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accipitres; picæ; anseres; grallæ; gallina; passeres. In English synonyms, birds of prey; pies; web-footed birds; waders; gallinaceous birds; and the mixed class of thrushes, sparrows, and finches. These orders are chiefly distinguished from each other by the peculiar make of the bill, and of the feet. Under M. Cuvier's classification, the divisions, and even the names, are the same, with the exception that for pica or pies, he has given the better appellation of scansores or climbers. Every one of them, or rather every distinct kind under every one of them, might agreeably occupy us through an entire lecture; so curious, so attractive, so interesting, are their structures, their powers, their habits, their instincts. But all these must be reserved for subsequent studies.* Our only concern at present is to give a glance at the manner in which they are grouped under the Linnæan system. It is the mere alphabet of the science to which we must at present confine ourselves.

The ACCIPITRES, or predacious birds, constituting the FIRST ORDER, with a bill somewhat hooked downward, and four claws hooked and sharp-pointed. It consists of not more than four genera, the vulture, including the coudur (v Gryphus), as one of its species; the falco, including the numerous families of the eagle, falcon, hawk, osprey, buzzard, and kite, together with various others; the owl and the lanius or shrike, of which the butcher-bird (1. Collurio) is one of the chief species.

The PICA or PIES, form the SECOND and most numerous order. The bill is here compressed and convex, which constitutes the ordinal character. A secondary distinction, taken from the feet, divides them into tribes formed for perching, formed for climbing, or formed for walking. To this order belongs the trochilus or humming-bird, the minutest animal of the bird tribes; and which seems to connect the bird with the insect-class. In one of its species, trochilus minimus, or least humming-bird, it sometimes does not weigh more than twenty grains, nor measure much more than an inch; it is, consequently, less than several of the bee-tribes, and, like the bee, feeds on the nectar of flowers, which it hovers about and extracts while on the wing with a delighted hum.

To this order, also, from similarity of bill and foot, belong the very numerous families of the psittacus or parrot kind, including the proper parrot, maccaw, parrakeet, cockatoo, and lory; equally celebrated for their imitative powers, their longevity, and the splendid variety of their colours; the paradisea or bird of Paradise, chiefly a native of New-Guinea, and distinguished by the long and taper elegance of its bending feathers; the monstrous rhamphastos or toucan, whose bill is, in some species, larger than its body, and whose tongue is quaintly tipped with a bundle of feathers, probably answering the purpose of an organ of taste.

All thus far glanced at are exotics. Among the kinds a few of whose species are inhabitants of our own country, I may mention the social and clamorous corvus or crow-tribe, including the rook, raven, jay, jack-daw, and various others; the picus or woodpecker, that drives into the stoutest and toughest timber-trees of the forest its hard and wedge-like bill, and often with a force and echoing sound like the stroke of the woodman; and whose bony and pointed tongue transfixes the various insects upon which it feeds, and in this state not unfrequently draws them out from a considerable depth in the bark of trees into which they have crept for protection. The alcedo, or kingfisher, is another genus of this order, whose species haunt streams and rivers for the little fishes on which they feed, and are most dexterous anglers in catching them. To these we may add the cuculus or cuckoo, that, with the same want of natural affection which marks the ostrich, builds no nests for its eggs, except under particular circumstances, but avails itself of that of the hedge-sparrow, or some other bird, and abandons to foster-parents the care of its eggs.

The THIRD ORDER of birds is denominated ANSERES, and in English WEB

See Lectures iv. v. viii. ix of this Series.

FOOTED: they are ordinarily characterized by having the bill covered with skin, broad or gibbous at the tip, and a palmate or web-foot, formed for swimming: the tongue is uniformly fleshy, and the bill, in many instances, denticulate or toothed. It includes only thirteen kinds, of which I may take, as examples, the anas, comprehending the very numerous families of duck, goose, swan, wild-duck, teal, and shoveler: the mergus or merganser; alca or awk; aptenodytes or penguin; pelecanus or pelican; colymbus, comprising the grebes, guillemots, and divers; and procellaria or petrel. The petrels have an extraordinary habit of spouting from their bills a considerable quantity of oil upon any object that offends them. The procellaria pelegica, or stormy petrel, is the most daring of all birds during a tempest, though not more than six inches long. The moment he beholds the black clouds collecting, he quits his rocky retreat and enjoys the magnificent and growing spectacle; he darts exultingly athwart the concave, and skims with triumphant temerity the loftiest peaks and deepest valleys of the most tremendous waves. The appearance of this bird is, to the sailor, a sure presage of an approaching storm.

The GRALLE, or WADERS, form the FOURTH Order of birds in the Linnæan system. They are characterized by possessing a roundish or subcylindric bill, a fleshy tongue, and legs naked above the knees. The ardea, or genus that includes the herons, cranes, and bitterns, is the most numerous. The scolopax, which includes the curlew, snipe, and woodcock; the tringa, which includes the sandpiper, the ruff, and reeve, and the lap-wing or pewit; the fulica, which includes the gallinule, coot, and moor-hen; and the charadrius or plover; are among those that are most familiar to us. To this order also belongs the tantalus or ibis, so celebrated for the divine honours paid to it for many ages throughout Egypt; and, at least, a most valuable bird from its clearing the land of those numerous reptiles and insects, which are left upon its surface after the exundations of the Nile. It is the abu-hannes of Bruce, which, however, M. Cuvier regards as not properly a tantalus; and has, consequently, made a distinct genus for receiving it, to which he has given the name of neumenius; and hence, under his classification, it is a Neumenius Ibis, instead of a Tantalus Ibis.

The FIFTH ORDER embraces the GALLINE Or GALLINACEOUS BIRDS; those which strictly come under the denomination of poultry. They are chiefly characterized by having a convex bill, with the upper mandible arched. They are the least numerous of all the orders next to the ACCIPITRES, and extend to not more than ten kinds or genera; many of which, however, are very extensive in their species. The kinds most familiar to us are the phasianus or pheasant, including all the families, and their numerous varieties of common cock and hen; the tetrao or partridge, including all the families and their numerous varieties of grouse, red-game, black-game, ptarmigan, and quail; the pavo or peacock; and meleagris or turkey. To this order also belong the numidia, pintado or guinea-hen, the otis or bustard, the didus or dodo, and the struthio, including those large and stately birds, the emeu, cassiowary, and ostrich: the last of which, though incapable of flying, derives from its wings a fleetness of running, that is unrivalled by any animal whatever. This bird is capable of being tamed, and may be conveniently rode; and Adanson asserts, that, when mounted, it will surpass the speed of the most rapid courser. He tells us, that while he was at the factory at Podore, he was in posssesion of two tame ostriches, the oldest of which, though young, would carry two negroes upon its back, with a rapidity superior to what has ever been exhibited by the fleetest racer upon the Newmarket turf.

The LAST ORDER of the bird class is entitled PASSERES, for which, in the sense here intended, we have no exact English synonym; but it is designed to include various kinds and families, which, for the most part, may be denomi nated small birds and singing birds. They are characterized by having the bill conic and sharp-pointed, and the nostrils naked. To this order belong the alauda or lark kind; the columba, pigeon, and dove kind; the emberiza or bunting, including the yellow-hammer; the fringilla or finch, with all its

numerous species of goldfinch, green-finch, thistle-finch, linnet, and sparrow; the hirundo, including the swift, swallow, and martin; the loxia or grosbeak, including the bullfinch and hawfinch, the only finches, I am at present aware of, that do not belong to the fringilla genus: and the motacilla, a most interesting group, as including the nightingale, whose song surpasses that of all the singing birds of the grove; and the redbreast, whose song is, indeed, less sonorous and striking, but who is so justly celebrated and beloved for his social qualities; together with all the amusing species and varieties of wrens and wag-tails. To the order of passeres appertain also the pipra or manakin, some of which are peculiarly musical; and the turdus, comprising those sweet melodious choristers, the thrush, the throstle, and the blackbird.

Such is a brief and scanty survey of the interesting and instructive class of birds: and thus, in the elegant language of the poet of the Seasons,

Innumerous songsters, in the fresh'ning shade,

Of new-sprung leaves their modulations mix
Mellifluous. The jay, the rook, the daw,
And each harsh pipe, discordant heard alone,
Aid the full concert: while the stock-dove breathes
A melancholy murmur through the whole.*

Nor should we suffer their other curious endowments to pass by us unnoticed. The muscles, and delicate plumage of their wings, give them not merely the power of flight, but, under different modifications, a nearly equal command over earth, air, and water: for such a provision enables the rail, destitute as he is of a webbed foot, to rival, in swimming and diving, the guillemot; the ostrich, as we have just observed, to outstrip in running the speed of the race-horse; and even the diminutive swallow, and various other migratory birds, to double, when on the wing, the pace of the fleetest ostrich; and to dart, twice a year, across the Atlantic and Mediterranean, often at the rate of a mile in a minute for several minutes in succession; and perhaps

*Catalogue of singing birds, with the time of their beginning and ceasing to sing, from a mean of five years' observation, with the numerical value of their notes, twenty being that of absolute perfection. From an interesting article by Mr. John Blackwell, in Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester. Second Series, vol. iv.

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generally, and with perfect ease, at the rate of a mile every two minutes, or upwards of seven hundred miles every twenty-four hours, till it reaches the precincts of its summer or winter residence.

We ascend to the FIRST and HIGHEST CLASS-to that rank of animals which is most complicate in form and most competent in power. This class is chiefly distinguished by the possession of lungs, and an organ for suckling; and most of its kinds possess four supporters in the shape of hands or feet, or both. To this last character the class was formerly indebted for its classic name, which was QUADRUPEDS, or FOUR-FOOTED. As some of the kinds under it, however, in its modern arrangement, are possessed of no supporters of any sort, either hands or feet; others have four hands and no feet; and others, again, have two of each, the absurdity of retaining such a name must be obvious to every one; and hence it has been correctly and elegantly exchanged, by Linnæus, for that of MAMMALIA, from the mammary or suckling organ which belongs to every kind of the class, as it stands at present, and to no kind whatever out of it; and which, as we have no fair synonym for it in our own tongue, I shall beg leave now, as I have on various other occasions, to render MAMMALS.

The class is distributed into seven orders; the characters of which are taken from the number, situation, and structure of the teeth. The seven orders are as follows:-primates, bruta, feræ, glires, pecora, belluæ, cete. It is difficult to find English synonyms for these Latin terms, which, in several instances, are used in a kind of arbitrary sense, not strictly pointed out by the terms themselves. The following are the best that occur to me: chieftains; brute-beasts; savage beasts; burrowing-beasts; cattle; warriors; and whales. The FIRST ORDER, PRIMATES OF CHIEFTAINS, is distinguished by the possession of four cutting teeth in each jaw. This mark would also include the race of man; and Linnæus has actually included him in the order before us, as he is included in the class by Cuvier and most of the naturalists. From such arrangements, however, I shall take leave to differ. Man ought to stand by himself; he has characters peculiar to himself, and which place him at an infinite distance from all other animals. With this exclusion, the entire class is reduced to three kinds, the simia or monkey; the lemur or maucauco; and the vespertilio or bat: kinds which can only be collectively entitled to the appellation of primates or chiefs, from their very slight resemblance to man in the general distribution of the teeth: for though a few of the monkey tribes have an approximation in their exterior and erect form, in the greater number this character is very inappreciate, while it is nearly lost in the lemur, and altogether so in the bat.

Among the simia kind, the most singular species is certainly the ourangoutang, especially the grave, gentle, and very docile Pongo. I have only time to observe farther upon this kind, that those without tails are denomi nated apes; those with short tails, baboons; and those with long tails proper monkeys. Among the lemurs, the most curious, perhaps, is the 1. volans, or flying maucauco, the galiopithecus volans, or flying colugo of Pallas and Shaw; an action which he is able to accomplish from tree to tree by means of a strong leathery membrane that surrounds the body and reaches from the head to the fore-feet, hind-feet, and extremity of the tail; and which gives him an approach to the bat.

Of the vespertilio or bat-kind, which is well known to fly only by night, and by means of an expansive membrane, instead of by wings, one of its most extraordinary faculties is that of a knowledge of the presence, and apparently of the approach, of objects, by some other sense or medium than that of vision; for when deprived of its eyes, this knowledge, and a consequent power of avoiding objects, seems still to continue. The vespertilio Vam pyrus, or ternate bat, an inhabitant of India and Africa, is said to be fond of blood, and occasionally to fasten on such persons as he finds asleep, and to suck their veins till he becomes bloated. He might hence, under proper management, be rendered an able and valuable substitute for the leech. In poetry he has often been introduced, under the name of vampire, as a most hidcous and appalling monster.

The SECOND ORDER, BRUTA, Or BRUTE-BEASTS, IS distinguished by having no fore-teeth in either jaw. It includes the nine following kinds: rhinoceros, sukotyro, elephant, trichecus, the morse, walrus, manate or lamantin, the dolphin of the poets of Greece and Rome, by whom it has been celebrated for its love of music, and perhaps not altogether without foundation;-the bradypus or sloth, the myrmecophagus or ant-eater, the manis or pangolin, the dasypus or armadillo, and the platypus or duck-bill, the ornithorhynchus paradoxus of Blumenbach; that curious little quadruped which has hitherto only been discovered in Australia, or the regions in and about New South Wales; and which seems to be a quadruped by its feet, a water-fowl by its bill, and an amphibial by its fondness for water. It is not yet quite certain whether this singular animal suckles its young, or has a mammary organ for this purpose; and if not, it must be discarded from its present situation, though we should be at no small loss to know where else to place it.

The THIRD CLASS of MAMMALS is denominated FERE or SAVAGE BEASTS; and is distinguished by having, in every instance, fore-teeth, above and below, the number varying in different kinds, from two to ten; and in possessing a solitary tusk. The order comprises eleven kinds, the names of which are as follows: the phoca or seal, a water-quadruped, whose skin is so useful to us for various purposes; and which, like the stag, is found to shed tears when in trouble: the canis or dog-kind, including the numerous families of wolf, fox, jackal, hyæna: the felis or cat-kind, including a variety of tribes of a somewhat similar appearance, but far mightier, and nobler in their powers, as the lynx, the leopard, the panther, tiger, and lion, all of which have a power of climbing trees, though the weight of the larger species makes them do it very awkwardly, and only to a short height; all of which pitch on their feet in falling; and all of which see better in the night than by day; the viverra, including the ichneumon, and several of the weasels: the mustela, including other species of the weasels, the stoat, polecat, otter, ferret, sable, and ermine; to the two last of which we are indebted for the luxurious dresses that pass under their name. Almost all of the mustelas have a power of secreting and discharging a most fetid and intolerable stench at their will; and many of them do it as a means of defence and often so effectually that the very beast that pursues them is compelled to relinquish the chase, so completely is he overpowered by its noisome vapour. The remainder of this order are the ursus or bear; the didelphis or opossum; the marcopius or kangaroo, which is now naturalizing in the royal parks of our own country; the talpa or mole; the sorex or shrew; and the erinaceus or hedgehog; which last is capable of being tamed, and is actually tamed by the Calmucs, and made a very useful domestic servant in destroying mice, toads, beetles, and other vermin.

The FOURTH ORDER of mammalian animals is denominated GLIRES, for which we may use the words HIBERNATERS, or BURROWERS. They are distinguished by having two fore-teeth in each jaw, close to each other, but remote from the grinders; and being without tusks. They all, in a greater or less degree, burrow in the earth, and almost all of them sleep through the whole, or a great part of the winter. To this order, therefore, we can all of us, of our own accord, refer the ten following kinds, which are the whole that are included under it. The hystrix or porcupine; the cavia or cavy; the castor or beaver; the mus genus, comprehending the numerous families of the mouse and rat; the arctomys or marmot; the sciurus or squirrel, some of which have a long flying membrane that enables them to vault from tree to tree, like some species of the lemur; the myoxus or dormouse; the dipus or jerboa, whose form resembles the kangaroo, but whose habits the dormouse; the lepus, comprising the hare and rabbit tribes; and the hyrax or daman: with most of which we are too well acquainted to require any detailed account in so cursory a survey as the present.

To

The PECORA OF CATTLE kinds form the next or FIFTH ORDER, and comprehend those horned quadrupeds which are most familiar and most useful to us. this division, therefore, necessarily belong the bos, ovis, capra, and cervus kinds; or, in our own language, the ox, sheep, goat, and deer; and as con

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