works likely to interest and instruct the reader. A few para- graphs will suffice for all we have ourselves to say, before entering upon our systematic portion.

The bill, composed of the upper and under mandible, varies almost infinitely in its form in the different genera,

will be specially alluded to in our notices of the minor groups, and are moreover accurately represented in the plates which accompany the present treatise, we need not here fatigue the reader by an unnecessary enumeration. A portion at the base of the upper mandible, usually con- taining the nostrils, and sometimes covered with hairs or feathers, sometimes partially or entirely bare, is called the cere. It is very obvious in most birds of prey, but imper- ceptible in many other species. When we expand the mandibles, we of course perceive the opening to the ali- mentary canal or digestive organs, which usually consist of the following portions.

The pharynx tollows immediately after the cavity of the mouth. It leads into the esophagus or gullet, which in many species swells into what is called the crop, by some regarded as the first stomach. ‘This is followed by a se- cond enlargement, produced, however, rather by a thick- ening of the coats than by any increase of capacity within, named the proventriculus. It contains numerous glandular sacs interposed between its muscular and mucous coats, which secrete a gastric juice to aid the process of di- gestion. This proventriculus leads to the gizzard or true stomach, by some regarded as the third stomachic expan- sion. Here the function of digestion is completed. The entrance from the stomach to the small intestine is named the pylorus, of which the structure is frequently valvular. The first fold of the small intestine is named the duode- num, and after receiving the pancreatic and biliary ducts, it forms various convolutions, and terminates in the rec- tum or large intestine. The c@ca are usually placed at the commencement of the latter ; its termination is named the cloaca.

These parts, it will be borne in mind, are variously mo- dified in the different tribes. In some the expansion called the crop is wanting, or not to be distinguished from the other upper portions of the esophagus ; and the powerful muscles which constitute the peculiar strength. of the giz- zard in granivorous birds are very feeble in the carnivo- rous and fish-devouring kinds. In some the intestine is long and narrow, in others short and wide, while the ceca exhibit a corresponding range, being in certain. kinds ex- tremely long, in others merely rudimentary.

Birds are remarkable for the energy of their respiratory functions. Although their lungs are rather small, they are perforated in such a way as to communicate with mem- branous cells distributed through various parts of the body, and even communicating with the interior of the bones, so that the atmospheric air not only comes in contact with the pulmonary vessels, but with a great proportion of the circulating system. Thus birds have been said to respire by the branches of the aorta, as well as by those of the pulmonary artery. It is thus that the most rapid exercise of the faculty of flight impairs not their power of breath- ing; and the best-trained hunter that ever-bounded re- joicingly over the fences of Leicestershire is far sooner blown than a field sparrow.

The trachea or wind-pipe is composed of bony rings. The upper larynx is of comparatively simple structure, and of less importance than among the mammiferous class; but farther down, and close upon the bifurcation of the trachea, is the /ower larynz, the true organ of the voice in birds. The vast bulk of air contained in the interior cells no doubt contributes to the strength of their vocal powers, while the muscles of the inferior portion of the larynx, and

1 Cuvier’s Lecons d@’ Anatomie Comparée ; Carus’s Introduction to

Comparative Anatomy, translated from the German by Mr Gore

(there is a better and more recent I’rench edition of this work); Meckel’s Traité Général d’ Anatomie Comparce ; Grant’s Outlines of Comparative Anatomy ; Mr Owen’s article Avgs, in Todd's Cyclopedia of Anatomy and Physiology ; and the Introduction to Macgilivray’s

History of British Birds, vol. i.

ORNITHOLOGY.

tect the base of the secondaries ; and the primary coverts, Structure. (figs. 1 and 2, at P. C.), which perform that office to the —~~—

Structure. the length, diversified form, and varied movements of that -~— organ, bestow upon it a great facility of modulation.

The anterior limbs of birds, corresponding to the fore legs of quadrupeds, have been converted into wings for the purposes of that aérial locomotion commonly called flight. It is true that some birds cannot fly, that is, leave not the surface of the earth; but these are exceptions to the ge- neral rule, and even among such exceptions the great ma- jority use their wings as a propelling power, whether cours- ing amid dry and barren deserts, or submerged beneath the waves. The bony portions of the wings consist of the humerus, the cubitus, the carpal and metacarpal bones, and jingers. We shall briefly describe these parts in so far as they are connected with the imposition of the plumage, and consequently with the external characters of the feathered race. The reader, if he so inclines, may here consult Plate CCCLXXXVILI. figs. 3 and 4. The humerus or armbone (c) is joined to the body by means of a part of its own upper surface, which articulates with a correspond- ing cavity between the coracoid bone (6) and the scapula or shoulder-blade (a). It is directed backwards in repose, and in a position more or less parallel with the spine. The other extremity of the humerus articulates with the eubitus or fore-arm, which is composed of the bones called the ulna (d) and radius (e), and is so jointed as to fold when at rest in a direction parallel to that of the arm. The car- pus consists of two small bones (ff) placed between the outer extremity of the cubitus and the metacarpus. The Jatter (g) usually consists of two bones united at both ends. From the anterior edge of the portion next the carpus, there projects a small bone, considered as analogous to the first digit or thumb, pollex (h); to the extremity of the outer portion of the metacarpus are usually attached two other digital bones (77); and to the extremity of its inner portion is frequently appended a smaller bone of corre- sponding nature. These are the singers of birds.

Now, the connection of the plumage with the preceding parts is as follows. Here consult Plate CCCLXXX VIL. figs. 1, 2,5. The small elongated tuft of stiffish feathers which clothe the upper exterior margin of a bird’s wing, in- creasing in size downwards, pointing towards the base of the outer primaries, and commonly called the alula, or spu- rious wing (see S. W. in figs. 1, 2, and 5), springs from the portion we have called the thumb. The primaries or greater quill-feathers of the wings, that is, the ¢er outer- most feathers, and which constitute the more or less pointed terminal portion (see figs. 1, 1 to 10,and figs. 2 and 5, at P. P.), spring from the digital and metacarpal bones. The secondaries, or lesser quill-feathers (figs. 1, 1 to 6, and figs. 2 and 5, at S. S.), which, when the wing is closed, usually cover a portion of the primaries, take their origin from the cubitus or fore-arm; while a third series, inconspicuous in most birds, though very obvious in others, and named the tertials or tertiary feathers (fig. 2, T. T.), are derived from the humerus or arm bone. Above these, and lying over that portion of the wing which joins the body (or, as it were, between the wing and back), are the scapulars (fig. 2, Sc.), usually of an elongated form, and often distinguished from the surrounding plumage by a difference of tint or mark- ing- Lastly, various ranges of feathers which clothe the upper portion of the wings from the carpal joint backwards, covering the base of the primary and secondary quills, and spreading across from the spurious wing to the scapulars, are named the wing coverts, and are distinguished, accord- ing to their position, as the smaller coverts (figs, 1 and 2, at Sm. C.), which clothe the upper portion of the wing; the secondary coverts (figs 1 and 2, at S. C.), which pro-

primaries. The feathers which clothe the under surface of the wings are named the wnder coverts of those parts ; and the terms wpper and under tail-coverts signify the feathers which cover the base of the tail, above or below. But we need scarcely occupy our pages with the numerous particulars which might be brought forward, and which occupy so prominent a space in many ornithological yo- lumes. The terms in most cases explain themselves. When we speak of the crest of a bird, we of course mean to indicate the feathers on its head ; and the upper, central, or lower portions of the back, can be respectively nothing more nor less than one or other of these portions. When we mention the point of the bill, we literally mean the point, and there is no word in the English nor in any other language which can express it more clearly. Neither do we think it necessary, in an English work, to give a corre- sponding Latin phrase for every term we use, more espe- cially as many of these terms cannot be correctly Latinized, and in fact have never occurred at all in any books in that language. Their confinement, therefore, in a circumflex- ual prison, amid the unembarrassed freedom of the English

tongue, is a sad and cruel mockery “ of things attempted -

yet in prose or rhyme ;” and we believe is but seldom prac- tised by those who got through Ruddiman respectably in early life. We therefore deem it worse than useless to present an endless catalogue of ¢erms in Ornithology, fol- lowed by explanations more obscure and ambiguous than the technicalities themselves; but shall rather endeavour either altogether to avoid unknown tongues, or, by the context, to render our meaning obvious to each capacity.!

Those minute discriminations, so often insisted on, are in truth but seldom necessary in the description of a bird’s external aspect, especially of its feathered portions, be- cause large spaces of the plumage have frequently an identical character both in texture and colour. ‘Thus, if the entire head is either black, white, brown, or any other single colour, it would be a waste of words to de- scribe it in any other way than simply as being of that colour; that is, it would be unnecessary to say that the frontal, vertical, occipital, auricular, and ocular feathers of the head were coloured after such a fashion; but if one colour prevails over another, and yet is traversed, or in any way varied by other colours, the precise region, whether frontal or occipital, in which the variation hap- pens should be stated. We would almost say, that our nomenclature of the parts themselves depends to some ex- tent on the distribution of the colours. Thus, of birds with a black abdomen and a scarlet breast, we can easily con- ceive, that even of the same species two individuals may so considerably differ in the proportional extent of the supposed colours, that the black in one instance shall en- croach upon what corresponds to the scarlet of the other, or vice versa ; but still the phrases ‘abdomen black, breast scarlet,” would suffice for both, though not proportionally the same in each. The fact is, that many of the special regions of a bird are by no means precisely marked, or at least are seldom seen to be so, unless we strip it of its plumage,—an untoward act, however, for one who desires to stuff or otherwise preserve its skin; and therefore some latitude must be allowed in our expression of the external parts.

The next portion to be briefly described is the leg or hin- der limb. This is divisible into the femur, tibia, tarsus, and toes. See Plate CCCLXXXVIL. fig. 3.

The femur, or thigh-bone (A), is cylindrical, somewhat

nn

z A very ample and interesting account of the diversified form of bills, feet, and feathers, will be found in Mr Swainson’s Watural History and Classification of Birds, vol. i, illustrated by numerous wood-cuts from the elegant pencil of the author.

555

556 ORNITHOLOGY.

Structure curved, usually very short, and always so concealed with-

of genera and species,” says Locke, “ amounts tono more Genera. “——’ in the body as not to be apparent as an external portion

but this, that men make abstract ideas, and, setting them —~y~—

of the limb. The next division is the leg or tibia (m), frequently but erroneously called the thigh, probably from its being the uppermost apparent portion. It is usually covered with feathers, though sometimes bare on its lower portion. Then follows the tarsus (x), that long, slender, exposed portion, so conspicuous in almost all the species, varying considerably among accipitrine birds, ra- ther short in web-footed water-fowl, and greatly length- ened in the majority of shore-birds or waders. Its upper knobby portion, where it articulates with the tibia, is the true heel, although generally in colloquial, and not sel- dom in descriptive language, termed the knee. The pro- minences of its lower extremity articulate with the toes. The latter parts usually amount to four ; the hind toe, how- ever, is wanting in many species, and the ostrich is general- ly supposed to have only two toes, although Dr Riley has demonstrated the existence in that bird also of a rudimen- tary inner toe. The hind toe is by some regarded as the first, the inner as the second, the middle as the third, and the outer as the fourth toe; and in this order there is a progressive increase in the number of the joints of which each is composed,—the first having two, the second three, the third four, and the fourth five bones. The surface of the tarsus, toes, and sometimes of the base of the tibia when that part is exposed, is covered either with plated or reticulated scales, of various forms in different species ; and the tarsus is moreover often armed with one or more spurs,—which, however, belong to the cutaneous rather than the osseous system. A general notion of the latter, as it exists in the class of birds, may be acquired by an inspection of the skeleton of the golden eagle just referred to (Plate CCCLXXXVII. fig. 3). We shall here add no- thing more upon the subject.

The position, and therefore to a certain extent the na- ture, of many modern genera, of which we are unable from want of space to give the characters, will be seen in the tabular views with which we terminate the presen. treatise. A considerable discordance still prevails in re- gard to the nature and amount of the generic groups in Ornithology,—some writers advocating a numerous sub- division, and consequent restriction, of characters ; while others adhere, perhaps too tenaciously, to old associa- tions, which naturally tend to the augmentation of spe- cies, in other words, to the extension rather than the in- crease of genera. The former plan is rendered neces- sary to a great extent by the vast additions which have been made to our knowledge of groups and of typical spe- cies within the present century, and might be deemed advisable among the larger genera even as a mere matter of convenience ;—its abuse in the hands of unskilful or in- experienced persons being of course no legitimate argu- ment against it. There is, however, a great deal that is arbitrary and unsettled in whatever principle may be sup- posed to guide the modern naturalist in the formation of his generic groups. The simplicity and ease of applica- tion which characterised the former artificial systems have been Jost in their attempted demolition, while the recon- structions now arising (in spite of the abundant though not always acknowledged appropriation of some useful old materials) are not yet so complete and commodious as to afford the same accommodation to the benighted student. Order will no doubt some day spring from chaos, and even already, amid the darkness of the upheaving waters, are many sunny spots of terra firma towards which we fondly steer, “ well pleased that now our sea should find a shore.” Naturalists, however, need by no means quarrel with each other, as if there was acertain good to gain, or some great physical truth to be established. <‘ All the great business

in their minds with names annexed to them, do thereby enable themselves to consider things, and discourse of them, as it were in bundles, for the easier and readier im- provement and communication of their knowledge, which would advance but slowly were their words and thoughts confined only to particulars.” “ The reason,” he says again, “ why I take so particular notice of this is, that we may not be mistaken about genera and species, and their essences, as if they were things regularly and constantly made by nature, and had a real existence in things,—when they appear upon a more wary survey to be nothing else but an artifice of the understanding, for the easier signi- fying such collections of ideas, as it should often have oc- casion to communicate by one general term, under which divers particulars, as far forth as they agreed to that ab- stract idea, might be comprehended.”

The following observations by Mr Vigors may be intro- duced with propriety in this place, as according closely with our own views on the subject of generic divisions. “ But though nature nowhere exhibits an absolute divi- sion between her various groups, she yet displays suffi- ciently distinctive characters to enable us to arrange them into conterminous assemblages, and to retain each assem- blage, at least in idea, separate from the rest. It is not, however, at the point of junction between it and its ad- joining groups that I look for the distinctive character. There, as M. Temminck justly observes, it is not to be found. It is at that central point which is most remote from the ideal point of junction on each side, and where the characteristic peculiarities of the groups, gradually unfolding themselves, appear in their full development; it is at that spot, in short, where the typical character is most conspicuous, that I fix my exclusive attention. Upon these typical eminences I plant those banners of distinc- tion, round which corresponding species may congregate as they more or less approach the types of each. In my pursuit of nature, I am accustomed to look upon the great series in which her productions insensibly pass into each other, with similar feelings to those with which [ contemplate some of those beautiful pieces of natural scenery, where the grounds swell out in a diversified in- terchange of valley and elevation. Here, although I can detect no breach in that undulating outline over which the eye delights to glide without interruption, I can still give a separate existence in idea to every elevation before me, and assign it a separate name. It is upon the points of eminence in each that I fix my attention, and it is these points I compare together, regardless, in my divisions, of the lower grounds which imperceptibly meet at the base. Thus also it is that I fix upon the typical eminences that rise most conspicuously above that continued outline in which nature disposes her living groups. ‘These afford me sufficient prominency of character for my ideal divisions ; for ideal they must be, where nature shows none. And thus it is that I can conceive my groups to be at once separate and united; separate at their typical elevations, but united at their basal extremes.

“ Tt is difficult to convey, in terms sufficiently explicit, an accurate definition of abstract notions like the present. We may see the subject clearly ourselves, but not be able to communicate it by words sufficiently intelligible, unless to those who may happen to view it in the same light as ourselves. I shall therefore take a familiar illustration, which comes home to the feelings of every man, and where it will be immediately apparent that strongly marked di- visional groups may be kept apart from each other in our conceptions, although we can recognise no absolute boun- dary lines by which we can say they are separated.

“Let us take, for instance, that period of time which in-

ORNITHOLOGY.

ferine species among quadrupeds, they subdue their weak- Raptores. er brethren by force more frequently than guile; and if —~y—

Raptores. volves the annual revolution of the earth round the sun, —\—" and let _us divide it into the usual departments which we

call seasons. Every man can picture to his own mind the decided characters by which these divisions of the year are parted from each other ; he can mark out by definite dis- tinctions those striking periods where the year bursts forth into bud, where it opens into flower, where it ripens into fruit, and where it lapses into decay. He can ascertain the nature of the impressions which each season forces upon his own feelings, he can communicate such sensa- tions to others, and he can embody those natural periods, of whose separate existence he feels conscious, into sepa- rate and well-characterised divisions, to which he can re- fer, without fear of being misunderstood, under the distinct appellations of spring or summer, of autumn or of winter. But can he at the same time point out the actual limits of these natural departments of the year? Can he fix, for instance, in that intervening interchange of season, where the rigour of winter silently and imperceptibly relaxes into the mildness of spring,—can he fix, I say, upon the exact period when the former terminates, and the latter begins ? Can he assert at one moment that he is within the pre- cincts of one season, and that, even while he speaks, he has passed into the confines of the other. He may, it is true, assign artificial limits to each department, and may calculate with mathematical precision the months, the days, the hours, of which it consists. He may even as- sign reasons for his arbitrary divisions, and prove their pro- bable approximation to the regular interchange of nature. And this is precisely as far as the Zoologist can go. But this is all that isin his power. He never can feel or assert that the character of one season is lost at one particular moment, and gives place to the character of that which succeeds. Here, then, we have four decided divisions, per- fectly distinct in themselves, yet to which we are unable to aifix the limits. So it is with the groups of Zoology. They exhibit separate divisions, distinguished by separate characters, but running into each other without any as- signable limits; and any man may draw his imaginary line across that ‘border country,’ that ‘land debateable,’ which stretches between the conterminous regions, accord- ing as it suits his fancy or his peculiar views, or as it may accord with the greater or less preponderance of those minor landmarks which serve as an inferior made of de-

marcation in the absence of all natural boundaries.”!

We shall now proceed with our proposed exposition of the various orders.

Orper I. RAPTORES, OR BIRDS OF PREY?

Raptorial birds, under which term we include the tribes usually known by the general names of vultures, eagles, hawks, buzzards, kites, and owls, are distinguished by a strong, sharp-edged, acutely-pointed bill, more or less curved, but always hooked at the extremity of the upper mandible, which is covered at the base by the membrane called the cere. The nostrils are usually open. The legs, with few exceptions, are plumed as far as the top of the tarsus ; the latter part itself is usually bare, but is entirely covered with feathers in most of the nocturnal kinds, and partially so in several of the diurnal. The toes are always four in number, very free in their movements, the outer sometimes versatile ; and the whole, with rare exceptions, are furnished with strong, sharp, curved, prehensile claws.

All raptorial birds feed on animal substances,—the ma- jority on living prey. Representing in their own class the

Zoological Journal, No. ii. p. 196.

not more tyrannical than tigers, they at least exercise a more extended sway, for the fields, the woods, and waters, the barren mountains, and resounding shore, are all alike subjected to their fierce centrol. Their power of flight is remarkable for its surpassing strength and long endurance. They occur in some form or other under every clime, and their external aspect varies greatly, both in size and shape, from the ponderous eagle and condor of long extended wing, to the finch-falcon of Bengal, which is scarcely larger than a sparrow. But, generally speaking, raptorial birds are of considerable bulk, as might be anticipated from the necessity under which they lie of subduing an active and not always unresisting prey. Their forms, how- ever, are often graceful, their actions energetic, their eyes bold and bright, and their plumage beautifully varied ;— but they are more remarkable for chaste and subdued co- louring, for sober shades of intermingled black and brown, than for those brilliant or gorgeous hues which characterise so many of the feathered tribes.

Their dispositions naturally fierce or unaccommodating, if not contentious, their ravening appetites, and dangerous weapons, induce them but seldom to associate with each other. We shall not here describe them, after the manner of many authors, as gloomy and mistrustful,—for what cause has an eagle, rejoicing in his strength, and winging his way from distant isles o’er waters glittering with re- dundant life, or hovering on the side of some majestic mountain, of which the purple heath is one wide store- house of the best of game,—what cause has he for gloom ? Or why should he mistrust, whose sail-broad vans might almost carry him across the vast Atlantic, or assuredly in a few brief hours transport him from his bold but barren eyrie, to richer pastures, reverberating with the varied voices of defenceless flocks? We believe there is nothing mournful or disconsolate in beings which pursue the un- fettered exercise of natural instinct. Such fearful attri- butes are but reflections from the melancholy mind of man (whose morbid reason often casts a gloom across the bright- est sun), but cloud not in reality the face of nature. Birds of prey, however, are not gregarious,—although, “ where the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” For eagles we presume to read vultures, the scavengers of the raptorial order, which in sultry regions are highly use- ful in clearing all decaying offal from the earth. With these exceptions, the others may be said to dwell in single pairs,—at times in solitude. They build their rude but sufficing nests amid precipitous rocks, on ancient ruins, and occasionally among forest trees, while a few take up their station on the ground. They seldom lay more than four eggs, and many only rear a pair of young. These are at first extremely helpless, and covered for a time with down. ‘The females, in the generality of species, are con- siderably larger than the males. The plumage of the sexes often differs greatly, and in such cases the offspring for one or more seasons resembles the mother.

The voiceinthe raptorial order is almostalways harsh and unmusical, sometimes more plaintive in the hooting kinds, complaining by night from ivy-mantled tower or ancient tree; and only one species, a hawk from Africa, has been ever said to sing. The uses to the human race of birds of prey are not remarkable. The scavengers above alluded to are beneficial in their way, but the same can scarcely be alleged of such as carry off our lambs or poul- try; and we are not aware that either their flesh or fea- thers are of much.avail. More might have been said of certain members of the order, had not the practice of

2 AccipiTreEs, Linn.; Rapacrs, Temm.

557

558

ORNITHOLOGY.

Kaptores. falconry, with other chivalrous uses, been about to pass

away.

SECT. I.—DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY.

Cere usually naked, or partly covered by setaceous fea- thers. Nostrils open. Eyes of medium size, lateral. Head rather small, and elongated ; face not surrounded by a completed disk of projecting feathers, as in owls. Ster- num strong and solid. Stomach membranous. Intes- tines not greatly extended. Czca short. Toes naked.

Of this section Linnzus and the other naturalists formed only two genera, Vulta7 and Falco, which some regard as forming two large families, subdivided into numerous mi- nor groups. There is, upon the whole, a well-marked character, or at least a strong physiognomical distinction, between the Vulturide and Falconide ; but this is more easily seen than expressed, or, when expressed, is often erroneously so. Thus a strong alleged distinction is the nearly naked head of the former; but the Jammer-geyer (G. barbatus) has that part as densely plumed as any eagle. However, the nails are generally blunt, and the feet comparatively feeble.

FAMILY I.—VULTURID&.'

The birds of this family are of large size and gluttonous habits. They prefer animal substances in a state of de- composition to living prey, and are frequently gregarious. The bill is never notched, and the feet and claws are more feeble and less curved than among the Falconidz. Though indolent, especially after meal time, they are distinguished by great powers of flight. Their bodies in repose assume a more or less horizontal position. Their flesh is disgust- ing as an article of food, but their down has been occasion- ally made use of for domestic purposes.

Genus Vuttur, Cuv. Bill large and strong, compress- ed, straight at the base, convex and rounded at the point. Nostrils naked, rounded, obliquely pierced. Head and neck bare of ordinary feathers, but covered by a short down. A collar of long soft feathers at the base of the neck.

The true vultures, as now restricted, belong to the an- cient world. Their flight, though slow, is powerful and long sustained. They frequently rise, by repeated gyra- tions, to a great height in the air, and descend in a simi- lar manner. They assemble in troops, and feed for the most part on carcasses; yet the Dalmatian shepherds are said to dread their inroads among their sheep and lambs. They build among inaccessible rocks, and feed their young by emptying the unsavoury contents of their own crops. It does not appear that they can transfix or carry off their prey by means of their talons, as do hawks and eagles.

. We have two species in Europe, the cinereous vulture (V. ctnereus, Linn. Plate CCCLXX XVIII. fig. 1), called arrian on the Pyrenees, and the griffon or fulvous vulture (V. fulvus, Linn.). Both birds occur in Spain and tie Tyrol, but are scarcely ever seen in Switzerland, and are rare in Germany. ‘The nidification of the cinereous vul- ture is still unknown. It probably never breeds in Eu- rope, but rather in the mountainous countries of Asia, where it is known to occur abundantly. ‘he fulvous vul- ture is more courageous than the preceding, and more

‘inclined to seize on living prey. It is common in the

neighbourhood of Gibraltar, abounds in Dalmatia during winter, and has been observed to breed in Sardinia on lofty trees. It lays two eggs, of a greenish white, with a

rugose surface. of Africa. Several other species are found in the warmer regions of the old world.

Genus Sarcorampnus, Dumeril.* Bill thick, straight from the base, but strongly curved at the extremity, the margin of the upper mandible having a somewhat sinuous or S-like outline. Nostrils longitudinal and oblong. Head and neck bare, wattled, surmounted by a fleshy crest.

This genus is confined to America, and consists of three species, the famous condor of the Andes (.S. condor), the king-vulture (S. papa), and the Californian vulture (.S. californianus). The condor inhabits the loftiest of the Andes, and in its aérial flights is supposed to attain to a station far above that of every other living creature, According to Humboldt, it soars to an elevation nearly six times greater than that at which clouds are usually suspended in the sky. At the vast height of almost six perpendicular miles, the condor is seen majestically sail- ing through the ethereal space, watchfully surveying the airy depth in quest of his accustomed prey. When im- pelled by hunger, he descends to the nearest plains which border on the Cordilleras ; but his sojourn there is brief, as he seems instinctively to prefer the desolate and lofty mountains. The barometer amid such aérial haunts at- tains only to the height of sixteen inches.. These rocky eyries (of which the plain is elevated about 15,600 feet above the level of the sea) are known vernacularly by the name of condor nests. There, perched in dreary solitude, on the crests of scattered peaks, at the very verge of the region of perpetual snow, these dark gigantic birds are seen silently reposing like melancholy spectres. Hardly an instance is known of their assaulting even an infant, though many credulous travellers have given accounts of their killing young persons of ten or twelve years of age.

The history of the condor, like that of its Patagonian neighbours of the human race, has in fact been much ob- scured by exaggeration. An inspection of its feet and claws suffices to show that it is not gifted with great prehensile power, and could scarcely carry off the most ill-conditioned child, though not seldom accused of such evil practices. Condamine informs us that he has often seen condors hovering over flocks of sheep, some of which they “‘ would have carried away, had they not been scared by the shepherds ;” and this vague supposition is stated as a fuct in their natural history! It is a bird of powerful wing, but of vulturine habits, feeding much oa dead animal matter, but not unfrequently joining together in the attack of cattle, especially of such as are in any way enfeebled. Although the usual station of the condor is mountainous, it often descends, as we have said, to teed among the plains and valleys; and a female, now in the French museum, was found at sea, sitting on the dead body of a floating whale. It breeds amid the inaccessible peaks of the Andes, making no nest, but depositing its eggs upon the arid rock. It is a large bird, of from three to four feet in length, with an extent of wing very various- ly stated, but probably sometimes reaching trom ten to twelve feet. ‘The female is of a much browner hue, and wants the caruncles. She is less in size than the male, an unusual circumstance in this order, although we sus- pect that the greater bulk of that sex is a feature chiefly characteristic of the hawks and eagles.

“In riding along the plain,” says Sir Francis Head, “I passed a dead horse, about which were forty or fifty con- dors; many of them were gorged and unable to fly; se- veral were standing on the ground devouring the carcass ;

' On the modern groups into which this family is divisible, the reader. may consult a paper by Mr Vigors in the Zovlogical Jour-

nal, No. viii. p. 368. ? Vultur, Linn. Cuy. ; Cathartes, Wiger, Tenm.

3.47

Nuttal’s Menual of Ornithology, 1. p. 36.

a

It is widely spread over the continent Reptores.

Raptores. the rest hovering above it. —\—" them; one of the largest of the birds was standing with

ORNITHOLOGY.

and South America, and extends, in the central districts Raptores.

I rode within twenty yards of

one foot on the ground, and the other on the horse’s body ; display of muscular strength as he lifted the flesh, and tore off great pieces, sometimes shaking his head and pulling with his beak, and sometimes pushing with his leg. Got to Mendoza, and went to bed. Wakened by one of my party who arrived; he told me, that seeing the con- dors hovering in the air, and knowing that several of them would be gorged,! he had also ridden up to the dead horse, and that as one ef these enormcus birds flew about fifty yards off, and was unable to go any farther, he rode up to him; and then, jumping off his horse, seized him by the neck. The contest was extraordinary, and the ren- contre unexpected. No two animals can well be imagin- ed less likely to meet than a Cornish miner and a condor, and few could have calculated, a year ago, when the one was hovering high above the snowy pinnacles of the Cor- dillera, and the other many fathoms beneath the surface of the ground in Cornwall, that they would ever meet to wrestle and ‘hug’ upon the wide desert plain of Villa- Vicencia. My companion said he had never had sucha battle in his life; that he put his knee upon the bird’s breast, and tried with all his strength to twist his neck ; but that the condor, objecting to this, struggled violently, and that also, as several others were flying over his head, he expected they would attack him. He said, that at last he succeeded in killing his antagonist, and with great pride he showed me the large feathers from his wings; but when the third horseman came in, he told us he had found the condor in the path, but not quite dead.””

The king-vulture, S. papa (Plate CCCLXXXVIII. fig. 3), is a much more gaily adorned species, the fleshy por- tions of its head and neck being red, orange, and purple. The upper parts of the plumage are of a pale reddish-white or clay colour, the collar at the base of the neck is bluish- gray, the quill-feathers and tail black (the former with paler edgings), and the under parts of the body white. This beautiful bird is found in America, from the 30th degree of north latitude, to about the 32d in the southern hemisphere ; that is, it occurs in Mexico, Paraguay, Gui- ana, Brazil, and Peru; but most abundantly beneath the torrid zone. According to Azara, it makes its nest in hollow trees, and lays two eggs. It is supposed to derive its name from its habit of driving off the common vultures of America, called turkey buzzards, from their prey. The female king-vulture is of somewhat smaller size than the male. The ruff, and all the upper parts of her plumage, are brownish black, and her bill is destitute of caruncles.

Genus Caruarrés, Illiger. Bill much more, slender than in the preceding genera; the upper mandible inflat- ed above the nostrils, encroaching as it were upon the forehead, curved at the point, the margins nearly straight ; the under mandible slender, slightly inflated, and obtuse at the terminal portion. Cere extended. Nostrils broad, quadrangular, longitudinal, very open. Head and neck naked, without caruncles. Tongue fleshy, fringed. Tarsi naked, rather feeble; claws short, curved, blunt. Tail- feathers twelve.

This genus, as now restricted, is likewise confined to America. It consists of two species, the common turkey buzzard (so called in the United States), C. aura, Plate CCCLXXXVIII. fig. 2, and the carrion-crow (of the same country), C. atratus. The former is abundant both in North

of the fur-countries, as far north as the 54th degree. is partially migratory, even in the middle states, retiring southwards on the approach of winter. A few remain throughout the year in Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey ; but none are known to breed in any of the Atlantic States to the north of the one last named. In the interior, however, they reach a much higher latitude during their summer migrations, probably owing to the greater heat of that season in the inland districts. A few make their ap- pearance on the banks of the Saskatchewan when the month of June is far advanced, and after all the other summer birds have arrived and settled in their leafy ar- bours. Though gregarious in more southern countries, where they fly and feed in flocks, towards their northern limits seldom more than a pair are seen together. They feed on carrion, which they discover at a great distance, it is now said, by the sense of sight alone. They some- times eat with such gluttonous voracity as to be unable to rise from the ground. They have been accused of at- tacking pigs, beginning the assault by picking out their éyes. But Mr Waterton, during his residence in Deme- rara, could not ascertain that they destroyed even living reptiles. He killed lizards and frogs and placed them in their way, but they took no notice of them till they began to emit a putrid efHluvia. He differs from Mr Audubon in his ideas regarding the relative superiority in these birds of the organs of sight and smell. The one thinks the eyes have it, the other the nose. The turkey buzzard hatches her eggs in some swampy solitude, on a truncat- ed hollow tree or excavated stump or log, laying them on the rotten wood. This species roosts at night on trees, but more seldom than the other kind in flocks. In winter they sometimes pass the night in numbers on the roofs of houses in the suburbs of the southern cities, probably in- duced to do so by the warmth which emanates from the chimneys. On fine clear days, even in the winter season, they amuse themselves by soaring majestically into the air, rising rapidly in large gyrations ; and ascending be- yond the thinnest fleecy clouds, they almost disappear from mortal view. In South America they will sometimes accompany the condor in his loftiest flights, rising, all fetid though they be, above the region of the purest Alps; and thus exhibiting an emblem of the mind of man, so often sunk in Epicurus’ sty, yet for a time so raised by god-like genius, as not seldom to perceive “ far off the crystal battlements of heaven.”

The other species of this genus is the black vulture, or carrion-crow of the United States, C. atratus. It is rather less than the preceding, measuring about twenty-six inch- es in length, the general colour of the plumage dull black, with a dark cream-coloured spot on the primaries. It is more impatient of cold, and prevails chiefly about the larger maritime cities of South Carolina, Georgia, and Flo- rida. They seem, from Mr Douglas’s account, to proceed further north on the western side of the Rocky Mountains. Although they rise at times to a considerable elevation, their flight is less easy and graceful than that of the tur- key buzzard. They are much more familiar, and in Charleston and Savannah may be seen walking the streets as demurely as domestic fowl. They sometimes become individually known ; and a veteran with only one leg was observed to visit the shambles, and claim the bounty of a gentle butcher, for upwards of twenty years.

En ee a Pec

' “ The manner in which the Guachos catch these birds is to kill a horse and skin him; and they say that although not a con- dor is to be seen, the smell instantly attracts them. When I was at one of the mines in Chili, I idly mentioned to a ‘person that E should like to have a condor: some days afterwards a Guacho arrived at Santiago from this person with three large ones. hey had aif been caught in this manner, and had been hung over a horse; two had died of galloping, but the other was alive. I gave the Guacho a dollar, who immediately left me to consider what I could do with three such enormous birds.” :

_ ? Rough Notes across the Pampas.

559

t-——r———

560

Raptores. —\v—" rus, Cuv.

ORNITHOLOGY.

Genus Neorunon, Sav. Cathartes, Illig. Perenopte- Bill long, slender, rounded, inflated at the curvature of the upper mandible, which is much hooked at the extremity. Nostrils median, oval, longitudinal, open. Cere covering two thirds of the bill. Face, cheeks, and throat naked, also a space extending down the middle of the neck. Tongue oblong, linear. Tail of fourteen feathers. :

These birds are inhabitants of the ancient world. They are less powerful than the true vultures, and of smaller size, but are still more useful in their scavengerial func- tions, their love of putrid flesh, and of all impurities, be- ing insatiable. The rachamach of Bruce, or gingi vul- ture of Sonnerat (eophron perenoplerus, Sav.), attords a characteristic example. See Plate CCCLXXXVIII. fig. 4. It is equal in size to.a raven, the throat and cheeks na- ked, the feathers of the head and back of the neck long, narrow, and pointed. The plumage of the male is white, except the quill-feathers, which are black ; that of the fe- male and young is brown. This species has been described under a great variety of names. It occurs in several parts of Europe, more especially in Spain, Italy, and the Island of Elba. It is likewise widely distributed over Africa, where it is known to the Hottentots by the name of hou- goop. It was held in great respect by the ancient Egyp- tians, and is frequently represented on the monuments of that mysterious people. It is said to follow caravans through the desert, for the sake of devouring every dead or unclean thing. We may add, that it has occurred once or twice in England.

Genus GypaEros, Storr. Bill strong, straight, curved at the point, and somewhat inflated at the curvature. Cere basal, covered by strong bristly feathers pointing forwards.. Nostrils oblique, oval, concealed by bristles. Tongue thick, fleshy, bifid. Head feathered. A tuft of bristly or hair-like feathers beneath the bill. Tarsi short, thick, feathered. Tail-feathers twelve.

This genus contains only a single species, the cele- brated lammer-geyer, or bearded vulture of the Alps (G. barbatus). See Plate CCCLXXXVIIL. fig. 5. It is one of the largest, or at least the longest-winged, of all the Eu- ropean birds of prey, haunting the highest mountains, and preying on lambs, goats, chamois, marmots, &c. Its strength and prowess are probably exaggerated, for al- though its powers of wing are undoubtedly great, its legs and talons are proportionally more feeble than those of eagles and falcons. It is said not unfrequently to secure its alpine prey by descending upon it suddenly with rush- ing wing, and driving it over a precipice, devouring the shattered limbs at leisure. It builds among inaccessible precipices, and lays two eggs. It is now one of the rarest of the birds of Europe, though formerly not uncommon among the mountains of Tyrol, Switzerland, and Germany. The peasant sportsmen of the last century often killed them, and one, Andreas Durner by name, is quoted by M. Michahelles as having shot sixty-five with his own hand. Though a bird of rare occurrence, the bearded vulture is very extensively distributed. In Europe it haunts the steeps of the Pyrenean Mountains, and the central Alps from Piedmont to Dalmatia; it is described by MM. Larey and Savigny as occurring in Egypt, and by Bruce as an inhabitant of Abyssinia; it has been received both from Northern Africa and the Cape of Good Hope, by M. Tem- minck ; in Asia it is known to cast its cloud-like shadow over the vast steppes of the Siberian deserts; while not many years have elapsed since Professor Jameson re-

ceived it from the snow-capped ranges of the Himalaya Raptorea. ——

Mountains.

The bird described by Bruce under the title of Abou Duch’n, or Father Long-Beard, is certainly identical with the lammer-geyer, although we have been sometimes puz- zled to reconcile the comparatively feeble feet of the beau- tiful series submitted to our examination by Professor Jameson, with the meat-bearing prowess of the Abyssinian instance. On the loftiest summit of the mountain of La- mallon, while the traveller’s servants were refreshing them- selves after the fatigues of a toilsome ascent, and enjoying the pleasures of a delightful climate and a good dinner of goat’s flesh, a lammer-geyer suddenly made his appearance among them. A great shout, or rather cry of distress, attracted the attention of Bruce, who, while walking to- wards the bird, saw it deliberately put its foot into a pan containing a huge piece of meat prepared for boiling. Finding the temperature, however, somewhat higher than it was accustomed to among the pure gushing springs of that rocky and romantic region, it suddenly withdrew, but immediately afterwards settled upon two large pieces which lay upon a wooden platter, and transfixing them with its talons, carried them off. It then disappeared over the edge of a “steep Tarpeian rock,” down which criminals were sometimes thrown, and whose mangled remains may be supposed to have first induced the bird to select the spot as a place of sojourn. ‘The traveller, in expectation of an- other visit, immediately prepared his arms, and it was not . long before the gigantic creature re-appeared.

As when a vulture on Imaus bred,

Whose snowy ridge the roving Tartar bounds, Dislodging from a region scarce of prey,

To gorge the flesh of lambs or yeanling kids

On hills where flocks are fed, flies towards the springs Of Ganges or Hydaspes, Indian streams ;

But on his way lights on the barren plains

Of Sericana, where Chineses drive

With sails and wind their cany waggons light :—

So landed with far-stretched fanning pinions our lammer- geyer, within ten yards of his expected savoury mess, but also within an equal distance of Bruce’s practised rifle, which instantly sent a ball through its ponderous body, and the magnificent bird sunk down upon the grass, with scarce a flutter of its outspread wings.

We may here close our brief notice of the first great family of the raptorial order, merely remarking farther, that the species last alluded to, though not so regarded by any of our systematic writers, appears to us to bear a great resemblance to the kites.

FAMILY II.—FALCONIDZ.

This extensive family corresponds to the ancient unre- stricted genus Falco, now greatly subdivided by modern naturalists, but not yet very satisfactorily arranged - It contains a vast assemblage of eagles, hawks, buzzards, kites, &c., all characterized by a more or less curved bill, of which the upper mandible is strongly hooked ; by ob- vious or open nostrils, pierced in an almost always naked cere ; and by curved retractile pointed talons. ‘The head is never bare of feathers, as in most of the preceding fa- mily, and the eye-brows are usually bony and projecting.

The geographical distribution of the Falconidz, consi- dered in their generality, is universal, one or more species being found in all known countries from Spitzbergen to

The genus Falco, which in the days of Linnaeus did not exceed thirty-two different kinds, amounts, in the last edition of Dr

Latham’s Synopsis, to 247. We have no d to the rank of synonyms.

oubt it now exceeds 300 species, even although many of Latham’s names are reducible

ORNITHOLOGY. 561

are usually large and lustrous; their limbs, even when Raptores.

Raptores. New Holland, and several particular kinds having a very light, very strong and muscular, and armed with formi- —~~——

wide range, not only longitudinally across the whole tem-

perate and northern parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, but latitudinally through almost every clime. Most of them are, to a certain extent, migratory in their habits, although their movements are by no means so re- gularly periodical as are those of more laborious wing. In fact, the birds of this family, surpassing all others both in the duration and rapidity of their flight, are scarcely amen- able to those natural laws which, in so many instances, ap- pear to regulate or restrict the location of other tribes ; and hence we find, that if a mural precipice, an insulated crag, the mouldering wall of a ruined castle, or the tor- tuous branch of some ancient and umbrageous forest tree, has been successfully sought for in spring as a secure re- treat for the purposes of nidification and the rearing of their young, the other seasons of the year are usually spent in a life of wandering rapine. When we consider the facts which have been recorded of the flight both of hawks and pigeons, the migratory movements of birds in general be- come much less a subject of wonder (excepting always the beautiful instinct by which they are directed), than they would at first appear. It is well known that a falcon be- longing to Henry II. of France, which had been carried to Fontainebleau, made its escape, and was retaken neat day in the island of Malta, where it was recognised by the rings on its legs. According to Colonel Montagu, it must have fiown with a velocity equal to fifty-seven miles an hour, supposing it to have been on wing the whole time. “ But as such birds never fly by night, and allowing the day to have been at the longest, or containing eighteen hours of light, this would make seventy-five miles an hour. It is probable, however, that it neither had so many hours of light in the twenty-four to perform the journey, nor that it was retaken the moment of its arrival; so that we may fairly conclude that much less time was occupied in performing that distant flight.” Another falcon having been sent from the Canary Islands to the Duke of Lermos, then in Andalusia, was found in Teneriffe siateen hours after it had taken its flight from Spain. In regard to this instance the calculation is more simple, and less likely to prove erroneous, because, supposing the bird to have fol- lowed anything like a direct course, its flight from the coast of Andalusia to its native island would lie through- out over the waters of the ocean, and must therefore have been continuous. Now the distance being not less than 752 miles, that space divided by sixteen, the number of hours employed would give an average of forty-seven miles an hour tor the whole course. At this rate, if a falcon were to leave the rock of Gibraltar on’a Monday morning, it might enjoy eight hours repose, and yet reach Edin- burgh Castle in the course of Tuesday forenoon. Pigeons have been shot in the far-inland forests of America with their stomachs full of fresh rice, which, to have resisted the digestive process, must have been swallowed not many hours preceding, but could not have been obtained within eight hundred miles of the place where they were killed It thus appears probable, that the most extended migra- tory movement which any species is required to perform, may in the greater number of cases be accomplished in a couple of days,—more frequently in the course of a few hours.

The numerous species by which this great family is con- stituted, though rarely adorned by those brilliant colours which characterize so many of the gentler tribes, are per- haps of all the feathered race the most remarkable for beauty of form and elegance of proportion. Their eyes

dable claws with which they pounce their prey. Their general aspect (especially that of the true falcons), when compared with other birds, is well expressed by the word noble; and a single glance suffices to show that a combi- nation of fierceness, energy, and courage, must form their predominating character. Like most other animals, how- ever, whether human or brute, they are by no means in- sensible to kindness ; and their instinctive sagacity, when directed by the skill and perseverance of man, has for ages been rendered subservient to his amusement in the sports of the field. But the princely art of falconry, whether from the progress of agriculture, the consequent minuter subdivision of land, and the increase of inconvenient bar- riers by the fencing of enclosed grounds,—or the tastes of men of rank and fortune having followed in another di- rection, has now almost entirely fallen into disuse. The species most generally trained for the purpose in this coun- try appears to have been the peregrine falcon, but many other kinds are used in eastern regions; and even pon- derous eagles are sometimes made subservient to the hu- man will. Few things indeed more strongly illustrate the subduing influence of reason over instinct, than that a coarse illiterate groom, by tossing upa shapeless lure, should thus entice a proud rejoicing falcon from his airy height, and render him so submissively obedient as to forsake his soaring flight, and all his bright survey of field and river, and close contentedly his yet unwearied wings, to perch for hours upon a brawny arm, his lustrous eye encapped in velvet hood, and limbs “by jessies bound.”

We must be very brief in our indications of the minor groups ; and of several subgenera, as they are called, we can do nothing more than give the names. We do not here adopt the division of noble and ignoble birds of prey, which we deem a distinction without a difference, seeing that some of the long-winged hawks are difficult to train, while seve- ral of the short-winged kinds are made with ease submis- sive to the human race. :

The genus Daprrius of Vieillot (Caracara, Cuv.) is formed by the Falco aterrimus of Temm. (Pl. Col. 37 and

342). The cheeks and front of the throat are bare of fea-,

thers. Thecere ishaired. Theadult plumage of the species named is black, with a white band spotted with black at the base of the tail ; the bare portion of the face is flesh- coloured, the cere and legs yellow, the bill lead-coloured. The total length is about fifteen inches. It occurs in Gui- ana and Brazil. Its habits are unknown.

The genus IsycTeEr of the same author ( Caracara, Cuv.) has the cere smooth, and the upper part of the neck, as well as the cheeks, bare of feathers. The stomach is also bare and prominent. The tarsi are short, strong, and re- ticulated. We believe there is only a single species of this genus also, the £6. lewcogaster of Vieillot (Gal. pl. 6), or Falco formosus of Latham. Its bill is feeble, and but slightly hooked, and its habits offer a corresponding non- conformity with the usual manners of the raptorial order. It is of a mild and peaceable nature, living, it is said, chief- ly on fruits and seeds, with the addition of a few insects, such as ants and locusts. It builds on trees, and utters from time to time a harsh discordant cry. It inhabits Guiana and Brazil, and, exhibiting some of the habits of the toucans, is called by the negroes the eapitaine des gros becs.

The genus CaracarA, Cuv. (Polyborus, Vieil.), has the face only partially naked. The C. Braziliensis (Plate CCCLXXXVIII. fig. 6) is extremely common in Paraguay.

ee ee

* Geese are also known to have been shot in Newfoundland with their crops full of maize, a species of corn which does not grow

but at an immense distance from that island,

562

ORNITHOLOGY.

Raptores. It lives in pairs, flies rapidly, and preys on birds and small

quadrupeds, as well as on insects and reptiles. The fe- male is said to build upen the ground when in the pampas, and on trees when located in wooded countries. ‘This ac- commodating habit is known to prevail among many other birds.

The three preceding genera, which some regard as form- ing the tribe of Caracaras, are all native to the new world, and may be said to form a link with the vultures, both in regard to the bareness of the face, and their alleged ten- dency to prey on carrion.

We now proceed to the tribe of eagles, of which the bill is very robust, comparatively straight at its basal and middle portion, and suddenly curved at the extremity. It includes the species most celebrated for their strength and courage. Their strong limbs, curved talons, and broad ex- pansive wings, enable them to carry off well-grown lambs, and other bulky prey. They are therefore dreaded by shepherds and such pastoral people, as robbers of the first rank, and a high premium is placed upon their heads ac- cordingly.

In the genus Aguiva properly so called, the bill is shorter than the head, straight, curved at the tip, the edge of the upper mandible with a slight festoon; the nostrils are oblong and oblique ; the cere haired ; the tarsi short, and covered with feathers. The well-known golden eagle (A. chrysetos) affords a characteristic example. This fine British species is widely spread over Europe and America. In our own country it builds on the ledges of mountain precipices—on the Continent its nest is frequently found in forests; for example, in that of Fontainebleau. It is come mon in the northern and central parts of Europe, but rarer in the south. It is, however well known in Italy. We have seen it sailing over the deep basin of the vale of D’Uomo d@’Ossola, and high above the highest snowy peaks which glitter around the majestic passes or the Simplon. In America it breeds among the subalpine districts which skirt the Rocky Mountains, being seldom seen farther east- ward. It is regarded by the aborigines as an emblem of strength and courage, and the Indian warrior as well as the highland chieftain glories in his eagle plume. These birds

Sometimes soar to a vast height, but they seem to do so

rather as a kind of sporting exercise, than with a view to search for prey. When employed in hunting, they keep far nearer the earth, sweeping up the valleys, and skirting the sides of heath-covered mountains. The golden eagle is becoming rarer in Scotland every year. Many ancient eyries are pointed out to travellers by gray-haired shep- herds, where the bird itself is now no longer known, and in no lengthened period we may expect its extirpation. _Se- veral other kinds of feather-footed eagles are known to naturalists, such as the Aquila imperialis, a common Egyp- tian species, not unfrequent in the eastern countries of Eu- rope,—and the Aquila Bonelli, a recent acquisition, native to the mountains of Sardinia, and no doubt inhabiting other alpine lands. Aguila fucosus is a New Holland species, very common near Port Jackson, and remarkable for its fine wedge-shaped tail.

In the genus Hati#TUus, or sea-eagle, the bill is nearly as long as the head, and the tarsi are bare of feathers, ex- cept at the top. Their habits resemble those of the eagles proper, but they prey more on fish, and will feed more rea~ dily on tainted flesh. Species occur in Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Australia. Our own white-tailed eagle (H.

albicilla, Plate CCCLXXXVIII. fig. 8) affords a good ex-

ample. “On observing a person walking near their nests,”

1 Rapacious Birds of Britain, p. 60.

says Mr Macgillivray, “ they fly around him at a respect- Raptores. ful distance, sailing with outstretched wings, occasionally —~—

uttering a savage scream of anger, and allowing their legs to dangle, with outspread talons, as if to intimidate him. I have observed them thus occupied, when on the edge of a precipice five hundred feet high, with a very steep slope above me, bounded by rocks, and from which I could not have made my escape had the birds been resolute. Al- though on such occasions they are in general extremely cautious, notwithstanding their manifest anxiety for the safety of their young, yet I once saw an eagle come within an hundred yards, when it was brought down with buck- shot by a friend whom I had accompanied to the place.”! The same writer observes, that he has never heard of the sea-eagle attacking those employed in robbing its nest; but that he has been credibly informed of its having attempt- ed to molest individuals whom it chanced to find among its native crags, in perilous places. In the Hebrides it is itself frequently assailed by the skua-gull; and we have ourselves more than once seen it attacked by the raven.

In our present group are many other species, such as the beautiful Halietus leucoguster of New Holland, and the bald or white-headed eagle of America, H, leucocepha- lus. The latter is often seen sailing through and around the gigantic column of spray which rises from that “ hell of waters,” the cataract of Niagara. Though a bird of powerful wing, he seems to have fallen somehow into lazy habits, or at least prefers the produce of others’ labours to his own. “ Elevated,” says Wilson, “ on the high, dead limb of some gigantic tree, that commands a view of the neighbouring shore and ocean, he seems calmly to contem- plate the motions of the various feathered tribes that pur- sue their busy avocations below,—the snow-white gulls slowly winnowing the air,—the busy tringz coursing along the sands,—trains of ducks streaming over the surface,— silent and watchful cranes intent and wading,—clamorous crows,—and all the winged multitudes that subsist by the bounty of this vast liquid magazine of nature. High over all these hovers one whose action instantly arrests his whole attention. By his wide curvature of wing, and sud- den suspension in air, he knows him to be the fish-hawk, settling over some devoted victim of the deep. His eye kindles at the sight, and balancing himself with half-open- ed wings upon the branch, he watches the result. Down rapid as an arrow from heaven descends the object of his attention, the roar of its wings reaching the ear as it dis- appears in the deep, making the surges foam around. At this moment the eager looks of the eagle are all ardour ; and levelling his neck for flight, he sees the fish-hawk once more emerge, struggling with his prey, and mounting in the air with screams of exultation. These are the signals for our hero, who, launching into the air, instantly gives chase, and soon gains on the fish-hawk; each exerts his utmost to mount above the cther, displaying in these ren- contres the most elegant and sublime aérial evolutions. The unencumbered eagle rapidly advances, and is just on the point of reaching his opponent, when with a sudden scream, probably of despair and honest execration, the lat- ter drops his fish :—the eagle poising himself for a moment, as if to take a more certain aim, descends like a whirlwind, snatches it in its grasp ere it reaches the water, and bears his ill-gotten booty silently away into the woods.”* When forced to hunt for themselves, they often attack young pigs, lambs, and sickly sheep.

In the genus Panpion the bill is much shorter than the head; the tarsi are short and naked, covered all round with

2 American Ornithology, vol. i. p. 23. We quote Professor Jameson’s systematic edition, in four small volumes (Constable's Miscellany, 1831). The student of American Ornithology will find some valuable notes by Sir William Jardine, in another Edinburgh edition,

in three vols. large 8vo, 1832.

“i

ORNITHOLOGY.

Raptores. imbricated scales; the claws are large and rounded on the

under surface, the outer toe very versatile ; and the second feather of the wing the longest. Our British osprey, or small fishing eagle, is the Pandion halietus. It breeds in the vicinity of many of our northern sea-lochs, often on the chimney-top of ruined castles by the shore. It destroys a vast quantity of fish, which it secures by thrusting its talons through their backs during a sudden momentary plunge beneath the waves. It is remarkably abundant in North America; and Wilson observes that it permits the purple grakles to build their nests amid the interstices of the sticks of which it has framed its own. He adds, that it never picks up any fish which it may chance to drop either on land or water. We know notif this trait applies to those ofthe “old country.” We once saw an osprey drop a large sea-trout, which it certainly did not attempt to recover ; but then there happened at the same time to be an excel- lent shot, with a double barrel, within a rather dangerous distance of the same. The osprey occurs in New Holland, and is elsewhere very widely spread.

The genus Crrc#rtus of Vieillot is in a manner inter- mediate.between the fishing eagles, the ospreys, and the buzzards. We may mention as an example the bird called Jjean-le-blane by the French (F. Gallicus, Gmelin), a com- mon continental species.

In Harpytra, Cuv. the bill is very strong, and com- pressed, the upper mandible dilated on the margins, and much hooked. The head is crested, the tarsi thick, the wings rather short. The harpies are large birds of prey, which dwell chiefly in the forests of Guiana, making their nests on trees, and committing great depredaiions. The larg- est is the H. destructor of Daudin (Plate CCCLAXAXKVIL. fig. 7), said to be capable of cleaving a man’s skull by a single blow of its beak. We doubt if any one ever tried. However, it carries off young fawns, and sloths of a year old. It is a rare bird, lately imported to the Zoological Gardens of London, and well exemplified by the specimen in the Edinburgh Museum.

In the genus Morpunus of Cuv. (Spizetus, Vieillot), the wings are shorter than the tail, the tarsi are length- ened (in some feathered), and the toes feeble. The spe- cies are extremely beautiful, and richly varied in their markings. They are chiefly found in South America.

We have figured as an example (see Plate CCCLX XXVIII. fig. 9) the Morphnus cristatus (F. Guianensis, Daud.), which strongly resembles the great harpy just mentioned in its general aspect, but is at once distinguished by its smaller size and longer tarsi. We may mention as an in- stance of those with plumed tarsi, the Falco cristatellus of Temm. Pl. Col. 282, which is a native of India and Ceylon.

In Cyminpis, Cuv. and Temm. the tip of the upper man- dible forms a lengthened curve, with a very acute point. The nostrils are obliquely cleft, almost closed; the cere narrow. The tarsi are very short, and reticulated; the wings rather long. The species are South American, and we know of nothing remarkable in their habits. See Cy- mindis uncinatus, Uliger, Pl. Col. 103. The extremely hook-billed species (C. hamatus, Pl. Col. 61) now forms the genus Rosrruamus. Its nostrils are rounded, the space before the eye is bare, and the tarsi are scutellated. Its habits are unknown.

Naturalists differ greatly in their distribution of the pre- ceding genera. Mr Swainson thinks Circetus is a sub- generic form of Gypogeranus, and he places Cymindis with the Caracaras, and certain other groups, in his sub-family Cymindine or kites, and locates Morphnus (Spizetus, Vieil.) with the buzzards.

We now proceed to a third tribe, consisting chiefly of

the sparrow-hawks and goshawks.

563

The bill is curved al- Raptores.

most from the base, convex, the upper mandible dilated —~~—

on the sides, the lower short and obtuse. The nostrils are nearly oval; the tarsi rather long and slender; the claws broad and sharp. The wings have the fourth fea- ther the most extended, and are shorter than the tail. The Species are numerous, and occur in all parts of the globe. The larger, which are also proportionally the more robust, with thicker tarsi and shorter wings, have by many Orni- thologists been considered as constituting a separate ge- nus, to which the name of AsTur is applied. That rare British bird the goshawk (Astur palumbarius) may be named as a good example, while the smaller and more slender kinds included in the genus Nisus are represent- ed by our sparrow-hawk (LV. communis, the Falco nisus of Linn.). The transition from one to the other is however very gradual, and some deem their separation unwarrant- able. Even the two British species, though usually re- garded as the types of their respective sections, do not dif- fer so much as to render the propriety of their separation very apparent, even were no other species known. They are all extremely active, as daring as the true falcons, and prey exclusively on living objects, which they seize with admirable dexterity. Their flight is generally low, and as they pass over the fields or woods, they dart upon their prey, whether it be in the air, among branches, or couch- ed upon the ground! The goshawk, though a short- winged species, was formerly held in great estimation for the purposes of falconry. It is one of the most generally diffused of all the accipitrine birds, but is now very rare in Britain. A beautiful white species (Astur albus) is found in New Holland. Of the sparrow-hawks we shall allude merely to the Nisus musicus of Africa, commonly called the chanting falcon. It is the only raptorial bird in any way gifted with the powers of song ; but we must not suppose that its notes at all resemble the harmonious tones of the nightingale, or those of even our less accom- plished songsters. Its voice is merely a little clearer than usual, although it seems impressed with a high idea of its own powers, and will sit for half a day perched upon the summit of a tall tree, uttering its incessant cry.

A fourth tribe contains the hétes, which are likewise sub- divided into several minor groups, all agreeing in their comparatively feeble bills and feet, their short tarsi, and long extended wings. The tail is forked. They are gifted with great powers of flight, but are neither strong nor courageous, seldom pounce on heavy game, sometimes contrive to prey on fish, and have never the slightest ob- jection to chickens.

In the genus Mizvus of Cuv. is included our common kite (MM. regalis, Vieil.; Falco milvus, Linn.). The tarsi are scutellated in front, and tolerably strong. This beau- tiful bird is rare in many districts of Scotland, and is scarcely ever seen in the Lothians. We have received it from Argyllshire, but do not think it occurs in the West- ern Isles. We have often, in the North of England, ad- mired its wheeling flight, circling through the air with no perceptible motion of its long expanded wings, and sailing over that enchanting land of lakes and mountains, with such majestic sweeps as if it were itself “ sole king of rocky Cumberland.” ‘The kite is distributed over all Eu- rope, but is unknown in America. Other species of the genus occur in Asia, Africa, and New Holland.

In the genus Evanus of Savigny the tarsi are very short, reticulated, and half clothed with feathers. The wings are long, the tail but slightly forked. It contains fF’. dispar and melanapterus, two species which some re- gard as one and the same. They feed on small birds, in- sects, and reptiles, and occasionally devour dead animals.

ee a 9 SD ae

! Rapacious Birds, p. 231.

564

ORNITHOLOGY.

Raptores. If identical, the species must exist in America, Africa

(occasionally in Europe), and the East Indies. The swal- low-tailed kite (UZ. furcatus) forms the genus NAucterus of Vigors. See Plate CCCLXXXIX. fig. 1. The form is slender, the tail very long and greatly forked. The spe- cies just named is white, with back, wings, and tail black, glossed with green and purple. It inhabits America, at Teast as far south as Buenos Ayres, and also passes the summer and breeds in the warmer parts of the United States. Tempted by the abundance of the fruitful valley of the Mississippi, a few are seen to wander as far as the Falls of St Antony, in the forty-fourth degree. Audubon states, that in calm warm weather they soar to an immense height, pursuing the large insects (probably libellulz) called musquito hawks, using their tails with an elegance peculiar to themselves, and performing the most singular evolutions. The Mississippi kite (#’. plumbeus, Latham) constitutes the genus Ictinra of the modern systems. It is of a blackish ash colour, the head and under parts of a much paler ashy hue. Wilson frequently observed this hawk in the course of his perambulations, sailing about in easy circles, at a considerable height in the air, and gene- rally in company with Turkey buzzards, with whose mode of flight its own exactly corresponds. It is not easy to say why two birds, whose food and manners are in other re- spects so different, should so frequently associate in their airy gambols. Though the Mississippi kite feeds chiefly on reptiles and insects, it is a bold and energetic bird. The specimen obtained by Wilson, though wounded, and precipitated from a stunning height, exhibited great strength, and a most unconquerable spirit. He no sooner approached to pick it up, than the bird immediately gave battle, striking rapidly with its claws, wheeling round and round as it lay, “‘ partly on his rump,” and defend ng itself with vigilance and dexterity. Notwithstanding all the agegressor’s caution, it struck its hind claw into his hand, with such force as to penetrate into the bone. ‘“ Anxious to preserve his life, I endeavoured gently to disengage it 5 but this made him only contract it the more powerfully, causing such pain that I had no other alternative but that of cutting the sinew of his heel with my penknife.” The whole time he lived with Wilson he seemed to watch his every movement, erecting the feathers of his head, eyeing him with fierceness, and no doubt regarding him (and with some show of justice) as the greater savage of the two. In a fifth tribe we may place the honey-hawks, buzzards, and harriers, small groups connected, in a variety of ways, by the usual interlacements, with several of the preceding tribes. The buzzards, for example, both in form and plumage, resemble small eagles, though their bills are more curved from the base ;! the harriers in some measure con- nect the buzzards with the accipitrine hawks (gen. Misus and Astur); while the honey-hawks (Pernis) unite the buzzards to the kites. The natural affinities of groups are in truth so multiplied and complex, that we need scarcely wonder that even those who have most devoted them- selves to explore such Cretan labyrinths, should have often failed in their supposed elucidation :—so much the worse for those who have never found the thread. } In the genus Prrnis, Cuv. the lore, or space between the bill and eye, is closely covered by small, compact, rounded feathers, the nostrils are narrow, and the tarsi short, stout, and reticulated. The British bee-hawk (P. apivorus), or honey-buzzard as it is usually called, though it cares less for the honey than for those that make it, is of this genus. We have no other indigenous, or indeed

European species; but a beautiful crested kind (P. cris- Raptores. tata, Cuv.), Plate. CCCLXXXIX. fig. 2, occurs in Java —~—

and the East Indies. P. Ellioti is also native to the latter country.

In the genus Bureo, Bechstein, the cutting margin of the upper mandible is more flexuous or tooth-like, the gape wider, and the space between the eye and the cere is co- vered by the same setaceous plumage which usually pre- vails in that part, the nostrils are rounded, and the tarsi seutellated in front. The buzzards are a numerous genus, distributed over most parts of the world.- We have only two British species, the common buzzard (Buteo vulgaris), and the rough-legged kind (B. lagopus). The latter is a rare or rather accidental visitor, its proper districts being the northern parts of Europe and America. We think buzzards are most abundant in wooded countries. They fly more sluggishly than hawks, and generally rather low, but at times they ascend to a great height, sweeping round in easy circles, and uttering a frequent shrilly cry.

In the genus Circus the bill is slender and compressed, the cere large, the cheeks encircled by a kind of recurved ruff, and the tarsi long, slender, and scutellated before and behind. We have three British species, the moor harrier (C. @ruginosus), the common ringtail or hen-har- rier (C. cyaneus, male,—C. pygargus, female), and Monta- gu’s harrier (C. cineraceus). All these birds roost and breed upon the ground, fly low, and frequent mountainous or marshy places. They prey upon whatever small-sized creatures they can master, whether beast, bird, reptile, or insect. The hen-harrier is supposed to occur in almost all parts of the world, but the identity of the American and European specimens has not been definitely determined. We have figured a foreign species as an example in Plate CCCLXXXIX. fig. 5. It is the Cireus palustris of Tem- minck (C. superciliosus of some other authors), and a na- tive of Brazil.

We now arrive at the falcons properly so called, or those which have been sometimes distinguished by the appellation of noble birds of prey, probably on account of certain members of the group, such as the peregrine and jer-falcon, being held in high esteem as accessaries in the sports of the field. We cannot say that we have been led to our present arrangement by an impression that it is more natural than any other, for we have already left the point which would have conducted us more insensibly in- to the ensuing nocturnal group of owls; but we do not think it is liable to more grave objections than are many others. Indeed the circular or recurrent nature of the actual affinities of natural groups renders their true expo- sition, so far as any consecutive system is concerned, im- possible ; for, instead of advancing, we must necessarily terminate where we began, and therefore either retrace a portion of our circle, or break or bend it, before we can proceed to another. Without, therefore, desiring the reader to suppose that the harriers in any special way conduct him to the falcons, we shall give a brief notice of the latter.

The falcons are chiefly distinguished by the strong, tooth-like notching of the bill, which in the preceding groups is either entirely absent, or shows itself only in the form of a more or less distinct festoon.? The first quill- feather is always long, the second longer than the third and fourth, so that the wing acquires a sharp or pointed form, instead of the rounded outline of the so-called ig- noble tribes; and the points of the wings, when closed, usually attain to the end of the tail.

‘ Mr Macgillivray mentions, that the digestive organs of the common buzzard so greatly resemble those of the golden eagle, that

a figure of the one might serve for that of the other.

? It is, we believe, in vain that naturalists attempt exceptionless precision in their generalities ; for, in this very group, the jJer- falcon, in one sense the noblest of all, frequently wants the tooth, and exhibits a bill festooned like the eagle’s.

ORNITHOLOGY.

Raptores. In the restricted genus Fatco, then, the bill is short, —~\— but strong, conical, curved from the base, sharply hooked

565

may, it has a strong, well-curved bill, a crested head, a Raptores. lengthened neck, and long, slender, crane-like legs. It is =~

at the extremity, and almost always toothed as well as pointed ; the nostrils are rounded, the cere bare, or mere- ly encroached upon by the bristly feathers of the lore. The tarsi are rather short and strong, and covered with scales of somewhat variable form, but usually rounded or angular. The wings are long and pointed. We have four well-known British species, the peregrine falcon (2”. pere- grinus), the hobby (£. subbuteo), the merlin (F’. salon), and the kestril (7. tennuneulus). Besides these, we may name the jer-falcon (£. islandicus, Plate CCCLXXXIX. fig. 4) as an occasional, and the orange-legged hobby (P. vespertinus) as an accidental visitor. The jer-falcon, in spite of its alleged want of teeth, is one of the bold- est and most powerful of the class. This fine species seems now confined almost entirely to the most northern parts cf Europe and America. It is well known in Ice- Jand and Greenland, and was often seen by Dr Richard- son during his journeys over the “ barren grounds” of North America, where it preys habitually on ptarmigan, not, however, despising plovers, ducks, and geese. “ In the middle of June,” he observes, “a pair of these birds attacked me as I was climbing in the vicinity of their nest, which was built on a lofty precipice on the borders of Point Lake, in latitude 654°. They flew in circles, uttering loud and harsh screams, and alternately stooping with such velocity that their motion through the air pro- duced a loud rushing noise; they struck their claws with- in an inch or two of my head. I endeavoured, by keep- ing the barrel of my gun close to my cheek, and sud- denly elevating its muzzle when they were in the act of striking, to ascertain whether they had the power of in- stantaneously changing the direction of their rapid course,

“and found that they invariably rose above the obstacle with the quickness of thought, showing equal acuteness of vision and power of motion. Although their flight was much more rapid, they bore considerable resemblance to the snowy owl.” Upon the whole, we think that Great Britain and Ireland are just as well quit of such a fierce intruder. The Doctor adds, that when the jer-falcon pounces down upon a flock of ptarmigan, the latter en- deavour to save themselves by diving instantly into the loose snow, and making their way beneath it to a consi- derable distance.

A few species, in which the toothing of the upper man- dible is double, form the genus BipENs of Spix, syno- nymous, we presume, with Harpagus of Vigors. Such are F. bidentatus, Lath., F. diodon, Temm. Pl. Col. 198. In Terax of Vigors, the upper mandible seems as strongly and sharply bidentated as in the preceding, but the under one is simply notched, as in the true falcons, and the second quill-feather of the wing is the longest. This ge- nus includes the beautiful little finch-falcon of Bengal, F. cerulescens, the smallest of the hawk tribe. An elegant crested kind from Pondicherry serves as a type to the ge- nus LopHoTEs.

We shall conclude this section by a brief indication of that remarkable bird, the secretary, or serpent-eater of Southern Africa—the Gypogeranus serpentarius of Illiger (see Plate CCCLXXXIX. fig. 9). Its affinities have been in no way satisfactorily illustrated, and each author has hi- therto placed it according to his own fancy. Baron Cuvier locates it between the buzzards and the owls; M. Lesson makes it a “ gallinaceous accipiter,” in strange company with the horned screamer (Palamedea cristata) of Brazil ; while Mr Swainson is now satisfied that it is no other than “ the rasorial type of the aquiline circle.” Be this as it

the only one of its genus, and has been designated by a variety of names. Some call it the messenger, because it runs with great rapidity, which few actual messengers ever do; others name it the secretary, because it has a pen- like plume behind its ear, where a secretary’s pen should never be ; while its frequent title of serpent-eater is pro- bably better earned, by its useful habit of devouring those dangerous reptiles. Its diet, however, seems to be of a rather miscellaneous nature, as Le Vaillant found in the stomach of a single specimen twenty-one young tortoises, three snakes, and eleven lizards, besides which there was a large ball in the stomach, formed entirely of the scales of tortoises, the vertebree of snakes and lizards, the legs of lo- custs, and the wing-cases of coleopterous insects. “ In his habits,” says Mr Bennet, “‘he partly resembles both the eagle and the vulture, but differs from them most completely in the nature of his prey, and in his mode of attacking it. Like the former, he always prefers live flesh to carrion; but the food to which he is most particularly attached consists of snakes and other reptiles, for the destruction of which he is admirably fitted by his organization. The length of his legs not only enables him to pursue these creatures over the sandy deserts which he inhabits, with a speed propor- tioned to their own, but also places his more vulnerable parts in some measure above the risk of their venomous bite ; and the imperfect character of his talons, when com- pared with those of other rapacious birds, is in complete accordance with the fact, that his feet are destined rather to inflict powerful blows than to seize and carry off his prey. When he falls upon a serpent, he first attacks it with the bony prominences of his wings, with one of which he belabours it, while he guards his body by the expan- sion of the other. He then seizes it by the tail, and mounts with it to a considerable height in the air, from which he drops it to the earth, and repeats this process until the reptile is either killed or wearied out; when he breaks open its skull by means of his beak, and tears it in pieces with the assistance of his claws, or, if not too large, swallows it entire. Like the eagles, these birds live in pairs, and not in flocks; they build their aiery, if so it may be termed, on the loftiest trees, or, where these are want- ing, in the most bushy and tufted thickets. They run with extreme swiftness, trusting, when pursued, rather to their legs than to their wings; and as they are generally met with in the open country, it is with difficulty that they can be approached sufliciently near for the sportsman to obtain a shot at them. They are natives of the south of Africa, and appear to be tolerably numerous in the neighbourhood of ‘the Cape, where, it is said, they have been tamed to such a degree as to render them useful in- mates of the poultry-yard, in which they not only destroy the snakes and rats which are too apt to intrude upon those precincts, but even contribute to the maintenance of peace among its more authentic inhabitants, by interpos- ing in their quarrels, and separating the furious combatants who disturb it by their brawls.”*

SECT. I1.— NOCTURNAL BIRDS OF PREY.

The great raptorial division called owls are usually dis- tinguished by the comparative largeness of their heads, the anterior portion of which is surrounded by a peculiar circle of feathers forming a facial collar, to which they owe the most marked and peculiar feature of their physi- ognomy. ‘The bill is curved almost from the base, where it is greatly enveloped by setaceous feathers, which fre-

I

1 Fauna Boreali-Americana, part ii. p. 28.

2 Tower Menagerie, p. 211.

a

566

ORNITHOLOGY.

Raptores- quently cover or conceal the cere and nostrils. The eyes

—— are large, and so placed that vision is directed rather for-

wards than laterally, and are furnished with a nictitating membrane. ‘The tarsi, and even the toes, are closely covered by short downy or hairy feathers. The outer toe is versatile ; the claws extremely sharp. The plumage is remarkable for its great softness. The concha of the ear is for the most part very large ; and from this we may in- fer that the sense of hearing is acute.

The greater proportion of the species hunt by night, or during the sweet but sombre hours of twilight. Their flight is light, buoyant, noiseless, and performed by slow but regular flapping of the wings. Their food, like that of most birds of prey, is various ; but we believe they pre- fer mice and similar small quadrupeds, prebably because the habits of these minute creatures are, like their own, nocturnal. Owls are solitary, seldom more than a pair being found together, although the woodcock owl ( Otus brachyotus) is found during autumn in small conjoined fa- mily flocks of ten or twelve together; and the Arkansa owl of America is likewise ina manner gregarious. “ There is something,” says Wilson, “ in the character of the owl so recluse, solitary, and mysterious, something so discord- ant in the tones of its voice, heard only amid the silence and the gloom of night, and in the most lonely and seques- tered situations, as to have strongly impressed the minds of mankind in general with sensations of awe and abhor- rence of the whole tribe. The poets have indulged free- ly in this general prejudice; and in their descriptions and delineations of midnight storms, and gloomy scenes of na- ture, the owl is generally introduced to heighten the hor- ror of the picture.”

The systematic arrangement of these nocturnal birds of prey is as yet unsatisfactory. The following is a brief view of Baron Cuvier’s system.

The genus Orus has two well-marked aigrettes, or tufts of feathers, on the front of the head, capable of being depressed or raised at pleasure, and the conch of the ear extends semicircularly from the beak almost to the top of the head, and is furnished in front with a mem- branous opercle. Two British species may be here placed, the long-eared or horned owl commonly so called (Strix otus), and the short-eared owl (Strix brachyotus). The genus ULuLa consists of species resembling the preceding in the bill and auditory opening, but not possessed of ai- grettes. Such is the great northern species (S. Laponi- ca, Gm.). The genus Strix properly so called has also large ear-openings, and wants the aigrettes, but is distin- guished by the bill being comparatively straight at the base, and curved towards the extremity. The facial disk is strongly marked, the tarsi are feathered, and the toes are haired. Example, Strix Jjlammea, our barn or white owl. In the genus Syrnium, the facial disk is formed of decomposed or unwoven feathers, the collar is also large, and the aigrettes wanting, but the toes are feathered. See Plate CCCLXXXIX. fig.6. The brown or wood owl of Britain (S. aluco and stridula, Linn.) is placed here. The genus Buso has the facial disk less marked, the ai- grettes conspicuous, and the toes feathered. The great eagle owl of Europe (B. maximus, S. bubo, Linn.) affords 2 good example. It inhabits the larger forests of Russia, Hungary, Germany, and Switzerland, becoming very rare in France, disappeariug altogether in Holland, and visit- ing Great Britain as it were by chance. Here also may be placed the great horned owl of America, S. Virgi- niana (Plate CCCLXXXIX. fig. 8), which occurs in al- most every quarter of the United States, and spreads into the far fur-countries of the north, wherever there is tim- ber of sufficient size to serve the purposes of nidification.

His favourite residence, however, according to Wilson, is Raptores. — the dark solitudes of deep swamps, covered by a growth —~——

of gigantic timber, from whence, so soon as evening dark- ens, and the human race retire to rest, he sends forth his unearthly hootings, startling the way-worn traveller by his forest fire, and “making night hideous.” “ Along the moun- tainous shores cf the Ohio, and amidst the deep forests of Indiana, alone, and reposing in the woods, this ghostly watchman has frequently warned me of the approach of morning, and aroused me by his singular exclamations, sometimes sweeping down and around my fre, uttering a loud and sudden waugho! waugho! sufficient to have alarmed a whole garrison. He has other nocturnal solos, no less melodious, one of which very strikingly resembles the half-suppressed screams of a person suffocating or throttled, and cannot fail of being exceedingly entertain- ing to a lonely benighted traveller in the midst of an In- dian wilderness.” The genus Noctua consists of species in which the tufts or aigrettes are wanting, the concha of the ear small, with an ordinary-sized opening. The facial disk is likewise small and incomplete. This gives the countenance a more hawk-like physiognomy ; and in ac- cordance with this expression, we find the habits of the spe- cies naturally more diurnal than those of r2any other owls. We here place the northern Harfang, or great snowy owl (Strix nyctea, Linn.), one of the most beautiful of the group, an occasional visitant of Great Britain, and not very unfrequent in the Orkney and Shetland Islands. It is a common inhabitant of the arctic regions of both the old and new world, from which it migrates on the ap- proach of winter, but without passing to the southward of the colder portions of the temperate zone. It frequently hunts by day; and indeed if it did not sc, what would be- come of it in those far northern countries where a “ sleep- less summer of long light” knows not for months the re- freshing influence of nocturnal darkness ? It preys not only on quadrupeds and birds, but frequently strikes its talons into fish, and bears them astonished from their moist abode into the leafy recesses of the forest. There are few things more out of place than a trout on the top a large tree. Its own flesh is said to be white and well davoured ; and when in good condition, is eaten both by the native Indians and the white residents in the fur-countries. Several of the small- er owls are included in the present genus, such as Strix pas- serina, Linn. In the genus Scops (Plate CCCLXXXIX. fig. 7) the toes are naked, and the head furnished with tufts; and in certain peculiar foreign species of consider- able size, the tarsi (a very unusual character) are bare and reticulated. These have been formed of late into a genus called Kerupa. Example, Strix Ketupa, Horsfield, Temm. Pl. Col. 74.

One of the most curious of owls, in its habits, is the burrowing species of the new world—Strix cunicularia of Bonaparte. Its particular genus has not yet been deter- mined. These birds inhabit the burrows of the marmot, and consequently dwell in open plains. They seem to enjoy even the broadest glare of the noon-day sun, and may be seen flying rapidly along in search of food or pleasure during the prevalence of the cheerful light of day. They mani- fest but little timidity, allow themselves to be approached sufficiently close for shooting, and though some or all may soar away, they settle down again at no great distance. If further disturbed, they either take a more lengthened flight, or descend into their subterranean dwellings, from whence they are dislodged with difficulty. When the young are only covered with down, they frequently ascend the entrance to enjoy the warmth of the mid-day sun ; but as soon as they are approached, they quickly retire within their burrow. In North America the burrowing owl feeds

1 American Ornithology, i. p. 101.

ORNITHOLOGY. 567

those who are influential in the nomenclature of science Insessores.

Insessores. chiefly on insects—in the West Indies (if the species are should avoid bestowing appellations which convey an erro- —~y——

—— identical), on rats and reptiles.

Orver II.—INSESSORES or PERCHING BIRDS.

This is the most numerous order of the class of birds, and, as Cuvier has observed, is distinguished chiefly by ne- gative characters ; for it embraces all those various groups which, sometimes possessing but little in common, are yet in themselves neither raptorial, scansorial, grallatorial, na- tatorial, nor gallinaceous. At the same time they exhibit a general resemblance to each other in structure, and pre- sent such gradual transitions from group to group, as to render definite subdivisions by no means easy.

They are said to possess not the violence of birds of prey,—meaning thereby our preceding accipitorial order. Yet a fly-catcher crushing the body of a slender-limbed and delicate gnat, a blackbird pertinaciously dragging a reluc- tant worm from its subterranean dwelling, or a sparrow with his bill as full of tortuous caterpillars as it can con- tain (to say nothing of the butcher-bird, which is said to impale his prey alive upon “ the blooming spray”), is as- suredly as raptorial or predaceous as need be well desired. Neither can the division of the smaller birds into granivo- rous and insectivorous be strictly maintained, though we doubt not that the strong, conical billed species eat most greedily of seeds and grain, while those of softer and more slender bill are chiefly avidous of insect life ;—but all pre- cise divisions, founded on the love of any special diet, must be received with reservation,—seeing that almost all passe- rine birds feed both themselves and young in spring and early summer with what may be correctly called animal food (that is, insects and worms), while in autumn and throughout the winter season they just as generally (and for the best of reasons) have recourse to all manner of seeds and grain. The tender-billed birds are certainly more dependent on insect food than the others, and it is consequently among them that we find the greater propor- tion of our migratory species; for as the increasing chill- ness of autumn depopulates the busy world of insect life, so our finest songsters (the familiar red-breast forming a delightful exception) take then their departure for other climes, not so much by reason of the immediate influence’ of cold upon themselves, as because they find their accus- tomed food becoming daily less abundant. Such of the insectivorous tribes as remain with us throughout the year assuredly combine the graminivorous diet with their more favourite food, just as the hard-billed species sustain them- selves during spring and summer by the capture of insects. In tropical countries, where the seasons are less strongly or differently marked, and the death-like torpidity of our northern winters is unknown, this periodical change of food may probably either not obtain, or be less perceptible in its occurrence; but as we know that over a great part of the globe it is true, that for one portion of the year most insect-eating birds feed on seeds, and that for another por- tion of the year most seed-eating birds feed on insects, we may be permitted to doubt the propriety of rigorously di- viding the great body of passerine species into insectivo- rous and granivorous sections. We admit that, either from the nature of things, or the feebleness of human lan- guage, the terms applied to the greater divisions of natural history ought not to be construed according to their strict- est literal interpretation, as they are frequently of a con- ventional character, and have in some cases been substi- tuted for numerical signs, as more easily held in remem- brance; but it is nevertheless to be greatly desired, that

+ Pice and PassEReEs, Linn,

neous idea of the objects intended to be expressed.

The feet of the insessorial order are especially formed for perching, the hind toe springing from the same plane as the anterior ones,—a structure which gives them great power in grasping. ‘Their legs or tarsi are always of mo- derate length, and the claws not strongly curved. The form of the bill is too various to be generalized ; and the same may be said of the length of the wings, of which the comparative breadth generally bears relation to the habit of life of each particular tribe. The stomach is in the form of a muscular gizzard, generally preceded by a greater or less expansion in the shape of crop, and there are usu- ally two very small caca. The lower larynx is very com- plicated, especially among the various tribes of songsters. We must now rest satisfied with these brief and barren generalities. “ The great order of Passeres or Insessores of authors,” Mr Macgillivray observes, “ is so heterogeneous in its composition, that all who have attempted to charac- terize it, whether in few or in many words, have utterly fail- ed; for this plain reason, that its various groups are as un- like to each other as they are to the Raptores or Rasores, and that in fact the only common features which they ex- hibit are those of the general organization of birds. A hornbill and a humming-bird, a parrot and a wren, a king- fisher and a swallow, a starling and a toucan, not to men- tion others still more dissimilar, are surely as unlike each other as a hawk and a shrike, a pigeon and a plover, or a flamingo and a pelican.”?

The first principal division of the passerine birds con- sists of those genera in which the external toe is united to the internal by not more than one or two of the joints, and contains the four great tribes of Dentirostres, Fissiros- tres, Conirostres, and Tenuirostres.

Trise 1st.—DENTIROSTRES.

Bill with a marginal notch towards the extremity of the upper mandible.

The dentirostral tribe is composed chiefly of insectivo- rous groups, and, according to the modern views, contains the following five families, viz. Laniade, Merulide, Syl- viade, Ampelide, and Muscicapide. We do not think the general reader, with whose tastes the treatises in our En- cyclopaedia are for the most part made to conform, would be benefited by our entering into the complexities of these circular arrangements, or by an extended exposition of the innumerable minor groups of which the families are com- posed. We shall therefore here content ourselves by no- ticing the principal generic groups which form as it were the groundwork on which the more elaborate systems have been erected, and with which it is necessary to become familiar in their more general and comprehensive. form, before their minuter subdivisions (to be elsewhere studied) can be understood. The genera are chiefly determined by the form of the bill, which is strong and compressed among the shrikes and thrushes, depressed in the fly- catchers, rounded and thickish in the tanagers, slender and pointed in the warblers,—but in each and all exhibiting different degrees of the typical character, or a tendency to transition, which admits of various systematic views.

Mr Swainson divides the Laniadz or shrikes into five sub-families, viz. Laniane, or true shrikes ; Zhamnophili- ne, or bush-shrikes ; Dicrurine, or drongo shrikes ; Ceble- pyrine, or caterpillar catchers ; and 7yrannine, or tyrant shrikes; and each of these contains a great variety of ge-

2 British Birds, vol. i. p. 311.

568 ORNITHOLOGY.

Thsessores. nera and subgenera. We shall here follow the outlines of Baron Cuvier's system, which we shall illustrate by oc-

as courageous as other shrikes, and do not fear to attack Insessores. even crows. The species are numerous along the shores —~~—

casional figures.

In the genus Lantus, the bill is of moderate size, but strong, somewhat triangular at the base, and laterally com- pressed. In the European species (which we call butcher- birds) the upper mandible is somewhat arched. Three of these (Lan. excubitor, colurio, and rufus) are natives of England, but the first and last are very rare. The food of butcher-birds consists chiefly of insects, but they at- tack occasionally the smaller kinds of birds and quadru- peds. ‘heir mode of flight is irregular, the tail being kept in constant agitation. The sexes differ from each other in their plumage, and the immature birds bear a resemblance to the adult females. In most of the species the moult is single, in others double, that is, certain parts of the plumage are changed twice a year. Our great ci- nereous shrike (Z. excub:tor) destroys its larger prey by strangulation, and transfixing it after death upon a thorn, tears it into smaller parts at leisure. This wise but some- what savage instinct seems implanted in the bird to make amends for the comparative weakness of its feet and claws. “ This singular process,” says Mr Selby, ‘is used with all its food. I had the gratification of witness- ing this operation of the shrike upon a hedge accentor (A. modularis) which it had just killed; and the skin of which, stil] attached to the thorn, is now in my possession. In this instance, after killing the bird, it hovered with the prey in its bill for a short time over the hedge, ap- parently occupied in selecting a thorn fit for its purpose. Upon disturbing it, and advancing to the spot, I found the accentor firmly fixed by the tendons of the wing at the selected twig. [ have met with the remains of a mouse in the stomach of a shrike ; and Montagu mentions one in which he found a shrew.’?

We have figured, in illustration of the genus Lanius, the species called fiscal (. collaris) by Vaillant. See Plate CCCXC. fig. 1. When this bird sees a locust, man- tis, or small bird, it springs upon it, and immediately im- pales it on a thorn, with such dexterity, that the spine always passes through the head. It is a bold, vindictive, noisy, and even cruel bird, for it seems to kill many more victims than it actually requires for food. These are found transfixed on many a neighbouring bush and tree, the major part often so destroyed by dryness as to be totally unfit for food.

Some foreign species, in which the upper ridge of the bill is straight, and the point only curved, form the genus Toamnopuitus of Vieillot. The Thamnophili inhabit chiefly the tropical regions of the new world, but some

of the species have an extensive range, from Canada as -

far southwards as Paraguay. In Tham. guttatus of Spix the bill is very strong, and the inferior mandible inflated. In others it is straight and slender, with its base adorned with reversed setaceous feathers. Such is £. plumatus, an African species, which forms the genus Prionops of Vieillot.

In the genus Vanea (Plate CCCXC. fig. 3) the bill is large, greatly compressed throughout, the point of the upper mandible suddenly curved, the under mandible bent upwards. Example, Lan. curvirostris, Gmelin. In Ocyprerus, Cuv. the bill is conical, rounded, scarcely arched towards the point, the termination very sharp and fine, slightly notched. The legs are rather short, and the wings long, from which characters the species have obtained the name of swallow butcher-birds ; but they are

and islands of the Indian Seas, where they exhibit great agility in the capture of their insect prey. Ex. Lan. leu- corhynchos, Gm. In Baryra of Cuy. the bill is large, conical, straight, round at the base, and encroaching on the forehead by a circular notch; the ridge is rounded, the sides compressed, the point curved. ‘he nostrils are small and linear. The species of this genus, as well as those of Vanga, are by some combined with the crows, as part of the conirostral tribe. We may name, as an ex- ample, the piping grakle of the older writers (Ooracias ti- bicen, Lath.), a native of New Holland, where it is known by the name of Jarra-war-nang. It preys on small birds, and is said to have a melodious voice, resembling the tones of a flute. The genus Cuatysaus, Cuv. has the bill re- sembling the preceding, but rather thicker at the base, and the nostrils are pierced in a broad membranous space. See Plate CCCXC. fig. 6. The species are natives of New Guinea, and are remarkable for their beautiful tints of burnished steel. C. paradiseus has the feathers on the head and neck like frizzled velvet, and was first de- scribed by Sonnerat as a bird of paradise,—Par. viridis, Gmelin. In Psarrs of Cuvier the bill is conical, thick, round at the base, but not encroaching on the front, slightly compressed, and curved at the extremity. ‘The genus is founded on the Cayenne shrike of Latham, Za- nius Cayanus, Linn. It now contains many species, all classed by Mr Swainson among the Muscicapide or fly- catchers. Their habits are said to resemble those of the butcher-birds. The genus Graucutus, Cuv. has the bill less compressed than in Lanius, the upper ridge sharp, equal- ly curved throughout its whole extent, the commissure or cutting edges aiso slightly bent. The hairs which sometimes cover the nostrils ally these species to the crows, from which they are distinguished by the notching of the bill. Their prevailing hues are ash-colour, and they are native to the Indian islands. Cuvier here places the beautiful Lrena puelia of Dr Horsfield, a Javanese species, of a fine velvet black, the back splendid ultramarine blue. It is ranged by others with the Orioles. To the same ge- nus he likewise refers the Papuan and New. Guinea crow (C. papuensis and Nove Guinee), and the Piroll of Tem- minck, of which the male and female differ so remarkably, the former being of a glossy blue, the latter greenish. This last species forms the genus Pélonorhynchus of Kuhl,— Atta of M. Lesson. It.is the satin-bird of the co- lonists of Port Jackson, a solitary, fearful creature, which seldom leaves the cover of the umbrageous woods. The Australian natives call it cowry.

In Beruytus, Cuv., the bill is thick, short, bulged, slightly compressed towards the end. _ Its type is the mag- ple-shrike of Latham, Z. picatus, an inhabitant of Guiana and Brazil. Plate CCCXC. fig. 2. In Fatcuncutus the bill is much compressed, almost as high as long, the cul- men arched. It contains the Lanius frontatus of New Holland. The genus ParpaLotus (which M. Lesson places with the tit-mice, and Mr Swainson with the mana- kins) is likewise constituted by a New Holland species, the Pipra punctata of Shaw. The bill is short, obtuse, convex, and slightly compressed.

All the preceding genera of the dentirostral tribe are supposed by Baron Cuvier to be more or less allied to Lanius of Linneus. ‘A great diversity of opinion, how- ever, exists regarding their natural distribution; and in the most recent systems they will be found differently

* For more minute details, the student may consult Mr Swainson’s ‘‘ Inquiry into the Natural Affinities of the Laniade or

Shrikes,” Zoological Journal, No. iii. p. 289. ® Illustrations of British Ornithology, vol. i. p. 149.

3 See Zool. Journal, No. vii. p. 354, and No. viii. p. 483.

ORNITHOLOGY. 569

The king-bird migrates in summer at least as far north Insessores.

Insessores. and variously disposed, according to the views of each par- as the fitty-seventh parallel. It reaches Carlton House in —~~—

—\—" ticular author.

Many of the genera next ensuing are more allied to the fly-catchers, Muscicapide ; but not a few are classed by recent writers among the Zaniade and Ampelide. The bill is of medium size, broad at the base, horizontally de- pressed, almost straight, generally wider than high, the point more or less hooked and notched. The mouth is garnished with bristly feathers projecting forwards. Their food varies according to their size and strength,—the more powerful species seizing occasionally on small birds as well as insects, the more feeble being satisfied with the latter kind of prey.

Inthe genus Tyrannus, Cuv., the bill is straight, length- ened, strong, the culmen. rounded, the point suddenly hooked. See Plate CCCXC. fig. 5. The species consist chiefly of Linnzan fly-catchers, with a few shrikes.. They are all native to America, and, as their name implies, are fierce and domineering in their disposition. They will de- fend their young against the boldest aggressor, and have been seen to drivefrom their nesting-places even the largest birds of prey. As an example, we may here name the king-bird, or tyrant fly-catcher, of the new world, 7. in- trepidus. This species is one of the most remarkable for the boldness and intrepidity which he displays in his at- tacks on the strongest of the feathered race. During the earlier months of summer, indeed, his life is one continued scene of broil and battle. According to Wilson, hawks and crows, the bald eagle, and the great black eagle, all equally dread an encounter with this dauntless creature, who, as soon as he perceives a bird of prey, however power- ful, in his neighbourhcod, darts into the air, and quickly ascending above his supposed enemy, pounces with vio- lence upon his back, and continues his attack till his own domains have been departed from. He is likewise in some measure obnoxious to the human race, on account of his love of bees ; for he will take post on a fence or garden-tree in the vicinity of hives, and make continual sallies on the industrious tenants, as they pass to and from their never- ceasing labours. His great American biographer, how- ever, is of opinion, that whatever prejudice may prevail against him for such depredations, he is on the whole greatly the friend of man, by destroying multitudes of in- sects, whose larve prey on the produce of the field and garden. The tyrant has been immortalised in verse as well as prose:

Far in the south, where vast Maragnon flows, And boundless forests unknown wilds enclose, Vine-tangled shores and suffocating woods, Parch’d up with heat, or drown’d with pouring floods ; Where each extreme alternately prevails, And nature sad their ravages bewails ; Lo! high in air above those trackless wastes, With spring’s return the king-bird hither hastes ; Coasts the famed gulf, and from his height explores Its thousand streams, its long indented shores, Its plains immense, wide opening on the day, Its lakes and isles, where feather’d millions play : All tempt not him: till gazing from on high, Columbia’s regions wide below him lie; There end his wanderings and his wish to roam, There lie his native woods, his fields, his home; Down, circling, he descends from azure heights, And on a full-blown sassafras alights. Fatigued and silent, for a while he views

~ His old-frequented haunts, and shades recluse ; Sees brothers, comrades, every hour arrive,— Hears, humming round, the tenants of the hive ; Love fires his breast,—he woos, and soon is blest, And in the blooming orchard builds his nest.

the month of May, and retires southward in September. A new species has been of late years discovered on the banks of the Saskatchewan, but nothing is yet known of its habits. It is described by Mr Swainson under the title of Tyrannus borealis. It is considerably smaller than the preceding, and may at once be distinguished by its forked tail, not tipped with white. The other species are nu- merous.”

A still more extensive genus is that named Muscipeta, Cuv. The bill is long, much depressed, twice as broad as high even at the base, the culmen usually very blunt, the margins forming an oval curve, the point feebly notched, and the base covered by long, setaceous feathers. The general form of the species is feeble compared with that of the preceding, and they prey exclusively on in- sects. They are extremely beautiful, often adorned by crests upon the head, or by gracefully elongated feathers in the tail. The majority are native to Africa and India. The paradise fly-catcher of Le Vaillant may be named as an example.

In the genus PLatyruyncuus of Desm., the bill is short, and still broader and more depressed than in the preceding. P. cancromus inhabits Brazil. These birds are by some conjoined with Yodus, to which they are assured- ly allied. Certain species, of which the feet and legs are long and slender, and the tail extremely short, form the genus Conoruaea of Vieillot. The fly-catchers properly so called, genus Muscicapa, Cuv., have the beard or bill- feathers less extended than in Muscipeta, and the bill itself is narrower, the ridge or culmen is distinctly marked, the margins straight, the point slightly bent. The species are peculiar to the ancient continent, and not more than four or five occur in Europe. Of these, two are British, MM. grisola, or the spotted fly-catcher, a well-known and common species ; and M. luctuosa, or the pied fly-catcher, which is very rare. We have seen it on the banks of the Eden in Cumberland. Both are birds of passage. The species of this genus take their insect prey upon the wing, darting upon it at intervals from some favourite twig. The males and females differ considerably in their mark- ings, especially in spring and summer, although the former sex (at least in M. albicollis, Temm.) are scarcely to be dis- tinguished from the latter throughout the winter season. The modifications in the form of the bill in this extensive genus have led to the formation, so far as concerns exotic species, of a vast number of sectional groups, or subge- nera, the characters of which we cannot here detail.

We now arrive, in accordance with Baron Cuvier’s sys- tem, though not, we fear, by natural transition, at the genus GYMNOCEPHALUS, of which the beak resembles that of Tyrannus, except that the ridge is more arched, and a great portion of the face is bare of feathers. See Plate CCCXC. fig. 8. There seems to be only a single spe- cies, commonly called the bald crow (G. calvus), a bird about the size of a rook, of a uniform tobacco-brown colour, the feathers of the wings and tail black. It is called otseax mon prére by the Creoles of Cayenne, probably from its capucin aspect. Its bald front bestows upon it a very singular physiognomy. Vaillant regards the absence of feathers on that part as accidental; and he mentions in a note,* that he received a specimen from Cayenne, in which the face was plumed. But M. Lesson states that he has examined more than twenty specimens, and has always found the face unfeathered.

The genus CEPHALOPTERUS, on the contrary (see Plate

TMM it iil iL — — — eee

1 See Fauna Boreali-Americana, part ii. pl. Ixxxv.

* Consult Mr Swainson’s “* Monography of the Tyrant Shrikes of America,” Journal of the Royal Institution, No. x1.

* Histoire des Oiseaux de Paradis, t.i. p. 109.

570 ORNITHOLOGY.

Insessores. CCCXC. fig. 4), has the front adorned by a very pecu-

med with holly berries. A third species was some time ago Insessores. “~~~ liar _ tuft of feathers, which, rising upwards, and then

discovered by Dr Seibold in Japan. It is the B. pheni- —~—

inhabit the United States throughout the year.

spreading around and drooping downwards, shades the head, as it were, beneath a parasol. Another expanded and lengthened set of plumes hangs in an apron-like fashion from the breast. The prevailing plumage is deep black, the parts first mentioned having a metallic lustre. The bill of the only species known (C. ornatus) is robust, the mandibles nearly equal, the upper being convex, without notch, and scarcely bent at the extremity. This bird was brought to Paris, from the Lisbon Collection, by M. Geoff. St Hilaire, and was believed to have been sent originally from Brazil. As that country, however, has been so much explored without the Cephalopterus having ever since been met with, it is more likely, M. Temminck thinks, to have been obtained in the less-frequented countries of Peru, or the coast of Chili. On the other hand, M. Lesson alleges, that he was informed by a well-instructed Portuguese, that the bird in question came from Goa. It is the Coracina cephaloptera of M. Vieillot. We have no doubt it is a South American species.

From these singular birds we proceed to the Cotingas or chatterers, genus AmMPELIs, Linn., a varied and beauti- ful family, now partitioned into several minor groups. They have all the depressed bill of the fly-catchers in general, but it is rather shorter in proportion, broadish, and slightly arched.

Those in which the bill is the strongest and most point- ed, with dilated margins, are characterized by an insecti- vorous regime. These are the piahaus of South America, genus QuERULA, Vieil. The species fly in troops through the forests. Here are placed the Cotinga rouge of Vail- lant, or Ampelis pheenicia, also the Ampelis cinerea and Muscicapa rubricollis of Gmelin. In the ordinary Cotin- gas (or genus AMPELIs properly so called) the bill is more teeble, little elevated, deeply cleft. The species inhabit moist places, and are remarkable for the rich and lustrous plumage of the males during the breeding season. We here place the Ampelis pompadoura, carnifex, and cotinga, Linn. In the genus Bompyciua, Brisson, which includes our European or Bohemian chatterer, the head is orna- mented by an elongated crest, and the majority of the spe- cies have the secondary feathers of the wings terminated by a small oval expansion, resembling a bit of scarlet sealing-wax. These birds prefer wild fruits to insects. The appetite of the American species (A. Americana) is stated by Mr Audubon to be of so extraordinary a nature as to prompt it to devour every fruit and berry in its way. In this manner it will gorge itself to such excess as to be sometimes unfit to fly, and may then be taken by the hand. “Ihave seen some which, though wounded and confined to a cage, have eaten apples until suffocation de- prived them of life.” Our author adds, however, that they are also excellent fly-catchers, spending much of their time in pursuit of winged insects. They become very fat during the fruit season, and are then so tender and juicy as to be much sought for as an article of epicurean diet. They The habits of the European wax-wing (A. garrula) are much less known. It not unfrequently visits Britain during win- ter, and is supposed to breed within the arctic circle. It likewise inhabits North America, but has not been ob- served to the southward of the fifty-fifth parallel. Dr Richardson observed a flock of three or four hundred on the banks of the Saskatchewan in May. During their trips to Britain they feed, when they can get them, on the berries of the mountain ash ; and Sir William Jardine found the stomachs of one or two killed near Carlisle to be cram-

coptera of Temminck, and wants the wax-like appendages to the wings.

In the genus CAsMARHyYNCHUs, Temm., the bill is re- markably broad, greatly depressed, soft and flexible at the base, of a harder consistence, and somewhat compressed towards the extremity. The nostrils are large and open, and placed far forward on the bill. As an example, we may name that singular bird the araponga (Cas. nudicollis, Temm. Pl. Col. 368-83), a Brazilian species, remarkable for the metallic resonance of its cry, which sounds like the clinking of a blacksmith’s hammer. By reason of this peculiarity, it is known to the Brazilians by the name of O. ferrador, or the blacksmith. The adult male is pure white, the face and front of the neck nearly bare, of a green colour, sprinkled with a few small black feathers. The female is green, spotted on the under parts with white, the upper plumage of the head nearly black. The young at first resemble the mother, and adolescent males are found with a mingled plumage of green and white. An- other species, of nearly corresponding plumage, is distin- guished by a long, fleshy, sometimes slightly feathered caruncle, hanging from the basal front of the upper mandi- ble. It is erectile, and sometimes projects upwards. This is the Ampelis carunculata of the older systematic writers. We presume it to be also the Campanero of the Spaniards, called dara by the Indians, and bell-bird by the English. “Tt is about the size of a jay,” says Waterton. “ His plumage is white as snow. On his foreliead rises a spiral tube nearly three inches long. It is jet black, clothed all over with small white feathers. It has a communication with the palate, and when filled with air looks like a spire 5 when empty, it becomes pendulous. His note is loud and clear, like the sound of a bell, and may be heard at the distance of three miles. In the midst of these extensive wilds, generally on the top of an aged mora, almost out of gun reach, you will see the campanero. No sound or song from any of the winged inhabitants of the forest, not even the clearly pronounced ‘ Whip-poor-will,’ from the goat-sucker, causes such astonishment as the toll of the campanero. With many of the feathered race, he pays the common tribute of a morning and an evening song; and even when the meridian sun has shut in silence the mouths of almost the whole of animated nature, the campanero still cheers the forest. You hear his toll, and then a pause for a minute ; then another toll, and then a pause again ; and then a toll, and again a pause. Then he is silent for six or eight minutes, and then another toll, and so on. Actzon would stop in mid chase, Maria would defer her evening song, and Orpheus himself would drop his lute, to listen to him, so sweet, so novel, and romantic is the toll of the beautiful snow-white campanero. He is never seen to feed with the other Cotingas, nor is it known in what part of Guiana he makes his nest.”? In a third species. (Amp. variegata, Gmel. Pl. Col. 51, Plate CCCXC. fig. 10) the front of the throat is all beset with numerous fleshy worm-shaped appendages. All these birds are vaguely said to feed upon insects, but on no authority that we can find. “ Could we but know,” says Mr Swainson, “ the habits and economy of these singular birds, which, had they not been seen, might be thought fabulous, what an interesting page of nature’s volume would be unfold- ed! Yet at present we only know that they live in the deepest and most secluded forests of tropical America, where they subsist upon an infinite variety of fruits un- known to Europeans. They are much oftener heard than seen, since their notes are particularly loud, and are ut-

? Ornithological Biography, vol. i. p. 227.

2

2 Wanderings in South America, p. 121.

ORNITHOLOGY.

Insessores. tered morning and evening from the deepest recesses of the —~—~ forests. We have sometimes caught a distant view of them,

571

flammiceps, &c. In the restricted genus TANAGER (pro- Insessores- perly so called) the bill is short, though longer than in—-~y~—

perched upon the topmost branches of the loftiest trees.”*

In the genus Procnias (now more restricted than by Hoffmansegg) the bill is likewise very broad, and deeply cleft, but the structure is firmer, and the upper mandible more convex. The nostrils are basal. Example, P. ven- tralis, Uliger, Pl. Col. 5.

In the not very closely allied genus CreBLEpyris, Cuv. which Mr Swainson classes as the most aberrant division of the shrikes, the bill resembles that of the Cotingas, but the shafts of the rump-feathers are sharp pointed. These birds inhabit chiefly Africa, and prey on caterpillars. Ex- ample, C. phenicopterus, Temm. Pl. Col. 71.

The genus GymnopERA, Geoff. (which forms a portion of the Coracine of Vieillot), has the bill stronger than in any of the preceding Ampelide, the neck is partially bare, and the head covered with velvety feathers. There does not seem to be more than one species (G. nudicollis), de- scribed by Shaw under the name of bare-necked grakle. It was classed by Gmelin and Latham as a crow,—the Corvus nudus of their respective works.

The Drongos (genus Epottus, Cuv.) have tne bill par- tially depressed and notched, and its upper ridge sharp ; but it is distinguished by both mandibles being slightly arched through their whole extent, and the nostrils are covered with feathers. The species are rather numerous, and are characteristic of the tropical countries of the East. The Malabar shrike of Shaw (Zdolius remifer, Temm. see Plate CCCXC. fig. 7) affords a good example. The posi- tion of this genus ought certainly to be in closer approx- imation to the Zanzade than it is in the arrangement of Baron Cuvier. Their habits are insectivorous, and some of the species are said to warble as sweetly as the nightin- gale. They usually dwell together in society, pursue bees with great avidity, and are often seen to combine in large groups on the outskirts of the forests during morning and evening. The species we have figured is a native of Java and Sumatra.

In the genus Puipatura of Vieil. the ridge of the bill is arched, as in Edolius, but shorter, broad at the base, somewhat dilated laterally, and slightly notched. The only known species is a beautiful South American bird (Ph. flavirostris, Vieil. ; Ph. cristata, Swain., Zool. Illust. pl. xxxi.), which appears to occur chiefly in the mining dis- tricts of Brazil. It was very rare a few years back, but has now become comparatively common in collections, in consequence of several recent importations.

We come now to an extensive group, the ancient Ta- nagers, genus Tanacra of Linn., which, like most of the other genera, has in recent times been numerously sub- divided. The bill is convex, sub-triangular at the base, the upper mandible slightly arched, curved at the point, notched, the margins flexuous and enlarged; the nasal fosse are deep and large, and closed by a membrane ; the nos- trils are rounded. The wings are rather short. The Ta- nagers are characteristic of America. They feed both on grain and insects, and are remarkable for the beauty and brilliancy of their plumage. The following are the princi- pal subdivisions. In Evpsont1a, Desm. (Zangaras bouv- revils, Cuv.), the bill is short, and exhibits, when viewed vertically, an enlargement at the base on either side. The tail is also short in proportion. Examples,— Tan. violacea, Lath..—Pipra musica, Gmel.,— Tan. diademata, PI. Col. 243,—and Tun. chlorotica, Gmel. See Plate CCCXC. fic. 9. In the genus Sarraror, Vieil. (Tangaras gros- bec, Cuv.), the bill is conical, thick, inflated, as broad as high, the culmen rounded. Such are Tan. magna, atra,

Euphonia, as broad as high, slightly compressed. Exam- ples, 7. tricolor, thoracica, auricapilla, &c. In the genus Tacuypuonus, Vieil. ( Zangaras loriots, Cuv.), the bill is more lengthened, conical, compressed, arched, sharp point- ed. Examples, 7. cristata, ngerrima, &c. In the genus Pyranea, Vieil. (Zangaras cardinals, Cuv.), the bill is strong, lengthened, the point but slightly curved, the mar- gin of the upper mandible often strongly toothed. The wings are rather long. The habits of several of the spe- cies of this genus are better known than those of the pre- ceding, in consequence of their more hardy constitution, which enables them to spend the summer months in North America. One of the most beautiful of these is the scar- let tanager (Zanagra rubra, Linn.). Among all the birds that inhabit the woods of the United States, there is none, according to Wilson, that strikes the eye of a stranger, or even of a native, with so much brilliancy as this. Seen among the green leaves, with the light falling strongly on his plumage, he appears most beautiful. His whole plu- mage, with the exception of the wings and tail, is of the most vivid carmine red. ‘The wing-coverts, posterior se- condaries, and middle tail-feathers, are black, and form a rich contrast to the other portions of the plumage. After the autumnal moult the male becomes dappled with greenish yellow. The colour of the female is green above and yellow below; her wings and tail are brownish-black, edged with green. Though this lovely species sometimes builds in orchards, and visits cherry trees for the sake of their fruit, it does not frequently approach the habitations of man, but prefers the solitude of the umbrageous woods, where, in addition to fruits, its food consists of wasps, hor- nets, and humble-bees. The scarlet tanager comes just within the limits of the fur-countries, but is unknown as yet beyond the forty-ninth degree. His nest, placed up- on the horizontal branch of a tree, is built of broken flax and dry grass, so thinly woven that the light is easily seen through it. The eggs are only three in number, of a dull blue, spotted with brown ; but the bird is supposed to breed more than once a year. The genus Pyranga contains also Tan. estiva and other species. —

We conclude our notice of the Tanagers by a brief in- dication of the genus RaMpHOCELES, Vieil., of which the bill is strong, compressed, with the sides of the lower man- dible so enlarged as to spread backwards towards the cheek. Such is Tanagra Jacapa of Gmelin, a South Ame- rican species, represented in Plate CCCXCI. fig. 2.

Our next group consists of birds more or less allied to thrushes. In all, the bill is compressed and arched, but the upper mandible is but slightly hooked, and the notch- ing feeble. As in other extensive assemblages of species, however, the structure is considerably varied. The natu- ral regimen is mingled, consisting both. of wild fruits, worms, and insects. A few species are gregarious, the majority solitary. Of ten or twelve kinds which inhabit Europe, we have six in Britain, viz. the missel-thrush ( 7. viseivorus), the song-thrush (7. musicus), the field-fare (Tf. pilaris), the red-wing (7. tlacus), the blackbird (7. merula), and the ring-ouzel (7. torguatus). The aspect and general habits of most of these are too familiar to re- quire illustration. The blackbird and the thrush are two of our most delightfu) and accustomed songsters.

When snow-drops die, and the green primrose leaves Announce the coming flower, the merle’s note Mellifluous, rich, deep-toned, fills all the vale,

And charms the ravished ear. The hawthorn bush, New budded, is his perch ; there the gray dawn

1 Natural History and Classijication of Birds, vol. ii. p. 75.

572

Insessores.

—S—

ORNITHOLOGY.

He hails, and there, with parting light, concludes His melody. ‘There, when the buds begin

Yo break, he lays the fibrous roots, and see

His jetty breast embrowned; the rounded clay His jetty breast has soiled: but now complete, His partner and his helper in the work,

Happy assumes possession of her home :

While he upon a neighbouring tree his lay,

More richly full, melodiously renews.

ponngnoapasaosanssarnocd aacanacdagcoosnog The thrush’s song Is varied as his plumes; and as his plumes

Blend beauteous, each with each, so run his notes, Smoothly, with many a happy rise and fall. Sometimes below the never-fading leaves

Of ivy close, that overtwisting binds

Some riven rock, or nodding castle wall,

Securely there the dam sits all day long ;

While from the adverse bank, on topmost shoot

Of odour-breathing birch, her mate’s blythe chaunt Cheers her pent hours, and makes the wild woods ring.?

The missel-thrush is the largest and strongest of the genus, at least in Europe. He is a bold, pugnacious bird, guarding his nest with great success from the intrusive magpie. His song is loud and clear, but monotonous; something like an ineffectual attempt to combine the tones of the thrush and blackbird. Yet Colonel Montagu ad- mired it greatly... The ring-ouzel affects mountainous and barren places. The field-fare and red-wing are only seen with us in winter, and are known to breed in the more northern parts of Europe. The former sings well, and we have somewhere seen it called the nightingale of Norway.

One of the most noted of the foreign species of the ge- nus is the mocking-bird of America, 7. polyglottus, Linn. Tt measures about nine inches in length, is cinereous above, whitish below, with the tips of the wing-coverts, the base of the primaries, and the lateral tail-feathers white. This unrivalled Orpheus and great natural wonder of the Ame- rican forests inhabits the whole northern continent from the state of Rhode Island to the larger islands of the West Indies, and, continuing through the equatorial regions, is found as far south as Brazil. Neither is it confined to the eastern or Atlantic states, being known to exist in the wild territory of the Arkansa, more than a thousand miles from the mouth of Red River. It breeds around the far western sources of the Platte, near the very base of the Rocky Mountains; and Mr Bullock observed it on the table-land of Mexico. The mocking-bird may be regard- ed as a permanent (we mean stationary) inhabitant of the milder regions of the western world, though such as are bred to the north of the Delaware seem to move south- wards before the approach of winter. The period of in- cubation varies with the latitude. A solitary thorn, an almost impenetrable thicket, an orange tree, cedar, or holly bush, are favourite places ; and during this important period neither man nor beast can approach without being attacked. Cats are especially persecuted ; yet his chief and most vengeful rage is directed against the black snake, a mortal enemy. The male bird darts upon the insidious reptile with the greatest courage, and by violent and in- cessant blows upon the head, sometimes deprives him of life. The boasted fascination of his race, his lurid eye, his sharp envenomed fangs, avail not when competing with the love of offspring, that pure and beautiful affec- tion, the least selfish of all instinctive feelings. “ The plumage of the mocking-bird,” says the first great histo- rian of the American feathered tribes, “ though none of the homeliest, has nothing gaudy or brilliant in it; and had he nothing else to recommend him, would scarcely entitle him to notice; but his figure is well proportioned, and even handsome. The ease, elegance, and rapidity of

his movements, the animation of his eye, and the intelli-Insessores. gence he displays in listening and laying up lessons, from —~~——

almost every species of the feathered creation within his hearing, are really surprising, and mark the peculiarity of his genius. To these qualities we may add that of a voice full, strong, and musical, and capable of almost every mo- dulation, from the clear mellow tones of the wood-thrush to the savage scream of the bald eagle. In measure and accent he faithfully follows his originals. In force and sweetness of expression he greatly improves upon them. In his native groves, mounted on the top of a tall bush or half-grown tree, in the dawn of dewy morning, while the woods are already vocal with a multitude of warblers, his admirable song rises pre-eminent over every competitor. The ear can listen to his music alone, to which that of all the others seems a mere accompaniment. Neither is this strain altogether imitative. His own native notes, which are easily distinguishable by such as are well acquainted with those of our various song birds, are bold and full, and varied seemingly beyond all limits. While thus exerting himself, a bystander, destitute of sight, would suppose that the whole feathered tribes had assembled together on a trial of skill, each trying to produce his utmost efforts, so perfect are his imitations He many times deceives the sportsman, and sends him in search of birds that perhaps are not within miles of him, but whose notes he exactly imitates; even birds themselves are frequently imposed on by this admirable mimic, and are decoyed by the fancied calls of their mates, or dive with precipitation into the depth of thickets, at the scream of what they suppose to be the sparrowhawk.”?

The mocking-bird sometimes breeds in captivity. Many years ago a Mr Klein, of Philadelphia, partitioned off a space of twelve feet square within doors, lighted by a pret- ty large wire-grated window. In the centre he placed a cedar-bush, five or six feet high, in a box of earth, and scattered about a sufficient quantity of materials suitable for building. A male and female mocking-bird were in- troduced, and soon began to build. When the nest was completed the female laid five eggs, all of which she hatch- ed, and she fed the young with great affection till they were nearly able to fly. Business, unfortunately, called the proprietor from home for a fortnight, and the care of the colony being left to the domestics, the result may be anticipated. On his return the young were utterly dead, and the parents nearly famished.

Several African species allied to our present group dwell together like starlings, in numerous chattering flocks, pursuing insects, and committing great depredations in gardens. Several are remarkable for the lustrous splen- dour of their plumage. Such are Turdus auratus and nitens of Gmelin. ‘The Senegal species, called the glossy thrush, 7. @neus, is characterized by the magnificent length of its caudal plumes. ‘These richly attired species belong to the genus LamproTornis, Temm. Other species, in which the bill is slender and lengthened (as in'the Bra- zilian thrush of Lath.), form the genus Ixos of the last- named author; while the genus Enicurus (more nearly related, however, to the fly-catchers) consists of one or two species with a stronger bill, the tail long and forked. Such is &. coronatus, Temm. Pl. Col. 113; and &. velatus, ibid. 160, from Java. GRALLINA of Vieillot is constitut- ed by a New Holland species with a straight, lengthened, rather rounded bill,