V .'.^ ^ •;:"%*.' :^^':s»^^ '^'^::r^:^^2-y;^;.->. ;t^ ;^:vv..,.-^ .t. V.4 .#^^ :'^ku^. ®ijp i. U. ItU ajtbrarg 5fortI| (Earnltna S>tatF Untoersttg Special Collections QH45 B82 v.l I4fe| This book must not be taken from the Library building. 13 Qc(.3 05. UBf9Z NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS, FISH, INSECTS, AND REPTILES. EMBELLISHED AVITH UPWARDS OF TWO HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS. IN SIX VOLUMES. VOL. I. JLonucnt PRINTED FOR THE PROPRIETOR, AND SOLD BY H. D. SYM0ND3, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1S08. Kniglit and ComptOD, Printers, CIr.th Fair. CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME, 1 Page The Fhysiology and Structure of Birds 1 The Ostrich - - - 44 The Emu - - - 61 The Cassowary » - - 65 The Dodo - - - - 74 The Solitary and Bird of Nazareth - 76 Of Rapacious Birds - - - 77 The Eagle f and its affinities - - - 85 The Golden Eagle - - - 98 The Common Eagle - - - ibid The Bald Eagle - - - - 99 The White Eagle - - - - ibid The Roughfooted Eagle - - - 100 The White-tailed Eagle - - - ibid The Erne - - - - - - ibid The Black Eagle - - - - - ibid The Sea Eagle - - - - . ibid The Osprey - - - - - - 101 ^(b\ [ iv ] Page The Jean le Blanc - - - - 101 The Eagle of Brasil - - _ - ibid The Oroonoko Eagle - ^ - - ibid The Crozmed African Eagle - ibid The Eagle oj' Fo?idicherrj/ - 102 The Condor - - , - - 103 The Vulture - - - - - 109 The Golden Vulture - - , - 119 The Alpine Vulture - - - - 120 The Fulvous lUlture. or Grisson - ibid The Cinereous Vulture - - - - ibid The Hare Vulture _ - - - ibid The Ash coloured or small Vulture - 121 The Carrion Vulture - _ - - ibid The Egyptian Vulture - - - - ibid The Secretary - » - - - ibid The Falcon^ and its affinities - - 122 The Gyr-Falcon - - - 125 The Falcon - _ - _ - 126 The Lajiner - - . . - 127 The Sacre - - - - - ibid The Hobby - - - - - ibid The Kestril - - - - - ibid The Merlin - - - . - ibid The Kite - 137 The Buzzard . - - . - 139 The Honey Buzzard - - - - 14Q ( V ) Page. Moor Buzzard - - - - 140 GosS'hawk - - - - 141 — Sparrow-hawk - - - - 142 The Butcher- Bird - - - - 143 Malabar Shriek - - - 149 The Owl - - - - . ibid The Great horned Owl - - - 153 Little horned Owl - - - 155 Screech Owl - - - -156 White, or Barn Owl - - . jbid Brown Owl - - - _ ibid ~ Little Brown Owl - - - 157 • Of the Poultry kind - - - 165 The Bustard - - - - - 172 Little Bustard - - - - 17S Houbara, and the Rhaad - - ibid Of the Cock - - - - - 179 Hamburgh Cock - - - 192 — — Wonderful Indian Cock - - 193 Indian Cock - - - _ 194 — — Muscovian Black Game-hen - ibid The Turkey - - - - - 195 The Peacock ----- 209 — - Peacock of Thibet - - - 212 Japan Peacock . _ - ibid The Grous and its affinities - - 214 Cock of the Wood - - - 215 VOL.1. b ( vi ) Page. * " r Black Grous - - - - Ql§ ■i ^ ■ Red Grous f or Moor Cock - - 221 •*— Hazel Grous - - - * ibid ' " Pin- tailed Grous - - - ibid ' - Ptarmigan Grous - - - ibid TAe Pintada, or Guinea-hen - - 222 The Pheasant ----- 225 ■ Golden Pheasant ... 232 Silver Pheasant - - - 233 The Pheasant ----- 234 ""' ' West India Partridge - - 239 "" Hare-footed Partridge - - ibid The Quail ----- 241 Of the Pie kind - - - . 245 • ' Raven - - - - . 250 • ^ >' Common Carrion Crow - - 255 ^ ' • ' ■ Royston Crow - - - - 057 - — ^ JacA: Daw - - *. . ibid ' ' ' ■ Cornich Chough - - - 254 — *-— Rook ibid — — — Calao, or Horned Indian Raven - 253 -***— iVzg/i^ Raven - - - - 263 ' '^^" Capricalca - - - . 954 TAe Magpie, and its affinities - - 265 '^'^^Jay - - - - . - 270 -***• Bengal Jay - - - - 271 -^**»-*- Chatterer - - - - ibid ( vii ) Page- Roller 271 Red-beaked Toucan - - - 27^ The Bird of Paradise - - - 277 The Woodpecker f and its affinities - 282 Green, Woodspite - - - 285 -^— Lesser Woodpeckei' - - - 21)1 Great Black Woodpecker - - 292 Gold Merle . - - - 097 The Cuckoo --*--» 208 — Cuckoo of Carolina - - - S07 — — Cape Cuckoo - - - - 310 The Parrot 314 Maccaw - - - - - 529 — Common Parrot - - - ibid Lory - * - - - 830 — — Paroquet - - - - - 33i Directions for placing the Plates in the FIRST VOLUME, Page 44 Fig. 1, 2. 98 Fig. 3, 4. ' 126 Fig. 3, 6. 137 Fig. 7, 8, 9. 172 Fig. 10, 13. 179 Fig. 11, 12, 14. S15 Fig. 15, 16. 225 Fig. 17, 18. S34 Fig. 19, 20. 250 Fig. 21, 22,23,24. 277 Fig. 25, 26. 284 Fig. 27, 28. 294 Fig. 29, 30, 31, 32. 314 Fig. 33, 34, 35, 36, NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS, FISH, REPTILES, ^c. :.tu:rij.\ Li... . \ - THE PHYSIOLOGY A]>^D STRUCTURE OF BIRDS. WHATEVER part of the Universe we consider, it appears to be replenished with life, and '^ bursting into birth 5" every part of Nature abounds with action ; even the yield- ing air, and those tracts of seeming space, where man (we had almost said) could never ascend (unless the discovery of balloons may militate against the assertion), are found desti- tute of inhabitants, nor can we proceed one step without discovering fresh traces of a wis- dom as inexhaustible in the variety of its plans as in the richness and fertility of the execution. A Bird in flight may be styled a mass of VOL, I, B matter. FKOnRTY LIERAKr N. C. State CaUege 2 NATURAL HISTORY matter, raised aloft in spite of the air, and the power of gravitation impressed on all bodies, and which impels them to the earth 5 it is trans- ported, not by an external impulse, but by a power of self-motion, accommodated to its pur- pose, and capable of sustaining it aloft with graceful vigour for a considerable length of time. In the anatomy of Birds every part seems formed for traversing the aerial regions ; some launch away in repeated springs, and advance by successive boundings ; others seem to glide through the air, and cleave it with an equal and vmlform progress ; the former skim over the earth, the latter soar up to the clouds ; yet the^^ can all diversify their flight to avoid the enemy whom they cannot oppose; they can, ascend in right, oblique, or circular lines ; sus- pend themselves, and continue motionless in an elenipnt hghter than themselves ; then start into motion, remount, or precipitate in an in- stant, like a descending stone; or transport themselves without opposition, or hazard, wherever their necessities or 'pleasures invite them. Nothing is more natural to the eye than the bird which wings the air ; yet to the optics of reason nothing; is more astonishing. As. OP BIRDS, FISH, See. 3 As to the external structure of Birds^ it is peculiarly adapted for swiftness of motion ; it is neither extremely massive^ nor equally sub- stantial in all its parts ; but being designed to rise in the air, is capable of expanding a large surface without solidity. The body is sharp before, to pierce and make its way through that element j it then gradually increases in bulk, till it has acquired its just dimensions, and falls off in an expansive tail. But whatever wise adaptation of means to ends may appear in the configuration of the feathered race, there is still something, more in- teresting, because, perhaps, more obvious, in attending to their natural intercourse, or, as a philosophical poet delicately expresses it, ^^ the passion of the groves;'^ to the curious mecha- nism of their nests, the solicitude with which they attend their eggs, the structure of the egg itself, their instinct, and the birth and educa- tion of their young. Terrestrial animals of the class of quadrupeds- are brought into the world completely formed,^ and in a state of active existence, like their maternal parent, and they are termed viviparous; in opposition to these stand the oviparous, or B 2 such 4 NATURAL HISTORY such as conceive eg^s, which they afterwards bring fortb^ and from which, by the incuba- tion of the parent, or some other principle of warmth and fermentation, at length animals arise; which, after they have consumed the moisture that surround them, and arrive to a sufficient bulk, firmness, and strength, break their shells, and come forth. When the connubial league is once settled, they have immediate recourse to the necessary preparations for their tender offspring ; and here it is not unworthy of remark, that the same temper of \t'eather, which raises the general warmth in the feathered tribe, covers also the trees with leaves, and the fields with grass, for their security and protection; and produces infinite swarms of insects, for the support and sustenance of their respective broods. The business of building the nest is the com- mon care of both parents, and is performed with no small degree of assiduity and apparent design ; during its progress nothing is seen but restless hurr}\ Nor is there, perhaps, less va riety in the choice of their situation, than in the architecture of their retreats; some fly to the holly-hedge, some to the thicket " Some OF BIRDS, FISH, 8CC. 5 « Some to the rude protection of the thorn " Commit their feeble offspring ; the cleft tree " Offers its kind conceahnenc to a few ; " Their food its infects, and its moss their nest. " But most in woodland solitudes delight, " In Unfrequented glooms, or shaggy banks, " Steep, and divided by a babbling brook " Whose murmurs soothe them all the live-long day, " When by kind duty fixedi Among the roots " Of hazel, pendant o'er the plaintive stream, " They frame the tirst foundation of their domes : " Dry sprigs of trees, in artful fabric laid, " And bound v^'ith clay together." But wherever they dispose themselves they always take care to be accommodated with a shelter, and where a natural one does not offer itself, they very ingeniously make a covering of a double row of leaves, down the slope of which the rain trickles without entering into the little opening of the nest that lies concealed below. The nest itself is raised on more solid materials, and is strengthened with a founda- tion 5 for this purpose they make use of dry wood, shivers of bark, thorns, reeds, thick hay, and compact moss ; and on this first layer, which seems very shapeless, they spread and fold in a round all the most deligate materials, as down, wool, silk, spiders' webs, feathers, and 6 NATURAL HISTORY and a hundred other Httle materials^ that arc all useful in the nest, and which communicate a convenient warmth to them and their young. When the ordinary supplies fail them, there is scarcely any invention to which they have not recourse for assistance : ^^ This (says the Abbe de la Plucke) I learnt from some goldfinches which I bred : — I had only furnished them with hay for the structure of their nest ; and the female, for want of raw silk or cotton, found out an experiment that surprized me: she began to unplume the breast of the male with- out the least opposition from him, and after- wards lined her little apartment very artificially with the down." There is another peculiarity observable in the feathered race, which can only be referred to that wonderful principle that directs their general conduct: every different kind of bird observes a particular plan in the structure as well as the furniture of its little apartment; yet all of the same species work after the same model. Nor is this conduct owing to imita- tion; for though you hatch a crow under a hen, and never let it see any of the works of its own kind, the nest it makes will be the same. OF BIRDS, risii, &c. 7 same as all the other nests of the same species, jeven to the laying of a stick. We wish not, however, dogmatically to assert that some variations do not arise from the circmnstance of place or climate, or the ability to procure materials. The red-breast will occasionally make its nest with oak-leaves, or with moss and hair ; and in the tropical cli- mates, where the heat of the weather promotes the process of incubation, the bird is less soli- citous about its nest than in colder regions. Thus the ostrich in Senegal, where the heat is excessive, neglects her eggs during the day, but sits upon them in the night. At the Cape of Good Hope, however, where the degree of heat is less, the ostrich, like other birds, sits upon her eggs both day and night. In coun- tries infested with monkies, many birds, which in other climates build in bushes and clefts of trees, suspend their nests upon slender twigs, and thus elude the rapacity of their enemies. The peculiar architecture of the nest of each species seems to be adapted to the number of eggs, the temperature of the climate, or the dimensions of the little animal's body. In some, the blackbird and thrush for instance, the cavity of the nest is exactly fitted to receive the bodv 9 NATURAL HISTORY body of the bird, and this is generally the case with birds that build with sides to their nests^ and make deep cavities : they stand within the nest while they are at work, and make their own bodies the gauge of their dimensions iri building. Were birds endued with scientific knowledge, their buildings would doubtless be as various as ours: but they, have no science, nor have they any implements of industry, except their beaks; atid .yet they form works that manifest all the ingenuity of the architect, arid all the industry of the mason. Some unite hairs, moss, and reeds, into one mass with the dex- terity of the weaver; others connect all the 'J)arts of their nests with a threft^, which they spin from flue or dowh, as well a? from hemp and hair, and not unfrequently from the webs of spiders, which they easily procure when, these wandering creatures dart flrom place to "place, and fill the fields with their threads. Another class again, like the Blackbird and lapwing, after they have made their nest, rough- &C. Q jlomesticate the idea, let us call it an apartf ment commodiously furnished, and properly calculated to preserve tfie necessary warmth. The nests of the swallow and the marten are 9 structure entirely different from all others ; they neither want wood, hoops nor bands, but make a kind qf plaster, or rathe): cement, with which they erect a dwelling equally secure and convenient for themselves and family. Destitute of any of those tools by which '^ art worketh her wonders,*' the simple process they pursue is to wet their breasts on the surface of the wa- ter, then shedding thi3 devy ovpr the dust, they temper and work it up with their bill. Small birds, whose eggs are generally nu- merous, make their nests warm, that the ani- mal heat mfiy be equally diffused ; bu|: the larger species are legs solicitous in this respect. Again, the smaller tribes, that live upon fruit and corn, and are often unwelcome intruders iipon the labours of man, use every caijtion to con- ceal their negts from watchful intrusion : while the only solicitude of the great birds is to ren- der their refuge inaccessible to wild beasts and vermin. It is asserted by Naturalists, that in general pvery bird resorts to hatch in those climates or yot, I. C ^ places \b NATURAL HISTOKY places where its sustenance is found in gi*catest plenty, and always at that season when provi- sions are in the greatest abundance. The large birds, and those of the aquatic kinds, chuse places as remote from man as possible, as their food is in general different from that which is cultivated by human labour. It is also observed with respect to climate, that several sorts of water-fowl, which with us make but a very slovenly nest, ar« much more exact in this par- ticular in the colder regions of the north. There they take every precaution to make it warm 5 and some kinds strip the down from theiF breasts, to line it with greater security. The important business of nidification being now completed, the dam lays her eggs, the number of which varies according to the spe- cies ; some have only two at a time j others four or five, and some e\»en eighteen. When the eggs are laid, the male and female brood over them by turns ; though this is generally the fe- male's province. And here we cannot but ad- mire the impressions of a superior Intelligenca that acts upon these little creatures : they have no certain knowledge either of what their eggs contain, or of the necessity there is to sit on them in order to hatch them ; and yet this animal, OF 2HRDS, FISHj &C. il tnlmal., who is st> active and unsettled at other times, in this liiomeiit forgets her natural dis- position, and fixes herself on the eggs as long as it is necessary: she submits to etery re- straint, renounces all pleasure^ and continues sometim O^ BlUDS, tiSH, &C. 1^ both, and in the language of the most indug- trious and best informed raturalists, Malpighi; Willoughby, Abbe de la Huche^ &c. . One may judge of the cgg£ of the smallest birds by that of a hen, whce the parts are more apparent. We may e;sily distinguish the yolk in the centre of the )gg, as likewise the first white substance the surrounds it. Besides these, we can see th ligaments that sustain the yolk towards the cotre of the eo^g ; and can likewise discover sevral membranes^ one of which enfolds the yolk> another the first white, a third and fourth encott)ass the whole ; and, lastly, we see the shell, foned for the de- fence and preservation of all te rest. What lies within these inclosures has le first forma- tion, the shell has the last, ar. hardens from day to day. It is a. fluxion ofsalts evacuated from the humours of the dam and which the heat fixes and consolidates roud the cg:g, to form a crust, thnt has a doubltfunction ; one qualifies the mother for disclrging the ego- without crushing it; the secor preserves the young from all accidents, till itbe formed and in a condition to forsake the rg. We may even say, that the egg performs^ young birds the office of a breast and milk,,'ith which the offspring H NATUkAL HISTORY offspring of other animals are "nouHshed ; th^i etnbryo chick is firft sustained with the white of the egg, and afterwards with the yblk, wheri the animal has gathered a Httle strength, and its parts begin td be fixed. Under the imiibrane which, surrounds the yolk, is found a little cicatrice, or white spot, the punctum salmS) which is the only seed where the chick residesin miniature* It has all its or- gans at that tire, but they are involved and comprehended iria point. If the smallest por- tion of that vitalfpirit which is destined to ani- mate the mass, fe then infused into it by a pro- cess, of which ie have no idea, the chick re- ceives lif? at thc^aiiie instant, and its whole sub- stance is rOuseqntO motion. We have no ade- quate conceptio^ indeed, of a vital spirit ; but this expression points out a reality, which is sufficient for oii purpose. When the ^al principle has hot been in- fused into this 3feck, which comprehends not only the first skch but every part of the chick, the egg will couin nothing more than an un- prolific nourish ent, and will never become a living animal. On the cotitrary, should this enlivening spiri^e transmitted, in the minutest degree, througkhe pores of tliose membranes through OF BIRDS^ FISH, &C. 15 through which snch a diversity of aliments has already flowed, it will then (ipen the small ves- sels of the chick, diffuse a general warmth, and convey a nutrimental fluid to the heart. The structure of this little muscle eiables it to open and dilate, for the reception of what passes into it on one side, and likewise to contract itself, for discharging, through another orifice, which ha& been already received. The pulsation of the heart hith some analogy to the pendulum of a clock, fnm whose vibra- tion the whole machine deryies its motions. The moment the heart begins b beat, the ani- mal is- alive, but still continues to receive, by the mediation of the umbilic oict, a flow of nutritious juices, which it traritmits into the other vessels, whose branches distribute this nourishment through the whole body. All those little canals, which were flat before, are now swelled and enlarged ; the whole substance imbibes a proper aliment, and the chick begin* to grow. It is almost impossible to distinguish, amidst the fluids that surround it, the ns^ture of its daily progress and changes, till the period when it issues from the shell. But let us not omi>t one precaution, equally evident and astonishing, and |S NATURAL HISTORY and which is observ'able in the situation of the speck, out of wiiich the animal is formed. This minute and glqbular particle of matter, which is lodged on the film that enfolds the yolk, has always its portion near the centre of the ^ggy and toA^ards the body of the dam, in order to be impregnated with a necessary nvarmth. The jolk is sustained by two liga- ments, visible at the aperture of the egg, an4 which fasten it on each side to the common membrane gluec to the shell. Should a line be drawn from one ligament to the other, it would not exactly pass through the middle of the yolk, but a>ove the centre, and wouW cut the yolk ir^to ,wq unequal parts, so that the smaller part rf the yolk which contains the seed, is of necessity raised towards the belly of the bird who performs the incubation; and the other part, being more gross and weighty, always descends as near the bottom as the bands will permit ; by which means, should the egg be displaced, the young cannot receive any . injury, and, whatever may happen, it enjoys a warmth that puts all about it into action, and, by degrees, completes the disengagement of it? parts. As OF BIRDS, I?1SH, &C. 17 As it is incapable of sliding down, it nourishes itself in ease, first with this liquid and delicate white, which is adapted to its condition, and af- terwards with the yolk, which aflfords a more substantial food ; and when the bill is hardened, and the bird begins to be uneasy at his confine- ment, he endeavours to break the shell, and '.Eut what shall we say of the principle which leads them to this conduct ? EfjuidemcredOf quia sit divirutus illis . . Ingenium, " '* -I think their breasts with heavenly souls inspir'd." But though animals in their generation may be wiser than the sons of men, yet their wisdom is confined to a narrow compass, and limited to a few particulars. The design or conduct is not in the animal, but in the Creator of the animal, who directs its operations to their own good, by what may properly be styled a myste- rious influence. ^^ With what caution," says the elegant au- thor of the Spectator, " does the female pro- vide herself a nest in places unfrequented and free from noise and disturbance 1 when she has laid her eggs in such a manner, that she can cover them, what care does she not take in turning them frequently, that all parts may partake of the vital warmth ! when she leaves them, to provide for her necessary sustenance, how punctually does she return before they have time to cool, and become incapable of produc- D 2 ing fO NATURAL HrSTQHY ing an animal ! In the summer you see htt giving herself greater freedom, and quitting her care for above two houis together 5 but ia winter, when the rigour of the season would chill the principles of life, and destroy the young ones, she grows more assiduous in her attendance, and stays away but half the time. When the birth opproaches, with how much nicety and attention does she help the chick to break its prison ! Not to take notice of her covering it from the injuries of the weather, providing it proper nourishment, and teaching it to help itself; nor to mention her forsaking the nest, if, after the usual time of reckoning, the young ones do not make their appearance, A chymical operation could not be followed with greater art or diligence, than is seen in the hatching of a chick ; though there are many other birds that shew an infinitely greater sa- gacity in all the forementioned particulars. *' But at the same time the hen, that has all this seeming ingenuity, which is indeed abso- lutely necessary for the propagation of the spe- cies, considered in other respects, is without the least glimmerings of thought or common sense. She mistakes a piece of chalk for an egg, and sits upon it in the sawie manner ; she is in- sensible Of BIBDS, PISH, &0. 21 genaible of any increasQ or diminution in the number of those she lays : she does not distin- guish between those of another species j and when the birth appears of never so different a birdj will cherish it for her own. In all these circumstances, which do not carry an imme- diate • regard to the subsistence of herself or specieSj, she is a very ideot/^ Birds of the same species, as we have before remarked, unless when restrained by peculiar circumstances^ uniformly build their nests of the same materials, and in the same form and sitxTatton, though they inhabit very different climates ; and the form and situation are always exactly suited to their nature, and calculated to afford them shelter and protection. When danger, or any other circumstance peculiar to certain countries, renders a deviation from the common form or situation of nests necessary, that deviation is made in an equal degree, and in the very same manner, by all the birds of one species ; and it is never found to extend be- yond the limita of the country where alone it can serve any good purpose. When removed by necessity from their eggs, birds return to them with haste and anxiety, and shift them so as to heat them equally ^ and it is worthy of observation. 22 NATURAL HISTORY obsen-ation, that their haste to return is always in proportion to the coldness of the dimate. But do birds reason^ and all of the same species reason equally well^ upon the nature and ex- tent of danger, and upon the means by which it can best be avoided ? Have birds any no- tion of equality, or do they know that heat is necessary for incubation ? No : in all these operations men recognise the intentions of Nature, but they are hid from the animals themselves, and therefore cannot operate upon them as motives. Yet we have instances of animal sagacity that seem to indicate something very superior to what is generally understood to be the ope- ration of instinct. It is well known that crows feed upon several kind of shell-fish, when within their reach, and that they contrive to break the shell by raising the fish to a great height and letting it drop upon a stone or rock. This may, perhaps, be considered as pure instinct directing the animal to the proper means of acquiring its food. But what is to be thought of the following fact, communi- cated, as we are told, by a gentleman whose veracity is unquestionable, and who being totally unacquainted with the theories of philosophers had or BIRDS, FISH, Sic. 2S had of course no favourite hypothesis to sup- port ? *^ In the spring of the year 1791 a pair of crows made their nest in a tree, of which there are several planted round his garden, and in his morning-walks he had often been amused hj witnessing furious combats between them and a cat. One morning the battle raged more fiercely than usual, till at last the cat gave way, and took shelter under a hedge, as if to wait a more favourable opportunity of retreating to the house. The crows continued for a short time to make a threatening noise; but per- ceiving that on the ground they could do nothing more than threaten, one of them lifted up a stone from the middle of the garden, and perched with it on a tree planted in the hedge, where she sat watching the motions of the enemy of her young. As the cat crept, along under the hedge, the crow accompanied her. by- flying from branch to branch, and from tree to tree, and when at last puss ventured to quit her hiding-place, the crow, leaving the trees, and hovering over her in the air, let the stone drop from on high on her back..^' That the crow, on this occasion, reasoned is self-evident ; and it seems to be little less evident that the ideas 24 NATURAL KISTOHY ideas employed in her reasoning were enlarged beyond those which she had received from her senses. By her senses she might have perceiv- ed that the shell of a fish is broken by a fall 5 but could her senses inform her that a cat would be wounded or driven off the field by the fell of a stone ? No ; from the effect of the one fall preserved in her memory she must have in- ferred the other by her power of reasomng. But of the anxiety and courage of birds, in the preservation of their brood, and their m- Btinetive discernment, we have a singular in- stance related by Professor Reimar, and such a one as perhaps seldom occurred to the observ^a- tion of Naturahsts. *^ Two robins (says he) had their nest withiri a small hollow of a rock, which -was shaded by a spreading oak : the female had five eggs, which she hatched with such assiduity that both I and others often vie^ved her very near, and even touched her, without her making the least :motion to avoid the apparent danger. ^^ One day nry lying-in bird was absent, and I apprehended she had forsaken her nest ; bxrt tny suspicions were changed on seeing a ciTckoo hopping along an adjoining descent, and which finally alighted on a tree near \vha'e I stood, at ntHBTUHMXr K C. Stak CoV^^^ OF BIRDS^ FISH, &C. 25 at the same time I perceived my robins watch- ing the cuckoo's motions. It occurred to me that it is the practice of the female cuckoo to lay its eggs in the nest of some other small bird, and such seemed her present intention. Reason would have taught the robins to post themselves in the nest^ the better to defend it, but instinct determined them to keep at a dis- tance^ and put the enemy on a wrong scent : accordingly the nearer it approached the nest, the more alertly the robins strove to mislead it, by fluttering about with all the marks of anguish, and using a note highly expressive of distress 5 the cuckoo at length, after a long pursuit, returned to a bough much nearer to the nest than she had yet been 5 a moment was not, therefore, to be lost : one of the robins rushed under the feathers of the cuckoo's tail, and fell to pecking her with unabating fury, while she kept shivering, her bill open so very wide, that the other robin, which attacked her in front, threw herself in so far that no part of her head was to be seen, and the cuckoo, ap- pearing to be seized with a find of vertigo, fell towards the ground, hanging with her claws to the branch on which she had perched, while her relentless enemies availed themselves of her VOL. I. E condition, 26 NATURAL HISTORY condition, and would probably have put a pe- riod to her existence had not a sudden storm put a termination to the combat." Our little progeny are now brought to that period, when lifrht in air Th' acquitted parents.lee their foariiig race, And once rejoicing, never know them more. " As soon as the whole family are fully plumed, and capable of flying alone, they are led to the proper places where their food lies, and taught the necessary art of providing for their own subsistence; and when they are completely qua- lified for this important tafk^ all future con- nection is at an end. Those birds that are hatched early in the spring constantly prove the most strong and vi2;orous offspring ; while the feeble and tender children of declining summer or autumn are sel- dom capable of ' sustaining the severities of a ri""orous winter. But this is a circumstance that only ha[)pens in consequence of their nests being repeatedly pillaged, in spite of which they persevere in their efforts for a new progeny. Let us now resume our examination of the structure of birds, and how far they are adapted or BIRDS, Fisii, Sec. 27 adapted for the purposes to which they seem destined. FiiATiiERs are not less elegant than com- modious for the inhabitants of the air; not only a guard against wet and cold, and a means of hatching and brooding their youno;, but most convenient for flight ; for which pur- pose they are neatly placed over the body from the head towards the tail, to give the bird- an easy passage. They are inverted behind, and laid over each other in regular order. That part of them next the body is furnished with a warm and soft down; those exposed to the air and weather are more strongly made, and more curiously closed, being arrayed with a double beard in two ranks, and longer at one end than the other. The mechanism of the feather is wonderful ; the quill is firm ; the shaft or rib strong, but %ht and hollow in proportion to its growth ; the upper part possessing proportional strength, but filled with a light parenchyma, or pkh; and, on the whole, having so much surface with so little gravity as to place the bird almost in equilibrium with the airj The beards, or vanes, of the feather, when viewed through a microscope, appear to be a ^^ - row 28 NATURAL HISTORY row of little flat and thin plates, or laminae, disposed and inserted in a line as perfect as if their extremities had been cut by the nicest in- strument. Each of these laminae is again in itself a quill, or basis, which sustains two new ranks, of a minuteness that renders them al- most invisible, and which exactly close up all the little intervals through which the air might enter. The feathers are also disposed in such a manner, that the range of the little beards of the one slides, plays, and discovers itself more or less, under the great beards of the other feather that lies over it. A new range of lesser feathers serves as a covering to the quills of the larger. The air is excluded from every part, and thus the impulse of the fea- thers on that fluid becomes very strong and efficacious. The vanes or webs in the flag part of the wing are also formed with incomparable nicety : broad on one side, and narrower on the other ; the edges of the exterior vanes bending down- wards, and those of the interior, or wider, up- wards, by which they catch hold of, and lay close to each other when the wing is spread ; and thus not one feather can miss its im- pulse. This OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. £9 This (Economy of the construction of the feathered race is curiously preserved by an ex- pedient which renders their phimage as impe- netrable to the water, as by their structure it is to the air. Whenever the bird feels itself likelv to be inconnnoded by rain, or its feathers dry, soiled, and discontinued by gaps, it has recourse to a gland, situate on its rump, and containing a quantity of oil which it presses out with its bill, and then drawing the bill over the greater part of the feathers, successively anoints and gives them a lustre that renders them imper- vious to damp. This care of their plumage is one of their most constant employments. Water-fovvls are endowed with such a quantity of this unctuous fluid, that it even commu- nicates a degree of rancidity to the taste of their flesh ; those that inhabit the open air have less ; and our domestic fowls, which live, in a manner, under covert, have the least. Naturalists have varied in their opinions con- cerning the generation or production of feathers ; some contend that they are a species of plants, as having the two great characters of vegetables, i. e. that they grow and are not sensible ; and also that they have the characteristic parts of plants. so NATURAL HISTORY plants, as roots, stem, branch, leaves, Sec, Others seem to be nearer to nature hi making feathers to be on birds, what hairs are on other animals. In effect, feathers appear to be only produc- tions and expansions of the last extreme fibrillse of the cutis ', and hence, upon stripping oiF the cutis, the feathers are likewise taken away ; just as the leaves arid fruit follow upon pealing the bark of a tree. Feathers also, as well as hairs, arise out of pores in the cutis ; which pores are not merely apertures, or foramina, but a kind of lagimila^f woven of the fibres of the skin, which terminate in the oscula of the internal fibres of the feathers. The wings of birds are remarkably strong. The flap of a swan's wing has been known to break a man's leg 5 and a similar blow from an eagle has produced instant death. They cor- respond with the fore-legs of quadrupeds, and serve to support and poise the body in a fluid much lighter than itself, as well as to perform the function of oars to advance the body in any direction : at their extremities there is an ap- pendix generally termed the bastard zeing ; the quills of the wing differ only from the common feather OF BIRDS, FISH, Sec. 31 feather in being larger, and springing from a deeper part of the skin, for their shafts lay al- most close to the bone. The instruments of flying are the wings and tail : by the first, the bird sustains and wafts himself along ; and by the second he is assisted in ascending and descending to keep his body poised and upright, and to obviatQ its irregula- rities and waverings.' It is by the largeness and strength of the pectoral muscles, that birds are so well dis- posed for quick, strong, and continued flying. These muscles, which in men are scarce a seventieth part of the muscles of the body, in birds exceed and outweigh all the other mus- cles taken together : upon which Willoughby makes this reflection, ^^ that if it were pos- sible for man to fly, his wings must be so contrived and adapted, that he might make use of his legs, and not his arms^ in managing them.'* The flying of birds is thus effected : the bird first bends his legs, and springs with a vio- lent leap from the ground ; then opens or ex- pands the jointures of his wings, so as to make a right-line perpendicular to the sides of his body. Being thus raised a Utile above the ho- rizon, S2 NATtRAL HISTORY rizon^ he vibrates his wings with great force and velocity, perpendicularly against the air; which, though a fluid, resists those successions, and re-acts as much as it is acted on : by these means the whole body of the bird is protruded. The sagacity of nature is very remarkable in the opening and recovering of the wing for fresh strokes. To do it directly, and perpen- dicularly, it must needs have a great resist- ance to overcome : to avoid which the bony part, or bend of the wing into which the fea- thers are inserted, moves sideways with its sharp end foremost; the feathers following it like a flag. Ray, WiLLouGHBY, and others, have sup- posed the tail to do the office of a rudder, in steering and turning the body this way or that ; but BoRELLi has shewn it unfit for any such office. The Jii/ing of a bird, in effect, is quite a different motion from the sailing of a ship : birds do not vibrate their wings towards the tail, as oars are ftruck towards the stern,^ but waft them downward ; nor does the tail of the bird cut the air at right angles, as the rudder does the water, but is disposed horizontally, and preserves the same situation what way so- ever the bird turns. In In effect, as a vessel in the water Is turned •about on its centre of gravity to the right, by a brisk application of the oars to the left ; so a hivd, in beating the air with its right wing ?tlone, towards its tail, its fore-part will be turned to the left : as when in swimming, only %y striking out with the right arm and leg, we iare driven to the left. But the tail is most particularly of use in assisting birds to rise in the air, or to descend, and to preserve their horizontal position when flying. The BONES of birds, though of a solidity Strfficient to sustain the system of their bodies, are, nevertheless, so hollow and diminutive, that they scarce make any addition to the weight of their flesh. The CLAWS, LiEGS, WINGS, and beaks of ^11 birds are beautifully adapted to their various pursuits. Birds of prey that must fly to a con- ^erable distance to obtain their food, are fur- titshed with large strong wings ; while domestic 'hirds are imiformly the reverse. The genera- lity of small birds, sparrows for instance, that harbour near our habitations, and pick up grain or crumbs from the table, have a small bill, ivith short legs and neck ', — but the case is dif- ▼ot, I. 5* ferent 34 NATURAL HISTORY ferent with the woodcock, the snipe, and va- rious others that seek their aUment very deep in. the earth, or amidst shme and mud. The bill of the woodpecker is very long, and of much strength and solidity ; his tongue sharp, extremely long, and armed with little points; this equipage relates to the bird's man- ner of living and obtaining its prey, which is chiefly little worms or insects that live in the heart of many branches, or under the bark of old wood. The heron, on the contrary, fecd^ on frogs, or whatever small fish he can pick up in fens, or near the shores of rivers or the sea ; he is therefore mounted aloft on very long legg and thighs, almost destitute of plumage ; he haa a long neck, with an enormous bill, jagged at the extremity, like hooks, that enable him to seize and detain his slimy prey. Similar ob- servations may be applied to the whole of the feathered race. The organ of smelling is very large, and so well provided with nerves as to render thi« sensation very acute. The raven illustrates this, who is able to find out his prey at a consider- able distance, though concealed entirely from his sight. The OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 55 The anterior part of the eye, instead of be- ing globular, as in the human body, turns suddenly flat, and becomes but half a sphere. In the British Zoology we are told, that ^^ the eye of birds is not more agile than that of other animals, though their sight is more quick. On the contrary, their eye is quite immove- able, as is that of most animals and insects of the quickest sight.*' As many of these creatures are continually employed in thickets and hedges, their eyes are secured from injuries, as well as too much light, by an elegant mechanism. A membrane arises from the internal angle, which can, at pleasure, be made to cover the eye like a cur- tain. This curtain is neither pellucid nor opaque, both which would have been equally inconvenient ; but being somewhat transparent, allows as many rays to enter as to make any object just visible, and is sufiicient to direct them in their progression. By means of this membrane it is that the easrle is said to look at o the sun. Birds have no external ear, but in place of it they have a tuft of very fine feathers, co- vering the auditory passage, which readily al- lows the sound to pass them, and likewise pre- F 2 vents 30 NATURAL HISTaRY ventft dust or insects from getting in : and a liquor Is secreted from the external part of tha ear, to lubricate the passage, and obstruct the entrance of vermin, &c. We have perhaps been somewhat diffuse on the external conformation of birds, though the subject would have borne us out to. a much greater length : our view of the intemaJ struc- ture shall be sufficiently concise; as indeed it could scarcely prove interesting to those who feaa^e not been accustomed to anatomical re-» searches. The gullet runs down the neck of birds, in* dining a little to the right side, and terminates in the crop> where the food is macerated and digested by a liquor separated from the glands, which abound on the internal surface of tbi» bag. Passing through the remainder of the gullet, it arrives at length to the true stomach or gizzard, which consists of two very strong jDttu^cles. The use of the gizzard h to com- peEksate for the want of teeth, which would be needless, as they swallow the food entire; 5 and it is well fitted for this purpose from the great strength it possesses. The digestion of birds is performed merdy hy attrition, which is assi^ed by the hard bo-r dies OF BIRDS, FISB^ &C, S3t diies they swallow, and which can serve for no. other purpose than to help the trituration of their aHnaents. After these pebbles, by be- coming smooth, are rendered unfit for thisi office,, they are thrown up by the mouth. Hence, fowls that are long confined, though €V^ SQ well fed, turn, lean for want of these stones to help their digestion. SpallAoNZ/Vni entertains a different opinion,, and says, that pebbles are not at all necessary to the trituration of the food of these animals. At the same time he does not deny that when put in motion by the gastric muscles they are capable of producing some efTect on the con- tents of the, stomach, but is inclined to believe that, they are not sought for and selected by d-esign, as many suppose, but because they fre- quently happen to be mixed with the food. The lungs are not loose within the cavity of the thorax, but fixed to the bone all the way ; neither are they divided into lobes, as in thos«r animals. that have a large motion in their spine; hxt are two. red spongy bodies, covered with a membrane that is pervious, and wliich com- municates with the large vesicles, or air-bags, that are dispersed over their whole abdomen; some of these are esren lodged in th.e flcsliy parts. 38 NATURAL HISTORY parts, and some in the hollow bones. Con- cerning the use of these cavities, Dr. Hunter conjectures, that they are a kind of appendage to the lungs, by serving as reservoirs of air; and that they assist birds during their flight, which must be apt to render frequent respira- tion difficult. Probably this construction of the organs may assist birds in singing, which the Doctor thinks may be inferred from the long continuance of song between the breathings of a canary-bird. The migration of certain species of birds, at various times, is a subject that naturally attracts curiosity. Some birds delight in cold countries, others are pleased with temperate climates, or even the hottest regions. Some content them- selves with passing from one country to another, where the air or aliment attracts them at a certain season : others traverse the seas, and undertake surprising voyages. The birds of passage most known are quails, swallows, wild ducks, plovers, woodcocks, and cranes. In the spring quails pass from Africa into Europe, to find a more tolerable and temperate summer than they could enjoy in the country whence they came. Towards the close of au- tumn they return over the Mediterranean to obtain OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. SQ obtain in Barbary and Egypt a gentle heat, corresponding to the cHmate they had aban- doned, when the sun was on the other side of the equator. The quails on these occasions take their flight in troops that resemble clouds ; they frequently cover ships, into which, ex- hausted by the fatigue of so adventurous 3 flight, they fall down, and become an easy prey to the sailors. Among the feathered emigrants is generally placed the swallows, which are said to leave us about the latter end of September, directing their course towards Senegal and the Morocco shore 3 and this fatiguing journey they are said to perform in the space of seven days. But, however common the opinion may be, that this bird emigrates " To distant regions and to warmer climes," yet from many circumstances it seems probable that the house-swallozi) is not a bird of passage ; on the contrary, that it never quits its natah $olum, but remains where it was produced dur- ing the winter months, like many other animals, in a state of torpor ; and so far from being in- clined to migrate in search of a more genial cli- mate, is actually capable of existing through the winter 40 NATURAL HISTORY winter months amlto the mud at th^ bottom of a pond. Omittmg less respectable authority, "we shall rest the fact on part of a letter com'- municated by the Hon. Sara. Dexter, Esq. to the President of the American Academy of Arts aiid Sciences, in 1785. ^^ You know. Sir, tiiat my house is near a large river. This river is in many parts shallow, and has a muddy bottom. A former neigh- bour of mine, a plain, hanest, and sensible man, now deceased, ^Vho lived still neai'er to the ri- ver, used frequently to say to me, as the warm weather came on in the spring, ^ It ts almo=^ time for the swallows to come out of t^e mud, where they have laid all the wim-cr.' On my calling his philosophy once and again in queS" tion, and saying (as I formerly believed) that, doubtless, they '^'ere birds of passage, he has repeatedly assured me, he had in the autumn •of many years seen great numbers of them m one day only in each year, and nearly about, but not alwa}'^ -on the same day of the month, sitting an the willow bushes (which by the way they are not wont to rest upon at other times), on the borders of the ri^'ers, a Kttk after sun-set 3 that they seemed as if their torpor had OF BIRBSj FISH, &C. 41 had already began, as they would not stir from 'he twigs, which, by the weight of the swallows, were bent down almost to the water ; and that although he had never seen them sink into it, yet he had waited till it was so dark that he could not discern them at all, and doubted not of their immersion any more than if he had been a witness of it, for he had never observed any flying about afterwards, till the return of spring. He added, that if, as he wished, I would carefully look out for their re- surrection, he believed it would not be in vain. He had, he said, often taken notice that only a few appeared at first, and the main body in about a week after. Although I paid but little re- gard to it for some years, yet I followed his advice at length, and watched for their appear- ance several seasons as carefully as I could. I have not indeed beheld them rising out of the water, yet I and mv family have, in more years than one, seen at the proper time of the spring, very large flocks of them in my own and in my neighbour's land, so near the margin of the river, that from this circumstance, the appear- ance of the feathers, and their being unable to use their wino-s as at other times, we concluded they were ncwlv emerged from the water. VOL. I. G , When 4S NATURAL HISTORY When they attempted to fly, they could hot reach above eight or ten yards before they settled on the ground, and then might be drove about like chickens. They appeared unwilling to be disturbed, and if not frightened by some noise or motion would cluster together, seeming to want to rest themselves, as if feeble or fatigued. They were not entirely recovered from their stupor ; there was a viscous substance on and about their wings, or they were too weak to fly away. We had seen none in those years before ; but in each of them, after a day or two, they were flying about as usual in summer.'* Wild ducks and cranes also, at the approach of winter, fly in quest of more favourable cli- mates: like quails they assemble on a certain tUe mother kills the most feeble, or the most voracious. If this be really true, it can only be attributed to the parent being hicapable to pro- vide for their support, and is therefore content to sacrifice a part to preserve the rest. The plumage of the eaglets is at first white, then inclining to yellow, and when full grown of a light brown. Age, hunger, long captivity, and diseases, make them whiter; and it has been insisted on, by several naturalists, that the eagle sheds its feathers every year, as the stag does its horns, and the serpent its skin. It is said they live above a hundred years, and that they at last die not of old age, but from the beaks turning inward upon the under mandible, and thus preventing their taking any food. The Benedictine Monks of the Abbey of St. Ber- trand, at St. Omer's, had an ea2;le livino; in 1745, which they insisted was, by tradition, upwards of three hundred years old. They are equally remarkable, says Mr. Pennant, for their longevity, and for their power of sustaining a long absence from food. One of this species, which has now been nine years in the possession of Mr. Owen Holland, of Conway, lived thirty- two years with the gentleman who made him A present of it; but what its age was when the latter 96 NATURAL HISTORY latter received it from Ireland is unknown. The same bird also furnishes a proof of the truth of the other remark ; having once, through the neglect of servants, endured absolute hunger for twenty-one days. But this is still less extraordinary than an in- stance recorded by M. de Buffon, who w^as assured, by a person of veracity, that one of them being caught in a fox-trap, existed for five entire weeks without any aliment. It shewed no appearance of languor till the last eight days, and it was killed at length in order to deliver it from its sufferings. The eagle seldom drinks, its principal aliment being raw flesh, which contains in itself a sufficient quan- tity of moisture. Those who keep eagles in confinement feed them with every kind of flesh, whether fresh or corrupted; and where there is a deficiency of that, bread or any other provision will suffice, as their rapacious appetite makes them little fas- tidious as to food. It is nevertheless very ha- zardous to approach tlicm if not quite tame, as they are very apt to discover the ferocity of their dispositions ; and they frequently send forth a loud piercing lamentable cry, which renders them still more formidable. Such OF BIRDS, FISH, 8CC. 97 Such are the general characteristics and habi- tudes of the eagle; however, in some of these ha- bitudes they differ, as the Sea Eagle and the Os- prey live chiefly upon fish, and consequently build their nests upon the sea- shore, and by the sides of rivers, on the ground among reeds : these lay three or four eggs, rather less than those of a hen, of a white elliptic form. They catch their prey, which is chiefly fish, by darting down upon them fi'om above. The Italians compare the violent descent of these birds on their prey to the fall of lead into water ; and call them aquila plombina, or the Leaden Eagle. The Bald Eagle of North Carolina is not less remarkable for habits peculiar to itself. These birds breed in that country all the year round. When the eaglets are just covered with down, and a sort of white w^oolly feathers, the female eagle lays again, and leaves these eggs to be hatched by the warmth of the young ones that continue in the nest; so that the flight of one brood makes room for the next, that are but just hatched. These birds fly very heavily, so that they cannot overtake their prey, like others of the same denomination. To remedy this, thev often attend the osprey, which they pursue and strip of its prey. This is the more remarkable, VOL. 1. O as 9» NATURAL HISTORY as this hawk flies by far the most swift of the two, but yet the eagle has a kind of presentiment of anticipating its coursie ; and the osprey, by way of securing itself, drops the fish it had taken, \vhich the eagle, with wonderful dexterity, is said to catch before it reaches the water. These ea- gles a'feo generally attend upon fowlers in the winter ; and w^hoi any birds are wounded, they are sure to be seized by the eagle, though they may fly from the fowler. This bird will often also steal young pigs, and carry them alive to the nest, which is composed of twigs, sticks, and rubbish, and is large enough to fill the body of a cart; it is commonly full of bones half eaten, and of putrid flesh, the stench of which is sen- sible at a considerable distance. Besides the Golden Eagle, of which we have been treating, there are several varieties in this species ; the distinctive characters of each are as follow : The golden eagle (Jig. 3) is of a tawny iron colour; the head and neck of a reddish; the tail a dirty white, marked with cross bands of tawny iron ; and the legs covered down to the feet with tawny iron feathers. The common eagle is of a brown, the head and upper part of the neck inclining to red; the OF BIRDS, FISH, SCC. 99 the tail-feathers white, blackening at the ends ; the outer ones, on each side, of an ash colour, and the legs covered with feathers of a reddish brown. This bird is common in some pa?ts of France and Italy, but much more so in Greece; they are often found upon the banks of the Danube, seeking their prey, which consists of kids, lambs, geese, serpents, &c. Mr. John- son relates a story of a fox having killed a goose near the river Prille in Italy : — one of these eagles espying it, as he was hovering in the air, immediately descending, endeavoured to seize upon the goose as his prey : but the fox boldly resisting, a bloody battle ensued between him and the fox j but the former soon became master of the field, killed Reynard upon the spot, and carried off the prize*. The bald eagle, brown over the body and wings, the head, neck, and tail- feathers white ; and the feathers of the upper part of the legs brov/n. The re^hite eagle; the whole white : this in all probability is not a particular species, but a mere variety. * This species of eagle is more common than the iijolrleii one; it is found in France, Savoy, Swisserland, Gcruiaiiy, Poland, Scotland, America, and Hudson's Bay. O 'i The 100 NATURAL HISTORY The rough-footed eagle is of a dirty brown, spotted under the wings, and on the legs, with white; the feathers of the tail white at the be<:in- ning and the point; the leg feathers dirty brown, spotted with white. The white-tailed eagle is a dirty brown over the body, the head white, the stem of the fea- thers black, the rump inclining to black ; the tail- feathers, the first half black, the end half white, legs naked. The erne, a dirty iron colour above, an iron mixed with black below ; the head and neck ash, mixed with chesnut; the points of the wings black- ish, the tail-feathers white, and the legs naked. The black eagle, the body and wings nearly a black; the head and upper part of the neck mix- ed with red; the tail-feathers, the first half white, speckled with black ; and tlie other half^ black- ish ; the leg-feathers dirty white. Th^fea eagle : the colour of this inclines to white, mixed with iron brown ; the belly white^ with iron coloured spots; the covert feathers (which are those small feathers that cover the bottom of the quill feathers) of the tail are whitish; the tail-feathers black at the extremity, and the upper part of the leg-feathers of an iron brown. The OF BIRDS, FISH, ScC. 101 The osprey is brown upon the back, and white under the neck and belly ; the back of the head white; the outward tail-feathers, on the inner side, streaked with white; and its legs are naked. Tho^jean h blanc is a brownish grey upon the back; white, spotted with tawny brown on its under parts; the tail-feathers on the outside and at the extremity, brown; on the inside, white, streaked with brown, and its legs naked. This eagle seems peculiar to France, and is not men- tioned as having been seen in any other country. The eagle o/*jBras27, blackish-brown; ash co- lour, mixed in the wings; tail-feathers white; and legs naked. The Oroonoko eagle has a topping upon his head ; his back and wings of a blackish brown, the under parts white, spotted with black; upper part of the neck yellow; tail-feathers brown with white circles ; leg feathers white, and spot- ted with black. The crowned African eagle, with a topping ; the tail of an ash colour, streaked on the upper side with black. This eagle is found on the south coasts of Guinea, and chiefly in the pro- vince of Acra, and is there called the crowned eagle ; at which place there is also another spe- cies. lot NATURAL HISTORY cics^ nearly black, to which the negroes pay such veneration, that it is a capital crime to kill one, although it destroys all their poultry anol corn wherever it comes. From constantly fre- quenting muddy places it is always covered with filth, and yet it is esteemed by the natives as a deity, who daily boil meat for its food, and which they lay about such places as they know any one of them haunt. The tagle of Pondicherry, achesnut colour; the six outward tail-feathers black one half. Besides these, authors have enumerated the Chinese eagle, w-hich is of a reddish brown, with a bar of dark brown across the middle of the wing 3 the zvhite bellied eagle ; the Japanese eagle, which is finely variegated ; the oriental eagle, the Javan eagle, the j^erce eagle from Astraean, the plaintive eagle frorr^ Terra del Fuego, the black-cheeked eagle, the spotted eq- gle, the Statenland eagle, the Ruffian and eqid- noxial eagles^ and the Mansfeuri/. OF BIRDS, FISH, ^C, 103 ■i^MM>*MMMMi*aka^iBAfe> THE CONDOR. THE Condor \s a native of America, and hitherto Naturalists have been in doubt whether to refer it to the species of the eagle, or to that of the vulture. Its great strength, force, and Tivacity, is supposed to give it a claim to rank among the former, while the baldness of its head and neck is thought to degrade it to th-e latter. It is, however, fully sufficient for our plan to describe its form and customs, and therefore shall leave nomenclators to decide upon its class. If size (for it is by much the largest bird that flies) and strength, combined with rapidity of flight and rapacity, deserve pre- eminence, no bird can be put in competition with it ; for the condor possesses, in a higher degree than the eagle, all the qualities that ren- ■iler it formidable, not only to the feathered kind, but to beasts, and even to man himself. Acosta, Garcilasso, and Dcsmarchais,' assert^ that 104 NATURAL HISTORY that it is eighteen feet across the wings when they are extended. The beak is so strong as td pierce the body of a cow ; and it is positively asserted that two of them are capable of de- vouring that animal. They do not even ab- stain from attacking man himself, but fortu- nately there are but few of the species* The Indians say that they will carry off a deer or a young calf in their talons^ as eagles would a hare or a rabbit; that their sight is piercing, and their manners terrific. They seldom fre- quent the forestSj as they require a large space for the display of their wings^, but are found on the sea shore, and the banks of rivers, whither they sometimes descend from the heights of the mountains. According to modern authors they only come down to the sea shore at certain sea- sons, particularly when their prey happens to fail them upon land ; that they then feed upon dead fish, and such other nutritious substances as the sea throws upon the shore ; and also that their countenance is not so terrible as the old writers have represented it, but from their aspect they appear to be of a milder nature than either* the eagle or vulture. Condamine says that he has frequently seen them in several parts of the mountains of Quito, and observed 6V BIRDS, FISH, &C. 195 observed them hovering over a flock of sheep ; arid he thinks they would, at one particu- lar time, have attempted to carry some of them off, had they not been scared away by the shepherds. Labat says, that this animal has been described to him, by those who have seen it, as having the body as large as that of a sheep ; and that the flesh is tough, and as disagreeable as carrion. The Spaniards, residing in that country, dread its depredations, there having been many instances of its carrjnng off" their children. Mr. Strong, the master of a ship, relates, that as he was sailing along the coast of Chili, in the thirty-third degree of south latitude, he observed a bird sitting upon a high cliff' near the shore, which some of the ship*s company shot with a leaden bullet, and killed. They were greatly surprised when they beheld its magnitude, for when the wings were extended they measured thirteen feet from one tip to the other. One of the quills was two feet four inches long; and the barrel, or hollow part, was six inches and three quarters, and an inch and an half in circumference. M. Feuillee, who is the only One that has ac- curately described it, has gv^cn a still more cir- cumstantial account of this amazing bird. " In VOL. [. P the 106 NATURAL HISTORY .the valley of. Illo, in Peru/' says he, ^^ I dis^ covered a condor perched on a high rock before nie ; I approached within gun-shot and fired; but, as my piece was only charged with swan- shot, the lead was not able sufficiently to pierce the bird's feathers. I perceived, however, by its manner of flying, that it was wounded ; and it was with a good deal of difficulty that it flew to another rock, about five hundred yards disr tant on the sea shore. . I therefore charged again with ball, and hit the bird under the throat, which made it mine. I accordingly ran up to seize it ; but even in death it was ter- rible, and defended itself upon its back, with its claws extended against me, so that I scarce knew how to lay hold of it. Had it not been mortally wounded, I should have found it no easy matter to take itj but I at last dragged it down from the rock, and with the assistance of one of the seamen, I carried it to my tent, to make a coloured drawing. *' The wings of this bird, which I measured very exactly, were twelve feet three inches (English) from tip to tip. The great feathers, which were of a beautiful (liining black, were two feet four inches long. The thickness of the beak was proportionable to the rest of the body ; OI^ BlRDSj FlSH, &C. 107 body; the length about four inches; the point hooked downwards, and white at its extremity ; the other part was of a jet black. A short down of a brown colour covered the head; the eyes were blacky and surrounded with a circle of reddish brown. The feathers on the breast, neck, and wings, were of a light brown : those on the back were rather darker. Its thighs were covered with brown feathers to the knee. The thigh bone was ten inches long, the leg five inches; the toes were three before and one behind ; that behind was an inch and a half, and the claw with which it w^as armed was black,- and three quarters of an inch. The other claws were in the same proportion ; and the leg was covered with black scales, as also the toes ; but in these the scales were larger. *^ These birds usually keep in the mountains where they find their prey ; they never descend to the sea-shore but in the rainy season, for as they are very sensible of cold, they go there for greater warmth. Though these mountains are situated in the torrid zone, the cold is often very severe ; for a great part of the year they are covered with snow, but particularly in winter. " The little nourishment which these birds ' P2 find 108 NATURAL HISTORY . find on the sea-coast^ except when a tempest drives in some great fish, obliges the condor to continue there but a short time. They usually come to the coast at the approach of evening, stay there all night, and fly back in the morning.** Notwithstanding the clainis which are con- fidently advanced by the American travellers, of having first discovered this bird, it is a mat- ter of much doubt whether its species be con- fined to the New World, or have not been described by naturalists of other countries, though under difierent denominations : the great bird, for instance, called the rock, de- scribed by Arabian writers, a.nd so mu^h exag- gerated by fable ; the large bird of Tarnassar, in the East Indies, which is larger than the eagle, and the vulture of Senegal, which car- ries off children, are probably no other than the bird we have been describing. Russia, Lap- land, and even Switzerland and Germany, are said to have known this animal. A bird of tliis kind w^as shot in France, that weighed eighteen pounds, and was said to b.e eighteen feet across the wings ; however, one of the quills was de- scribed as only being larger than that of a swan, so that probably the breadth of the wings may have OF BIRDSj FISH, &C. 109 have been exaggerated^ since a bird so laro-e, agreeably to analogy, would have the quills more tlian twice as big as those of a swan. It is, how- ever, scarcely ever seen in Europe. In the de- serts of Pachomac, where it is most common, men seldom venture to travel. " Those wild re- gions," says a modern writer, ^^ are sufficient of themselves to inspire, a secret horror — broken precipices — prowling panthers — forests only vocal with the hissing of serpents — and moun- tains rendered still more terrible by the condor, the only bird that ventures to makes its residence in those deserted situations." THE VULTURE. FOR the same reasons that the lion holds the £rst rank among quadrupeds, the eagle is placed Jit the head of the feathered tribe, not because tliey are stronger or larger than the tiger or vul- ture, but because they are more bold and gene- rous. The eagle, unless pressed by famine, will not stoop to carrion; and never devours but what he has earned by his own pursuit. The vul- ture^ on the contrary, is indelicately voracious; and 110 NATURAL HISTORY and seldom attacks living animals, when it can procure dead carcasses. The eagle meets and singly opposes his enemy; but the vulture, (Jig. 4) if it anticipate resistance, calls in the aid of its kind, and basely overpowers its prey by a cowardly combination ; they are rather thieves than warriors, rather birds of carnage than birds of prey; for, in this species, they alone assemble in numbers against one; they alone repast on putrid carcasses even to the bone. Putrefaction and stench, instead of deterring, only serve to allure them: in a word, he is defi- cient in every respectable quality, and is even more detestable among birds than the jackall or the hyaena among quadrupeds. Vultures may be easily distinguished from all the species of the eagle by the nakedness of their heads and necks, which are without fea- thers, and only covered with a very slight down, or a few scattered hairs. Their eyes are more prominent, from not being buried so much in the socket as those of the eagle. Their claws are shorter and less hooked. The inside of their wings is covered with a thick down, and which is different in them from all other birds of prey. When upon the ground, their attitude is not so upright as that of the eagle; OF BIRDS^ FISH, &C. Ill eagle; and. their flight more difficult and heavy. Singular as these particulars would have ren-* dered them, they are still more strongly marked by their disposition, which, as we have al- ready observed^ is cruel, unclean, and indo- lent. Their sense of smelling, however, is amazingly great; and Nature, for this purpose, has given them two large apertures or nostrils without, and an extensive olfactory membrane within. Their internal structure is different from that of the eagle, and partakes more of the formation of such birds as live upon grain. They have both a crop and a stomach ; which may be regarded as a kind of gizzard, from the extreme thickness of the muscles of which it is composed ; in short, they seem adapted in- wardly, not only for being carnivorous, but to cat com, or whatsoever of that kind comes in their way ; and which they pretty generally put in practice. The vulture is common in many parts of Europe ; it is too well known on the western continent, but is totally unknown in England. In Eg}^pt, Arabia, and many other kingdoms, of Africa and Asia, vultures are found in freat abundance. The inside down of their wing 112 NATURAL HISTORY wing is converted into a v^ery warm and coni- fortable kind of fur, and is commonly sold in the Asiatic markets. Obnoxious as this bird must be from his vo- racious characteristics, yet he seems to be o^ singular service. There are great flocks of them in the neighbourhood of Grand Cairo, not one of which is permitted to be destroyed, because they devour all the carrion and filth of that great city, and which might otherwise tend to corrupt and putrlfy the air. It is very common there to see them in company with the wild dogs of the country, and tearing a carcass very deliberately together. This pe- culiar association produces no quarrels; the birds and quadrupeds feed amicably upon one piece of carrion, and nothing but harmony subsists between them ; and this appears the more astonishing, as both are extremely rapa- cious, and both lean and bony to a very great degree ; probably from not having any great plenty even of the wretched food on which they subsist. In America, they lead a life somewhat simi- lar. Wherever the hunters, who there pur- sue beasts for the skins only, are found to go, thtise birds are seen to pursue them. They keep or BIRDS, FISH, &C. 113 keep hovering at a little distance; and when they see the beast flayed and abandoned, they call to each other, pour down upon the carcass, and pick its bones as bare and clean as if they had been scraped by a knife. According to Herodotus, however, this at- tendance is totally unnecessary, for he says they can smell a dead carcass at the distance of fifteen thousand paces, and to this he prin- cipally attributes the circumstance of a field of battlt being constantly covered the day after an engagement with flocks of these birds, feedino- on the slaughtered carcasses of both men and horses. Kolbe has related some very curious circum- stances of this bird ; '' I have often,*' says this author, " while residing at the Cape of " Good Hope, been a spectator of the manner ^^ in which they anatomize a dead body : I say ^^ anatomize, for no artist in the world could ^^ have done it more cleanly. They have a won- " derful method of separating the flesh from " the bones, and yet leaving the skin quite ^^ entire. Upon coming near the carcass, no '^ one would suppose that it was thus deprived ^^ of its internal substance, till he began to ex- '' amine it more closely ; he then finds it, lite- '' rally speaking, nothing but skin and bone. VOL. I. O ^' Their 114 NATURAL HISTORY '^ Their manner of performing the operation is '^ this : they first make an opening in the belly '^ of the animal, from whence they pluck out '^ and greedily devour the entrails ; then^ enter- '^ ing into the hollow which they have made, '^ they separate the flesh from the bones^ with- '^ out ever touching the skin. It often hap- *^ pens than an ox returning home alone to its '^ stall from the plough, lies down by the way ; '^ it is then, if the vultures perceive it> that ^^ they fall wath fury down, and inevitably de- ^^ vour the unfortunate animal. They some- '^ times attempt them while grazing in the fields ; '' and make their attack all together, to the '^ number of a hundred or more." Some authors have been inclined to give cre- dit to the common opinion, that the vulture never destroys or feeds upon any thing that has life; but no conclusion can possibly be more unfounded ; for they are mortal enemies to almost all kind of poultry, hares, and young kids. ^^ They are attracted by carrion," says Catesby, ^^ from a very great distance. It is '^ pleasant to behold them, when they are thus '^ eating, and disputing for their prey. An ^^ eagle generally presides at these entertain- '^ mcnls, and makes them all keep their dis- ^^ tancc OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 115 " tance till he has done. They then fall too *' with an excellent appetite : and their sense '^ of smelling is so exquisite, that the instant a '' carcass drops, we may see the vultures float- " ing in the air from all quarters, and come '^ sousing on their prey." When they can come at lambs, they shew no mercy ; and ser- pents are their ordinary food. Albertus says, they wound their prey with only two of their talons, and carry it off with the others. It is a common practice with these birds to perch, several together, on old pine and cypress-trees, where they continue in a morning, for several hours, with their wings unfolded : they are not by any means apprehensive of danger, hut will suffer themselves to be approached very near, particularly when they are eating, without dis- covering the smallest signs of fear. The filth, idleness, and voracity of these birds, almost exceed credibility. In the Brasils, where they are found in great abundance, when they light upon a carcass, which they have U- berty to tear at their ease, they so gorge them- selves, that they are unable to fly, and if pur- sued, can only attempt their escape by hop- ping along; but when hard pressed, thev get rid of their burthen, by vomiting up what they have eaten, and then fly off with as much speed Q 2 as ]l6 NATURAL ItlSTORY as possible. They are^ however, at all times slow of flight. There is a species of hostilities always ex- isting between almost all kinds of rapacious animals ; but of all creatures, the two most at enmity are the vulture of Brasil and the cro- codile. The female crocodile, which in the rivers of that part of the world has been known to grow to the length of twenty- seven feet, lay* its eggs sometimes to the number of two hun- dred, in the sands, on the side of the rivers, where they are hatched by the heat of the cli- mate. Leaving them for this purpose, she takes every precaution to hide from all other animals the place where they are deposited ; but the vultures, or galinasses, as the Spaniards call them, conceal themselves in the branches of some neighbouring forest, where they sit in perfect silence, patiently w^atching the croco- dile's operations, with the pleasing hopes of the expected plunder. They remain in this- manner until the crocodile has laid the whole number of her eggs (all of which she carefully covers under the sand) and has retired to a con- siderable distance from them ; when, all toge- ther, encouraging each other with their cries, they pour down upon the place, hook up the sand OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 117 Sand in a moment, lay the eggs bare^ and de- vour the whole brood without remorse. The flesh of these animals is, however, almost be- yond conception bad, yet there have been in- stances of men, when pressed with hunger, en- deavourino; to eat it ; nothino; in fact can be more lean, stringy, nauseous, and unsavoury. It is in vain that, when killed, the rump has. been cut oif j in vain the body has been washed, and spices used to overpower its prevailing odour; it still smells and tastes of the carrion by which it was nourished, and sends forth a stench that is insupportable. These birds, as far as we have been able to discover, usually Jay two eggs at a time, and produce but once a year. They make their nests in inaccessible clifTs, and in places so remote that they are sel- dom met with. Those in our part of the world chiefly reside in the places where they breed, and seldom come down into the plains, except when the snow and ice, in their native retreats, have banished all living animals but themselves : then they come from their heights, and brave the perils they must encounter in more culti- vated regions. As carrion is not found, at those seasons, in sufficient quantity, or sufficiently remote from man to sustam them^ they prey upon lis NATURAL HISTORY upon rabbits^ hares^ serpents, and whatever small game they can overtake or overpower. Such are the principal characteristics of the vulture; and the most remarkable tribes of this species are as follow : at the head -of them w^e must place what is called the King of the Vultures^, which, from its extraordinary figure, deserves a particular description. This bird is a native of America, and not of the East- Indies, as it is frequently pretended ; it is larger than a turkey-cock, and particularly re- markable for the formation of the skin of the head and neck, which is bare. This skin arises from the base of the bill, and is of an orange colour, w^hence it stretches on each side to the head, then extends like an indented comb, and falls on either side, according to the motion of the head. The eyes are surrounded by a skin of a scarlet colour_, and the iris has the colour and lustre of a pearl. The head and neck are without feathers, covered with a flesh-coloured skin on the upper part, a fine scarlet behind the head, and a dusky brown before : farther * This animal is neither clean, generous, nor noble ; he only attacks weak and defenceless animals, and nou- rishes himself upon rats, serpents, lizards, and even the excrements of beasts and men ; hence he has a very bad snicll, and the savages even cannot eat his flesh. down OF Binns, FISH, &c. 119 clown behind the head arises a little tuft of black down^ from whence issues and extends beneath the throat, on each side, a wrinkled skin, of a brownish colour, mixed with blue and reddish brown. At the bottom of the neck, just above the shoulders, there is a ruft', cr collar, formed with soft, long feathers, of a deep ash colour, which surround the neck, and cover the breast before : into this collar the bird sometimes withdraws its whole neck, and evtn a part of its head ; so that it looks as if it were headless. The body is of a reddish brown, the belly white, with a tinge of vellow, and the stem of the quills black. These marks are sufficient to distinguish this race from all the others of the vulture kind, although neither its habits nor instincts vary from the rest of the tribe, being, like them, a slow cowardly bird living chiefly upon rats, lizards, serpents, and all sorts of carrion that comes in its way. The golden vulture has many characteristics like the golden eagle, but it is larger in every proportion. From the end of the beak, to that of the tall, it is four feet and an half ; and to the end of the claws forty-five inches. The length of the upper mandible is almost seven inches; and the tail twcntv-seven in.leno-th. The 120 NATURAL HISTORY The lower part of the neck, breast, and belly', is of a red colour, black on the back, and the wings and tail of a yellowish brown. Linnaeus describes the jilpine vulture as be- in"" wholly white in the male ; the quills black, with grey edges, except the two outer ones, which are entirely black ; and the female has quite brown, except the four outer quills, which are black, and which in size exceed the common eao'le. The fulvous vulture, or grisson, is about three feet six inches in length, and eight feet in the wings. The head, neck, and ruff, are white ; the back reddish grey ; the quills and tail black ; the breast bare of feathers, and co- vered with downy hair. The cinereous vulture is rather larger than the common eagle. The head and neck arc covered with brown down, and beneath the throat there is a kind of beard. Tlie body is brown, and the legs are feathered down to the toes. The last three inhabit parts of Eu- lope. The hare vulture is smaller than all the pre- ceding. It is of a shining reddish black, the breast inclining to yellow. It is found in many parts of Europe and Asia. When it is sitting or OF BIRDS^ FISH, &C. 12i or standing, it erects a crest on its head, which is not apparent when flying. The ash' coloured or small vulture is the size of a large cock. It is generally of a sooty grey, spotted with chesnut, and the head and neck white. The carrion vulture is a species found in vast flocks in all parts of America, where they are of great utility in destroying snakes and vermin, and devouring the dead and putrid carcasses. This bird is full as large as a turkey. Its head and neck are bare of feathers, and of a reddish colour, and the sides of the head warted like those of a turkey. The plumage of the wings and back is a brov/nish black, with a purple and gTeenish gloss in different parts. The Egyptian vulture is much of the same nature, but is not larger than a kite. The secretary/ is common in the southern part of Africa. It is full three feet in height ; the bill black, and like that of an eagle ; on the up- per eyelid there are bristles, like eye-lashes, and from the back of the head springs a beautiful pendant crest. The body in general is ash-co- ioured, and the tips of the wings are black. Besides these, naturalists have mentioned the crested vulture, the Jrabian vulture, the bearded VOL. 1. R vulture, 1C2 NATURAL HISTORY luhure, the black vulture, the yJugoIa and tlie Bengal vultures, the tawny vulture, and many others, but which there is great reason to conclude are mere varieties of the above. THE FALCON AND ITS AFFINITIES. ALTHOUGH the birds of which we are now about to treat are considerably smaller than any of the preceding, yet they are no less important to man^ from contributing to his pleasures. Formerly they must have been particularly so; for notwithstanding the sport of hawking is lit- tle practised in the present day, and almost En- tirely disused in this kingdom, from the impe- diments thrown in its way by the multiplicity of modem inclosures, yet it was the principal amusement of our ancestors. Formerly a per- son of rank scarce stirred out without his hawk on his hand, and in old paintings this appen- dage is considered as the criterion of nobility. Harold^ before he was king of England, went on a most important embassy into Normandy, and which circumstance is recorded bv an old painting, in which he is drawn as embarking ^ith Jfonry Suxxarcl. Falcon OF BIRDS, FISH, feCC, 123 with a bird on his fist, and a dog under his arm. ^'In those days,'* says Goldsmith, ^' it was thought sufficient for noblemen's sons to wind the horn, and to carry their hawk fair.'* But, indeed, this diversion has been in such high esteem among the great all over Europe, that Frederic, one of the Emperors of Germany, thought it not be- neath him to write a treatise upon hawking. This sport, however, was attended with very great expence, and in some instances productive of honours. Among the old Welch princes, the king's falconer was the fourth officer in the state; but, notwithstanding all his dignity, he was forbidden to take more than three draughts of beer from his horn, lest he should get drunk and neglect his duty. In the reign of James the First, Sir Thomas Monson is said to have given a thou- sand pounds for a cast of hawks ; and such was their value in general, that it was made felony in the reign of Edward the Third to steal a hawk. To take its eggs, even in a person's own ground, was punishable with imprisonment for a year and a day, together with a fine at the king's plea- sure. In the reign of Elizabeth, the imprison- ment was reduced to three months; but the of- fender was to lie in prison till he got security for R 2 his 124 NATUr.At IlI^TOliY his good behaviour for seven years. The art of shooting being in those days but Httle known, and less practised, the hawk was doubtless valuable, not only as it afforded diversion, but as it procured those delicacies for the ta- ble, which without its aid could scarcely ever be obtained. Many of the falcons which were formerly used for this purpose are at this time known only by name, their species being so ill described, that they are easily mistaken for each other*. Of those in use at present, both in this and other countries, are the gyr-falcon, the falcon, the lanner, the sacre, the hobby, the kestril, and the merlin. These are called the lonsr wifi^cd hazcks, to distinguish them from the goss-hawk, the sparrow-hawk, the kite, and the buzzard, * There is no essential difference between the falcons of different countries, except in their size; those which come from the north are in general larger than those of the mountains of the Alps and Pyrenees. The age of falcons is easily known in the second year, that is at the first moulting; but afterwards it is very difficult to ascertain it with precision, independently of the change of colour : they may be known as far as the third moult- ing from the colour of the feet and that of the mem- brane of the beak. which OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 125 which have shorter wlngSj and are either too slow, too cowardly, too indolent, or too obsti- nate, to be trained to the sports of the field. The wings of those in the first class reach near- ly as low as the tail ; the first quill of the wing is nearly as long as the second, (which is al- ways the largest) and terminates in a point, which becrins to diminish from about an inch of its extremity. In the latter race, the tail is longer than the wings, the first feather of the wing is rounded at the extremity, and the fourth feather of the wing longer than any of the rest. The first race, which have been taken into the service of man, are also endowed with superior natural powers. From the length of their wings, they are swifter to pusue their game; from a confidence in this swiftness, they are bolder to attack it ; and from an in- nate generosity, they have an attachment to their feeder, and consequently a docility which the baser birds are strangers to. The gijr-falcon stands at the head of this ge- nus. He exceeds all other falcons in size, and nearly approaches the magnitude of the ea- gle. The top of his head is flat, and of an ash colour. The beak is blue_, strong, short, and 126 NATURAL HISTORY and crooked. The feathers of the back and wings are marked with black spots upon a dark ground, in the shape of a heart. He is a cou- rageous and fierce bird, nor fears even the eagle himself; but chiefly flies at the stork, the heron, and the crane. He is mostly found in the colder regions of the North, but loses nei- ther his strength nor his courage when brought into the milder climates. The fa ico}i, properly s,o called, is the second in magnitude and fame. There are several va- rieties in this species; but there seem to be only two that claim distinction; the falcon gentil, and the peregrine falcon, both of which are about the size of a raven ; and they diflcr but slightly either in shape or colour, being, like most of this race of birds, of a dark brown, in- termixed with black ash-coloured feathers; the breast generally lighter than the back. The falcon gentil moults in March, and often sooner, but the peregrine falcon does not moult till the middle of August. The principal dif- ference between them consists m the latter be- ing the strongest in the shoulders, having larger eyes, and yet more sunk in the head; his beak is stronger, his legs longer, and his toes more dis- tinctly divided. The OF BIRDS, FISH, 8CC. 127 The lanner stands next in size, but he is little known in Europe; he is followed by \h^ facre, the legs of which are of a bluish colour, and by which he is distinguished. To them suc- ceeds the hobby, commonly used for smaller game, for daring larks and stooping at quails. The kestril was also trained for the same pur- poses ; as was lastly the merlin, which though the smallest of all the hawk or falcon kind, and not much larger than a fieldfare, yet, for rigour and spirit, gives place to none: he strikes his prey with so much violence, as often to kill a quail or partridge with a single stroke : this also differs somewhat in colour from the rest, the feathers on the back being shaded with a light blue, and his wings spotted with a rusty colour; his breast is a dirty white, with dark spots, his legs yellow, and black talons. While hawking was in general use, those fond of the sport would endeavour to train some of the other tribes, but that was only when thev could not procure any of the above, which were always considered as a superior race. It is said that their courao-e in general wa>: D O such, that no bird, not very much above their own size, could terrify them; their swiftness so great, that scarcely any bird could escape them ; l^S NATURAL HISTORY them; and their docIHty so remarkable, that they obeyed not only the commands but the signs of their master. They remained quietly perched upon his hand till their game was flushed, or else kept hovering round his head, without ever leaving him but when he gave permission. The common falcon is a bird of such spirit, that he keeps all other birds in awe and subjec- tion. When he is seen flying wild, the birds of every kind, that apparently disregard the kite, or the sparrow-hawk, fly with screams at his most distant appeararce. The young falcons, even though their spirit be depressed by captivity, will, when first brought out into the field, venture to fly at barnacles and wild geese, till, being soundly brushed and beaten by those strong birds, they learn their error, and desist from meddling with such unwieldy game. To train up the hawk to this kind of obe- dience, so as to hunt for his master, and bring him the game which he kills, requires no small deo;ree of skill and assiduity. Numberless trea- tises have been written on this subject, which are now, with the sport itself, almost utterly forgotten: indeed, they seem almost unintelli- gible; for the falconers had a language pecu- liar OF BIRDS, riSH, &C. 129 liar to themselves, and took a kind of profes- sional pride in using no other. A modern reader would be little edified by one of the instruc- tions, for instance, which we find in Wil- loughby, when he bids us draw our falcon out of the mew twenty days before we enseam her. If she truss and carry, the remedy is, cosse her talons, her pozose, and petty single. But as it certainly makes a part of natural history to shew how much the nature of birds can be wrought upon by harsh or kind treat- ment, we shall give a short account of the manner of training a hawk, divested of those cant words with which professional men to® often envelop their descriptions. Much pains were taken in the first instance to procure a supply from the nest, as those were by far more easily tamed than such as had for some time enjoyed their liberty ; although by perseverance the latter might be rendered equally tractable. The first step was to place straps upon the legs, which were called jessf 5, to which was fastened a ring with the owner's name, that in case he should be lost, the finder should know where to bring him back. To these also were added little bells, which served to mark the place where he was, if lost in TOL. I. S the 150 NATURAL HISTORY the cha6c. The falcotier then proceeded to his task, and as settling on the hand was of mate- rial consequence, this was attended to with care, and for which purpose he was constantly carried on the fist, and obliged to keep without sl-eep, sometimes for three days and nights to- gether, and without being supplied with any food. If he was stubborn and attempted to bite, his head was plunged into water, and thus, by hunger, watching, and fatigue, he was constrained to submit to having his head and eyes covered with a hood, or cowl, without resistance; and it rarely happened but at the 'end of this time his necessities, and the priva- tion of light, had made him lose all idea of liberty, and subdued his natural wildness. He :was considered as being tamed when he per- mitted his head to be covered without resist- ance, and when uncovered, he seized the meat before him contentedly. The repetition of these lessons by degrees ensured success. His w^ants being the chief dependence upon which any reliance could be placed, endeavours were made to increase his appetite by giving him little balls of flannel, which he greedily swallowed. Having thus excited his appetite, they instantly sup- plied him with the means of satisfying it ; and thus OF BIRD9^ FISH, &C. 131 thus gratitude attached the bird to the man who had just before been his tormentor. When the bird shewed signs of docility, he was carried out upon some green, with his head uncovered, and by being flattered with food at difFereni times, he was taught to jump on the fist, and to continue there. When con- firmed in this habit, it was then thought time to make him acquainted with the lure. This lure was a thing stuffed Hke the bird the falcon was designed to pursue, such as a heron, a pigeon, or a quail, and on this lure they always took care to give him his food ; not merely such as he would eat, but that of which he was most fond : it was the practice of some fal- coners, when the bird had flown upon the lure and tasted the food, to take it away ', but this was found to check his courage and assiduity, and the most advantageous method w^as to let him feast as long as he chose, by way of re- compensing him for his docility. The use of this lure was to draw him back when he had flown into the air, and which it was alwavs requisite to assist by the voice and certain signs of his master, with which he must be rendered familiar; and to do this it was necessary to ftudy the character of the bird ; to speak fre- S 2 quently 152 NATURAL HISTORY quently to him if he be inattentive to the voice ; to stint in his food such as do not come kindly or readily to the lure ; to keep him v^^aking if he be not sufficiently obedient^ and to cover him frequently with a hood if he fears darkness. When the familiarity and the do- cility of the bird were sufficiently confirmed, they carried him into the open fields, but still kept fast by a string, about twenty yards long. Until by practice he would fly to the lure from its greatest distance : this being taught him by degrees, he was then shewn the game itself alive, but disabled or tame, which he was designed to pursue. After having seized this several times with his string, and began to dis- cover a fondness for the sport, he was relieved from his shackles, and trusted to pursue the uncaught game that floated in the air. In al- most the first instance they would fly at it with avidity, and having seized, would bring it to their master, either in obedience to his voice, pr attractions of the lure. By this method of instruction a hawk may be taught to fly at any game whatever ; but falconers chiefly confined their pursuit to such animals as yielded them profit by the capture, or pleasure in the pursuit. The hare, the partridge. OF BIRDS^ FISH, &C. 13S partridge, and the quail, repay the trouble of taking them ; but the most delightful sport is the falcon's pursuit of the heron, the kite, or the woodlark. Instead of flying directly for^ ward, as some other birds do, these, when they see themselves threatened by the approach of the hawk, immediately take to the skies. They fly almost perpendicularly upwards, while their ardent pursuer keeps pace with their flight, and tries to rise above them. Thus both diminish by degrees from the gazing spectator below, till they are quite lost in the clouds ; but they are soon seen descending, struggling together, and using every eflbrt on both sides ; the one of rapacious insult, the other of desperate de^ fence. The unequal combat is soon at an end ; the falcon comes ofl* victorious, and the other, killed or disabled, becomes a prey to the bird ox the sportsman. Other birds are not so much pursued ; for, as they generally fly straight forward, the sports^ man loses sight of the chace, and what is still worse, runs a chance of losing his falcon also. The pursuit of the lark by a couple of merlins, is considered, by him who regards the sagacity pf the chace, as one of the most dd ightful spectacles 1S4 NATURAL HISTORY spectacles this exercise can afford. One of the merlins soars with all its might to get the ascendency of the lark^ while the other remains below waiting the success of its companion's efforts; thus while the one stoops to strike its prey, the other seizes it at its coming down. A somewhat similar practice is related by an ancient historian as common at Chili, where he says the Indians make use of them to catch a bird which they call quulteu, and which are pretty numerous among their marshy grounds. The sportsman, on seeing his game, throws up one of his falcons, who, as though indifferent to the object of pursuit, endeavours not only to get as high as he can, but also to get the wind of him ; to this, however, the quulteu is not inattentive, but instantly contends with his enemy for this pre-eminence of situation, so that they ascend nearly out of sight : but the falcon having the better wing is sure to gain the advantage, and this he no sooner perceives than he instantly darts with incredible swiftness upon his prey. Against this first attack the quulteu defends himself cither by avoiding the blow, or by opposing some armed points he has on his wings, and by which the unwary hawk OF BIRDIS^ riSH, 8cc. 335 hawk is often wounded in the breast. When the engagement continues for any length of time, the s}X)rtsman lets go his other hawk to assist the first, and who, being fresh, soon joins his companion, and both fall upon the poor quulteu, but not at the same time, lest they should be in one another's way, but first one gives him a blow, and then the other ; so that although the bird makes a good defence, still he is obliged to yield to this superior force, but which, however, he does not do before making for the water, which is the last retreat to defend his life. Here lying upon his back, with the sharp points of his wings turned up, he expects his enemies ; the falcon, despising the danger, comes down with all his force, and seizing him with one foot soon puts a period to his existence, but not without sometimes re- ceiving very dangerous wounds. It is related also, that in these countries they are taught to fly at the most ferocious animals, and for this enterprise they are instructed by the skin of an animal being stuffed, and part of the head being filled with the kind of food the hawk is the most fond of, particularly the cavities of the eyes, which being shewn him, he 136 NATURAL HISTORY he is allowed nothing to eat but what he carl pick from thence. The figure thus prepared i* moved while the bird is feeding ; at first very slowly, increasing, however, by degrees until it is dragged backwards and forwards with great rapidity : by this means the bird is learned to fasten himself on the skull, since he soon be- comes conscious that he shall lose his meal if he once quits his hold. When he has been some time exercised in this manner, the stuffed skin is placed on a kind of car, and although the horse is driven at full speed, the bird will follow and fix upon the head, notwithstanding the swiftness of the motion. Thus tutored, if thrown up by his master, he never fails to fasten on the head of the first of those animals with which he has been trained that comes in view, and having been in the habit of pro^ curing food from the cavities of the eyes, he immediately begins to scoop them out, which, throwing the creature into agonies, obliges him to stop, and thus give the hunters time to ap- proach and kill him without danger. Such are the natural and acquired habits of these birds, which of all others have the greatest strength and courage in proportion to their size* The ri(v 7. J'/uKUf. £ sb little variegated with white, and a yellowish white on the belly; the thighs are covered with white feathers, and his feet are hairy. It inhabits the openings of rocks, the cavities of old towers, and the hol- lows of oaks, and other decayed trees m the forests*. It feeds upon mice and small birds, and we are assured by a respectable author, that when it nicctri with any of those little animals by chance, it swallows them wholef, for bis * They rarely descend on the plains, and do not willingly porch upon trees ; but chiefly resort to remote churches and old castles. t In these cases he digests the flelh, and afterwards vomits' u|r the hair, the bones, and the skin, in the form of little round balls. throat OF BIRDS^ ri«H, &c. 155 tbroat is so large that it takes down the eggs of ducks and reese^ which are sometimes his food. ^ext to this is the common hor-n^d owiy difFer- jng only in size, being much smaller than the former. The horns of this owl are but about an inch ^long, ajid consist of six feathers, varie- g;ated with black And. yellow, They seldom trouble themselves with making a nest, but ge- nerally take possession of an old magpie's or Ixizzard's. They lay four or five eggs. The young are white at first, but come to their co- lour ill fifteen days. This species is common in France and England* This is followed by the little horned otcI, which is not much bigger than a common blackbird 5 it has a black bill; the feathers about the face are variegated with black and white, those near the eyes being somewbat red ; its horns are of a yellowish white, com- posed of one feather, and that not an inch long ; its body is of different colours, as white, yel- low, black, red, and brown, beautifully inter- mingled; its legs are brown, and feathered down to the feet, and has black claws. This is a very solitary bird, and seems to have been but little known to the ancients : it is supposed to be a bird of passage, coming into these climates in October, and retiring again in spring. There X2 . is ij5 KATUnAL HISTORY is another of this species, called xhtfcops, still smaller than the last, but which it resembles in most respects. It is, however, only seven or eight inches long ; its horns consist of one single feather, which is barely elevated above the others. In France it appears as a bird of passage, but it is dubious whether it ever visits England. Of the tribe without horns, the howlet^ esti- mating according to size, stands in the first place, yet it is not so large as the great- homed owl : this is also peculiar from having black eyes, and its plumage is in general of a dulky colour*. The fcreech'Owl is rather less than a com- mon kite ; it has blue eyes, and is of a kind of a bluish-grey colour, except the belly and thighs, which are of a lead colour, sometimes inclining to white. The white, or harn-ozcl, is nearly of the size of the preceding ; it has a white hooked bill, near an inch long, round which is a small cjrcle of yellow feathers ; its eyes too are yellow ; the breast, belly, and under the wings, are \vhitc ; * This species was called by the Greeks, nyciicoraxy or the Raven of the Night, It is about fifteen inches- long ; it hai a large head and eye», the iris of which is black, or rather of a d«ep brown. its OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 157 its back and covert wings shaded with yellow, and its legs are covered with a thick down ae low as the feet. The brown otcl differs very little from th« former, except in the colour of its beak and plumage, the former of which is brown, and the latter of the same colour, somewhat motlled. The littlt brown otvl does not exceed the size of a blackbird ; it has yellowish eyes, an orange- coloured bill ; the body is a dark brown, with a mixture of red, with several white and black spots ; the lower part of the body is of a yel- lowish white, with some dusky spots ; the feet are yellow, feathered down to the claws, of which it has two before and two behind. This bird has been met with in England but very rarely. .. .^. Besides these, there are above thirty other yarietics of this species of animals, which are said to be existing in different parts of the globe ; but, however they may differ in their size and plumasre, the whole of these birds aorree in their general characteristics of preying bv night, and having their eyes formed for noctur- nal vision. Their bodies are strong and mus- cular ; their feet and claws 'made for tearing their prey, and their stomachs for digesting it. It must be remarked, however, that the diges- tion of all birds that live upon mice, lizards, and 15H NATURAL HISTORT and similar food, is not very perfo6l ; for though they swallow them whole, yet, as we have al- ready observed, they some time after disgorge the skin and bones, rolled up in a pellet. Being incapable of supporting the light of the day, at least sufficiently to perceive and avoid danger, they keep themselves concealed in some obscure retreat, suited to their gloomy dispositions, and there continue: in perfect si^ lenee. The cavern of a rock, ihe darkest part of a hollow tree, the battlements of a ruined and luifrequented castle, or some secure hole in a farmer's out -ho use, are the places where they are usually found ; and if they are seen out of these retreats in the day-time, they may he considered as having lost their way, and unable to find a place of security. At the approach of evening they sally forth, and skim rapidly up and down along the hedges. The great horned owl is the foremost in leaving his retreat, and ventures into the woods and thickets very soon in the evening : the brown and other owls are later in their excursions, set- ting off in proportion as their eyes will bear the, ^ight. The barn-owl, indeed, who liv^es chiefly •upon mice, is stationary : he takes his residence upon some shock of corn, or the point of some old house, and there watches in the dark, with unremitting perseverance, the motions of his prey. WF BIRDS, FiSH, ^C, i5re\'. Each of these species have a paf ticalar cry, or rather scream, which they generally make use ol' on quitting their solitary holds ; and a degree of horror is excited by tl>eir hideous cry, being heard as it is in the mid waste and silence of the night : poetry and romance too have lent their aid to the effect ; for they de- hght to paint the owl as a necessary adjunct to the awful and solemn period of night. It is, however, considered in them as a testiiiiony of joy at being enabled to quit their solitary abodes^ and also as a call of love to their separated mates ; and this is more particularly supposed to be the case, since they are never heard when hunting their prey : that important pursuit is always at- t-ended with silence, otherwise they woukl dis- turb or forewarn those little animals they wish to surprise. When their pursuit has been suc- cessful, they soon return to their solitude ; but if they find but little game, they continue their quest still longer ; and it sometimes happens that, obeying the dictates of appetite rather than of prudence, they continue their researches until broad day breaks in upon them, and leaves them dazzled, bewildered, and unable to trace their way back. In this distress they arc obliged to take shelter in the first tree or hedge that offers, where they continue concealed until the return- ing darkness once more befriends their sight, and 160 NATURAL HISTORY and assists them to find their home. Bat it often happens that, with all their precaution to con- ceal themselves, they are spied out by the other birds which haunt the spot of their retreat ; and in which case they are sure to receive no mercy from them. The blackbird, thrush, jay, bunt- ing, and even red-breast, advance to the attack, and employ all their little arts of insult and abuse. The smallest, feeblest, and most con- temptible of this unfortunate bird's enemies, are then the foremost to injure and torment him. They increase their cries and turbulence round him, flap him with their wings, and, like many swaggerers of the human race, are ready to shew their courage to be great as they are sensible that their danger is but small. The unfortunate owl, not knowing where to attack, how to avoid his foes, or whither to fly, sits quiotly, and patiently submits to the efforts of their malice. Astonished and dizzy, he only replies to their mockeries by awkward and ri- diculous gestures, by turning his head, and rolling his eyes with an air of stupidity. If an owl appear by day, it is enough to set the whole grove into a kind of uproar. Ei- ther the aversion all the small birds have to this animal, or the consciousness of their own security, makes them pursue him without ceasing, while they encourage each other OF BIRDS, FISH, &,C. l6i iother by their 'mutua) cries to lend assistance in this laudable undertaking. But in this they are not always guided by caution, as they will sometimes continue their insults with that same imprudent zeal with which the owl himself had pursued his depredations. They will continue until the evening begins to return, which re- storing him to his faculty of sight, he makes the foremost of his pursuers pay dearly for their former sport. Of this inveteracy of the small birds to the owl, and >of their folly, man has not failed to take the advantage. The bird-catchers some- times get into a well-frequented grove, having acquired the art of counterfeiting the cry of the owl exactly, and f)reviously lime the branches of a hedge,, where they sit unseen and give the call. At this, ^all :the birds within hearing flock to the placa where they expect to, find their well-, known tnemy y but instead of finding their stupid antagonist, they are stuck fast to the hedge th€>niselyes. This manceuvre is com - monly put in practice an hour before night-fall, as -being then most successful ; for if it.be.. putofl' till later, those birds, which but a few, minutes sooner would come to provoke their . enemy, will then fly from him with as much. .VOL. i« - < Y terror.. lG2 NATURAL HISTORY terror as they just before would have shewed insolence. The great horned owl is sometimes made use of to lure the kite, when falconers desire to catch him for the purposes of training up their young falcons. For this purpose they fasten the tail of a fox to the great owl to render his figure extraordinary, in which trim he sails slowly along, flying low, which is his usual manner. The kite, either curious to observe this odd kind of animal, or perhaps inqui- sitive to sec whether it may not be proper for food, flies after, and continues to hover, de- scending by degrees, till the falconer, consider- ing him sufficiently near, sets oflf a strong- winged hawk, who is certain of making him his prey. The great horned owl usually breeds in the cavern of a rock, the hollow of a tree, or the turret of some ruined castle. Its nest is near three feet in diameter, and composed of sticks, bound together by the fibrous roots of trees, and lined with leaves on the inside. It lays from two to three ejxss, "which are laro;er than DO ' D those of a hen, and of a colour somewhat re- sembling the bird itself. The young ones are very voracious, and the parents very assiduous in OF BIRDS, FISH, &c. l63 in satisfying their calls of hunger. The lesser owl of this kind, as we before observed, never makes a nest for itself, but always takes up with the old one of some other bird, which it has often been forced to abandon. It lays four or live eggs ; and the young are all white at first, but change colour in about a fortnight. The other owls in general build near the places where they chiefly seek their prey ; those which feed on birds in some neighbouring grove, and those which prey upon mice near some farmer's yard, who derives too much good from his services not to endeavour to give him security; for whatever mischief one species of owl may do in the woods, the barn-owl makes a sufficient re- compence, by being equally active in destroy- ing mice nearer home ; indeed a single owl is considered as more serviceable than half a dozen cats, in ridding a barn of its domestic vermin. '^ In thB year 1580," says an old writer, " at Hallontide, an army of mice so over-run the marshes near Southminster, that they eat up the grass to the very roots. But at length a great number of strange painted owls came and devoured all the mice. The like happened again in Essex about sixty years after.'' We cannot better conclude our account of Y 2 this l64 NATURAL HISTORY this species^ than in the words of M. de BufTon, who says, ^^ Owls in general are very shy of man, extremely indocile, and very hard to be tamed, particularly the white owl, which we could never preserve alive for any time in a state of captivity : we have kept them for ten or twelve days in the aviary, where they were shut up ; but they refused all kind of nourishment, and at last died with hunger. By day they re- mained without moving upon the floor of the aviary; in the evening they mounted on the highest perch, where they continued to make a noise like a man snoring with his mouth open; and this had every appearance of being intended as a cry or call to their old companions with- out ; and, in fact, I have seen several others come to the call, and perch upon the roof of the aviary, where they made the same kind of scream, and were so inattentive to every other circumstan(:;e as to suffer themselves to be taken with a net*/' * The males and females of these birds resemble each other so much in their colour, that they are not easily ditinguishable. There are numerous varieties among |hem, as in almost every other kind of animal. OF BIRDS, FISH, vfcc. iGc OF THE POULTRY KIND, HAVING thus fully described the most ra- pacious species of the feathered race, we shall quit the noxious tribe for the present, and bring forward those who are of such material advantage and benefit to man. In these we find exact similitude with the quadrupeds, namely, that in both orders there are some rendered domestic, while others^ no less salutary as food, still presence their freedom, and have not submitted to the controul and tyranny of man. The ox, the sheep, and goat, are not more obedient nor more familiar with their de- stroyers than are the cock, the turkey, and the peacock; nor are the st^s, fallow-deer, and roe-buck, more independant than the bus- tard, pheasant, and partridge ; but without dwell- ing upon these resemblances, which to point out is sufficient for the curious, we shall enter into a more general view of what are com- monly j6G natural history monly ranked under the denomination of the poultry kind, and which has hcen most ingeni- ously characterized by Dr. Goldsmith, who, on this subject, says ; ^' Under birds of the poultry kind are to be ranked all those that have white flesh, and, comparatively to their head and limbs, have bulky bodies. They are furnished with short strong bills for picking up grain, which is their chief and often their only sustenance. Their wings are short and concave ; for which reason they are not able to fly far. They lay a great many eggs ; and, as they lead their young abroad the very day they are hatched, in quest of food, which they are shewn by the mother, and which they pick up for themselves, they gene- rally make their nests on the ground. The toes of all these are united by a membrane as far as the first articulation, and then are divided as in those of the former class. " Under this class we may therefore rank the common cock, the peacock, the turkey, the pi.itada or Guinea hen, the pheasant, the bus- tard, the grous, the partridge, and the quail. Tlitse all bear a strong similitude to each other, being equally granivorous, fleshy, and delicate to the palate. These are among birds what beasts Oh BIRDS, FISH, &C. 16? beasts of pasture are among quadrupeds, peace- able tenants of the field, and shunning the thicker parts of the forest, that abounds with numerous animals who carry on unceasing hos- tilities against them. '' As Nature has formed the rapacious class for war, so she seems equally to have fitted these for peace, rest, and society. Their wings are but short, so that they are ill formed for wandering from one region to another ; their bills are also short, and incapable of annoying their opposers ; their legs are strong indeed, but their toes are made for scratching up their food, and not for holding or tearing it. These are sufficient indications of their harmless nature; while their bodies, which arc fat and fleshy, render them unwieldy travellers, and incapable also of straying far from each other. ^^ Accordingly we find them chiefly in so- ciety : they live together, and though they may have their disputes, like all other animals upon some occasions, yet, when kept in the same district, or fed in the same yard, they learn the arts of subordination ; and, in pro- portion as each knows his strength^ he seldom tries 168 NATURAL HISTORY tries a second time the combat where he ha^ once been worsted. ^^ In this manner^ all of this kind seem to lead an indolent vokiptuous life : as they are fiirnished internally with a very strong stomach, commonly called a gizzard, so their voracious- ness scarce knows any bounds. If kept in close captivity^ and separated from all their former companions_, they still have the pleasure of eat- ing left ; and they soon grow fat and unwieldy in their prison. To say this more simply, many of the wilder species of birds, when cooped or caged, pine away, grow gloomy, and some re- fuse all sustenance whatever ; none except those of the poultry kind grow fat, who seem to lose all remembrance of their former liberty, satisfied with indolence and plenty. ^' The poultry kind may be considered as sensual epicures, solely governed by their ap- petites. The indulgence of these seems to in- fluence their other habits, and destroys among them that connubial fidelity for which most other kinds are remarkable. The eagle and the falcon, how fierce soever to other animals, are yet gentle and true to each other; their con- nections, when once formed, continue till death f OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. l69 death ; and the male and female in every exi- gence, and every duty, lend faithful assistance to each other. They assist each other in the production of their young, in providing for them when produced ; and even then, though they drive them forth to fight their own bat- tles, yet the old ones still retain their former affection to each other, and seldom part far asunder. ^^ But it is very different with this luxurious class I am now describing. Their courtship is but short, and their congress fortuitous. The male takes no heed of his offspring ; and satis- fied with the pleasure of getting, Icav^es to the female all the care of providing for posterity. Wild and irregular in his appetites, he ranges from one to another ; and claims every female which he is strong enough to keep from his fellows. Though timorous when opposed to birds of prey, yet he is incredibly bold among those of his own kind ; and but to see a male of his own species is sufficient to produce a combat. As his desires extend to all, every creature becomes his enemy that pretends to be his rival. ^^ The female, equally without fidelity or attachment, yields to the most powerful. She VOL. I. Z stand>^ 170 NATURAL HISTORY Stands . by, a quiet meretricious spectator of their fury, ready to reward the conqueror with every compliance. She takes upon herself. a!l the labour of hatching and bringing up her young, and chuses a place for hatching as remote as possible from the cock. Indeed, she gives herself veiy little trouble in making a nest, as her young ones are to forsake it the instant they part from the shell. " She is equally unassisted in providing for her young, which are not fed with meat put into their mouths, as in other classes of the feathered kind, but peck their food, and forsaking their nests, run here and there, following the parent vvherever it is to be found. She leads them for- ward where they are likely to have the greatest quantity of grain, and takes care to shew, b\ pecking, the sort proper for them to seek for. Thougrh at other, times voracious, she is then abstemious to an extreme degree ; and, intent only on providing for and shewing her young clutch their food, she scarce takes any nourish- ment herself. Her parental pride seems to over- power every other appetite ; but that decreases in proportion as her young ones are more able to provide for themselves, and then all her vo- racious habits return. '^ Amono OV J^IRDS, FISH, 8CC. 171 "^ Among the other habits peculiar to this class of birds is that of dusting themselves. They lie flat in some dusty place, and with their wings and feet raise and scatter the dust over their whole body. What may be their reason for thus doing it is not easy to explain. Perhaps the heat of their bodies is such, that they require this powder to be interposed be- tween their feathers to keep them from lying too close together, and thus increasing that heal with which they are incommoded/' In this last conjecture, however, naturalists do not agree, and it has, with greater seeming pro- bability, been accounted for by the supposition, that, from a moisture arising from the body, filth is collected under the feathers, and that the only method they have to rid themselves of this inconvenience, is by a plentiful introduction of dry dust, which connecting with the other, they are thus enabled to clean themselves by shaking it all out together. Z 2 J7S KATUllAL HISTORY THE BUSTARD. THIS bird (fig. \0) has no other claim to taking the lead in this race than that of being the largest land-bird that we are familiar with in Europe. They were formerly very numerous in England; but the increased cultivation of the country, and the extreme delicacy of their flesh, have greatly thinned the species ; and a time may probably come when it will boa doubt whether so large a bird was ever bred among us : nay, it may be presumed that long before this the bustard would have been extirpated, but for its peculiarity in the places it has chosen to reside in. Had it sought shelter among our woods, in proportion as they were cut down. It must have been destroyed. Besides, if it had dwelt in the forests, the fowler might have approached it without being seen, and its size would have rendertd it too conspicuous a mark to be easily missed ; but instead of this it inhabits only the open and extensive plain, where its food lies in OF BlRDSj FISH, &C. 173 in abundance, and where, at a distance, it can clearly observe the motions of an approaching enemy. The bustard is much larger than the turkey, the male generally weighing from twenty-five to twenty-seven pounds. The neck is a foot long, and the legs a foot and a half. The wings, although disproportioned to its size, not being more than four feet when extended from tip to tip, are nevertheless so formed as to elevate it in the air, and ena])le it to fly with some little difficulty. The head and neck of the male are ash-colourcd ; the back is barred transversely with black, bright, and rust-colour. The greater quill-feathers are black, the belly vi'hite ; and the tail, which con- sists of twenty feathers, is marked Vvith broad black bars ; it has three thick toes before and none behind. Plutarch mentions the bustard as bcino; In his time a very common bird in Greece and Syria, and that they were found in great numbers in the environs of Alexandria and Lybia ; they are also pretty general in the open parts of France and Spain, and particularly in the open plains of Poitou and Champagne. In England they are frequently seen in flocks of fifty or more together, especially 174 NATURAL HISTORY especially on the extensive downs of Salifbury Plains, the heaths of Sussex and Cambridgeshire, the Dorsetshire uplands, and so on, as far as East Lothian in Scotland. In those extensive plains, where there are no woods to screen the sportsman, nor hedges to aid him in his destruc- tive design, the bustards enjoy an indolent secu- rity. Their food is composed of the berries that grow among the heath, and the large earth- worms that appear in great quantities on the downs before sun-rising in summer. It is in vain that the fowler makes use of his art to approach them, for they have constantly sen- tinels placed at proper eminences, always on the watch, to v/arn the flock of the smallest appearance of danger. The eager sportsman has, therefore, the frequent mortification of beholding plenty of game without the possi- bility of getting near it, for being in view is sufficient for them to take wing. Notwith- standing it is so difficult to approach them within gun-shot, they are often run down by greyhounds. As they are voracious and greedy, they frequently sacrifice their safety to their ap- petite, by feeding themselves so very fat that they are unable to fly without great preparation. When OF BIRDS, FISH, SCC. 175 When the greyhound, therefore, comes within a certain distance, for it is not so shy of the dog as of man, the bustard runs off, flapping its wings, and endeavouring to gather air enough under them to rise, till the rapid approach of the enemy renders it too late for him even to think of obtaining safety by flight; for just at the rise there is always time lost, and of this the bird is sensible ; it continues, therefore, on the foot, attempting to gain a suflicient distance before it ventures on flight, and in which attempt it is frequently outrun, and becomes a prey to its pursuer, ^lian says that nothing is more easy than the capture of this bird, and he affiniis^ as a fact, that, in ancient Pontus, the foxes made use of the following stratagem in order to take them : — The fox elevates his bushy tail, which he causes to imitate as much as possible the motions of the bird's neck : the bustards, he adds, mistake it for a bird of their species, approach it without apprehension, and became the prey of this crafty animal. Being so attached to the security of an open country, there are few places where they can at once find proper food and safety; they therefore generally continue near their old haunts, seldom wandcrinof 17(3 NATURAL HISTORY wandering above twenty or thirty miles from' home. As their food is replete with moisture,-* they are enabled to live a long time without drinking upon arid plains, where there are scarcely any springs of water. Besides this, Nature has given the males an admirable magazine for their security against thirst. This is a pouch, the entrance of which lies imme- diately under the tongue, and, if we may credit some authors, is capable of holding near seven quarts of water. This he is supposed to. fill upon particular occasions^ especially to supply the hen when sitting, and the young before they can fly, and also to procure it for themselves. They possess no lengthened attachment, but select their mates at the season of incubation, which is about the latter end of summer. They then separate in pairs^ if there be a suffi- ciency of females for the males ; but when it happens otherwise, the males fight until one of them falls. They make no nests, any farther than scraping a hole in the earth, and some- times lining it with a little long grass or straw. There they lay two eggs only, almost of the size of a goose egg, of a pale olive brown, marked with s} ots of a darker colour. The time OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 177 time of incubation is about five weeks, and the young ones run about as soon as they are out of the shell ; which is the case with all that come under the denomination of the poultry kind. It is said that when the hen is apprehensive of the hunters, and is disturbed from her nest, she takes her eggs under her wings, and tran- sports them to a place of safety. But this ap- pears to be one of those circumstances that has originated among the lovers of the marvellous. The flesh of these birds has ever been con- sidered as a great delicacy, and therefore inva- riably the object of pursuit ; besides which, their quills are held in high estimation among anglers, who use them as floats ; for, as they are spotted with black, the notion is, that these black spots appear like flies to the fish, and therefore rather allure than drive them awav. By observation and attention it has been dis- covered that the bustards assemble in flocks in the month of October, and keep together till April ; and that in winter, as their food be- comes more scarce, they support themselves in- discriminately, by feeding on moles, mice, and even little birds, when they can seize thern, For want of other food, they will live upon VOL. I. A a turnip- ifi NATURAL HISTOKY- turnip -leaves, and other similar succulent vege- tables. In some parts of Switzerland they are found frozen in the fields in severe weather, but when taken to a warm place they recover again. They are supposed to live about fifteen years> but are incapable of being propagated in a do- mestic state, probably from not having a sup- ply of that peculiar food which may be neces- sary to their constitution. The little bustard differs from the preceding only in its small size, not being larger than a pheasant, or about seventeen inches in length. This species is found in many parts of Europe. It is, however, by no means common in France, and has only been met with three or four times in England. There are six or seven species of this kind, two or three of which, particularly the houbara and the rhaad (both African birds), are crested, and different from the European ones, by some varieties in their plumage; but there are not any of the species found in America. Jiiistoj-tl . Teacoeh . «F BIRDS, FISH, 6CC. 17y OF THE COCK. FAMILIAR as this bird is to all, yet its va- riety is so great, that the most able naturalists have invariably expressed a difficulty in point- ing out its distinctive characters, and for thig obvious reason, that there are scarcely two birds of this species that exactly resemble each other in plumage and form. If we take for the mark of the genus its four toes, what then becomes of ^the peculiar species which has five on each. Joot-*? if the erect and peculiar position of the tail be assumed, there is a species wholly desti- tute of this character. If we would say that the cock is only feathered to the lower joint of the Icfr, there are some breeds which are fea- thered even to the toes, and that of Japan has feathers evQn to the very nails. In fine, if we would class him among granivorous birds, we must allow some latitude even in this, since he * Tliis is certainly a hen, and even very ancient, for Columella speaks of it as a distinpuished race : Genero- ussima creduntur qua quintos habent digitos. l..ib. v:ii, c. ii, A a 2 devours ]80 NATURAL HISTORY devours greedily not only earth-worms, bat in many cases both fish and flesh. Of the period when this bird was first intro- duced into Europe, all our researches will not enable us even to presume a conjecture ; but it seems admitted on all hands that the cock is one of the oldest companions of mankind, and that he was among the first who were drawn from the wilds of the forest, to become a partaker of the advantages of society. Although it does not appear at what period this took place, yet it is pretty certain that the first accounts we have of the cock is from the annals of Persia, and to which kingdom the western parts of the imiverse are certainly indebted for him. Aristophanes calls the cock the Persian bird, and tells us he enjoyed that kingdom before some of its earliest monarchs. This animal was in fact known so early even in the most savage parts of Europe, that we are told the cock was one of the forbidden foods amono- the ancient Britons. Indeed, the domestic fowl seems to have banished the wild one. Persia itself^ that first introduced it to our acquaintance, seems no longer to know it in its natural form ; it is neverthJc'ss still fo^nd wild in the is]a.nds of Tinian, in many others of the Indian ocean, and CorA- . ^ffSTitr/cey . OF BlRDSj FISH, &e. 181 and in the woods on the coasts of Malabar. In his wild state his plumage is black and yellow, and his comb and wattles yellow and purple. Of these, in the wild state, especially in the Indian woods, a very particular circumstance is related as a fact, namely, that when boiled, their bones become as black as ebon v. Whe- ther this tincture proceed from their food, as the bones are tinctured red by feeding upon mad- der, we do not pretend to determine, any more than to vouch for the fact ; it is sufficient for us vo have given the assertion of several authors of general credit. Among the ancients, at least' the Europeans, after this bird's first introduction among them, those whose feathers were of a reddish cast were considered as invaluable ; but those whose plumage was white, they considered as unfit for domestic purposes : even Aristotle has treated of them as being the least fruitful of the two ; the first he calls generous and noble, being remarkable for fecundity; the other igno- ble and useless, from their sterility. These dis- tinctions differ widely from our modern experi- ence, the generous game-cock being by no means 50 fruitful as the ungenerous dunghill- cock, which has been treated with such contempt. Without 182 NATURAL HISTORY Without dwelling on this distinction, it k certain that no animal in the world has greater courage than the cock, when opposed to one of his own species ; and in every part of the world, cOck-fighting has long been a favourite and prin- cipal diversion. In China, India, the Philippine islands, and all over the East, cock-fighting h the sport and amusement even of kings and princes. England has long had the credit of producing a bolder and more valiant breed than is to be found in any other country ; but in these later times it is positively asserted that they have cocks in China as bold, if not bolder, than ours ; and, wli:at would still be considered as valuable among the admirers of this frport, tliey have more strength with less weigh*. Naturalists have attributed the extraordinary courage in the cock to his being the most sala- cious of all other birds whatsoever. A single cock suffices for ten or a dozen hens ; and it is asserted that he is the only animal whose spirit* * Cocks are not the only birds wluch man has thus abused; the Athenians, who had a certain day in the year consecrated to these cock-fights, employed quails also for the same purpose ; and the Chinese rear, even at the pre- sent day, certain small birds resembling quails or linnets; and every w here their mode of fighting Miries according to their instructors. arc or BIRDS, riSH>. &c. 18^3 are not abated by indulgence. But be soon grows old ; the radical moisture is exhausted ; and in three or four years he becomes utterly unfit for the purposes of impregnation. '' Hens also, (says Willoughby) as they for the great- est part of the year daily lay eggs, cannot fuffice for so many births, but for the most part after three years become euete and barren : for when they have exhausted all their seed-eggs, of which they had but a certain quantity from the beginning, they must necessarily cease to lay, there being no new ones generated with in.'' The formation of the embryo is curious. During the first day's incubation, and even when the Qgg has been under the hen a few hours, the head of the chicken may be seen gradually uniting itself to the spine of the back. On the second day the first apophyses of the vertebrae may be discerned like so many small globules disposed on each side of the spine. The first commencement of the wings and the umbilical vessels may also be distinguished by their dark colour. The neck and the breasi also shew themselves, and the head continues to in- crease in size. The third day the whole is more distinct and enlarged, and the heart, which is suspended at the opening of the breast, is ob- served IS4 NATURAL HISTORY served to beat ; veins and arteries mav also be perceived about the brain^ and the spinal mar- row begins to extend itself through the spine. The eyes are considerably formed on the fourth day. The pupil, the crystalline and vitreous humours, may be distinctly seen. The wings increase, the thighs appear, and the whole bodv begins, in some degree, to be covered with flesh. The fifth day the body is covered with a gluti- nous or unctuous flesh ; the heart is retained within a very fine membrane, which also ex- tends itself all over the breast. The sixth day the spinal marrow, in two divisions, continues to advance along the trunk ; the liver, which at first was whitish, becomes of a darker hue ; both ventricles of the heart beat, and the body of the chicken is covered with skin, in which may be already discerned the points of the fea- thers. The beak may be discovered on the se- venth day, and the brain, the wings, the thighs, and even the feet, have acquired a perfect form. The lungs appear at the end of the ninth day ; their colour is whitish. On the tenth the muscles of the wings begin to form, and the feathers continue to shoot out. It is not till the eleventh day that the arteries, which before were separate, unite to the heart. The rest of the UF BIRDS, FISH, ScC. ]85 the process consisls only in an increase and more perfect dcvclopemcnt of the several parts, till ihey acquire sufficient vigour to break the shell. A cotninon hen, if at liberty, and well fed, will produce more than one hundred and fifty eggs in a year ; and it is no uncommon thing for them to have two broods of chickens durino- the o same period*. For the hen to have eggs it is by no means necessary that she should be in com- pany with a cock ; she will continue to lav, al- though the eggs of this kind can never be "brought to produce a living animal. '' But,"' says Buffon, " when the hen has cohabited with the cock for a few days, and aftervvards sepa- rated from him, the eggs she produces for a month, after separation, are as fertile as those she produced during the t.'m2 of cohabitation with the male, and unfold at the same time.'* The heh makes her nest without any care, if left to herself; a hole scratched in the ground, among a few bushes, is the only preparation she makes for the office of incubation. Na- ture, almost exhausted by its own fecundity, seems to inform her of the proper time for * They lay indifferently through the whole year, except during the moultino;, which lasts generally six weeks or two months, and takes place towaids the end of autucrn or beginning- *f winter. vol.. I. B )p hatching. 186 NATURAL HISTORY hatching, which she herself testifies by a chick- ing noise, and by discontinuing to lay. But this inclination for setting is frequently postponed by those who prefer eggs to chickens, by dip- ping her head a few times in cold water. If left entirely to herself, she would seldom lay above twenty eggs in the same nest, without attempt- ing to hatch them, but this inclination is stop- ped by the removal of her eggs, and she con- tinues to lay, vainly hoping to increase the number. During the time of incubation nothing can exceed the patience and perseverance of the hen ; she will sometimes remain for whole days together without moving from her nest, scarcely ever quitting it more than once in twenty-four hours ; then it is from the pressure of hunger, and she devours her food with all ima2;inable haste, barely allowing herself time to take a sufficiency for the support of nature. While the hen sits she carefully turns her eggs, and even removes them to different situations ; till at length, in about three weeks, the young brood begin to give signs of a desire to burst their confinement, which they are supposed to effectuate by repeated efforts with their bills against the shells, assisted in some little degree by the hen, who, when they are all produced, leads OF EIRDSj FISH, iCC. IS* leads them forth to provide for thcmselvTS. Her affection and her pride seem then to alter her very nature, and correct her imperfections. No longer voracious or cowardly, she abstains from all food that her young can svv'allovv, and flies boldly at every creature that she thinks is likely to do them mischief: she courageously attacks the horse, the hog, or any other animal which she suspects is inclined to injure her pro- geny. When marching at the head of her little troop she acts the commander, and has a variety of notes to call her train to their food, or to warn them of approaching danger. In general, ten or twelve chickens are as many as a good hen can produce or rear at one time ; but as this bears no proportion to the number of her eggs, schemes have been tried to hatch all the eggs of a hen, and thus turn her produce to the greatest advantage ; which being effectuated, a hen may be said to pro- duce upwards of a hundred and fifty of her own species in a year. This contrivance is the arti- ficial method of hatching chickens in stoves, as is practised at Grand Cairo ; or in a che- mical laboratory properly graduated, as has been effected by Mr. Rcaunuir. At Grand Cairo they thus produce six or seven thousand €hickens at a time ; v.-here, as they are brought B b 2 forth 188 NATURAL HISTORY forth in iheir sjDrlng, which is warmer tl^an our summer, the young ones thrive without clutch- ing. But it is otherwise in our colder and unequal climate; the little animal n^ay, without much difficulty, be hatched from the shell ; but they almost all perish w^hen excluded. To re- medy this, Reaumur made use of a wooller^ hen, as he calls it ; which was nothing more than putting the young ones in a warm basket, and clapping over them a thick woollen canopy; but a nmch better substitute is sometimes made use of, namely that of capons, who are fre- quently thus employed ; and the manner of teaching them is this : first the capon is made very tame, so as to feed from the hand ; then, about evening, they pluck the feathers off his breast, and rub the bare skin with nettles ; they then put the chickens to him, which presently run under his breast and belly, and probably rubbing his breast gently with their heads, allay the stinging pain which the nettles had just produced. This is repeated for two or three nichts, till the animal takes an affection to the chickens that have thus given him relief, and continues to afford them the protection they seek for. He, from that time, brings up a brood of chickens like a hen, clutching them, feeding them, clucking? and performing all the func- tions I ^/^fi^Ai/'/V' (//'nfe^rrt or^l^ct'Ti/^^, rr/ud^tez/tyar^l:::::^* i:^^^ yti/c/ C%c^y a^^<:l^ ^J^e^n/^. J'uHishrji by JI. /X^fvm^rnir ,/u/ir- j.jd'ffi. OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 189 tions of the tenderest parent. A capon once accustomed to this service will not give it over, but when one brood is grown up^ he may have another just hatched put under him, which he will treat with the same tenderness as he did the former. The cock, from his salaciousness, is allow*ed to be a short-lived animal, but how long they live, if left to themselves, is not yet well ascer- tained. As they are kept only for profit, and in a few years become unfit for generation, there a^e few that, from mere motives of curiosity, will make the tedious experiment of maintain- ing a proper number till they die. Aldrovan^ dus hints their life to be about ten years, but the probability is in favour of its be-* ing much longer. They arc subject to some disorders, and as for poisons, besides nux vomica, which is fatal to most animals except man, they are injured, as Linnaeus asserts, by elderberries, of which they are not a little fond*. There are various accounts of the origin of the barbarous custom that has so long ob- * Hens can live any where with the protcclion of man, and hence they are diCused over the whole habitable world : they are reared in Iceland, where they lay eggs the same as elsewhere, and hot countries are full of them. tained. 190 NATURAL HISTORY tained, of throwing at these creatures on a Shrove-Tuesday ; but that of one Cranenstein^ an old German author, by no means seems an improbable one ; he says, when the Danes were masters of England, and lorded it over the natives of the island, the inhabitants of a certain great city, grown weary of their slaver^-, had formed a secret conspiracy to murder their masters in one bloody night, and twelve men had undertaken to enter the town-house by stratagem, and seizing the arms, to surprize the guard which kept it ; at which time their fellows, upon a signal given, were to come out of their houses and murder all opposers 3 but while they were putting it in execution, the unusual crowing and fluttering of the cocks, about the place they attempted to enter at, dis- covered their design ; upon w^hich the Danes became so enraged that they doubled their cruelty, and used them with more severity than ever ; but being scon after freed from the Danish yoke, to revenge themselves on the cocks for the misfortunes they involved them in, they instituted this custom of knocking them on the head on Shrove-Tuesday, the day on which it happened. This sport, though at first only practised in one citv, in process of time became a national divcrtisemcnt, and has continued OF JBIIIDS, FISH, &C. 191 •continued ever since the Danes first lost this island. This race of animals is divided into a great number of varieties* ; they are common in most countries, and yet very few are perfectly alike ; those of ever)'' different climate having their peculiarities, besides the variations which take place among them in each. In Europe there may be said to be three distinct species, though doubtless of the same stock ; for what is com- monly known as the farm-yard, or dunghill, is widely different in size, colour, and man- ners, from the game-cock, and both are no less distant from the bantam. The latter species, beincr more uniform in its colours and charac- teristics, may deserve description. In general the bantam is little more than half the size of the game-cock, whom he somewhat re- lembles in colour and spirit, for he will attack cats, dogs, or any other animal, totally Indif- ferent as to their size ; he has a reddish bill, red eyes, and a curious rose comb on the top of his head; his ears are covered with a tuft of white feathers ; his neck and back are cloathed with long streaming feathers, inter- mixed with orange, black, and yellow ; his • Buffbn reckons ninetean diflerent species of cocks. breast 192 NATURAL HISTORY breast and lower part of the belly black ; hfe has long stift' feathers growing from the thighs, which reach considerably below the knees ; the legs are feathered as low as the toes ; his tail is made up of stiff black feathers, with two largt ones in the form of a sickle hanging over the rest. This breed was at first found domesti- cated at Bantam in India, whence they received their name, and were transported into Europe. The hens of this species differ from the cocks, principally by varying in their colours, but which at all times are more brown and yellow, and less black, than his ; they have also but a very small red comb on the tops of their heads J their legs, like those of the cock, are feathered down to the toes, and which is one of the chief marks by which the true breed is dis- tinguished. The Hamburgh cock is a large stately fowl, appears very bold, and loses none of the ad- vantages in his march that Nature has given him ; his bill is thick at the base, but ends in a sharp point ; the eyes are of a very beautiful yellow, encircled round with dark- coloured feathers, under which there is a tuft of black ones, which covers the ears ; it has a sort of rose comb, which does not reach above OF BIRDS, FISH, SiC. ] 93 above half way on the head, the hinder part being covered with dark-coloured feathers In- clining to a black; the throat and gills are much the same, with long hackle-feaV.ers of an orange and red mixture, black at the extre- mities, waving down the neck, and over some I>art of the back; the breast and belly arc of a dark colour, spotted with round black spots ; the thighs, and lower part of the bellv, are of a shining velvet black, from which some have given him the name of veha breeches. The hindermost part of his neck, and the top of his back, are of a darkish red ; the sides of the wings more pale : the tail is made up of long feathers, of black, red, and orange colour, which, in the sun, yield a very beautiful lustre. The legs and feet are lead-coloured, only the bottom part of them is yellow. This is a peculiar breed, which is brought over from Hamburgh, and is much esteemed by the curious. The wonderful Indian cock is a ven^ beauti- ful feathered fowl; the plumage of liis whole body is said to consist of the following five colours, viz. black, white, green, red, and blue; the back part of the head Is adorned with a son of a fleshy substance, of a pyramidal %ure, which appears of a blood-red colour to the\ve, VOL I. C C 1 ^ ^ and ][)4, NATURAL HISTOItY and looks scaly ; the bill is thick and strong, the breast mottled very beautifully with red and green, the wings not very long. The tail is made up of twelve large flaming feathers, a little resembling a peacock's ; the comb upon the head is double, with a single wattle hanging under the lower mandible an inch and a half long ; it is said to be a wild fowl, but easily tamed ; the beak and legs are yellow. The Indian cock, described by Sir Hans Sloane, has a large prominent bill, the end of the upper mandible of which is black, the rest yellow, as is the circle in the eyes; the head is adorned with a curious tuft of shining black feathers. The neck-feathers are of a very beau- tiful shining green colour, the body-feathers are black and green, mixed, and the thighs are blue. The Muscovian black game-hen is a large bird, weighing nine or ten pounds, has a yellow bill, of near an inch and a half in length, if measured from the andes of the mouth to the tip of it, with a sharp tongue, that lies in the cavity of the palate, and which is exactly formed to contain it. The eyes are of a fine hazel colour, above which there appears a sort of scarlet- coloured, naked skin, situated in the place of its eye-brows. They are generally of a yellowish brown, in some OP jRiRDs, riSH, &c. igj some parts inclining to a white^ with larc^e white spots on the scapular parts of the wings, and are marked^ more or less, with black feathers on many parts of the body, with whitish-coloured tips ; but the colour of them is said to change pretty much as they advance in years, or as they inhabit different climates : the legs are large and strong, and feathered down almost as low as the toes. They are found frequently upon the Alps, in Germany, and in the mountainous parts of Muscovy, &c. THE TURKEY*. OF the Mehagris, or Turkey, there is but one known species : it is a large but unweildy bird ; the anterior part of the head is strano-clv covered and ornamented with a pendulous, soft, fleshy substance, as are also the sides of the head and throat : the eyes are small but brioht • As this bird has only been known since the discovery of America, it has no name in Gresk or Latin. The Spaniards tailed it Pavon de las Indias, that is, the Peacoci of the IFest- InJies; and this name v/as not unappropriate at that period, for he spreads his tail like a peacock ; and besides, there was no pea- cock in America. C c 2 and 196 NATURAL HISTORY and piercing ; the bill convex, shorty and strong ; there is a long tuft of coarse black hairs on the breast ; the wings moderately long, but not at all formed for supporting so large a bulk in long flights ; the legs of moderate length and very robust. The plumage is dark, glossed with variable copper and green ; the coverts of the wings and the quill-feathers barred with black and white. The tail consists of two orders ; the upper or shorter very elegant ; the ground colour a bright bay, the middle feathers marked with numerous bars of shining black and green. The longer or lower order is of a rusty white colour, mottled with black, and crossed with numerous narrow- waved lines of the same colour, and near the end with a broad band. Turkies, we are confidently assured by Mr. Pennant, are natives only of America, or the New World, and were of course imknown to the ancients. And in mentioning those parts of the world where turkies are unknown in a state of nature, Europe has no share in the question, it feeing generally agreed that they are exotic in regard to that continent. Neither are they found in any part of Asia !Minor, or Asiatic Turkey, notwithstanding t))at ignorance of their true origin caused them to OF BIRDS, FISH, 8CC. 1^7 jto be named from that empire. In Syria they are only met with in their domesticated state ; in Armenia and India they are little known, and they have been introduced into China from other countries. The hot climate of Africa barely suffers these birds to exist in that vast continent, except under the care of mankind, JTew are found in Guinea, but in the hands of the Europeans ; for from the great heats the negroes decline breeding them. Nor are they to be met with either in Nubia or Eg}'pt*. As there is sufficient cause to believe that the turkey cannot be a native of the Old World, some proof will be necessary of its being only a native of the New, and of the period in which it made its appearance in Europe. In ]625 Ovuedo drew up the summary of his '^ Histoi-v of the Indies,' ' for the use of his master, Charles V, and therein gives the first precise description of these birds. This learned man had visited the West-Indies and islands in person, and paid particular regard to their natural history. It appears that in his days the turkey was an inhabitant as well of the * Gemelli Carcri afErms that they are not only unknown in the Philippines, but that those vrhich the SpaniarJs brought there from Nevr Spain did not prosper, greater 198 NATURAL HISTORY greater islands as of the main land : he speaks of them as peacocks, for being a bird new to him he adopts that name from their similitude ; ^^ but,*' says he, ^^ the neck is bare of feathers, though covered with a skin, which they change, after their phantasie, into divers colours ; they have a horn, as it were, upon their fronts, and hairs on their breasts.'* Under the name of peacock he also describes the Curassao birds, the male of which is black, the female ferru- gmous. Francisco Fernandez, who was sent to South America by Philip II, to whom he was phy- isician, some time between the years 1555 and 3598, obser\'^ed them in Mexico, and gives them the title of Gallus Indicus, and iiuUm Pavo, The Indians, as well as the Spaniards, domesticated these useful birds. He speaks of the size by comparison, saying that the wild were twice the magnitude of the tame, and that they were shot with arrows or guns. In North America they were observed by the very first discoverers. When Rene de Lau- donnicre, under the patronage of Admiral Coligni, attempted to form a settlement near the place where Charlestown now stands, he pact with them on his first landing in 15(i4. From OP BIRDS, FISH, &C. 199 From his time the witnesses of their being na- tives of the Continent are innumerable. Thev have been seen in flocks of hundreds in all parts, from Louisiana even to Canada ; but at this time they are extremely rare in a wild state, except in the more distant parts, where they are still found in abundance. It was most likely from Mexico, or the pro- vince of Yucatan, now reckoned part of that kingdom^ and where Dam pier saw them fre- quently as well wild as tame, that they were first introduced into Europe ; for it is certain that they had been imported into England so early as the year 1524, the 15th of Henry VIII. We probably received them from Spain, with which country we had great intercourse till about that time. They were bred most suc- cessfully in England from that period ; insomuch that they grew common in every farm-yard, and became even a dish in our rural feasts by the year 1 685 ; as we may certainly depend on the word of Tusser, in his account of the *^ Christmas husbandlie fare,*' — *' Beefe, mutton, and porke, shred pies of the best, *' Pig', veale, goofe, and capon, and /wr^rV vell-drest ; *' Cheefe, apples, and nuts, jollie carols to hearc, *' As then in the countrie is counted good cheare." It 200 NATURAL HI STORY It was notj however, until a later peHodj that they were farniliarizcd in France ; for we are told, that the first which were eaten there appeared at the nuptial feast of Charles IX, in 1570. Wild turkies preserve A sanleness of colour;: h\it the tame, as is usual with domestic animals^ vary. The black approaches nearest to the original stock. A very beautiful kind was in- troduced into this country some years ago from Holland, of a snowy whiteness, finely contrast- ing with its red head, and had probably been bred from an accidental white pair*. The manners of these birds are as singular ss their figure; their attitudes in the season of courtship are very striking ; the males fling their heads and necks backward, bristle up their feathers, drop their wings to the ground^ strut and pace most ridiculously, \^heel round the females with their wings rustling along the earth, at the same time emitting a strange * There are white turkies, others variegated with black and white, others white and of a reddish brown, and others of a uni- form gray, which are the most rare of all ; but the greater part have the plumage approaching to black, with a little white at the cstrcraitj of the feathers. sound OF BlRDSj FlSU, &C. 201 sound throuah their nostrils, not unlike the g r tt u r of a great spinning wheel. If in- terrupted, they fly into a great rage, change their notes into a loud guttural gobble, and then return to dalliance. The tones of the females are plaintive and melancholy*. They are polygamous, one cock serving many hens, which lay in spring, and produce a great many eggs, to the number of eighteen or twenty, and persist in laying for a great while, but retire to some obscure place to sit ; the cock, through rage at the loss of his mate, be- ing very apt to break the eggs. The females are of a mild, gentle disposition, very affec- tionate to their young, and make great moan when they lose them. They sit on their eggs with such perseverance, that if they be not taken away when addle, the hens will almost perish with hunger before they will quit the nest ; and w-hen the brood is produced, they give many instances of that maternal anxiety, observable in the feathered race* * They have different tones aud different inflexions of the voice according to the passions which they v»ant to express : their walk is .slow and their flight heavy ; they eat, drink, swallow little stones, and digest them nearly fche same as the cock does. vgL. T. D d When 'i'0^2 NATURAL HISTOllY When the hen turkey appears at the head of her young, she is sometimes heard to send forth a ver\'- mournful cry, the cause and intention of which are unknown ; but the brood immedi- ately squat under bushes, or whatever presents itself for their purpose, and entirely disappear ; or if they have not a sufficient covering, they stretch themselves on the ground, and lie as if they were dead, in which state they continue perhaps a quarter of an hour or longer. In the mean time the mother directs her view upwards with fear and confusion, and repeats the cry that laid her young prostrate. Those who ob- serve the disorder of the bird, and her anxious attention, endeavour to trace the cause ; which is always a bird of prey, floating in the clouds, and whose distance withdraws him from our view, but who cannot escape the vigilance or penetration of the active mother : this occasions her fears^ and alarms the v.'hole tribe. ^' I have seen (says the Abbe de la Pluche) one of these creatures continue in this agitation, and her young in a manner ri vetted to the ground for an hour successively, while the bird whirled about, ascended, or darted down over their lieads. But if he at length disappear, the mo- ther changes her note, and utters another cry that OF BIRDS, FIbH, &C. 20^ that revives all her brood; they run to her, flutter their wings, tender her their caresses, and undoubtedly relate all the danglers to w'^hicli they have been exposed." In the poultry^yard, these birds require much attention and particular food 3 but as they grow up, they become more hardy, and follow the mother to considerable distances, in pursuit of insect food, particularly ants, which they prefer to any other. When grown up, turkies are very hardy birds, and feed themselves with very little expense to the farmer. Young ones are with us accounted a dainty, but the flesh of the wild turkey is said to be superior in good- ness to the tame, although redder. The size of turkies, especially of the wild ones, has been variously represented, some writers stating the latter to weigh sixty pounds ; though speaking from their own knowledge, they never can prove their weight to be above forty : and those gentlemen cannot be nice in their assertions, who make the Norfolk turkies to weigh thirty pounds. Effffs of the wild sort have been taken from CO the nest, and hatched under tame ones ; the young ones nevertheless prove wild, perch sepa- rately, vet mix and breed together in the sea- D d 12 son; 204 NATURAL HISTORY Fon ; and the Indians frequently use the breed thus produced as a sort of decoy bird. Turkies are verv swift runners in the tame as well as in the wild state, though they are but indifferent flyers. They love to perch on trees, and gain the heights they wish by rising from bough to bough. In a wild state, they get to the very summit of the loftiest trees, even so high as to be beyond the reach of the musquet. In a state of nature they go in flocks even of five hundred j they feed in general near fields of nettles, in the seeds of which they greatly de- light, or where there is plenty of any kind of grain ; they also feed much on the small red acorn, and grow so fat in March, that they cannot fly more than three or four hundred yards, and are soon run down by horsemen. In the unfrequented parts bordering on the Mississippi, they are so tame as to be shot with a pistol. They frequent the great swamps of their native country, and leave them at sun- rising to repair to the dry woods in search of acorns and berries \ but before sun-set, they return to the swamps to roost. When disturbed they do not take flight, but run out of sight. Itjs usual to chace them with dogs_, when they will fly and perch on the next tree^ where, it is said^ OF lilRDS, FISH, &C. 203 laid, they sit quite spent and fatigued, till their pursuers come and knock them down with a long pole one after another. They are so stupid, or so insensible of danger, as not to fly on be- ing shot at ; and even the survivors remain un- moved at the death of their companions. Wild turkics are now become ver)' rare in the inhabited and cultivated parts of America, and are only found in numbers in the distant and most unfrequented spots ; for the Indians never think of domesticating animals that the woods furnish them with in abundance : yet they make elegant cloathing of their feathers, which are more beautiful than those of our do- mestic ones, being of a vivid grey, bordered at the edges with a bright gold colour ; they twist the inner webs into a strong double thread of hemp, on the inner bark of the mulberry-tree, and work it like matting; it appears very rich and glossy, and as fine as silk shag, and they frequently weave it into cloaks. Of the tails they make fans ; and the French of Louisiana used to make umbrellas, by joining together three or four tails. Turkies are certainly very stupid birds, and they are not less quarrelsome than cov/ardly. Without any weapon of defence, they often attack *ji06 NATURAL HISTORY attack each other, and in flocks they will even attack the common cock, who will for a long time keep a number of them at bay, and rather suffers by the superiority of their weight and bulk, than from the annoyance of their arms. Singly, they will fly from the most contemptible animal that dares to face them. The passions of the male are very strongly expressed by the change of colours in the fleshy substance of the head and neck, which alters to red, white, blue, and yellowish, as they hap- pen to be affected. Their antipathy to red is well known, and they seem to have a peculiar aversion towards children. There is another way, says Goldsmith, of increasing the ani- mosity of these birds against each other, which is often practised by boys when they have a mind for a battle : this is no more than to smear over the head of one of the turkies with dirt, and the rest run to attack it with all the speed of impotent animosity ; nay, two of them thus disguised, will fight each other till they are almost suffocated w-ith fatigue and anger. OF BIRDS. FISH, SCC. 20? THE PEACOCK. IT is pretty generally admitted that the Pea- cock was originally a native of the East Indies, and that at this time they are found in a wild state in the islands of Java and Ceylon. It has long however been domesticated, for we find, so early as the days of Solomon, among the arti- cles imported from the East, were apes and pea- cocks. iElian relates, that they were brought into Greece from some barbarous country, and were held in such high esteem among them, that a male and female were valued at above thirty pounds of our money. We are told also that when Alexander was in India, he found them flying wild, in vast numbers, on the banks of the river Hyarotis, and was so struck with their beauty, that he laid a severe fine and pu- nishment on all who should kill or disturb them. The Greeks were so much struck with its bcautv. 208 NATURAL HISTORY beauty^ when first brought among them, that it was shewn as a great curiosity, and a large price was paid for seeing it ; nay, it is posi- tively asserted, that it excited so much curio- sity, that manv people came from Macedon to Athens, to behold what was then considered as the most beautiful phenomenon in the feathered race. There is every reason to suppose that the beauty of this bird first tempted man to tran- sport him from his native climes into the Western pai*t of the world, and it is also pro- bable that this same beauty, too^ether with his scarcity, tempted the extravagant and volup- tuous to have him served up at their feasts* Aufidius Hurco stands charged by Pliny with being the first who fattened the peacock for the tables of the luxurious. Hortensius the orator was the first who served them up at an entertainment at Rome : from that time they were considered as one of the greatest orna- ments of every feast, and have been mentioned by several authorities as the greatest dainty the epicure could be supplied with. In later times, however, the flesh of the peacock has lost its reputation : whether this arise from a different mode of feeding or dressing them, or is merely another OF BIRDS_, FISH, tcC 209 anotlier proof of the difference of taste between the ancient and moderns, we shall not presume to determine, but certain it is, that in this country the flesh of the peacock is both coarSiC and insipid. Indeed it is not in England alone that it has been so considered, for we are in- formed, that, even in the times of Francis the First^ it was a custom to serve up peacocks to the tables of the great, not to be eaten^ but only to be seen. For this purpose it was the practice carefully to strip off the skin, and then preparing the body with the warmest' spices, cover it up again with all its plumage in full display, taking care that it was no way injured by the prepara- tion. The bird thus prepared, was often pre- served for many years, without corrupting ; and it is asserted of the peacock's flesh, that it keeps longer unputrified than that of ^ny other animal. To give a higher zest to these entertainments, on v/eddings particularly, they tilled the bird's beak and throat with cotton ^nd camphor, which they >et on. fire to amuse and delight the company. ;From the splendor of its plumage*, it has * If empire belonged to beauty, and not to strength, says Buffon,thc peacock wouki inevitably be the king of birds: there are none upon which Nature has lavished iicr trea- ..iiires with greater profusion. TOL. I. E e been 210 NATURAL HISTORY been denominated, by the poets of antiquity, the bird of Juno ; and as far as brilliancy of ap- pearance would go, it certainly has claim to so distinguishing an epithet. In general, the head, neck, and breast of the peacock {fig. 1.3) arc of a beautiful sapphire colour; on the top of his head is a plume of greenish feathers, somewhat resembling lily flowers ; above and below his eyes are white oblong spots ; his beak inclines to blue; his back and upper part of his wings are of a light ash, inter- spersed with transverse black spots ; liis tail is very long, the feathers of which frequently measure four feet, which he can at pleasure spread over his back, and being composed of a mixture of green, blue, and gold colour, or- namented with regular spots, or eyes, it has in those cases a most splendid effect, especi- ally when displayed against the rays of the sun. The female is much smaller than the male, and has neither the tail, nor variety of colours, to boast of ; her head, wings, back, belly, hips, and thighs, being of a dark ash- colour. These birds chiefly feed on corn, particularly barley, of which they are most fond; they will, however, seek after insects with great eaa;erne3s, OF BIRDS, FISH, &;C. 211 eagerness, and if they can get into a garden, do considerable damage, by destroying the most tender plants, and nipping the buds of the choicest flowers. They begin to breed about February, and continue to do so till the latter end of April. The peacock, at those seasons, possesses immoderate desires, and one is quite sufficient to accompany five females*, and if there be not a sufficient number he will even pursue the sitting hen ; for which reason the peahen endeavours, as much as possible, to con- ceal her nest from him, because he would not only disturb her sitting, but break her eggs: she seldom lays above five or six eggs in this climate before she sits. Aristotle describes the peahen as laying twelve ; • and probably in her native climate she may be thus prolific ; for it is certain, that in the forests, where they live in freedom, they are astonishingly numerous . The peacock lives about twenty years, but it is not till his third year that his tail is adorned with the beautiful variegated plumage. ^^ In the kingdom of Cambaya,'* says Ta- • Buffon says, that, having consulted some very intel- ligent persons who reared this hird,thcy assured him, from their own experience, that the peacock does not require at most more than two females : perhaps this may be occ?i- »ioned by the smaller heat of climate. E e 2 vernier. 212 NATURAL HISTORY vernier^ '^ near the city of Baroch, whole flocks of them are seen in the fields. They are very ihy, however, and it is impossible to come near them. They run off swifter than the partridge, and hide themselves in thickets, where it is im- possible to find them. They perch by night upon trees ; and the fowler often approaches them at that season with a kind of banner, on which a peacock is painted to the life, on either side. A lighted torch is fixed on the top of his decoy ; and the peacock, when disturbed, flies to what it takes for another, and is thus caught in a noose prepared for that purpose.^' There are varieties of this bird, some of which, in the eastern parts of Africa, are per- fectly white ; but those will not live in the temperate climates of Europe. The peacock of Thibet is the most beautiful of the feathered creation, containing, in its plumage, all the most vivid colours, red, blue^ yellow, and green, disposed in an almost artifi- cial order, as if arranged wholly to please the eye of the beholder. The Japan peacock is a curious East-Indian bird, and so much valued by the Indians in some parts, that it is reckoned a crime worthy of death to kill one of them : the beak is lone: anei OF BIRDS, FISH, ^C, 1215 and thiny the top of the head flat aiid green, the upper part of the neck is hkewise green, intermixed with little blue spots, which ar6 also diversified by very small white lines, de- scending from the middle of them. It has a curious tuft on the top of the head, almost four fingers long, partly green, partly blue, and not unlike a ear of wheat, or rather rye. The pupil of the eye black, the circle between the white and the pupil yellowish ; the whole en-, compassed with a red circle ; the back and breast are covered with curious party-coloured feathers, resembling scales of fish, of sky-blue and green, and green and gold colour, sur- prisingly intermixed; the wings are pretty near the colour of the back ; the ends of the feathers quite black. The colours appear in ranges on the wings cross-ways, first green, then blue, then black, &c. The belly, hips, and feet, arc of a russet colour, marked with black spots. On the belly likewise are a few white streaks, or cross lines ; the tail-feathers (as in our's) are veiy curious; the ground colour of them is chesnut; the figures upon them resemble our's, with this difference only, that they are somewhat longer ; the first colour in the figures is gold, the next sky-blue, the last green, as in our's. The 214 NATURAL HISTORY The hen is pretty nearly hke the cock^ but less^ and wants the curious colours with which he is adorned in her tail. Her head, neck, breast, back, and wings, are Hke his. But what is remarkable, the hen has upon her rump the same figures that so agreeably beautify the cock's tail : her tail is green, with some little mixture of blue : the hen likewise differs from the cock in her belly, which is quite black. THE GROUS AND ITS AFFINITIES. BESIDES the Cock of the Wood, the Black Cock, the Grous, and the Ptarmigan, there are at least fifteen species which belong to this genus, and the whole of them are dis- tinguishable from every other of the poultry kind, by having a naked skin of a scarlet colour above each eye. It appears from tradition, that formerly they were very common in England, and which, in reality, might have been the case, when a great part of the country was covered with heath, which is their natural re- treat ; but since cultivation has so much in- creased, they are scarcely to be found in any other mackCccA OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 215 other places^ but the extensive wastes and moors of Westmoreland, and the north of Great Bri- tain ; indeed the two first are unknown in the south, having taken refuge in the northern parts of Scotland, where they find shelter and security in the extensive heaths and forests. The cock of the wood is almost the size of a turkey, and often weighs nearly fourteen pounds ; but the female is much smaller. The head and neck are ash-colour, crossed with black lines ; the body and wings chesnut brown, and the breast of a very glossy black- ish green. The legs are strong, and covered with brown feathers. The plumage of the fe- male differs, being red about the throat, and having the head, neck, and back crossed with red and black bars ; the belly barred with orange and black, with the tips of the feathers white, as are also the tips of the shoulders ; in- deed, she is altogether so very different, that she might be supposed to belong to another species. The cock of the wood, as we have already observed, is chiefly fond of a mountainous or woody situation. In winter he resides in the deepest recesses of the woods, and in summer he ventures down from his seclusion, to make short 21(5 JNATURi^L HISTORY short &C. 2^1' The hazel grous is a smaller bird, and ap- pears of the same species with the red grous. It is a native of Germany. The pi u-tmi€d grous, so calkd from its nar*- row-forked tail, is also of the same species with our red grous. It is the size of a partridge, and is found in France, Spain, Barbary, &:c. The ptarmigan grous is in length about fifteen inches. The bill is black, and the plumage is a pale ash colour, elegantly mottled with dusky spots. It is found in all the north- em parts of Europe, and in the Highlands of Scotland, Orkneys, &c. The other birds of this genus have ail the same manners as the preceding, and have only some slight differences in the plumage. There is a species in North America which is called the ruffed grous, and which is distinguished by a large ruff on the hind part of the neck, that is raised or depressed at pleasure ; it also has th« fecad adorned with a crest. 222 NATUnAL HISTORY THE PINTADA, OR GUINEA-HEN. THE Pintada has been considered by some authors as the species which unites the charac- teristics of the pheasant and the turkey. It is about the size of a common hen, but from having long;er legs it has the appearance of be- ing much larger. It has a round back, with a tail turned downwards, like a partridge. The head is covered with a kind of casque ; and the whole plumage is black or dark grey, speckled with regular and uniform white spots. It has wattles under the bill, which do not proceed from the lower chap, as in cocks, but from the upper, which gives it a very peculiar air, while its restless gait and odd chuckling sound dis- tinguish it sufficiently from all other birds what- ever. These Pintadas are said to perch upon trees in Guinea, and to spend more of their time on them than on the ground 5 and in the History of the Buccaniers of America there is OF JBIRDS, I'lSH, &C. <12S an account of a bird which the natives call the wood-pullet, but the Spaniards the pintada^ which builds in the holes of the palm-tree. This race is undoubtedly natives of Africa^ but they have been jrencrally diffused over both the old and new continent, and almost every kingdom has given them a different appellation, commonly, however, adding that of Guinea fowl. It is by no means uncommon to see large flocks of them together, in their native country, roaming about with their young in search of food. Their habits are perfectly simi- lar with common fowls, and they seem to have no other difference except that the males and females are so nearly alike that it is difficult to distinguish one from the other. Of this species there are many varieties, but the most remarkable is that described by Barbotj which he says he saw in vast numbers in South Guinea : these, according to that author, have long slender necks ; their bills are brown at the points, and the upper parts red ; their heads are a deep brown, with a horny substance at the top ; on each side is a fleshy prominence of a pale blue, and the back part is of a reddish brown ; their bodies are of a dark ash colour, pretty much chequered with while spots ; their breasts 224 NATURAL HISTOKY breasts of a pale ash, and their legs of a diTsi:y flesh colour. He relates a remarkable instance of the superstition of the natives of that country with respect to this fowl. He says it is the custom there, when any of the princes, especi- ally in Folgia, have concluded an alliance with any neighbouring potentate, as well as among private persons, to cause some pullets of this kind to be dressed, and eat them together, after each treating party has been marked with some drops of the blood of the animals (which by them is considered as sacred) ; they also care- fully preserve the bones of them, because if one of the parties shew an inclination to break the treaty, those bones are produced for him to shew cause far the breach thereof*. * This is an active, restless, and turbu'ent bird, vrhich doei not like to remain long' in a place ; he is fierce, and renders him- self formidable even to turkeys, though he is much less than they. He will five them, says Margat, twenty blows with hit b«ak ere those great birds are rea.ly to gef«nd themsclvei. Cclii I'liea,riUU SihtrDC ^r mimn, ^Ufi, &c« ^1S THE PHEASANT. THE Pkeasant is iinlversally admitted to he « Tiative of tUe (Md Continent, and ancient aiithors have supposed it to Jiav=e been ori^nally found on the banks of the Phasis, a, river of Colcliis-, m Asia Minor*, from which its name also appears to be -deriv^ed. However that be, the species has long been spead over the greatest |>art of the known woiid, and for many >ages has beaa hdd in high estimation, bo^th on accatmt t)f l3ie savouriness of its flesh, :and the brjliiancy of its plumage. In the latter respect it is among those birds that leave the efforts of the iwtist :at a distance; he inay indeed delineate a perfect Tescmblancc t)f its form, and give an idea of its colours, but the vivid :^ades of its natural brilliancy far outvie the powers of art* It is re- corded tlaat when Croesus, king of Lydia, wa« seated on his throne, adorned with royal mag- nificence, and all the blazing pomp of Eastern * The Atg^onauts wlio •went to CoTcTiis IwougM iTiesc tird« iack witK tTicm ; ** apre^nt," says Bufibn, ** more rich tJiiR lie ^Idcn fieece,'* Argiva primum sum transportata carina Ante mihi notum nil, nisi Pkasis, er*t« Martial. ▼OL, Is G g splendorj ttQ NATURAL HISTORY splendor, he a{ked Solon if he had ever beheld any thing so fine. The Greek philosopher, no way moved by the objects before him, or taking a pride in his native simplicity, replied, he had seen the beautiful plumage of the pheasant, and therefore could be astonished at no other finery; and we perfectly agree with that great philosopher, that nothing can exceed the variety and richness of colours of this beautiful creature. The iris of the eyes is yellow, and the eyes themselves are surrounded with a scarlet colour, sprinkled with small specks of black. On the fore-part of the head there are blackish feathers mixed with a shining chesnut. The top of the head, and the upper part of the neck, are like silk, and are shaded with blue, green, and gold, so curiously intermixed as sometimes to appear blue and sometimes green, according as they happen to be differently presented to the eye of the spectator. The feathers of the breast, the shoulders, the middle of the back, and the sides under the wings, have a blackish gromid, with edges tinged of an exquisite colour, which appear sometimes black and sometimes purple, accord- ing to the different lights they are placed in: under the purple there is a transverse streak of gold colour. The tail, from the middle feather to the root, is about eighteen inches long; the OF BIRDSj FISHj &C, 127 the legs, the feet, and the toes, are of the colour of horn. There are black spurs on the legs, shorter than those of a cock; and a membrane that connects two of the toes to- gether. The male is much more beautiful than the female, who is generally of a light brown, intermixed with black. The flesh of this bird has been long con- sidered as one of the greatest dainties ; and when the old physicians spoke of the wholesomeness of any viands, they made their comparison with the flesh of the pheasant. These perfections were doubtless sufficient temptations for maa to endeavour to render it domestic, but he has in vain employed his ingenuity for that purpose ; for however it has been bred, or in whatever manner it has been instructed, no sooner has it obtained its liberty, than, disdaining the pro- tection of man, it has left him, to take shelter in the thickest woods and remotest forests. Almost all others of this kind, as the cock, the turkey, or the pintada, when once reclaimed, continue in their domestic state, and preserve the habits and appetites of willing slavery ; but the pheasant, though taken from its native warm retreats, where the woods supply variety of food, and the genial sun suits its tender consti- tntion, aiul brought into our climates, still Gg 2 fontinueg f23 NATURAl. HISTOKT (Dontinijes Its attaehmeiit to native freedom ^ and prefers a scanty si^pply of aeorns and berries^ ijB our parks and woods, to the care and atten- tion that would be paid him in a domestic state : and even when kept in captivity, tipcai alt occasions he shews his spirit of inds- pendence* •When at liberty in the woods,, the hen phea sant lays from eighteen to twenty eggs in x. season, but when kept in confinement she sel- dom lays above ten. In the same manner^ when at Hberty, she hatches and trains up Irer brood with patierice, vigilance, and cou- lage; but if kept in coninement, she caa scarcely ever be brought to sit with sufficient attention; so that a common hen is generally "her substitute upon such occasions; and evea when she does hatch them, so far from at- tending and teaching them to seek their food, the young birds would starve, if left solely to her protection. The pheasant, therefore, on every account, should be left to range at large in the woods, for its fecundity, when wild, ift sufficient to stock the forest; its beautiful plu- mage adorns it; and its flesh retains a higher favour from unlimited freedom. Pheasants, like all others of the pouItr3i Itind^ have no great sagacity^ and easily suffer themselvei. OF B1&D5, tlSB, See. mi> themselves to be taken. At night they rooGt upon the highest trees of the wood; and by day they coHQe down into the lower brakes and bushes, where their food is chiefly found. They generally make a kind of flapping noise whea they are with iha females; and this serves to apprise the sportsman of their retreats. At other times they are traced in the snow, and frequently taken in springes. But of all birds they are. shot most easily, as they always make a whirring noise when they rise, by which they give notice of their exact situation, and being a large mark, and flying very slow, they scarcely ever escape*. It is no very uncommon practice to procure the eggs of the pheasant, and put them under a common hen, in which case the young become as lamiliar as chickens; and when they are kept for breeding, it is necessary to put five hens with * Pope, in his *' Windsor Forest," thus beautifully deKt'ibet, thjebiid: See '. from the brake the whirring pheasant springes. And mounts exulting on triumphant wings. Short is his joy ; he feels the fiery wound. Flutters in blood, arnl, panting, beats the ground. Ah I what avail his glossy, varying dyes. His purple crest, and scarlet circled eyes ; The vivid green his shining plume? unfold, His painted wings, and breast that flames with gold ! one 530 NATURAL HISTORY one cock. In her natural state the female makes her nest of dry grass and leaves; the same must^ therefore^ be laid for her where they are kept, and she will herself, sometimes, pro- perly dispose them. The youn^ ones are very difficult to be reared ; and they must be supplied with ant-eggs, which is the food that the old one leads them to gather when wild in the woods* These, however, may be chopped up with curds or meat, but they must be fed with great exactness, both as to the quantity and the time of their supply. It is also requisite that their food should sometimes be varied, and then they may be supplied with wood lice, ear- wigs, and other insects. The place where they are reared must be kept extremely clean ; their water must be changed twice or thrice a day; they must not be suffered to go upon the grass before the dew is off the ground in the morning, and they should always be taken in before sun-set. When they become adult, they may be fed with any kind of grain, but oat* and barley are their favourites, Longolius recommends the following simple method for increasing the breed. '^ The phea- sant is a very bold bird when first brought into the yard among other poultry, and will spare nei- ther cocks nor hens which it can master; but after a time «F BIRDS, PISH, Sec. €31 a time itwilllive tamely among them, andat lastbe brought to couple with the common hen. The breed thus produced take much stronger after the pheasant than the hen ; and if the females were again supplied with a cock pheasant, for the breed is not barren, the next race would advance still nearer, and so on, till at last there would be little difference between them and the original stock of the male ; and yet such thus produced would liave the advantage of being more tame than they can be rendered by any other mode.'* The former part, however, is almost unneces- sary, as the cock pheasants, in the spring, fre- quently come into the farm-yards early in the morning for the purpose of courting the hens, and will not molest any but such of the cocks as shew an inclination to interrupt their pleasures. The pheasant, when fiili growTi, seems to feed indifferently upon every thing that offers, A French writer asserts, that one of the kino's sportsmen shooting at a parcel of crows, that were gathered round a dead carcass, found upon coming up, to his great surprise, that he had killed as many pheasants as crows. It is even asserted by some, that such is the carnivorous disposition of this bird, that when several of them are put together in the same yard, if one iiappen to fall sick, or seem to be pinjng, all the S32 NATtJllAt HISTORY the rest will fall upon, kill, and devour it. But of the veracity of this assertion we have our donbls, never having met with a single observer of the manners of tiiese animals who consi- dered it as a fact. Of the pheasant tribe there are several ^'aric- ties, but they all preserve a superiority in the beauty of their plumage. Some of them arc spotted all over with a wonderful degree of bril- liancy, and are called peacock pkeasnats^ while others are oniamented with a beautiful crest*. Hie most remarkable, howevcTs are The goldrn pke&mnt^ which is principally' found in China, and is about the si^e of the Knglish pheasant. Its bill is of a light brown ; the iris of the eyes ydlow ; the featliers on the upper part of the head of the same co- lour, with a curious long crest of scarlet fea- diers lianging dov/a on the back part of the tieck, beautifully variegated with black cir- cular lines, which reach down a considerable way on the back, and which it has the power of erecting at pleasure; the rest of the back is of a reddish yellow ; the scapular feathers of the wings, die fore-part of tlie breast, neck, and iseliy, are of a fine scarlet. Hie upper ■covert feathers are of a darkish blue, shaded urith a gold colour : tlie first feathers of the other OF BIKDS, FISH, &C. 233 Other rows are of a dark yellow spotted with brown ; the longest tail feathers are of a deepish red tipped with a fine yellow ; and the legs and feet are of the same colour. The silver pheasant is also about the size of the former^ and belongs to the Eastern climates : its bill is of a dusky yellow^ from the base of which^ along the upper part of the head^ is a line of long black feathers ; the eyes arc encir- cled with a small row of white feathers, sur- rounded with a larger circle of scarlet, speckled with deep red, which reaches from the bill to the hind part of the head, and are considerably broader than the red in the English cock phea- sant ; the back, neck, and wings are white, in- terspersed with a few dark shades ; the breast, and under part of the belly, are nearly black, beginning at the base of the under mandible, spreading itself broader on the sides of the belly, and decreasing into a point under the tail ; the thighs are dark, the feet a fine scarlet, and the claws black. The whole of this race have the same ha- bits and customs as those which we have al- ready described, and their chief, if not only, difference consists in the variation in the co- lour of their plumage*. * It is asserted that the pheasant is a stupid bird, which VOL. I. H h thinks 2:34 NATURAL HISTORY THE PARTRIDGE. PARTRIDGES are pretty generally known in all part,? of the inhabited globe, and like all others, especially of the poultry kind, so univer- sally diffused^ include several varieties; though this race is not, in that respect, so conspicuous as many of those we have already treated of. The common partridge has a remarkable plump body, and weighs about fourteen or fifteen ounces : on the sides of the head, and under the bill, it is a deep saffron colour. The cock has on his breast a red mark, nearly of the shape of a horse- shoe, down to which the feathers are of a bluish ash, varied with black transverse lines. The back and wings are party-coloured, red, ash, and black. The hen is rather less than the cock, and has much less red under her throat. ^' These birds," says Willoughby, '^ hold the principal place in the feasts and entertain- thir.ks itself in safety wht?n its head is hid : this has als» been said of other birds. A young pheasant very fat is an exquisite morse!, and, at the same time, a very healthy nourishment. These birds, according to Olina, Hve about ijx. or seven years. ments AIii/i- X; Female Jiirttidt/Cf. ^T,Uc k-F,malc Quail>-. OF BIRDS, FISH, 8CC. '235 nients of princes, without which their feasts are esteemed ignoble, vulgar, and of no account. The Frenchmen do so highly value and are so fond of the partridge, that if they be wanting, they utterly slight and despise the best spread tables, as if there could be no feast without them.". But however this might be the case in the times of our historian, the partridge is now too common in France to be considered as a peculiar rarity. In England, however, where they are not so plenty, they are still a favourite delicacy at the tables of the rich ; and the desire of keeping it to themselves has in- duced them to make laws fi^r its preservation, rery little congenial to the general spirit of Eng- lish legislation. The sentiments of a well- known author upon this subject are in such exact unison with right reason and justice, that they deserve to be universally recorded. " What," says he, ^^ can be more arbitrary than to talk of preserving the game, which, when defined, means nothing more than that the poor shall abstain from what the rich have taken a fancy to keep for themselves ? If these birds could, like a cock or a hen, be made legal property, by being taught to keep \^ ithin cer- tain districts, and only feed on those grounds Hh2 that 236 NATURAL HISTORY tliat belons to the man whose entertainments they improve, it then might, with some shew of justice, be admitted, that as he fed so h6 might claim them. But the contrary is the- case, nor will the vanity of man induce him to attempt laying a restraint upon the liberty of those birds, which, when let loose, put nO limits to their excursions. They feed every where ; upon every man's ground ; they are nourished by all, consequently belong to all ; and therefore it is impossible to trace upon what reasonable ground any one man, or set of men, can lay claim to them while still continuing in a state of nature. '^ I never walked out about the environs of Paris that I did not consider the immense quan- tity of game that was running almost tame on every side of me, as a badge of the slavery of the people, and what some of my friends wished- me to observe as an object of triumph, I al- ways regarded with a kind of secret compas- sion ; yet this people have no game-laws for the remoter parts of their kingdom : the game is only preserved in a few places for the king,^ and is free in most of the open parts of the country. In England the prohibition is- gene- ral ; OF BIRDS,, nsH, Sec. Q37 ral ; and the peasant has not a right to what even slaves, as he is taught to call them, ara. found to possess." There are two distinct species of partridges familiar in these climates, the one being of a- red shade throughout his feathers, and much- larger than what is called the common partridge y the latter are found in most countries in Eu- rope ; they feed on snails, ants, ant-eggs, grain, and leaves ; they generally lay from twelve to' c4ghteen eggs, most of which they hatch, and are particularly attentive to their young, inso- much, that whenever a dog, or any other ani- mal, approaches their nest, the females act with the greatest subtilty : quitting their young, they will just rise above the head of their enemyy 2Sid, pretending to be unable to fly, fall down at a little distance before him ; this they will re- peat until they have drawn him to a considerable distance from their offspring, and then taking wing they return to them, leaving him the dupe of his credulity. They do not, however, fly to the spot where they left them, but drop at some distance, and call them, which they immediately obey, and follow wherever they lead their course. Through the winter the young keep constantly with their mother, and fly 23^ NATURAL HISTORY fly in covles, but on the appearance of spring they separate into pairs, and upon this occa- sion they fight very desperately ; most probably for the choice of a favourite mate. The males are exceedingly salacious, more so, it has been asserted, than any other bird ; it is certain that he will pursue the female to her nest, and it is even affirmed, that whenever he finds any of her eggs he will break them, that the care of hatching them may not deprive him of her so- ciety. On the other hand, naturalists have insisted that the female is so attached to the office of incubation, that if, by chance, she lose any of her own eggs, she will steal those be- longing to another, convey them to her nest, and sit upon them as her own ; nor have they left this almost incredible story here, but persist that the circumstance may always be known by the young ones, thus hatched, refusing to fol- low their quondam mother, and deserting her and the other part of the brood as soon as they are able. M. Thevenot mentions these partrid&es as being very numerous in the Levant, where he says they keep them tame like turtles, and have keepers who drive them out in the morning and OF BIRDS, riSH, &C. tu^ and whistle them in at nighty which they al- ways obey. Of this species there are also many varieties ; the most particular of which are, the Jtmerican or West- India -partridge : this is much larger in size than the English one; the bill being thicker and stronger, tears some resemblance to that of a hawk. The colour, both of the bill and legs, together with a circle round the eye, are of a light brown, or reddish colour. The whole plumage of the body is somewhat darker than the common partridge; and in some parts of America they are so much in- clined to a dark grey, or shining black, that some travellers have described them as black partridges. Lahonton, in his voyage to North America, says, that they have a sort of w-hite partridges, about the size of ours, which he describes as the most stupid animal in the world, and says it sits upon the snow, and suffers itself to be Icnocked on the head with a pole without offer- ing to stir. The hare-foottd partridge. There are two kinds of this bird. The first is about the bigness of a dove, and of such an exquisite and snowy whiteness, that it discovers itself and' is *240 NATURAL HISTORY is often taken by that means ; but the feet and bill arc black, and the fine skin of the eye-lid is red, especially in the male. The neck is diversified here and there with black spots ; and the bottom part, or roots, of the feathers are blackish. The other is about the size of a quail, and of a yellowish hue ; but on the back and neck almost of the colour of a woodcock. The wings, near the body, have white, dusky, and candy coloured feathers intermingled ; but those of the pinions are of an ash colour. The belly, and inside of the wings, are white ; and they are never without a ring on the breast, of a red, yellow, and sandy colour intermixed. It takes its name of lagopus, or hare-footed, from the resemblance its foot has to that of a hare. In fact, the partridge seems to be well known all over the world ; it is found in every country, and in every climate, as well in the frozen re- gions about the pole as the torrid climes under the equator. It seems even to adapt itself to the nature of the climate where it resides. In Greenland, the partridge, which is brown in summer, as soon as the icy weather sets in, begins tp t«ike a covering suited to the season ; it is then OF BTRDS, FISH, SCC. 21-1 then clothed with a warm down beneath 5 and its outward plumage assumes the colour of the snow, amongst which it seeks its food. Thus it is doubly fitted for the place, by the warmth and the colour of its plumage ; the one to de- fend it from the cold, the otiier to prevent its being noticed by the enemy. Those of Bara- konda, on the olher hand, are longer legged, much swifter of foot, and chuse the highest rocks and precipices to reside in. They are also found in the Alps and Pyrennean moun- tains, where they are so fond of frost and snow, that as soon as the former begins to melt in the lower part of the mountains, they remove higher, to places where the sun has less power, and the cold is more intense. THE QUAIL*. THE Quail is not above half the size of a partridge, whom it very much resembles in shape and manners. The feathers of the head * Theophrastus found so great a resemblance between the partridge and the quail, that be called the latter dzcarf partridges ; and it is doubtless a result of this error that the Portuguese have called the partridge co;luinix^ and that the Italians have applied tl)Ci nunie (J;' coturnice to the Greek partridge. VOL. I. I i are ^42 NATURAL lIISTOIiY are black, edged with rusty brown ; the breast is of a pale yellowish red, spotted with black; the feathers on the back are marked with lines of a pale yellow, and the legs are of a pale hue. The quail is certainly a bird of passage ; and yet, when we consider its heavy manner of flying, and its dearth of plumage, compared to its corpulence, it appears surprising how a bird so apparently ill qualified for migration should take such extensive journies ; yet no- thing, however, is more certain : '^ When we sailed from Rhodes to Alexandria," says Belon, ^^ about autumn, many quails, flying from the north to the south, were taken in our ship ; and sailing at spring-time the contrary way, from the south to the north, I observed them on their return, when many of them were taken in the same manner." This account is con- firmed by many others, who aver, that they chuse a north wind for these adventures ; the south wind being very unfavourable, as it re- tards their flight, by moistening their plumage. They then fly two by two ; continuing, when their way lies over land, to go faster by night than by day ; and to fly very high, to avoid being surprised or set upon by birds of prey. It has, however, become a doubt whether quails take such long journies as Belon has made them OF P.IUDS, FISH^ &C. 243 them perform ; and several authors have asserted that they only migrate from one province of a country to another. For instance, that in Eng- land, at the close of aatunni, they fly from the inland counties to those bordering on the sea, and continue there all the winter : and aUo that they quit the stubble fields and marshes on the appearance of frost and snow, and retreat to the sea side, where they shelter themselves among the weeds, and live upon what is thrown up from the sea, particularly in Essex ; and the time of their appearance upon the coasts of that county exactly coincides with their disappear- ance from the more internal parts of the king- dom ; from which the conclusion has been con- fidently drawn, that they do not migrate across the sea ; but this is inferred upon a very^ slight foundation, as their assembling at those parti- cular periods on the sea-coast may equally as well be supposed to be for the purpose of taking flight, as to conceal themselves among the reeds"^^. The quail is much less prolific than the par- tridge ; it seldom lays more than six or seven whitish eggs, which are marked with raiiged, rust coloured spots. But their ardour in court- ship, says a modern author, scarcely yields to any bird, as they are fierce and cruel at that * BoloiJ positively asserts that quaiU are birds of passage. I i 2 season 544 NATURAL HISTORY season to each other, fighting most desperately, and during which rencounters they will fre- quently suffer themselves to be taken. Quail- fighting was a favourite amusement among the Athenians ; thev abstained from its flesh, from an idea that it was unwholesome, supposing that it fed upon the white hellebore ; but they reared great numbers of them for the pleasure of seeing them fight ; and they were as regularly trained for the contest as game-cocks are in the present day. These birds are very easily taken by artifice ; thev have a very peculiar call, which the fowler finds it very easy to imitate : being so prepared, he goes out early in the morning, and having spread his net in a convenient place, he imitates the call of the female with what is called a quail- pipe : this is no sooner heard by the male, than he flies eagerly to the spot, and being entirely taken up with the thoughts of the female, he carrclcssiv goes into the net, and, as the moralist observes, becomes a victim to his passions*. * The quail, like the partridge nod other animals, pro- ilwces onlv when in a state of liberty: it is in vain that you furnish to those who are confined all tlie materials for riidincation; tiicy will never use them, nor do they take aov care of the cfgs which they produce, and which they seem to lav ajrainst their inclination. lu^pyi ©F BIRDS, FISH, &C. 24# OF THE PIE KIND. WITHOUT pretending to give a regular arrangement to this most numerous part of the animal creation, or attempting to class birds which philosophy may presume to be possible, but whose distinctions, reason seems to tell us, are beyond the comprehension of man, we shall, nevertheless, so far follow precedent, as to keep them in some degree of order; and upon this principle it is that we now proceed to a genus, which, though in some things si- milar to all the foregoing, yet their differences are so great, that they cannot justly be said to belong to either. To speak of this race in general terms, we cannot be more explicit than in quoting the words of a modern author, who says, '' Under ^* this (the pie) class of birds, we might place «' all that noisy, restless, chattering, teazing " tribe 246 NATURAL HISTORY *' tribe that lies between the hen and the thrush ; ^^ that, from the size of the raven down to that '^ of the wood-pecker, flutter round our habi- '^ tations, and rather with the spirit of pilferers '^ than of robbers, make free with the fruits of ^' human industry. '^ Of all the other classes, this seems to be '^ that which the least contributes to furnish " out the pleasures or supply the necessaries '' of man. The falcon hunts for him ; the '^ poultry tribe supplies him with luxurious '^ food ; and the little sparrow race delights him ^^ with the melody of their warblings. The '^ crane kind make a studied variety in his en- '^ tertainments ; and the clafs of ducks are not " only many of them delicate in their flesh, " but extremely useful for their feathers. But '^ in the class of the pie kind there are few, '^ except the pigeon, that are any way useful. '' They serve rather to teaze man than to assist *^ or amuse him. Like faithless servants, they ^' are fond of his neighbourhood, because they " mostly live by his labour ; but their chief '^ study is what they can plunder in his ab- '^ sence, while their deaths make him no atone- '^ ment for their depredation. '' But OF BIRDS, FISH, &.C. 247 " But though^ with respect to man, this *^ whole class is rather noxious than beneficial, '^ though he may consider them in this light *^ as false, noisy, troublesome neighbours, yet, *^ with respect to each other, no class of birds ^' are so ingenious, so active, or so w^ell fitted " for society. Could we suppose a kind of ^^ morality among birds, we should find that '^ these are by far the most industrious, the ^' most faithful, the most constant, and the '^ most connubial. The rapacious kinds drive '^ out their young before they are fit to struggle *^ with adversity 5 but the pie kind cherish their ^' young to the last. The poultry class are '^ faithless and promiscuovis in their connec- ^' tions, but these live in pairs, and their at- " tachments are wholly confined to each other. ^' The sparrow kind frequently overleap the '' bounds of Nature, and make illicit varieties ; '^ but these never. They live in harmony " with each other ; every species is true to its *' kind, and transmits an unpolluted race to '^ posterity. " As other kinds build in rocks, or upon " the ground, the chief place where these build *^ is in trees or bushes : the male takes his " share 248 NATURAL HISTORY '^ share in the labours of building the nest^ and ^' often relieves his mate in the duties of incu- '^ bation. Both take this office by turns ; and when the young are excluded^ both are equally active in making them an ample provision. '^ They sometimes live in societies ; and in '^ these there are general laws observed, and a ^' kind of republican form of government esta- '^ blished among them. They watch not only ^^ for the general safety, but for that of every '^ other bird of the grove. How often havi '^ we seen a fowler, stealing in upon a flock of '^ ducks or wild geese, disturbed by the alarm- *^ ing notes of a crow or a magpie ; its single '^ voice gave the whole thoughtless tribe wn.rn- '' ing, and taught them in good time to lOok '' to their safety. '' Nor are these birds less remarkable for ^^ their instincts than their capacity for instruc- '^ tion. There is an apparent cunning, or ^^ archness, in the look of the whole tribe ; and " I have seen crows and ravens taught to fetch '^ and carry with the docility of a spaniel. In- '' deed, it is often an exercise that, without '^ teaching, all this tribe are but too fond of. " Everv OF BIRDS, FISH, ScC. 24^J *^ Every body knows what a passion they have '^ for shining substances, and such toys as some ^' of us put a value upon. A whole family has *^bcen alarmed at the loss of a ring; every *' servant has been accused, and every creature '' in the house, conscious of their own inno- ^' cence, suspected each other, when^ to the *' utter surprise of all, it has been found in the *' nest of a tame magpie, or a jack-daw, that *^ nobody h8 NATURAL HISTORY The Cornhh chough is like a jack-daw^ but bicTfrer, and almost the size of a crow. The feet and legs are long, like those of a jack-daw, but of a red colour ; and the plumage is black all over. Like the daw, it frequents rocks, old castles, and churches, by the sea-side, and with the same noisy assiduity. It is only seen along the western coasts of England. These are birds very similar in their manners, feeding on orain and insects, living in society, and often suffering castigation from the flock for the good of the community. The rook builds in woods and forests in the neighbourhood of man, and sometimes makes choice of groves, in the very midst of cities, for the place of its retreat and security. In these it establishes a kind of legal constitution^ by Vv^hich all intruders are excluded from coming to live among them, and none suffered to build but acknowledged natives of the place. *^ I " nave often,'* says a celebrated author, " a- «^ mused myself with observing their plan of *^ policy from my window that looks upon a ^^ grove where they have made a colony in the " midst of the city. At the commencement of f* spring, the rookery, which, during the con- '^^ tinuance of winter, seemed to have been de- ^' sertcd, OF BIRDS, FISH, cCC. :2,0(^ serted, or only guarded by about five or six, like old soldiers in a garrison, now begins to be onee more frequented, and in a short time all the bustle and hurry of business is fairly commenced. Where these numbers resided during the winter is not easy to guess ; per- haps in the trees of hedge-rows, to be nearer their food. In spring, however, they culti- vate their native trees, and, in the places where they were themselves hatched, I bey prepare to propagate a future progeny. '' They keep together in pairs ; and \\ hen the offices of courtship are over, they pre- pare for making their nests and laying. The old inhabitants of the place are all already provided ; the nest which served them for years before, with a little trimming and dress- ing, will serve very well again : the diffi- culty of nestling lies only upon the young ones who have no nest, and must therefore get up one as well as they can. But not only the materials are wanting, but also the place in which to fix it. Every part of a tree will not do for this purpose, as some branches may not be sufficiently forked ; others may not be sufficiently strong; and still others may be too much exposed to the rockings L 1 2 "of £60 NATDUAL HISTORY ^' of the wind. The male and female upon ^' this occasion are, for some days, seen exa- ^^ mining all the trees of the grove very atten- ^^ lively ; and when they have fixed upon a " branch that seems fit for their purpose, they ^^ continue to sit upon and observe it very se- '^ dulously for two or three days longer. The '^ place being thus determined upon, they be- '^ gin to gather the materials for their nest, ^^ such as slicks and fibrous roots, which they ^^ regularly dispose in the most substantial man- *^ ner. But here a new and unexpected ob- ^' stacle arises. It often happens that the young ^^ couple have made choice of a place too near ^^ the mansion of an older pair, who do not '*^ chuse to be incommoded by such troublesome " neighbours. A quarrel, therefore, instantly " ensues, in which the old ones are alwavs '^ victorious. ^^ The yo.ung couple, thus expelled, are oblis:- *^ ed again to go through the fatigues of deli- *^ berating, examining, and chusing; and hav- *^ ing taken care to keep their due distance, *' begin their nest again, and their industry de- ^^ serves commendation. But their alacrity is *' often too great in the beginning : they soon '^ grow weary of bringing the materials for their ^^ nest OF BiKDSj FISH, &C. 261" •84 NATURAL HISTORY THE WOOD-PECKER AND ITS AFFINTTIES, UNDER the general term Wood-pecker, is comprehended a most numerous tribe, divided into an almost innumerable number of varieties ; but they have several habits in common, and are easily distinguished from all others, by their pe- culiar formation, method of procuring food, and manner of providing a place of safety for their young. Indeed, no other species of birds seem so well formed for the method of life they pursue, being fitted by nature, at all points, for the peculiarity of their condition. They live chiefly upon the insects contained in the body of trees ; and for this purpose are fur- nished with a straight, hard, strong, angular, and sharp bill, made for piercing and boring. They have a tongue of a very great length ; round, ending in a sharp, stiff, bony thorn, dentated on each side, to strike ants and insects when Tr.pi,k£,,;UiiJr,j Citc/iOC. h'c,'.//-,r/.'r. OF BTRDSj FISH^ &C. 285 when dislodged from their cells. Their legs are short and strono^, for the purposes of climbing. Their toes stand two forward, and two back- ward ; which is particularly serviceable in hold- ing by branches of trees. They have hard stiff tails to rest upon when climbing. They feed only upon insects, and want that intestine called by anatomists the caecum ; a circum- stance peculiar to this tribe only. Of this bird there are many kinds, and many varieties in each kind; they are very numerous in the forests of every part of the world. They differ in size, colour, and appearance ; and ao;ree only in the marks above-mentioned, or in those habits which result from so peculiar a conformation. It would be a no less tedious than difficult task to attempt to enter into a general description of the whole of this tribe ; we shall therefore confine our observations to those which stand the most conspicuous amongst them, and to which all the others bear a strong affinity. The green wood-spite, or wood-pecker, is called the rain-fozcl in some parts of the coun- try ; because, when it makes a greater noiss than ordinary, it is supposed to foretel rain. It is about the size of a jay; the throat, breast. '2S6 NATURAL HISTORY breast, and belly, are of a pale greenish colour; and the back, neck, and covert feathers of the wings, are green, the large feathers of the latter being beautifully spotted towards the edges ; the top of the head is of a crimson co- lour, and the tall-feathers alternately marked with dark green and black. The wings are pretty long, measuring eighteen or twenty inches, when extended, from point to point. But the bill and tongue of this little animal are its most distinguished characteristics, and which serve for its support and defence. As already observed, the wood-pecker feeds upon insects, and particularly on those which are lodged in the body of hollow or of rotting trees, in the discovery of which, the extraordinary strength of his bill is of the greatest advantage : tra- versing up and down the trunk of the tree, he keeps striking with his bill, and where the place sounds hollow he stops, and by continued blovv's penetrates a hole in the bark sufficient to receive his bill, which he then thrusts in, and sends forth a loud whistling into the cavity, in order to disengage the insects, and put them into motion : this no sooner happens than he makes use of his tongue, which proves an excellent instrument for procuring this food : it OF BIRDS, FISH, ScC. 287 ' it is round, ending in a stiff, sharp, bony tip, dentated on both sides, like the beard of an arrow; and which he can dart out three or four inches from the bill, and draw in again at pleasure. The prey is thus transfixed, and drawn into the bill, which being swallowed, the dart is again launched at frci^h game. No- thing has employed the attention of the cu- rious in this part of anatomy, more than the contrivance by which the tongue of this bird performs its functions with such great celerity ; and from their observations they find that the tongue is drawn back into the bill by the help of two small round cartilages, fastened into thcbefore-mentioned bony tip, and runningalong the leno^th of the tonocuc. These cartilaqes, from the root of the tongue, take a circuit be- vond the ears : and being; reflected backwards to the crown of the head, make a large bow. The muscular, spongy flesh of the tongue en- closes these cartilages, like a sheath; and is "so made, that it may be extended or contracted like a worm. The cartilages indeed have mus- cles accompanying them along their whole length backwards. But there is still another contrivance ; for there is a broad muscle, join- ing the cartilages to the bones of the skull, which. 288 NATURAL HISTORY which, by contracting or dilating, forced the cartilages forward through the tongue, and then forces the tongue and all through the bill, to be employed for the animal's preservation in piercing its prey. The wood-pecker, as we before observed, discovers, by its natural sagacity, the rotten part of a tree, and this part almost always contains ants eggs and a variety of insects ; to obtain which, it, resting on its strong claws, and leaning on the thick feathers of its tail, begins to bore with its sharp strong beak, until it penetrates pretty largely into the internal habitation. Immediately, either through pleasure at the sight of its prey, or with a de- sire to alarm the insect colony, it sends forth a loud cry, which throws terror and confusion among them; they are put into general motion, endeavouring to provide for their own safety, while the bird luxuriously feasts upon them at leisure, darting its tongue with unerring certainty, and quits not its situ- ation until it has devoured the whole, or satis- fied its appetite. At times, either from a want of supply, or from an inclination to change their food, they ^ill seek out the ant- hills ; and here again they shew a peculiar sa- gacity, OF BIRDS^ FISH, &C. Ogf) gaclly, for as the ants are generally too deep under the earth for them to reach with their tongues, they peck away the top ; which dis- turbing the nest, the ants are put in motion, which the wood-peckers observing, they thrust out their long tongues as far as they are able> and as the ants come upon them, they draw them in with wonderful celerity, and by this means never fail of obtaining a plentiful supply. The wood-pecker not only makes holes in trees to procure his food, but they perforate still larger ones to form its nest^ and even this seem- ingly arduous task they also perform with the bill, although some have affirmed that the ani- mal uses its tongue as a gimblet, to bore with ; but this supposition is evidently founded in er- ror, since in large woods and forests the noise of the bill has, and frequently may be heard, while they are employed in that office. It is, however, certain that they select for this pur- pose trees that are decayed, or wood that is soft, like beech, elm, and poplar. In these, with very little trouble, they make holes as exactly round as a mathematician could with compasses. As they find no great hardship in making these holes, they are very difficult in their choice, and often make twenty before one gives entire VOL. I. P p satis- (lf)i) K.'VTUKAL HISTORY satisfaction ; but- halving once fixed, they never for?ake it until they have brought up their yonng". Except in making the cavity, they are' extremely indolent with- respect to the forma- tion of their nests, not taking^ the trouble tb give therri any kind of lining, but deposit their eggs in the hol which adds to their beauty. The great spotted woodpechcr is not so large' as the green wood-pecker, seldom weighing more than three ounces; the wings when ex- tended beino' about fourteen inches from each extremity; it has a strai2:ht black bill, which -. OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 301 '' try, as already observed, is about the middle ^^ of April (the 17th, according to Mr. Jen- '^ ner, whose observations were made in Glou- ^^ cestershire). The song of the male, which ^^ is well known, soon proclaims its arrival. ^^ The song of the female (if the peculiar ^^ notes of which it is composed may be so ^^ called) is widely different, and has been so '^ little attended to, that perhaps few are ac- '^ quainted with it : the cry of the dab-chick ^^ bears some resemblance to it. '' Unlike the generality of birds, cuckoos ^^ do not pair. When a female appears on the ^^ wing, she is often attended by two or three ^^ males, who seem to be earnestly contending *' for her favours. From the time of her ap- *^ pearance till after the middle of summer, the *' nests of the birds selected to receive her /^ eggs are to be found in great abundance ; " but, like the other migrating birds, she does ^^ not begin to lay till some weeks after her *^ arrival. ^' It is on all hands allowed, that the cuckoo '^ does not hatch its own eggs ; for which " different reasons have been given, as will be ^^ afterwards noticed. The hedge-sparrow, the ^^ water- wagtail, the titlark, the redbreast, the ^^ yellow-hammer, the green-linnet, or the '^ whinchat, is generally the nurse of the young ^' cuckoo. 502 NATURAL HISTORY '^ cuckoo. It may be supposed, that the fe- ^^ male cuckoo lays her eggs* in the absence of *^ the bird in whose nest she intends to deposit; ^^ as it has been known, that on sight of one of '^ these, a redbreast, and its mate, jointly at- ** tacked her on approaching the nest, putting ^^ her to flight, and ho ejTectually drove her " away that she did not dare to return. Among ^^ the birds above-mentioned it generally selects '* the three first, but shews a much greater par- ^' tiality to the hedge-sparrow. This last com- ^^ monly takes up four or five days in laying her ic eggs. During this time (generally after she has '^ laid one or two) the cuckoo contrives to de- ^^ posit her tgg among the rest, leaving the ^' future care of it entirely to the hedge- ^^ sparrow. This intrusion often occasions ^^ some discomposure, for the old hedge-sparrow, '^ whilst she is sitting, not unfrequently throws '^ out some of her own eggs, and sometimes ^^ injures them in such a way that they be- '^ come addle; so that it more frequently ^^ happens that only two or three hedge- ^^ sparrows eggs are hatched with the cuckoo's '^ than otherwise. But whether this be the case or not, she sits the same length of time ce * The cuckoo very seldom lays more than one egg in tlie same place. "as OF IJIRDS5 FISH, &c. 303 ^^ as if no foreign egg had been introduced, *^ the cuckoo's egg requiring no longer in- *^ cubation than her own. ^^ When the hedge-sparrow has sat her usual ^^ time, and disengaged the young cuckoo, and ^^ some of her own offspring, from the shell, '^ her own young ones, and such of the eggs *^ that remain unhatched, are soon turned out, ^^ the young cuckoo remaining possessor of the *^ nest, and sole object of her future care. ^^ The young birds are not previously killed, ^^ nor are the eggs demolished, but all are left ^'^ to perish together, either entangled about the '^ bush which contains the nest, or lying on ^^ the ground under it. '^ The early fate of the young hedge-sparrows ^^ is a circumstance that has been noticed by ^^ others, but attributed to wrong causes. A " variety of conjectures have been formed ^^ upon it. Some have supposed the parent *^^ cuckoo the author of their destruction ; ^^ while others, as erroneously, have pro- ^^ nounced them smothered by the dispropor- ^^ tionate size of their fellow-nestling. Now ^^ the cuckoo's egg being not much larger ^^ than the hedge-sparrow's, it necessarily fol- ^^ lows, that at first there can be no great dif- '^ ference in the size of the birds just burst ^^ from 304 NATURAL HISTORY ^^ from the shell. Of the fallacy of the forilief ^^ assertion also I was some years ago convinced, '^ by having found that many cuckoo eggs were **^ hatched in the nest of other birds after the '' old cuckoo had disappeared ; and by seeing '' the same fate then attend the nestling sparrows '' as during the appearance of old cuckoos in ^^ this country. '* From much attention, and a variety of ex- amples, Mr. Jenner was enabled to ascertain this curious fact relative to the incubation and rearing of the young cuckoo 3 a fact, which, as he acknowledges, is so much out of the ordinary course of nature, that it might reasonably excite a doubt. The smallness of the cuckoo*s c^g^ in pro- portion to the size of the bird, is a circum- stance to be noticed ; its size is generally less than that of the house-sparrow, though the difference in the size of the birds is nearly as five to one. The colour of the cuckoo's egg is also very variable, but often resembling the house-sparrow's. The mode by which the young cuckoo con- trives to eject the native possessor of the nest is highly curious. The little animal, with the assistance of its rump and wings, contrives to get the young sparrow (or other bird) upon its OF Binos, Fisii^ Sec. 305 its back ; and making a lodgment for the bur- then, by elevating its elbows, clambers back- wards with it up the side of the nest till it reaches the top, where resting a moment, it throws off its burthen with a jerk, and quite disengfges it from the nest ; it then remains for a little time in that situation, and feels about with the ex- tremities of its wino-s, to be convinced that the business is properly executed. The number of nestlings destroyed by the cuckoo must undoubtedly be very great ; but though nature permits this waste, yet the ani- mals thus destroyed are not thrown away, or rendered useless. At the season when this hap- pens, great numbers of tender quadrupeds and reptiles are seeking provisions ; and if they find the callow nestlings which have fallen victims to the young cuckoo, they are furnished with food well adapted to their peculiar state. Why the cuckoo should not, like other birds, build a nest, incubate its eggs, and rear its young, is a circumstance that naturalists, ancient or modern, have been unable to re- solve. Mr. Jenner suggests the following as the most plausible reasons : " The short resi- " dencc this bird is allowed to make in the country where it is destined to propagate its VOL. I, R r '^ species. a 506 NATURAL HISTORY €: Species, and the call that nature has upon it^ " during that short residence, to produce a nu- '' merous progeny.'* The growth of the young cuckoo is ex- tremely rapid ; it has a plaintiv'e chirp, which is not learned from its foster-parent ; and it never acquires the adult note during its stay in this country. A fierceness of disposition shews itself long before it leaves the nest; for when irritated, it assumes the manners of a bird of prey, looks ferocious, throws itself back, and pecks with great vehemence at any thing presented to it, often making a chuckling noise like a young hawk. In a state of nature, caterpillars seem to be the chief food of the cuckoo ; but when brought up tame, as is often the case, they w^ill eat bread, milk, fruit, insects, eggs, and flesh ei- ther cooked or raw. When fat, they are said to be good eating. The ancient Romans ad- mired them. Pliny speaks of them as a deli- cacy ; and the French and Italians eat them to this day. Africa is supposed to be the spot whither they migrate, since they are observed to visit the island of Malta twice a year; that is, in their passage backwards and forwards to that part of the Of BIKUS, FISH, bic. 307 the world. The cuckoo is said to be comirion in Sweden^ but to appear a month later than with us. And Russia is not destitute of them, as appears by a specimen brought from Kamt- schatka^ now in the possession of Sir Joseph Banks. 2. The ArnericanuSy or cuckoo of Carolina^ is about the size of a blackbird, the upper mandible of the bill black, the lower yellow ; the large wing feathers are reddish ; the rest of the wing, and all the upper part of the body, head, and neck, are of an ash colour; all the under part of the body, from the bill to the tail, . white ; the tail long and narrow, com- posed of six long and four shorter feathers j the legs short and strong. Their note is very different from the cuckoo of this country, and not so remarkable as to be taken notice of. It is a solitary bird, frequenting the dark recesses of woods and shady thickets. They retire on the approach of winter, S. The htdicatory or honey-guide, is a na- tive of Africa. ' The following description is given of it by Dr. Sparrman in the Philoso- phical Transactions for 1777. ^' This curious *' species of cuckoo is found at a considerable '^ distance h'om the Cape of Good Hope, in ^R r 2 '' the oOS 'NAJI3RAL HISTORY <* the interior parts of Africa, being entirely ^^ unknown at that settlement. The Dutch '' settlers thereabouts have given this bird the " name of ' honey guide/ from its quality of *• discovering wild honey to travellers. Its co- ^^ lour has nothino- strikin,ir or beautiful. Its ^^ size is considerably smaller than that of our '^ cuckoo in Europe ; but, in return, the in- *^ stinct which prompts it to seek its food in a '^ singular manner is truly admirable. Not ^^ only the Dutch and Hottentots, but likewise ^^ a species of quadruped, named ratel (pioba- '' bly a new species of badger), are frequently ^•' conducted to wild bee-hives by this bird, '^ w^hich, as it were, pilots them to the very *^ spot. The honey being its favourite food, *^ its own interest prompts it to be instrumental ^^ in robbing the hive, as some scraps are com- ^' monly left for its support, The morning and ^^ evening are its time of feeding, and it is then ^' heard calling in a shrill tone, cherry charr; '^ which the honey-hunters carefully attend to *''as the summons to the chace. From time to ^' time they answer with a soft whistle; which ^^ the bird hearirig, always continues its note. '' As soon as they are in sight of each other, f' the bird gradually flutters towards the place ^^ wherf; OF BIRDS, FISH, 8cC. SOO where the hive is situated, continually re- peating its former call of cherr, cherr ; nay, if it should happen to have g^^ned a consi- derable way before the men, it returns to them again, and redoubles its note, as it were to reproach them with their inactivity. At last the bird is observed for a few moments to hover over a certain spot, and then silently retiring to a neighbourmg hush or resting place, the hunters are sure of findiii^ithe bees' nest in that identical spot ; wh nher it be in a tree, or the crevice of a rock, or, as is most 'commonly the ca?'., in the earth. Whilst the hunterj are busy in taking the honey, the bird is seen looking on attentively to what is going forward, and waiting for its share of the spoil. The bee-hunters never fail to leave a small portion for their con- ductor, hue commonly take care noi to leave so much as would satisfy its hunger. The bird's appetite being whetted by this parsi- mony, it is obliged to commit a second trea- son, by discovering another bees' nest, in hopes of a better salary. It is further ob- served, that the nearer the bird approaches the hidden hive, the more frequently it re- ^^ peats 510 NATURAL HISTORY : once cau2;h4: the first sound, and being able to repeat the first word, they after wards learn with great facility, and repeat with good articulation. It is remarked by Goldsmith, that ^* In go- " iog through the towns of France some time ^'' since, I could not help observing how much ^^ plainer their parrots spoke than ours, and '^ how very distinctly I understood their par- '^ rots speak French, when I could not always ^^ understand our own, though they spoke my ^^ native language. I was at first for ascribing " it to the diilerent qualities of the two lan- '^ guages, and was for entering into an elaborate *^ discussion on the vowels and consonants ; but ^^ a friend that was with me solved the difficiulty " at once, by assuring me that the French wo- ^^ men scarcely did any thing else the whole day *^ than sit and instruct their feathered pupils; and ^^ that the birds were thus distinct in their les- ^^ sons in consequence of continual schooling.*' But hovvcver expert the parrots of France may be, they are very inferior to those of the Brasils^ where the education of a parrot is con- sidered OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 321 sidered as a very serious affair. Clusius assures us that the parrots of that country are the more sensible and cunning of all animals that are not endued with reason; particularly the great parrot, called the aicurotis, the head of which is adorned with yellow, red, and violet, the body green, the end of the wings red, and the feathers of the tail long and yellow. This bird, he as- serts, (which is seldom brought into Europe) is a prodigy of understanding, and as an inllance gives the following account : ^^ A certain Bra- " silian woman, that lived in a village two miles '^ distant from the island on which we resided, had '^ a parrot of this kind which was the wonder of ^' the place. It seemed endued with such un- ^^ derstanding, as to discern and comprehend '^ whatever she said to it. As we sometimes '^ used to pass by that woman's house, she used *^ to call upon us to stop, promising, if we gave *^ her a comb, or a looking-glass, that she would '^ make her parrot sing and dance to entertain ^' us. If we agreed to her request, as soon as ^' she had pronounced some words to the bird, *' it began not only to leap and skip on the ^^ perch on which it stood, but also to talk '^ and to whistle, and to imitate the shoutings " and exclamations of the Brasilians when they VOL. I. T t *' prepare 322 NATURAL HISTORY ^^ prepare for battle. In brief, when it came " into the woman's head to bid it sing, it sang; " to dance, it danced. But if, contrary to our *^ promise, we refused to give the woman the ^^ little present agreed on, the parrot seemed to '^ sympathize in her resentment, and v/as silent *^ and immoveable ; neither could we, by any *' means, provoke it to move either foot or ^* tongue." It is not only in a domestic state that par- rots shew their sagacity, for in their native residence among the woods they sufficiently shew that cunning is natuial to them. There they live together in flocks, and mutually assist each other against their enemies, either by their courage or notes of warning. They generally breed in hollow trees, where they make a round hole, but take no trouble to line their nests. If they find any part of a tree beginning to rot from the breaking off of a branch, or any such accident, this they take care to scoop, and to make the hole sufficiently wide and convenient ; but they frequently content them- selves with the hole which a woodpecker has wrou£^ht, and then forsaken, because not perfectly agreeable to its mind. In this kind of nest the common parrot generally lays two. OF BIRDS, FISH, SCC. 323 two, or at most three, eggs, which are like those of the pigeon, and about the same size. They are always marked with little specks, like those of a partridge. It is, how- ever, to be observed, that the smaller kinds sometime lay four or five ; but this only tends to strengthen the remark we have had frequent occasion to make, namely, that the smaller the animal, the more prolific it is. Some travellers assure us, that their nests are always found in the trunks of the tallest, the straightest, and the larg- est trees ; and that the natives of those countries, who have little else to do, are very assiduous in watching out the places where the parrot is seen to nestle, because those birds have always the greatest docility that are taken young from the nest, aAd are therefore the most esteemed by Europeans. From constant observation they are enabled to judge pretty nearly when the young ones are about to fly ; and their usual method to come at the nest, is by cutting down the tree. In the fall of the tree it often happens that the young parrots are killed ; but if one of them survive the shock, the natives consider that as a sufficient recompence for their trouble. But as the natives are not able at all times to sup])ly the demand for young ones, they are T t 2 then 3£4 NATURAL HISTORY then contented to take the old ; and for that purpose shoot them in the woods with arrows^ headed with cotton, which knocks down the bird without killing it. This mode, however, is not always equally successful, as notwith- standing all their care, many of theili die of the blow they have received. But even this is not entirely a disappointment, for the savage takes them home as provision for his family ; and it is also to be observed, that though some of them are but tough and ill-tasted, yet there are others, particularly of the small paroquet tribe, that are very delicate food. In general it follows, that whatever fruit or grain these birds mostly feed upon, their flesh partakes of the flavour, and becomes good or ill tasted, ac- cording to the quality of their particular diet. When the guava is ripe, they are at that sea- son fat and tender ; if they feed upon the seed of the acajou, their flesh contracts a flavour of garlic ; if they feed upon the seed of the spicy trees, their flesh then tastes of cloves and cin- namon; while, on the contrary, it is insupport- ably bitter if the berries they feed on are of that quality. The seed of the cotton-tree in- toxicates them in the same manner as wine does man : even wine itself is drunk by parrots; and Aristotle OF BIRDS^ FISH, &C. 325 Aristotle maintains^ that by a supply of wine they are rendered more talkative and amusing. But of all food, they arc fondest of the cartha- mus, or bastard saffron ; which, though strongly purgative to man, agrees perfectly with their constitution, and fattens them in a very short time. According to Labat, the paroquets of Brasil are the most beautiful in their plumage, and the most talkative. He says they are very tame, and appear fond of man ; that they seem pleased when holding parley with him^ for while he continues to talk they answer him, and appear resolved to have the last word ; but they are possessed of another quality which is sufficient to prevent this association ; thai is, their flesh is exceeding- ly delicate, and highly esteemed. For the purpose of supplying the table, they are greatly sought after ; and the practice is to shoot them as we do game in this country. They are very numerous in the woods, whither the sports- men pursue them ; but as they are green, and exactly the colour of the leaves among which they sit, he only hears their prattle, without being able to see a single bird ; he looks round him, sensible that his game is within gun-shot in abundance, but is mortified to the last degree 326 NATURAL HISTORY degree that it is impossible to see them. Un- fortunately for these little animals, they are rest- less and ever on the wing, so that in flymg from one tree to another he has but too frequent opportunities of destroying them. Besides this restlessness, it is a common practice with them, as soon as they have stripped the tree, on which they sit, of all its berries, for one of them to fly off to another, and, if that be found fit for the purpose, it gives a loud call, upon which all the rest immediately follow. Tliis is the only fair opportunity the sports- man has to look for, and of which he seldom fails to take advantage : aware of the call, he is prepared v/hen they take wing, and, by firing among the flock, generally gets pretty amply rewarded for that exercise of his patience, which the sport renders absolutely necessary. The survivors, instead of taking flight at the report of the gun, rather take part with their fallen companions, set up a loud screaming against their destroyer, and which they do not relinquish, until they observe him prepared with a second charge, when self preservation becomes requisite. Notwithstanding there are so many motives for destroying these beautiful birds, they are in very great plenty, and, in some countries on the coast OF BIRDS, FISH, &.C. 527 coast of Guinea, are considered by the ne- groes as their greatest tormentors. The flocks of parrots persecute them with their unceasing screaming, and devour whatever fruits they at- tempt to produce by cultivation in their little gardens. In other places they are not so de- structive, though equally common; indeed, there is scarcely a country of the tropical cli- mates that has not many of the common kinds, as well as some peculiarly its own. Travellers have counted more than a hundred different kinds on the continent of Africa only; there is one country in particular, north of the Cape of Good Hope, which takes its name from the multitude of parrots that are seen in its woods. There are white parrots seen in the burning re- gions of Ethiopia; in the Eaft Indies, they are of the largest size ; in South America, they are docile and talkative ; in all the islands of the Pacific Sea and the Indian Ocean, they swarm in great variety and abundance, and add to the splendor of those ever verdant forests*. So general are these birds at present, and so great is their variety, that nothing seems more extraordinary than that one sort only of them * In the Molucca islands, says Labillardiere, rol. ii, p. 301, the inhabitants brought us a great number of paro- quets SQ.8 NATURAL IlISiORy them should have been known to the Romans, and that at a time when they pretended to be masters of the world. The green paroquet^ with a red neck, was the first of the kind that was brought into Europe, and the only one that was known to the ancients, from the time of Alexander the Great to the Age of Nero. This was brought from India ; and when, after- wards, the Romans began to seek and hunt through all their dominions for new and un- heard of luxuries, they at last found out several other parrots in Gaganda, an island of Ethiopia, and which they considered as an extraordinary discovery. Besides the disorders usual with other birds, parrots have two, peculiar to their kind. They are sometimes struck by a kind of apoplectic blow, by which they fall from their perches, and for a while seem ready to expire. The other is the growing of the beak, which be- comes so very much hooked as to deprive them quets of the species called psittacus Alexandri: and at p. 297, vol. ii, the same traveller adds: " the birds, parti- cularly the paroquets, are so multiplied on this island (Borrow, one of the Moluccas), that it is very probable its * name is hence derived; as, in the Malay language, it signifies hirdj^ of or BIRDS/ FISH, 8cc. ' 329 of the power of eating. These infirmities, however, do not hinder them from being long- Hved, for a parrot, well kept, will live five or six and twenty years. We shall not pretend to trace the whole of this tribe, nor to mark their differences, yet we deem it necessary to point oat some of their leading traits, and are of opinion, that, by de- scribing the principals, we shall give a tolerable correct idea of the several branches of this ex- tensive family. Firft, then, stands The maccaw, which is by far the largest of the parrot kind, being as big as a full -sized capon; they are found chiefly in the Weft- Indies, and where, notwithstanding they are plenty, they are held in great estimation. They have a very crooked bill, almoft in the form of a semicircle, which is full three inches long, and of a light ash colour j they have short thick legs, of a dufky colour, with long toes and black talons ; their heads, necks, breasts^ and the under parts of their bodies, but par- ticularly their tails, are of a fine scarlet, and the reft of their bodies of a beautiful and rich blue. The common parrot may be said to com- prehend two kinds, namely, the grey and the VOL. I. U u green ; 330 iNATLRAL HISTORY green ; the jfirll of which is by much the largest. The general characteristics of the grey parrot is the having a strong black bill, very much hooked ; (as is the case with the whole of this race) its body is of a grey, or lead colour, rather shaded with white about the head ; and frequently reddish feathers in their wings and tails. The green parrot, as the appellation implies, is mostly of that co- lour, though some are much darker than others : its head is generally shaded with a bright yellow^ very frequently approaching to a gold colour ; some of them also have scatlct feathers upon their tails and wings ; others blue, and many have both; but thfese trifling variations are so exceedingly numerous, that it would be no less prolix than unnecessary to dwell upon them. The lory. The itiost beautiful of this spe- cies is that brought frOin the JBrasils, arid which is pretty nearly the size of a common parrot. It has a fine bright blue tuft of feathers growing on the top of the head ; the rest of the head and the neck, and the upper part of the back, are scarlet, with a fine ring of yellow encir- cling the neck ; the covert feathers of the wings are a fine green, intennixed with yellow, and //n^ _ '/j//7C^ ( 'yrVj^yy^rO t:^/ie'.^/^?r^y (?y^/A^ f^7f>///n' t>^ t^A^Jtn^^. Pn2>7L'7teJ hv U. JJ. J'\'nii'nJj- ./imr i.jSt't' . OF lilRDS, FISH, StC. 331 and the quill-feathers of a bright bkie ; the rest of the body is of a pale red, and the tail-fea- thers generally ending with purple. The paroquet: the most eminent of these is the one which is a native of Bengal : it is considerably less than the common parrot : the upper part of the bill is yellow, and the lower part black. The back part of the head of a palish red, shaded with purple; the throat is of a dark colour, with a small black circle running round the lower part of the neck ; the belly, breast, and thighs, are of a pale yel- lowish colour, shaded with green ; the wings> the back, and upper side of the tail, are of a beautiful grass green : the tail is composed of but few feathers, those in the middle being the longest; under the side it is of a pale, yel- low ; the legs ash-coloured. This bird by the natives of Bengal is called Fridatutah. Mr. Walker, in his Memoirs of the Royal Society, ha^ observed with relation to \ht paro- quet, which he had the curiosity to dissect, that it has, besides the gizzard, two craws, the upper- most being only a receptacle or sack for the food, which is canary seed, to be again returned to the mouth, where it is re-chewed, having be- fore been only hulked, this animal ruminating as some 532 NATURAL HISTORY, £CC. some quadrupeds do ; and he says, he observed it, when upon the perch, not only bring up its food again into its mouth, and there chew it, but when the cock and- hen sit together on the perch, he would put the food out of his own mouth into the hen's. Their manner of chew- ing is thus : the under bill being shorter, shuts within the upper, or against the roof of the mouth, which is ^fitted with several rows of very small cross-bars as the mouths of horses, dogs, and some other animals are ; these bars are not soft, but horny, as being part of the upper bill; so that the bird, by carrying the edge of the under bill^ and end of the tongue, against the ridges in the upper, breaks and re-' duces to a pap the seeds that have been first moistened in the craw, to expedite which ac- tions, the upper bill is joined just below the eyes ; the food behig thus macerated, is by the gi{la again committed to the second craw ; hence the food passes into the gizzard, or pro- per ventricle, where by the motion of the giz- zard it is comminuted, and thence transmitted to the intestines, on the sides of which, within at small distance, is placed the pancreas. , £ND OF THE FIRST VOLUME. "U -- ^S^(t J' THIS BOOK may be kept out ^ TWO WEEKS AND IS SUBJECT TO A FINE OF FIVE CENTS A DAY THEREAFTER. IT WAS TAKEN OUT ON THE DAY INDICATED BELOW. fiH^isM ^ 9 ^ ^X W' » >^,.< \'-a: -'^'., ^ $9irT^'iii /Scalt. •A 'V'^^