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A HISTORY 0FT:HE EARTH AND ANIMATED NATURE.
BY OLIVER GOLDSMITH.
WITH COPIOUS NOTES;
^ntJ an ^ppcntt-r,
CONTAINING EXPIANATIONS OF TECHNICAI. TEHMS, AND AN OL'TLINE OF THE CU\IERIAN AND OTHER SYSTEMS,
BY
CAPTAIN THOMAS BROWN,
F.L.S., M.W.S., M.K.S.
VOL, III— PART I.
A. FULLARTON AND CO., EDINBURGH, GLASGOW, AND LONDON.
1840.
GLASGOW:
FUI.LARTON AM) CO, I-KIMEUS, VILLAPIULD.
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MD'CrcssSTlIEL
HISTORY OF THE EARTH
AND
ANIMATED NATURE.
By OLIVER GOLDSMITH. WITH COPIOUS NOTES,
EMBRACING ACCOUNTS OF NEW DISCOVERIES IN NATURAL IllSTOUY. TO WHICH IS 3UUJ0INRU
AN APPENDIX, .
CONTAINING EXPLANATIONS OF TECHNICAL TERMS, AND AN OUTLINE OF THE CUVIERIAN AND OTHER SYSTEMS.
BY
CAPTAIN THOMAS BROWN, F.L.S. M.W.S. M.K.S.
PRFSIDENT OF THE ROYAL PHYSICAL SOCIETY.
AUTHOR OP BIOUHAPHICAl- SKETCHES AND AUTHENTIC ANECDOTES
OP DDOS AND HORSES*
VOL, III.
GLASGOW:
A. FULLARTON & CO., 110, BRUNSWICK STREET; AND 6, ROXBURGH PLACE, EDINBURGH.
MDCCCXL.
GKAS(!OW: ClLLAinoN «NUCO., PHl.VTERS, VILLAFIKI I>.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME THIRD-
A HISTORY OF BIRDS.
BOOK I.— OF BIllDS IN GENERAL.
Chap. I Introduction, 1.
Chap. II. — Of the Generation, Nestling, and Incubation of
Birds, 11. Chap. III. — Of the Division of Birds, 25. Chap. IV.— The Ostrich, 29. Chap. V. —The Emu, 37.
Chap. VI The Cassowary, 39.
Chap. VII.— The Dodo, 43.
BOOK II. — OF RAPACIOUS BIRDS.
Chap. I. — Of Rapacious Birds in general, 4j. Chap. II. — The Eagle, and its affinities, 53. Chap. III. — The Condor of America, 62. Chap. IV.— Of the Vulture, and its affinities, 70. Chap. V. — Of the Falcon Kind, and its affinities, 77.
Chap. VI The Butcher Bird, 89.
Chap. VII. — Of Rapacious Birds of the Owl Kind, that prev by night, 9a
BOOK m.— OF BIRDS OF THE POULTRY KIND.
Chap. I — Of Birds of the Poultry Kind in general, 10k
Chap. II Of the Cock, 107.
Chap. III.— Of the Peacock, 114.
Chap. IV.— The Turkey, US.
Chap. V.— The Pheasant, 123.
Chap. VI.— The Pintado, or Guinea-Hen, 129.
Chap. VII.— The Bustard, 131.
Chap. VIII. — The Grouse, and its affinities, 134.
JV CONTENTS.
Chap. IX. — Of the Partridge, and its varieties, \i2. Chap. X.— The Quail, lid.
EOOIC IV. — OF BIllDS OF THE PIE KIND.
Chap. I Of Birds of the Pie Kind, 148.
Chap. II Of the Raven, the Crow, and their affinities, 150.
Chap. III. — Of the Magpie, and its affinities, 1G2. Chap. IV. — Of the Woodpecker, and its affinities, 173. Chap, V. — Of the Bird of Paradise, and its varieties, 186. Chap. VI. — The Cuckoo, and its varieties, 190. Chap. VII. — Of the Parrot, and its affinities, 19o. Chap. VIII. — The Pigeon, and its varieties, 206.
BOOK V. — OF BIRDS OF THE SPARROW KIND.
Chap. I.— Of Birds of the Sparrow Kind, 218.
Chap. II.— Of the Thrush, and its affinities, 234.
Chap. III. — Of the Nightingale, and other soft-billed Song- Birds, 246.
Chap. IV Of the Canary- Bird, and other hard-billed Sing- ing Birds, 2G9.
Chap. V. — Of the Swallow, and its affinities, 275.
Chap. VI. — The Humming Bird, and its varieties, 296.
BOOK VI. — OF BIRDS OF THE CRANE KIND.
Chap. I. — Of Birds of the Crane Kind in general, 301.
Chap. II.— The Crane, 304. C HAP. III.— The Stork, 310. Chap. IV. — Of the Balearic, and other foreign Cranes, 316.
Chap. V. — Of the Heron, and its varieties, 323.
Chap. VI.— Of the Bittern, or Mire-drum, 331.
Chap. VII Of the Spoonbill, or Shoveler, 33.3.
Chap. VIII.— The Flamingo, 336.
Chap. IX. — The Avosetta, or Scooper; and the Corrira, oi Runner, 341.
Chap. X. — Small Birds of the Crane Kind, with the thighs paitly bare of feathers, .342.
Chap. XI — Of the Water- Hen, and the Coot, 358.
CONTENTS.
BOOK VII. OK WATliR-rOWI..
Chap. I. —Water- Fowl in general, 362.
Chap. II.— The Pelican, 365.
CiiAP. III.— Of the Albatross, the first of the Gull Kind,
370. Chap. IV.— The Cormorant, 373. Chap. V.— Of the Gannet, or Soland Goose, 379. Chap. VI.— Of the smaller Gulls, and Petrels, 381. Chap. VII. — Of the Penguin Kind : and first, of the great
Magellanic Penguin, 391. Chap. VIII.— Of the Auk, Puffin, and other Birds of the
Penguin Kind, 397. Chap. IX. — Of Birds of the Goose Kind, properly so called,
403. Chap. X. — Of the Swan, tame and wild, 406. Chap. XI. — Of the Goose, and its varieties, 413. Chap. XII. — Of the Duck, and its varieties, 420. Chap. XIII.— Of the King-Fisher, 431.
A HISTORY OF FISHES.
BOOK I. — OF FISHES IN GENERAL.
Chap. I. — Introduction, 440.
Chap. II. — Of Cetaceous Fishes in general, 457.
Chap. III. — Of the Whale, properly so called, and its varieties,
461. Chap. IV. — Of the Narwhal, 476. Chap. V — Of the Cachalot, and its varieties, 479. Chap. VI. — Of the Dolphin, the Grampus, and the Porpoise,
with their varieties, 482.
BOOK II. — OF CARTILAGINOUS FISHES.
Chap. I. — Of Cartilaginous Fishes in general, 487.
Chap. II.— Of Cartilaginous Fishes of the Shark Kind, 490.
VI CONTENTS.
Chap. Ill — Of Cartilaginous Flat Fish, or the Ray KiiiJ, 4.1)8.
Chap. IV Of the Lamprey, and its affinities, 510.
Chap. V. — Of the Sturgeon, and its varieties, 313. Chap. VI Ot Anomalous Cartilaginous Fishes, 318.
BOOK III. — OF spinous FISHES.
Chap. I. — The division of Spinous Fishes, 327. Sect. I.
Prickly-finned Fishes, 330. Sect. II. Soft-finned
Fishes, 336. Chap. II. — Of Spinous Fishes in general, 343.
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HISTORY OF BIRDS.
BOOK I.
OF BIRDS IN GENERAL.
CHAP. I.
INTRODUCTION.
We are now come to a beautiful and loquacious race of animals, that embellish our forests, amuse our walks, and exclude soli- tude from our most shady retirements. P\'om these man has nothing to fear ; their pleasures, their desires, and even their animosities, only serve to enliven the general picture of nature, and give harmony to meditation.
No part of nature appears destitute of inhabitants. The woods, the waters, the depths of the earth, have their respective tenants -, while the yielding air, and those tracts of seeming space where man never can ascend, are also passed through by multi- tudes of the most beautiful beings of the creation.
Every order and rank of animals seems fitted for its situation in life •, but none more apparently than birds ; they share, in common with the stronger race of quadrupeds, the vegetable spoils of the earth ; are supplied with swiftness, to compensate for their want of force ; and have a faculty of ascending into the air, to avoid that power which they cannot oppose.
The bird seems formed entirely for a life of escape ; and eveiy part of the anatomy of the animal seems calculated for swiftness. As it is designed to rise upon air, all its parts are proportionably light, and expand a large surface without solidity.
In a comparative view with man, their formation seems mucli
III. A
^ HISTORY OF
rud«^r and more imperfect ; and they are in general found inca- jiable of the docility even of quadrupeds. Indeed, what de- gree of sagacity can be expected in animals whose eyes are al- most as large as their brain ? However, though they fall below quadrupeds in the scale of nature, and are less imitative of hu- man endowments ; yet they hold the next rank, and far surpass ?.shes and insects, both in the structure of their bodies and in their sagacity.
As in mechanics the most curious instruments are generally the most complicated, so it is in anatomy. The body of man presents the greatest variety upon dissection ; quadrupeds, less perfectly formed, discover their defects in the simplicity of their conformation; the mechanism of birds is still less complex; fishes are furnished with fewer organs still ; whilst insects, more imperfect than all, seem to fill up the chasm that separates ani- mal from vegetable nature. Of man, the most perfect animal, there are but three or four species ; of quadrupeds, the kinds are more numerous ; birds are more various still ; fishes yet more ; but insects afford so very great a variety, that they elude the search of the most inquisitive pursuer.
Quadrupeds, as was said, have some distant resemblance in their internal structure with man ; but that of birds is entirely dissimilar. As they seem chiefly formed to inhabit the empty regions of air, all their parts are adapted to their destined situa- tion. It will be proper, therefore, before I give a general his- tory of birds, to enter into a slight detail of their anatomy and conformation.
As to their external parts, they seem surprisingly adapted for swiftness of motion. The shape of their body is sharp before, to pierce and make way through the air ; it then rises by a gen- tle swelling to its bulk, and falls off in an expansive tail, that helps to keep it bouyant, while the fore-parts are cleaving the air by their sharpness. From this conformation, they have often been compared to a ship making its way through water ; the trunk of the body answers to the hold, the head to the prow, the jtail to the rudder, and the wings to the oars ; from whence the poets have adopted the metaphor of remigium alarum, when they described the wavy motion of a bird in flight.
AVhat we are called upon next to admire in the external for- mation of birds is the neat position of the feathers, lying all one
BIRDS. a
way, r.nsweriiig at once the purposes of warmtli, speed, iuul se- curity. They mostly tend backward, and are hiid over one ano- ther in an exact and regular order, armed with warm and soft down next the body, and more strongly fortified, and curiously closed externally, to fence off the injuries of the weather. But, lest the feathers should spoil by their violent attrition against the air, or imbibe the moisture of the atmosphere, the animal is furnish- ed with a gland behind, containing a proper quantity of oil, which can be pressed out by the bird's bill, and laid smoothly over every feather that wants to be dressed for the occasion. This gland is situated on the rump, and furnished with an opening or excretory duct; about which grows a small tuft of feathers somewhat like a painter's pencil. When therefore, the feathers are shattered or rumpled, the bird, turning its head backwards, with the bill catches hold of the gland, and, pressing it, forces out the oily substance, with which it anoints the disjoined parts of the feathers ; and drawing them out with great assiduity, re- composes and places them in due order ; by which they unite more closely together. Such poultry, however, as live for the most part under cover, are not furnished with so large a stock of this fluid, as those birds that reside in the open air. The fea- thers of a hen, for instance, are pervious to every shower ; on the contrary, swans, geese, ducks, and all such as Nature has directed to live upon the water, have their feathers dressed with oil from the very first day of their leaving the shell. Thus their stock of liuid is equal to the necessity of its consumption. Their very flesh contracts a flavour from it, which renders it in some so very rancid, as to make it utterly unfit for food ; how- ever, though it injures the flesh, it improves the feathers for all the domestic purposes to which they are usually converted.
Nor are the feathers with which birds are covered less an ob- ject of admiration. The shaft of every feather is made propor- tionably strong ; but hollow below for strength and lightness, and above filled with a pith to feed the growth of the vane ot beard that springs from the shaft of the feather on either side. All the feathers are placed generally according to their length and strength, so that the largest and strongest feathers in flight have the greatest share of duty. The vane or beard of the feather is formed with equal contrivance and care. It consists not of one continued membrane ; because, if this were broken.
i HISTORY OF
it could not easily be repaired; but it is composed of mauj layers, each somewhat in itself resembling a feather, and lying against each other in close conjunction. Towards the shaft of the feather, these layers are broad, and of a semicircular form, to serve for strength, and for the closer grafting them one against the other when in action. Towards the outer part of the vane, these layers grow slender and taper, to be more light. On their under-side they are thin and smooth, but their upper outer-edge is parted into two hairy edges, each side having a diiferent sort of hairs, broad at bottom, and slender and bearded above. By this mechanism, the hooked beards of one layer always lie next the straight beards of the next, and by that means lock and hold each other.
The next object that comes under consideration, in contem- plating an animal that flies, is the wing, the instrument by which this wonderful progression is performed. In such birds that fly, they are usually placed at that part of the body which serves to poise the whole, and support it in a fluid that at first seems so much lighter than itself. They answer to the fore-legs in quad- rupeds, and at the extremity of this they have a certain finger- like appendix, which is usually called the bastard-wing. This instrument of flight is furnished with quills, which differ from the common feathers only in their size being larger, and also from their springing from the deeper part of the skin, their shafts lying almost close to the bone. The beards of these quills are broad on one side and more narrow on the other, both which contribute to the progressive motion of the bird, and the close- ness of the wing. The manner in which most birds avail them- selves of these, is first thus : they quit the earth with a bound, in order to have room for flapping with the wing ; when they have room for this, they strike the body of air beneath the wing with a violent motion, and with the whole under surface of the same •, but then to avoid striking the air with equal violence on the upper side as they rise, the wing is instantly contracted ; so that the animal rises by the impulse, till it spreads the wing for a second blow. For this reason we always see the birds choose to rise against the wind, because they have thus a greater body of air on the under than the upper side of the wing. For these reasons also large fowls do not rise easily ; both because they have not suflicient room at first for the motion of their wings,
niRDS. o
and because the body of air does not lie so directly under the wing as they rise.
In order to move the wings, all birds are furnished with two very strong pectoral muscles, which lie on each side of the breast- bone. The pectoral muscles of quadrupeds, aretriding in com- parison to those of birds. In quadrupeds, as well as in man^ the muscles which move the thighs and hinder parts of the body ai« by far the strongest, while those of the arms are feeble : but in birds, which make use of their wings, the contrary obtains ; the pectoral muscles, that move the wings or arms, are of enor- mous strength, while those of the thighs are weak and slender. By means of these, a bird can move its wings with a degree of strength, which, when compared to the animal's size, is almost incredible. The flap of a swan's wing would break a man's leg ; and a similar blow from an eagle has been known to lay a man dead in an instant. Such, consequently, is the force of the wing, and such its lightness, as to be inimitable by art. No machines, that human skill can contrive, are capable of giving such force to so light an apparatus. The art of flying, there- fore, that has so often and so fruitlessly been sought after, must. It is feared, for ever be unattainable ; since as man increases the force of his flying machine, he must be obliged to increase its weight also.
In all birds, except nocturnal ones, the head is smaller, and bears less proportion to the body than in quadrupeds, that it may more readily divide the air in flying, and make way for the body, so as to render its passage more easy. Their eyes also are more flat and depressed than in quadrupeds ; a circle of iimall plates of bone, placed scalewise, under the outer coat of the organ, encompasses the pupil on each, to strengthen and de- fend it from injuries. Besides this, birds have a kind of skin, "ailed the nictitating membrane, with which, like a vail, they can at pleasure cover their eyes, though their eye-lids continue open. This membrane takes its rise from the greater or more obtuse corner of the eye, and serves to wipe, cleanse, and pro- bably to moisten its surface. The eyes, though they outwardly appear but small, yet separately, each almost equals the brain ; whereas in man the brain is more than twenty times larger than the orbit of the eye. Nor is this organ in birds less adapt- ed for vision 1)y a particular expansion of the optic nerve, which
a3
D H13TOUY OF
renders the impressions of external objects more vivid and dis- tiiict.
From this conformation of the eye it follows, that the sense of seeing in birds, is infijiitely superior to that of other animals. Indeed this piercing sight seems necessary to the creature's sup- port and safety. Were this organ blunter, from the rapidity oi the bird's motion, it would be apt to strike against every object in its way ; and it could scarcely find subsistence unless pos- sessed of a power to discern its food from above with astonish- ing sagacity. A hawk for instance, perceives a lark at a dis- tance, which neither men nor dogs could spy ; a kite from an almost imperceptible height in the clouds, darts down on its prey with the most unerring aim. The sight of birds, therefore, exceeds what we know in most other animals, and excels them both in strength and precision.
All birds want the external ear standing out from the head ; they are only furnished with holes that convey sounds to the auditory canal. It is true, indeed, that the horned owl, and one or two more birds, seem to have external ears ; but what bears that resemblance are only feathers sticking out on each side of the head, but no way necessary to the sense of hearing. It is probable, however, that the feathers encompassing the ear-holes in birds supply the defect of the exterior ear, and collect sounds to be transmitted to the internal sensory. The extreme deli- cacy of this organ is easily proved by the readiness with which birds learn tunes, or repeat words, and the great exactness of their pronunciation.
The sense of smelling seems not less vivid in the generality of birds. Many of them wind their prey at an immense distance, while others are ccjually protected by this sense against their in- sidious pursuers. In decoys where ducks are caught, the men who attend them universally keep a piece of turf burning near their mouths, upon which they breathe, lest the fowl should smell them, and consequently fly away. The universality of this practice puts the necessity of it beyond a doubt, and proves the extreme delicacy of the sense of smelUng, at least in this spe- cies of the feathered creation.
Next to the parts for flight, let us view the legs and feet min- istering to motion. They are both made light, for the easier transportation through the iiir. The toes in some are webbed
itiuns. 7
to fit them for tlie waters ; iti others they are separate, for the better holding objects, or clinging to trees for safety. Such as have long legs have also long necks, as otherwise they would be incapable of gathering up their food either by land or water. But it does not hold, however, that those who have long necks ehotild have long legs, since we see that swans and geese, whose necks are extremely long, have very short legs, and these chiefly employed in swimming.
Thus every external part, hitherto noticed, appears adapted to the life and situation of the animal ; nor are the inward parts, though less immediately appropriated to Hight, less necessary to safety. The bones of every part of the body are extremely light and thin ; and all the muscles, except that immediately moving the wings, extremely slight and feeble. The tail, which is composed of quill feathers, serves to counterbalance the head and neck ; it guides the animal's flight like a rudder, and greatly assists it either in its ascent or when descending.
If we go on to examine birds internally, we shall find the same wonderful conformation fitting them for a life in air, and increas- ing the surface by diminishing the solidity. In the first place, their lungs, which are commonly called the sole, stick fast to the sides of the ribs and back, and can be very little dilated or contracted. But to make up for this, which might impede tlieir breathing, the ends of the branches of the windpipe open into them, while these have openings into the cavity of the belly, atid convey the aii- drawn in by breathing into certain receptacles like bladders, running along the length of the whole body. Nor are these openings obscure, or diflicult to be discerned ; for a probe thrust into the lungs of a fowl will easily find a passage into the belly ; and air blown into the windpipe will be seen to dis- tend the animal's body like a bladder. In quadrupeds this pas- sage is stopped by the midriff; but in fowls the communication is obvious ; and consequently, they have a much greater facility of taking a long and large inspiration. It is sometimes also seen that the windpipe makes many convolutions within the body of a bird, and it is then called the labyrinth ,- but of what use these convolutions are, or why the windpipe should make so many turnings within the body of some birds, is a difficulty for which no naturalist has been able to account.
This diiference of the windpii)c often obtains in animals that.
8 IIISIORY OF
to all appearance, aie of the same species. Thus in the tame swan, the windpipe makes but a straight passage into the lungs ; while in the wild swan, which to all external appearance seems the same animal, the windpipe pierces through the breast-bone, and there has several turnings before it comes out again, and goes to enter the lungs. It is not to form the voice that these turnings are found, since the fowls that are without them are vocal ; and those, particularly the bird just now mentioned, that have them, are silent. Whence, therefore, some birds derive that loud and various modulation in their warblings, is not easily to be accounted for ; at least the knife of the anatomist goes but a short way in the investigation. All we are certain of is, that birds have much louder voices, in respect to their bulk, than ani- mals of any other kind ; for the bellowing of an ox is not louder than the scream of a peacock.
In these particulars, birds pretty much resemble each other in their internal conformation ; but there are some varieties which we should more attentively observe. All birds have, pro- perly speaking, but one stomach ; but this is very different in different kinds. In all the rapacious kinds that live upon animal food, as well as in some of the fish-feeding tribe, the stomach is peculiarly formed. The oesophagus, or gullet, in them, is found replete with glandulous bodies, which serve to dilate and macerate the food, as it passes into the stomach, which is always very large in proportion to the size of the bird, and generally wrapped round with fat, in order to increase its v/armth and powers of digestion.
Granivorous birds, or such as live upon fruits, corn, and other vegetables, have their intestines differently formed from those of the rapacious kind. Their gullet dilates just above the breast bone, and forms itself into a pouch or bag, called the crop. This is replete with salivary glands, which serve to moisten and soften the grain and other food which it contains. These glands are very numerous, with longitudinal openings, which emit a whitish and a viscous substance. After the dry food of the bird lias been macerated for a convenient time, it then passes into the belly, where, instead of a soft moist stomach, as in the ra- pacious kinds, it is ground between two pair of muscles, common- ly called the gizzard, covered on the inside with a stony ridgy coat, and almost cartilaginous. These coats rubbing against
Eiaus. 9
each other, are capable of bruising and attenuating the hardosl substances, their action being often compared to that of the grind- ing teeth in man and other animals. Thus the organs of diges. tion are in a manner reversed in birds. Beasts grind their food with their teeth, and then it passes into the stomach, where it is softened and digested. On the contrary, birds of this sort first macerate and soften it in the crop, and then it is ground and comminuted in the stomach or gizzard. Birds are also careful to pick up sand, gravel, and other hard substances, not to grind their food as has been supposed, but to prevent the too violent action of the coats of the stomach against each other.
Most birds have two appendices, or blind-guts, which, in quadrupeds, are always found single. Among such birds as ai-e thus supplied, all carnivorous fowl, and all birds of the sparrow kind, have very small and short ones ; water-fowl and birds of the poultry kind, the longest of all. There is still another ap- pendix observable in the intestines of birds, resembling a little worm, which is nothing more than the remainder of that passage by which the yolk was conveyed into the guts of the young chicken, while yet in the egg and under incubation.
The outlet of that duct which conveys the bile into the in- testines is, in most birds, a great way distant from the stomach ; which may arise from the danger there would be of the bile re- gurgitating into the stomach in their various rapid motions, as we see in men at sea ; wherefore their biliary duct is so con- trived, that this regurgitation cannot take place.
All birds, though they want a bladder for urine, have large kidneys and ureters, by which this secretion is made, and carried away by one common canal. " Birds," says Harvey, " as well as serpents, which have spongy lungs, make but little water, be- cause they drink but little. They therefore have no need of a bladder ; but their urine distils down into the common canal, de- signed for receiving the other excrements of the body. The urine of birds differs from that of other animals : for, as there is usually in urine two parts, one more serous and liquid, the other more thick and gross, which subsides to the bottom ; in birds, the last part is most abundant, and is distinguished from the rest by its white or silver colour. This part is found not oidy in the whole intestinal canal, but is seen also in the whole channel of the ureters, which may be distinguished from the caats
10 HISTORY OF
of the kidneys by their whiteness. This milky substance ihejf have in greater plenty than the more thin and serous part ; and it is of a middle consistence, between limpid urine and the gross- er parts of the faeces. In passing through the ureters it re- sembles milk curdled or lightly condensed : and being cast forth, easily congeals into a chalky crust."
From this simple conformation of the animal, it should seem that birds are subject to few diseases ; and in fact, they have but few. There is one, however, which they are subject to, from which quadrupeds are, in a great measure, exempt ; this is the annual moulting v.hich they suffer ; for all birds whatsoever obtain a new covering of feathers once a year, and cast the old. During the moulting season, they ever appear disordered ; those most remarkable for their courage, then lose all their fierceness ; and such as are of a weakly constitution, often expire under this natural operation. No feeding can maintain their strength ; they all cease to breed at this season ; that nourishment which goes to the production of the young is wholly absorbed by the demand required for supplying the nascent plumage.
This moulting time, however, may be artificially accelerated , and those who have the management of singing birds frequently put their secret in practice. They enclose the bird in a dark Mige, where they keep it excessively warm, and throw the poor little animal into an artificial fever ; this produces the moult ; his old feathers fall before their time, and a new set take place, more brilliant and beautiful than the former. They add, that it mends the bird's singing, and increases its vivacity ; but it must not be concealed, that scarcely one bird in three survives the operation.
The manner in which natui-e performs this operation of moulting is thus : the quill, or feather, when first protruded from the skin, and come to its full size, grows harder as it grows older, and receives a kind of periosteum or skin round the shaft, by which it seems attached to the animal. In proportion as the quill grows older, its sides, or the bony part, thicken ; but its whole diameter shrinks and decreases. Thus, by the thick- ening of its sides, all nourishment from the body becomes more sparing ; and, by the decrease of its diameter, it- becomes more loosely fixed in its socket, till at length it falls out. In the meantime the rudiments ot an incipient quill are beginning be-
BIRDS.
11
low. The skin forms itself into a little bag, which is fed from the body by a small vein and artery, and which every day in- creases in size till it is protruded. While the one end vegetates into the beard or vane of the feather, that part attached to the sk'n IS still soft, and receives a constant supply of nourishment, which is diffused through the body of the (luill by that little light sub- stance which we always find within when we make a pen. Thi° substance which as yet has received no name that I know of, serves the growing quill as the umbilical artery does an infant in the womb, by supplying it with nourishment, and diffusing that nourishment over the whole frame. When, however, the quill is come to its full growth, and requires no further nourishment, the vein and artery become less and less, till at last the little opening by which they communicated with the quill becomes wholly obliterated ; and the quill, thus deprived, continues in its socket for some months, till in the end it shrinks, and leaves room for a repetition of the same process of nature as before.
The moulting season commonly obtains from tlie end of sum- mer to the middle of autumn. The bird continues to struggle with this malady during the vvinter ; and nature has kindly pro- vided, that when there are the fewest provisions, that then the animal's appetite shall be least craving. At the beginnmg of spring, when food begins again to be plentiful, the animal's strength and vigoiu- return. It is then that the abundance of provisions, aided by the mildness of the season, incite it to love, and all nature seems teeming with life, and disposed to continue it.
CHAP. II.
OF THE GENKRATION, NESTLING, AND INCUBATION, OF EIBD3.
The return of spring is the beginning of pleasure. Those vital spirits, which seem locked up during the winter, tlien be- gin to expand; vegetables and insects supply abundance of food; and the bird having more than a suilicieney for its own subsisteiice, is impelled to transfuse lii'c, as well as to maintain ir. Those warblings, which had been hushed during the colder
12 HISTORY or
seasons, now begin to animate the fields ; every grove and bush resounds with the challenge of anger, or the call of allurement. This delightful concert of the grove, which is so much admired by man, is no way studied for his amusement ; it is usually the call of the male to the female, his efforts to soothe her during the times of incubation ; or it is a challenge between two males, for the affections of some common favourite.
It is by this call that birds begin to pair at the approach of spring, and provide for the support of a future progeny. The loudest notes are usually from the male, while the hen sel- dom expresses her consent but in a short interrupted twitter- ing. This compact, at least for the season, holds with unbro- ken faith ; many birds live with inviolable fidelity together for a constancy ; and when one dies, the other is always seen to share the same fate soon after. We must not take our idea of the conjugal fidelity of birds from observing the poultry in our yards, whose freedom is abridged, and whose manners are totally cor- rupted by slavery. We must look for it in our fields and our forests, where nature continues in unadulterated simplicity ; where the number of males is generally equal to that of females ; and where every little animal seems prouder of his progeny, than pleased with his mate. Were it possible to compare sen- sations, the male of aU wild birds seems as happy in the young brood as the female; and all his former caresses, all his sooth- ing melodies, seem only aimed at that important occasion, when they are both to become parents, and to educate a progeny of their own producing. The pleasures of love appear dull in their effects, when compared to the interval immediately after the exclusion of their young. They both seem at that seasott transported with pleasure ; every action testifies their pride, their importance, and tender solicitude.
When the business of fecundation is performed, the female then begins to lay. Such eggs as have been impregnated by the cock are prolific ; and such as have not, for she lays often without any con. gress whatsoever, continue barren and are only addledby incubation. Previous, however, to laying, the work of nestling becomes the common care ; and this is performed with no small assiduity and appaient design. It has been asserted, that birds of one kind always make their nests in the same manner, and of the same materials ; but the truth is, that they vary this as the materials
DIRDS.
13
places, or climates, happen to differ. The red-breast in some parts of England, makes its nest with oak leaves, where they are in greatest plenty ; in other parts with moss and hair. Some birds, that with us make a very warm nest, are less solici- tous in the tropical climates, where the heat of the weather promotes the business of incubation. In general, however, every species of birds has a peculiar architecture of its own ; and this adapted to the number of eggs, the temperature of the climate, or the respective heat of the little animal's own body. Where the eggs are numerous, it is then incumbent to make the nest warm, that the animal heat may be equally diffused to them all. Thus the wren, and all the small birds, make the nest very warm ; for having many eggs, it is requisite to distribute warmth to them in common : on the contrary, the plover, that has but two eggs, the eagle, and the crow, are not so solicitous in this respect, as their bodies are capable of being applied to the small number upon which they sit. With regard to climate, water-fowl, that \vith us make but a very slovenly nest, are much more exact in this particidar in the colder regions of the north. They there take every precaution to make it warm ; and some kinds strip the down from their breasts, to line it with greater security.*
* The construction and selected situations of the nests of birds, are as re- markable as the variety of materials emplo5'ed in them ; the same forms, places, and aiticles, being rarely, perhaps never, found united by the differ. ent species, which we should suppose similar necessities would direct to a uniform provision. Birds that build early in the spring seem to require warmth and shelter for their young ; and the blackbird and the thrush line their nests with a plaster of loam, perfectly excluding, by those cottage-like Willis, the keen icy gales of our opening year ; yet should accident bereav the parents of their &-st hopes, they wUl construct another, even when Bummer is far advanced, upon the model of their first erection, and witli tlie same precautions against severe weather, when all necessity for such pro- vision has ceased, and the usual temperature of the season rather requires cool. ness and a free circulation of air. The house spai-row will commonly build four or five times in the year, and in a variety of situations, under the warm eaves of our hooses and our sheds, the branch of the clustered fir, or the tliick tall hedge that bounds our garden, &c. ; in all which places, and without the least consideration of site or season, it will collect a great mass of straw and hay, and gather a profusion of feathers from the poultry- yard to line its nest. This cradle for its young, whether under our tiles in March or in July, when the parent bird is panting in the common heat of the atmosphere, has the same provisions made to afford warmth to the brood ; yet this is a bird that is little afl'ected by any of the extremes of oiu- cU- III. B
14 HISTORY OF
111 general, however, every bird resorts to hatch in those cli- mates and places where its food is found in greatest plenty ; and always at that season when provisions are in the greatest abundance. The large birds, and those of the aquatic kinds, choose places as remote from man as possible, as their food is
mate. The wood pigeon and the jay, though they erect their fabrics on the tall underwood in the open air, will construct them so slightly, and with such a scanty provision of materials, that they seem scarcely adequate to support their broods, and even their eggs may almost be seen through the loosely couuected materials : but the goldfinch, that iuimitable spinner, the Arachne of the grove, forms its cradle of fine mosses and lichens, collected from the apple or the pear-tree, compact as a felt, lining it with the down of thistles besides, till it is as warm as any textwe of the kind can be, and it becomes a model for beautiful construction. The golden-crested wren, a minute creature perfectly iminindful of any severity in our winter, and which hatches its young in June, the warmer portion of our year, yet builds its most beautiful nest with the utmost attention to warmth ; and in. weaving small branches of moss with the web of the spider, forms a closely compacted texture nearly an inch in thickness, lining it mth such a pro- fusion of feathers, that, sinking deep into this downy accumulation, it seems almost lost itself when sitting, and the young when hatched, appear stifled with the warmth of tlieir bedding and the heat of their apartment ; wliile the white throat, the blackcap, and others, which will hatch their young nearly at the same period, or in July require notliing of the kind. A few loose bents and goose-grass, rudely entwined, with perhaps the luxury of some scatter- ed hairs, are perfectly sufficient for all the wants of these ; yet they are birds that live only in genial temperatures, feel nothing of the icy gales that are natural to our pretty iiidigenous artists, but flit from sim to sun, and we might suppose would require much warmth in our climate dxu'ing the sea- son of incubation ; but it is not so. The greenfinch places its nest in the hedge with little regard to concealment ; its fabric is slovenly and rude, and the materials of the coarsest kinds ; wliile the chaffinch, just above it in the elm, hides its nest with cautioiis c.ire, and moulds it with the utmost atten. tion to order, neatness, and form. One bird must have a hole in the ground ; to another a crevice in the wall, or a chink in a tree, is indispensable. The bullfinch requires fine roots for its nest ; the grey fly-catcher will have cobwebs for the outworks of its shed. All the parus tribe, except the in dividual above mentioned, select some hollow in a tree or cranny in a wall ; and, sheltered as such places must be, yet will they collect abund- ance of feathers and warm materials for their infants' bed. Endless exam, pies might be found of the dissimilarity of requirements in these construe lions among the several associates of oiu- groves, our hedges, and our houses ; and yet the supposition cannot be entertained for a moment that they are superfluous, or not essential for some purpose with which we are unacquainted. By how many of the ordinations of Supreme Intelligence our io-norance made manifest? Even the fabrication of the nests ot these little animals exceeds our comprehension — we know none of the causes or motives of that unembodicd nvind that willed them thus. — Journal of a Naturalist.
BIRDS. In
in general difTorent from that which is cultivated by human la- bour. Some birds which have only the serpent to fear, build their nests depending from the end of a smdl bough, and form the entrance from below ; being thus secured either from the serpent or the monkey tribes. But all the little birds which live upon fruits and corn, and that are too often unwel- come intruders upon the fruits of human industry, in making their nests, use every j)rccaiition to conceal them from man. On the other hand, the great birds remote from human society, use eveiy precaution to render theirs inaccessible to wild beasts or vermin.
Nothing can exceed the patience of birds while hatching ; neither the calls of hunger, nor the near approach of danger, ran drive them from the nest. They are often fat upon begin- ning to sit, yet before incubation is over, the female is usually wasted to skin and bone. Ravens and crows, while the females are sitting, take care to provide them with food ; and this in great abundance. But it is different with most of the smaller kinds : during the whole time, the male sits near his mate upon some tree, and soothes her by his singing ; and often when she IS tired takes her place, and patiently continues upon the nest till she returns. Sometimes, however, the eggs acquire a de- gree of heat too much for the purposes of hatching ; in such cases, the hen leaves them to cool a little, and then returns to sit with her usual perseverance and pleasure.
So great is the power of instinct, in animals of this class, that they seem driven from one appetite to another, and continue almost passive under its influence. Reason we cannot call it, since the first dictates of that principle would be self-preserva- tion : — " Take a brute," says Addison, " out of his instinct, and you find him wholly deprived of understanding. With what caution," continues he, " does the hen provide herself with a nest in places unfrequented, and free from noise and disturbance ! When she has laid her eggs in such a manner that she can cover them, what care does she take in turning them frequently, that all parts may partake of the vital warmth ! When she leaves them, to provide for her necessaiy sustenance, how punctually does she return before they have time to cool, and become in- capable of producing an animal ! In the summer you see her giving herself greater freedoms, and quitting her care for above two hours together : but in winter when the rigour of the
16 HISTORY OF
season would chill the principles of life, and destroy the young one, she grows more assiduous in her attendance, and stays away but half the time. When the birth approaches, with how much nicety and attention does she help the chick to break the prison ! not to take notice of her covering it from the injuries of the weather, providing it with proper nourishment, and teach- ing it to help itself; nor to mention her forsaking the nest, if, after the usual time of reckoning, the young one does not make its appearance. A chemical operation could not be followed with greater art or diligence than is seen in the hatching a chick, though there are many birds that show an infinitely greater sagacity : yet at the same time the hen, that has all this seeming ingenuity, (which is indeed absolutely necessary for the propa- gation of the species,) 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 same manner ; she is insensible of any increase or diminution in the number of those she lays ; she does not distinguish between her own, and those of another species ; and when the birth appears of never so different a bird, will cherish it for her own. A hen followed by a brood of ducks, shall stand affrighted at the edge of the pond, trembling for the fate of her young, which she sees ventur- ing into so dangerous an element. As the different principle which acts in these different animals cannot be termed reason, so when we call it instinct, we mean something we have no knowledge of. It appears to me the iinmediate direction of Providence ; and such an operation of the Supreme Being, as that which determines all the portions of matter to their proper centres."
The production of the young, as was said, seems to be the great era of a bird's happiness. Nothing can at that time ex- ceed its spirit and industry : the most timid becomes courageous in the defence of its young. Birds of the rapacious kind, at this season, become more than usually fierce and active. They carry their prey, yet throbbing with life, to the nest, and early accus- tom their young to habits of slaughter and crnelty. Nor are those of milder natures less busily employed ; the little birds then discontinue their singing, taken up with more important pursuits of common subsistence.
While the young are yet unfledged and continue in the nest,
BIRDS. 17
ibe old ones take care to provide tliem with a regular supply ; and, lest one should take all nourishment from the rest, they feed each of the young in their turn. If they perceive that man has been busy with their nest, or has handled the little ones, they abandon the place by night, and provide their brood a more se- cnre, though less commodious, retreat. When the whole family is completely plumed, and capable of avoiding danger by flight, fhey are then led forth when the weather is line, and taught the paternal art of providing for their subsistence. They are led to the places where their food lies ; they are shown the method of discovering or carrying it away ; and then led back to the nest, for a day or two longer. At length, when they are completely qualified to shift for themselves, the old ones take them abroad, and leading them to the accustomed places, forsake them for the last time ; and all future connection is ever at an end.
Those birds which are hatched and sent out earliest in the season, are the most strong and vigorous ; those on the other hand, that have been delayed till the midst of summer, are more feeble and tender, and sometimes incapable of sustaining the rigours of the ensuing winter. Birds themselves seem sensible of this difference, and endeavour to produce early in the spring. If, however, their efforts are obstructed by having their nests robbed, or some similar accident, they still persevere in their efforts for a progeny ; and it often happens that some are thus retarded till the midst of winter. What number of eg^s any bird can lay in the course of a season, is not ascertained ; but this is true, that such as would have laid but two or three at the most, if their nests be robbed, or their eggs stolen, will lay above ten or twelve. A common hen, if moderately fed, will lay above a hundred from the beginning of spring to the latter end of autumn. In general, however, it obtains, that the smallest and weakest animals are the most prolific, while the strong and rapacious are abridged by sterility. Thus, such kinds as are easily destroyed, are as readily repaired ; and nature, where she has denied the power of resistance, has compensated by the fertility attending procreation.
Birds in general, though they have so much to fear from man and each other, are seldom scared away from their usual haunts. Although they be so perfectly formed for a wandering life, and iue supplied with powers to satisfy all their aopetites, though
b3
18 HISTORY OP
never so remote from the object, though they are so well fitted for changing place with ease and rapidity, yet the greatest num- ber remain contented in the districts where they have been bred, and by no means exert their desires in proportion to their endow- ments. The rook, if undisturbed, never desires to leave his native grove ; the black-bird stiU frequents its accustomed hedge ; and the red-breast, though seemingly mild, claims a cer- tain district, from which he seldom moves, but drives out every one of the same species from thence without pity. They are excited to migration by no other motives but those of fear, cli- mate, or hunger. It must be from one of these powerful mo- tives that the birds, which are called birds of passage, every year forsake us for some time, and make their regular and expected returns.
Nothing has more employed the curiosity of mankind than these annual emigrations ; and yet few subjects continue so much involved in darkness. It is generally believed, that the cause of their retreat from these parts of Europe, is either a scarcity of food at certain seasons, or the want of a secure asylum from the persecution of man, during the time of courtship, and bring- ing up their young. Thus the starling in Sweden, at the ap- proach of winter, finding subsistence no longer in that kingdom, descends every year into Germany ; and the hen-chaffinches of the same country are seen every year to fly through Holland in large flocks, to pass their winter in a milder climate. Others, with a more daring spirit, prepare for journeys that might intimi- date even human perseverance. Thus the quails, in spring, for- sake the burning heats of Africa for the milder sun of Europe ; and, when they have passed the summer with us, steer their flight back to enjoy in Egypt the temperate air, which then be- gins to be delightful. This, with them, seems a preconcerted undertaking. They unite together in some open place, for some days before their departure, and, by an odd kind of chattering, seem to debate on the method to proceed. When their plan is resolved upon, they all take flight together, and often appear in such numbers, that to mariners at sea they seem like a cloud that rests upon the horizon. The boldest, strongest, and by far the greatest number, make good their intention ; but many there are, who, not well apprized of their own force for the undertak- ing, grow weary on the way, and, quite spent by the fatigues of
BIllUS. 19
their flight, drop down into the sea, and sometimes upon deck, thus becoming an easy prey to the mariner.
Of the vast quantity of water-fowl, that frequent our shores, it is amazing to reflect how few are known to breed here. The cause that principally urges them to leave this countiy, seems to be not merely the want of food, but the desire of a secure retreat. Our country is too populous for birds so shy and timid as the greatest number of these are. When great part of our island was a mere waste, an uncultivated tract of woods and marshes, many species of birds which now migrate remained with us throughout the year. The great heron and the crane, that have now forsaken this country, in former times bred fami- liarly in our marshes, and seemed to animate our fens. Their nests, like those of most cloven-footed water-fowl, were built on the ground, and exposed to eveiy invader. But as rural economy increased, these animals were more and more disturbed. Before they had little to fear, as the surrounding marsh defended them from all the carnivorous quadrupeds, and their own strength from birds of prey ; but upon the intrusion of man, and by a long series of alarms, they have at length been obliged to seek, during the summer, some lonely habitation; at a safe distance from every destroyer.
Of the numerous tribes of the duck kind, we know of no more than five that breed here ; the tame swan, the tame goose, the sheldrake, the eider duck, and a few of the wild ducks. The rest contribute to form that amazing multitude of water-fowl which annually repair to the dreary lakes and deserts of Lapland from the more southern countries of Europe. Jn those exten- sive and solitary retreats, they perform the duties of incubation and nutrition in full security. There are few of this kind that may not be traced to the northern deserts, to countries of lakes, rivers, swamps, and mountains, covered with thick and gloomy forests, that afford shelter during summer to the timid animals, who live there in undisturbed security. In those regions, from the thickness of the forests, the ground remains moist and pene- trable during the summer season ; the woodcock, the snipe, and other slender-billed birds, can there feed at ease ; while the web- footed birds find more than sufficient plenty of food from the number of insects, which swarm there to an incredible degree. The days there arc long ; and the beautiful meteorous nights
20 HISTORY OK
afiford them every opportunity of collecting so minute a food, which is probably, of all others, tlie most grateful. We are not to be astonished, therefore, at the amazing numbers of fowl that descend from these regions at the approach of winter ; numbers to which the army of Xerxes was but trilling in comparison ; and which Linnaeus has observed for eight whole days and nights to cover the surface of the river Calix.
This migration from the north usually begins in September, when they quit their retreats, and disperse themselves over all the southern parts of Europe. It is not unpleasing to observe the order of their flight ; they generally range themselves in a long line, or they sometimes make their mark angularly, two lines uniting in the centre like the letter V reversed. The bird which leads at the point seems to cleave the air, to facilitate the pas. sage for those which are to follow. When fatigued with this laborious station, it falls back into one of the wings of the file, while another takes its place. With us they make their appear- ance about the beginning of October, circulate first round our shores, and, when compelled by severe frost, betake themselves to our lakes and rivers. Some, indeed, of the web-footed fowl, of hardier constitutions than the rest, abide the rigour of their northern climate the whole winter ; but when the cold reigns there with more than usual severity, they are obliged to seek for more southern skies. They then repair with the rest for shelter to these kingdoms ; so that the diver, the wild swan, and the swallow-tailed sheldrake, visit our coasts but seldom, and that only when compelled by the severity of their winters at home.
It has often been a subject of astonishment, how animals to all appeai-ance so dull and irrational should perform such long ioumeys, should know whither to steer, and when to set out upon such a great undertaking. It is probable that the same instinct which governs all their other actions operates also here. They rather follow the weather than the country ; they steer only from colder or warmer climates into those of an opposite nature ; and finding the variations of the air as they proceed in their favour, go on till they find land to repose on. It cannot be supposed that they have any memory of the country where they might have spent a former winter ; it cannot be supposed that they see the country to which they travel, from their height in the air ; since, though they mounted for miles, the convexity of the globe would
ANIMALS. 21
intercept their view : it must therefore only be, that they go on ns they continue to perceive the atmosphere more suitable to their present wants and dispositions.*
All this seems to be pretty plain -. but there is a circumstance attending the migration of swallows which wraps this subject in great obscurity. It is agreed on all hands, that they are seen migrating into warmer climates, and that in amazing numbers, at the approach of the European winter. Their return into Europe is also as well attested about the beginning of summer ; but we have another account, which serves to prove that numbers of them continue toipid here during the winter, and, like bats, make their retreat into old walls, the hollow of trees, or even sink into the deepest lakes, and find security for the winter season by remaining there in clusters at the bottom. However this latter circumstance may be, their retreat into old walls is too well authenticated to remain a doubt at present. The difficulty, therefore, is to account for this difference in these animals thus variously preparing to encounter the winter. It was supposed that in some of them the blood might lose its motion by the cold, and that thus they were rendered torpid by the severity of the season ; but Mr Buffon having placed many of this tribe in an ice-house, found that the same cold by which their blood was congealed was fatal to the animal ; it remains, therefore, a doubt to this hour, whether there may not be a species of swallows to all external appearance like the rest, but differently farmed with- in, so as to fit them for a state of insensibility during the winter here. It was suggested, indeed, that the swallows found thus torpid, were such only as were too weak to undertake the mi- gration, or were hatched too late to join the general convoy; but it was upon these that Mr Buffon tried his experiment ; it was these that died under the operation, f
* By attaching- a silken tliread to their leg, it has hoen well ascertained tliat swallows return to their former haunts.
f The analof;^ between birds of passage, and animals which remain iu a state of torpidity during the winter, does not appear to be accurately drawn by our author : the following ai'e the objections to the supposed constitu- tional connexion. Tliose quadrupeds, reptiles, and insects, which pass the winter in a state of insensibility, may be recalled to sensation and action at jdeasure, by the application of a gentle degree of warmth. Philosophers have been induced, from this constitutional singularity of these animals, to conclude unanimously, that the return of spring' rouses them from their
82 HISTORY OF
Thus there are some birds which, by migrating, make an ha- bitation of every part of the earth ; but in general every climate has birds peculiar to itself. The feathered inhabitants of the temperate zone are but little remarkable for the beauty of their
lethargic state, to enjoy the benefits of the season. And what in some mea- sure seems to give stability to this supposition is, that the animals in ques- tion take up their abodes a little below the surface of the soil ; some in the crevices of walls, or interstices of rocks j and others, such as frogs, female coads, and water-ne%vts, bury themselves in the mud of shallow ponds. In the former of these retreats they are only covered by a thin layer of earth ; and in the latter, by the addition of a shallow sheet of water ; consequently they are re-animated in due season, by the genial rays of the sun, after he has entered the northern half of the ecliptic. Dr Hales has proved by ex- perimental facts, that the bulb of a'thermometer buried 16 inches below the earth's surface, stood at 25° of his scale in September, at 16° in October, and at 10" in November, during a severe frost ; from which point it ascended again slowly, and reached 23° in the beginning of April, (old style.) Now the end of September, and beginning of October, is the season the hedgehog, shrew, bat, toad, and frog disappear : and about the middle of April these animals re-appear ; which agrees very well v^ith the variations of tempera- ture of the preceding theory.
The migratory birds of this country are very numerous ; how comes it then that they are never found near the surface of the earth, as is the bat, hedgehog, &c. ? A few solitary facts of birds being found in holes, in old walls, and in the earth, are on record ; but this is by no means a sufficient reason for establishing a theory of their remaining in a state of torpidity diuung the winter.
The temperature of places situated at great depths below the surface of the laud and water, is sufficient objection to the circumstance of birds re- maining in a torpid state, during the winter, in solitary caverns, or at the bottom of deep lakes. It is a known fact, that all places situated 80 feet below the surface of the earth, are constantly of the same temperature. Mr Boyle kept a thermometer for a year imder a roof of 80 feet in thickness, and found that the liquor in the instrument remained stationary all the time. Dr Withering made a similar experiment on a well 84 feet deep, and found it remained at 49° for the year round. Siu-ely this invariable tem. perature is inconsistent with the theory of birds remaining in a state of tor. pidity in deep lakes, or solitary caverns, where the sun has no influence ; for what would call forth their dormant organs into action ? the vernal sun having no influence on places so situated. It is but reasonable to conclude, that cold which kept them benumbed by its sleepy torpor, would evidently perpetuate their slumbers.
This state of torpor is obviously analogous to sleep ; but it differs from sleep in being occasioned solely by temperature. — Hybermatiug animalB always assume this torpid state, whenever the thermometer sinks to a cer- tain i)oint. Almost all animals seem to be susceptible of tliis state, at least to a certain extent, not even excepting man. For the apparent death pro. duced by cold is probably nothing else but a species of torpor, out of wliich the animal, in most cases, might be roused, if the requisite caution in ap.
SIRDS. 23
plumage ; but then the smjiller kinds make up for this defect by the melody of their voices. The birds of the torrid zone are very bright and vivid in their colours ; but they have screaming voices, or are totally silent. The frigid zone, on the other hand, where the seas abound with fish, arc stocked with birds of the aquatic kind, in much greater plenty than in Europe ; and these are generally clothed with a warmer coat of feathers ; or they have large quantities of fat lying underneath the skin, which seiTCS to defend them from the rigours of the climate.
In all countries, however, birds are a more long-lived class of animals than the quadrupeds or insects of the same cli- mate. The life of man himself is but short, when compared to what some of them enjoy. It is said that swans have been known to live three hundred years; geese are often seen to live four- score ; while linnets and other little birds, though imprisoned in cages, are often found to reach fourteen or fifteen. How birds, whose age of perfection is much more early than that of quadrupeds, should yet live comparatively so much longer, is not easily to be accounted for : perhaps, as their bones ai-e light- er, and more porous than those of quadrupeds, there are few- er obstructions m the animal machine ; and nature thus finding
plyinj the heat were attended to ; for death, in most cases, seems to be pro. duo'd not by the cold, but by the incautious application of heat, which bursts the vessels and destroys the texture of the body. It is well known that if any part of the body be frost-bitten, an incautious application of heat infallibly produces mortification, and destroys the part. There is a re- markable example, in the 28th volume of the Philosopliical Transactions, page 265, of a woman almost naked lying- buried for six days under the snow, and yet recovering. In this case it is scarcely possible to avoid sup. posing that the woman must have been in a state of torpor, otherwise she would certainly have endeavoured to find her way home.
Many authentic facts prove the migration of our summer birds ; and that they desert temperate zones at the approach of winter to seek a better climate in lower latitudes. Besides all the tribe of birds of passage feed up. on insects, which disappear and become torpid, either in a perfect or em- bryo state, soon after the autumnal equinox : they are therefore compelled to migrate southward, in search of their natural food.
'1 he ^vintor birds of passage forsake the frosty confines of the arctic circle, to spend the winter in the more temperate parts of Europe : the jacksnipe, redwing, woodcock, and fieldfare are of tliis tribe. About the end of April they return to the north, to pass the breeding season. It is also well kuo\vn that swallows winter in different parts of Africa,
21 HISTORY OF
more room for the operations of life, is earned on to a greater extent.
All birds in general are less than quadrupeds ; that is, the greatest of one class far surpass the greatest of the other in mag- nitude. The ostrich, which is the greatest of birds, bears no proportion to the elephant ; and the smallest humming bird, which is the least of the class, is still far more minute than the mouse. In these the extremities of natiu-e are plainly discernible ; and in forming them she appears to have been doubtful in hei operations : the ostrich seemingly covered with hair, and incap- able of flight, making near approaches to the quadruped class j while the humming-bird, of the size of an humble bee , and with a fluttering motion, seems nearly allied to the insect.
These extremities of this class are rather objects of human curiosity than utility : it is the middle order of birds which man has taken care to propagate and maintain. Of those which he has taken under his protection, and which administer to his plea- sures or necessities, the greatest number seem creatures of his formation. The variety of climate to which he consigns them, the food with which he supplies them, and the purposes for which he employs them, produce amazing varieties both in their colours, shape, magnitude, and the taste of their flesh. Wild birds are, for the most part, of the same magnitude and shape ; they still keep the prints of primaeval nature strong upon them, except in a few ; they generally maintain their very colour : but it is otherwise with domestic animals ; they change at the will of man — of the tame pigeon, for instance, it is said they can be bred to a feather.
As we are thus capable of influencing their form and colour, so also is it frequent to see equal instances of our influencing their habitudes, appetites, and passions. The cock, for instance, is artificially formed into that courage and activity which he is seen to possess -. and many birds testify a strong attachment to the hand that feeds them. How far they are capable of instruc- tion, is manifest to those that have the care of hawks. But a still more surprising instance of this was seen some time ago in London : a canary bird was taught to pick up the letters of the alphabet, at the word of command, so as to spell any person's name in company ; and this the little animal did by motions from its master, which were imperceptible to every other spectator
niRus.
Upon tiie whole, liowever, they are inferior to quadrupeds in do- cility ; and seem more mechanically impelled by all the power of uistiiict.
CHAP. III.
OF THE DIVISION OF BIRDS.
Though birds are fitted for sporting in the air, yet as they find their food upon the surface of the earth, there seems a va- riety equal to the different aliments with which it tends to sup- ply them. The flat and buiuiing desert, the rocky cliff, the ex- tensive fen, the stormy ocean, as well as the pleasing landscape, have all their peculiar inhabitants. The most obvious distinc- tion therefore of birds is into those that live by land and those that live by water ; or in other words, into land birds, and wa- ter-fowl.
It is no difficult matter to distinguish land from water-fowl, by the legs and toes. All land-birds have their toes divided, without any membrane or web between them ; and their legs and feet serve them for the purposes of running, grasping, or climbing. On the other hand, water-fowl have their legs and feet formed for the purposes of wading in water, or swimming on its surface. In those that wade, the legs are usually long and naked ; in those that swim, the toes are webbed together, as we see in the feet of a goose, which serve like oars to drive them forward with greater velocity. The formation, therefore, of land and water-fowl is as distinct as their habits, •xnd nature herself seems to offer us this obvious distribution, in methodizing animals of the feathered creation.
However, a distinction so comprehensive goes but a short way in illustrating the different tribes of so numerous a class. The number of birds already known amounts to above eight hundred ;* and every person who turns his mind to these kind of pursuits, is every day adding to the catalogue. It is not enough, therefore, to be able to distinguish a land from a water
* Since Goldsmith's time, nearly three thousand species of birds liavc been ascertained, and many of the species have several varieties. III. C
26 HISIOHY OF
fowl ; much more is still required — to be able to distinguish the different kinds of birds from each other ; and even the varieties in the same kind, when they happen to offer. This certainly is a work of great difficulty ; and perhaps the attainment will not repay the labour. The sensible part of mankind will not with- draw all their attention from more important pursuits, to give it entirely up to what promises to repay them only with a very confined species of amusement. In my distribution of birds, therefore, I will follow Linnteus in the first sketch of his sys. tem, and then leave him to follow the most natural distinctions, in eimmerating the different kinds that admit of a history or re- quu'e a description.
Linnaeus divides all birds into six classes ; namely, into birds of the rapacious kind, birds of the pie kind, birds of the poultry kind, birds of the sparrow kind, birds of the duck kind, birds of the crane kind. The four first comprehend the various kinds of land birds ; the two last, those that belong to the water.
Birds of the rapacious kind constitute that class of carnivo- rous fowl that live by rapine. He distinguishes them by their beak, which is hooked, strong and notched at the point ; by their legs which are short and muscular, and made for the pur- poses of tearing ; by their toes, which are strong and knobbed ; and their talons, which are sharp and crooked ; by the make of their body which is muscular ; and their flesh, which is impure : nor are they less known by their food, which consists entirely of flesh ; their stomach which is membraneous ; and their manners, which are fierce and cruel.
Bu-ds of the pie kind have the bill differing from the former : as in those it resembled a hook, destined for tearing to pieces ; in these it resembles a wedge fitted for the purpose of cleaving. Their legs are formed short and strong for walking ; their body is slender and impure, and their food miscellaneous. They nestle in trees, and the male feeds the female during the time of incubation.
Birds of the poultry kind have the bill a little convex, for the purposes of gathering their food. The upper chap hangs over the lower ; their bodies are fat and muscular, and their flesh white and pure. They live upon grain, which is moistened in the crop. They make their nest on the ground without art ; they lay many eggs, and use promiscuous venery.
BIRDS.
Birds of the sparroto kind comprelieiid all that beautiful and vocal class that adorn our fields and groves, and gratify every sense in its turn. Their bills may be compared to a forceps that catches hold ; their legs are formed for hopping along ; their bodies are tender ; pure in such as feed upon grain, im- pure in such as live upon insects. They live chiefly in trees ; their nests are artificially made, and their amours are observed with connubial fidelity.
Birds of the duck kind use their bill as a kind of strainer to their food ; it is smooth, covered with a skin, and nervous at the point. Their 1/igs are short, and their feet formed for swimming, the toes being webbed together : their body is fat, inclining to rancidity. They live in waters, and chiefly build nests upon land.
"With respect to the order of birds that belong to the waters, those of the crane kind have their bill formed for the purposes of searching and examining the bottom of pools ; their legs are long, and formed for wading ; their toes are not webbed ; their thighs are half naked ; their body is slender, and covered with a very thin skin ; their tail is short and their flesh savoury. They live in lakes upon animals, and they chiefly build their nests upon the ground.
Such is the division of Linnaeus with respect to this class of animals ; and at first sight it appears natural and comprehen- sive. But we must not be deceived by appearances ; the stu- dent, who should imagine he was making a progress in the histo<y of nature, while he was only thus making arbitrary distributions, would be very much mistalien. Should he come to enter deep- er into this naturalist's plan, he would find birds the most unlike in nature thrown together into the same class ; and find animals joined, that entirely differ in climate, in habitudes, in manners, in shape, colouring, and size. In such a distribution, for in- stance, he would find the humming bird and the raven, the rail and the ostrich, joined in the same family. If, when he asked what sort of a creature was the humming-bird, he were told that it was in the same class with the carrion-crow, would he not think himself imposed upon ? In such a case the only way to form any idea of the animal whose history he is desirous to Know, is to see it ; and that curiosity very few have an oppoi- tiinity of gratifying. The number of buds is so great, that it
c2
28 HISTORY OF
might exhaust the patience not only of the writer, but the read- er, to examine them all : in the present confined undertaking it would certainly be impossible. I will, therefore, now attach myself to a more natural method ; and still keeping the general division of Linnaeus before me, enter into some description of the most noted, or the most worth knowing.
Under one or other class, as I shall treat them, the reader will probably find all the species, and all the varieties that de- mand his curiosity. When the leader of any tribe is described, and its history known, it will give a very tolerable idea of all the species contained under it. It is true, the reader will not thus have bis knowledge ranged under such precise distinctions ; nor can he be able to say with such fluency, that the rail is of the os- trich class ; but what is much more material, he will have a tol- erable history of the bird he desires to know, or at least of that which most resembles it in nature.
However, it may be proper to apprize the reader, that he will not here find his curiosity satisfied, as in the former volumes, where we often took Mr BuflTon for our guide. Those who have hitherto written the natural history of birds, have in general been contented with telling their names, or describing their toes or their plumage. It must often, therefore, happen, that instead of giving the histoiy of a bird, we must be content to entertain the reader with merely its description. I will, therefore, divide the following history of birds, with Linnseus, into six parts ; in tlip fii'st of which I will give such as Brisson has ranged among the rapacious birds ; next those of the pie kind ; and thus go on through the succeeding classes, till I finish with those of the duck kind. But before I enter upon a systematic det-iil, I will beg leave to give the history of three or four birds, that do not well range in any system. These, from their great size, are suf- ficiently distinguishable from the rest ; and from their incapacity of flpng, lead a life a good deal diflfering from the rest of the feathered creation. The birds I mean are the Ostrich, the Cas- sowary, the Emu, the Dodo, and the Solitaire.
UIKUS.
?D
CHAP. IV.
THE OSTRICH.
In beginning with the feathered tribe, the first animal that ol- f.^rs seems to unite the class of quadrupeds and of birds in itsell. While it has the general outline and properties of a bird, yet it retains many of the marks of the quadruped. In appearance the ostnch resembles the camel, and is almost as tall ; it is covered with a plumage that resembles hair much more nearly than feathers, and its internal parts bear as near a similitude to those of the quadruped, as of the bird creation. It may be considered, therefore, as an animal made to fill up that chasm in nature which separates one class of beings from another.
The ostrich is the largest of all birds. Travellers affirm, that they are seen as tall as a man on horseback ; and even some of those that have been brought into England were above seven feet high. The head and bill somewhat resemble those of a duck ; and the neck may be likened to that of a swan, but that it is much longer ; the legs and thighs resemble those of a hen ; though the whole appearance bears a strong resemblance to thai of a camel. But to be more particular : it is usually seven feet high from the top of the head to the ground ; but from the back it is only four ; so that the head and neck are above three feet long. From the top of the head to the rump, when the neck is stretched out in a right line, it is six feet long, and the tail is about a foot more. One of the wings, without the feathers, is a foot and a half ; and being stretched out, with the feathers, is three feet.
The plumage is much alike in all ; that is, generally black ana white ; though some of them are said to be gray. The greatest feathers are at the extremities of the wings and tail, and the largest are generally white. The next row is black and white ; and of the small feathers, on the back and belly, some are white and others black. There are no feathers on the sides, nor yet on the thighs, nor under the wings. The lower part of the neck, about half way, is covered with still smaller feathers than those on the belly and back ; and those, like the former, also are of different colours.
All these feathers are of the same kind, and peculiar to the 05-
c3
30 HISTORY OF
trich ; for other birds have several sorts, some of wliich are soft and dowiiy, and others hard and strong. Ostrich feathers are almost all as soft as down, being utterly unfit to serve the animal for flying, and still less adapted to be a proper defence against external injury. The feathers of other birds have the webs broader on one side than the other, but those of the ostrich have their shaft exactly in the middle. The upper part of the head and neck is covered with a very fine, clear, white hair, that shines like the bristles of a hog ; and in some places there are small tufts of it, consisting of about twelve hairs, which grow from a single shaft about the thickness of a pin.
At the end of each wing there is a kind of spur, almost like the quill of a porcupine. It is an inch long, being hollow, and of a horny substance. There are two of these on each wing, the largest of which is at the extremity of the bone of the wing, and the other a foot lo.ver. The neck seems to be more slender in proportion to that of other birds, from its not being furnished with feathers. The skin in this part is of a livid flesh-colour, which some improperly would have to be blue. The bill is short and pointed, and two inches and a half at the beginning. The external form of the eye is like that of man, the upper eye-lid being adorned with eye-lashes, which are longer than those on the lid below. The tongue is small, very short, and composed of cartilages, ligaments, and membranes, intermixed with fleshy fibres. In some it is about an inch long, and very thick at the bottom. In others it is but half an inch, being a little forked at the end.
The thighs are very fleshy and large, being covered with a white skin, inclining to redness, and wrinkled in the manner of a net, whose meshes will admit the end of a finger. Some have very small feathers here and there on the thighs ; and others again have neither feathers nor \rankles. What are called the legs of birds, in this are covered before with large scales. The end ot the foot is cloven, and has two veiy large toes, which, like the leg, are covered with scales. These toes are of unequal sizes The largest, which is on the inside, is seven inches long, includ- ing the claw, which is near three-fourths of an inch in length, and almost as broad. The other toe is but four inches long, and is without a claw.
The internal carts of this animal are formed with no less sur-
BIRDS.
31
prising peculiarity. At the top of the breast, under the skin, the fat is two inches thick ; and on the fore part of the belly it is as hard as suet, and about two inches and a half thick in some places. It has two distinct stomachs. The first, which is lower- most, in its natural situation somewhat resembles the crop in otlier birds ; but it is considerably larger than the other stomach, and is furnished with strong muscular fibres, as well circular as longitudinal. The second stomach, or gizzard, has outwardly the shape of the stomach of a man ; and, upon opening, is always found filled with a variety of discordant substances ; hay, grass, barley, beans, bones, and stones, some of which exceed in size a pullet's egg. The kidneys are eight inches long and two broad, and differ from those bf other birds in not being divided into lobes. The heart and lungs are separated by a midriff, as in quadrupeds', and the parts of generation also bear a very strong resemblance and analogy.
Such is the structure of this animal, forming the shade that
iniites birds and quadrupeds ; and from this structure its habits
and manners are entirely peculiar. It is a native only of the
torrid regions of Africa, and has long been celebrated by those
who have had occasion to mention the animals of that region.
Its flesh is proscribed in scripture as unfit to be eaten ; and most
of the ancient writers describe it as well kno\\ai in their times.
Like the race of the elephant, it is transmitted down without
mixture ; and has never been known to breed out of that countiy
which first produced it. It seems formed to live among the
sandy and burning deserts of the torrid zone ; and, as in some
measure it owes its birth to their genial influence, so it seldom
migrates into tracts more mild or more fertile. As that is the
peculiar country of the elephant, the rhinoceros, and camel, so it
may readily be supposed capable of affording a retreat to the
ostrich. They inhabit, from preference, the most solitary and
horrid deserts, where there are few vegetables to clothe the
surface of the earth, and where the rain never comes to refresh it.
The Arabians assert that the ostrich never drinks ; and the
place of its habitation seems to confirm the assertion. In these
formidable regions, ostriches are seen in lai-ge flocks, which to
the distant spectator appear like a regiment of cavalry, and have
often alarmed a whole caravan. There is no desert, how barren
soever, but what is capable of supplying these animals with pro
32 HISTORY OF
vision ; they eat almost every thing ; and these barren tracts are thus doubly grateful, as they afford both food and security. The ostrich is, of all other animals, the most voracious. It will de- vour leather, glass, hair, iron, stones, or any thing that is given. Nor are its powers of digestion less in such things as are diges- tible. Those substances which the coats of the stomach cannot soften, pass whole ; so that glass, stones, or iron, are excluded in the form in which they were devoured. All metals, indeed, which are swallowed by any animal, lose a part of their weight, and often the extremities of their figure, from the action of the juices of the stomach upon their surface. A quarter pistole, which was swallowed by a duck, lost seven grains of its weight in the gizzard before it was voided ; and it is probable that a still greater diminution of weight would happen in the stomach of an ostrich. Considered in this light, therefore, this animal may be said to digest iron ; but such substances seldom remjun long enough in the stomach of any animal to undergo so tedious a dis- solution. However this be, the ostrich swallows almost every thing presented to it. Whether this be from the necessity which smaller birds are under of picking up gravel to keep the coats of their stomach asunder, or whether it be from a want of distin- guishing by the taste what substances are fit and what incapable of digestion ; certain it is, that in the ostrich dissected by Ranby there appeared such a quantity of heterogeneous substances, that it was wonderful how any animal could digest such an overcharge of nourishment. Valisnieri also found tiie first stomach filled with a quantity of incongruous substances ; grass, nuts, cords, stones, glass, brass, copper, iron, tin, lead, and wood ; a piece of stone was found among the rest that weighed more than a pound. He saw one of these animals that was killed by devouring a quan- tity of quick-lime. It would seem that the ostrich is obliged to fill up the great capacity of its stomach in order to be at ease ; but that nutritious substances not occurring, it pours in whatever offers to supply the void.
In their native deserts, however, it is probable they live chiefly upon vegetables, where they lead an inoffensive and social life •, the male, as Thevenot assures us, assorting with the female with connubial fidelity. They are said to be very much inclined to venery ; and the make of the parts in both sexes seems to con- firm the report. It is probable also they copulate, like other
t,lRDS. 33
birds, by compression ; and they lay very large eggs, some of them being above five inelies in diameter, ;iiul weighing above fifteen pounds. These eggs have a very hard shell, somewhat resembling those of the crocodile, except that those of the latter ai'c less and rounder.*
The season for laying depends on the climate where the ani- mal is bred. In the northern parts of Africa, this season is about the beginning of July : in the south, it is about the latter end of December. These birds are very prolific, and lay gener- ally from forty to fifty eggs at one clutch. It has been commonly reported that the female deposits them in the sand ; and, covering them up, leaves them to be hatched by the heat of the climate, and then permits the young to shift for themselves. Very little of this, however, is tme : no bird has a stronger affection for her young than the ostrich, nor none watches her eggs with
* The ostrich is one of the few polyg-amous birds found in a stute of na. turc ; one male being generally seen with two or three, and frequently with five females.
The females which are united to one male deposit all their eggs in the same place, to the number of ten or twelve each : these they hatch altoge- ther ; the male also taking his turn of sitting on them. E(!tween sixty and seventy eggs have sometimes boon found in one nest. The time of incuba- tion is six weei<s. From the veant of knowledge that the ostricli is polyg;i- moiis. Linnaeus has suffered an error respecting this bird to slip into liis Systema Naturae, where it is asserted, tliat one female sometimes lays near, ly fifty eggs.
M. Le Vaillant informs us, that he started an ostrich from its nest, in Africa, where he found eleven egg^ quite warm, and four others at a short distance. Those in the nest had young ones in them ; but liis attendants eagerly caught up the detaclied ones, assuring him that they were perfectly good to eat. They informed liim, that near the nest there are always placed a certain number of eggs wliich the birds do not sit upon, and which are de- signed for the first nourislunent of their future young. ". Experience," says JI. Le Vaillant, " has convinced me of the truth of this observation j for I never afterwards met with an ostrich's nest, without finding eggs deposited in this mamier, at a small distance from it." Some time after this M. Le Vaillant found a female ostrich on a nest containing thirty-two eggs ; and twelve eggs were arranged at a little distance, each in a separate cavity formed for it. He remained near the place some time, and saw tlu'ee other females come and alternately seat themselves on tlie nest; eacli sitting for about a quarter of an hour, and then giving place to another, wlio, while waiting, sat close by the side of her whom she was to succeed.
If the eggs are touched by any person in the absence of the parents, they immediately discover it by tl\e scent, at their return ; and not only desist from laying any more in the same place, but trample to pieces with thtir feet all tliose tliat have been left.
34 HISTORY OF
greater assiduity. It happens, indeed, in those hot climates, that there is less necessity for the continual incubation of the female ; and she more fiequently leaves her eggs, which are in no fear of being chilled by the weather : but though she some- times forsakes them by day, she always carefully broods over them by night ; and Kolben, who has seen great numbers of them at the Cape of Good Hope, affirms that they sit on their eggs like other birds, and that the male and female take this office by turns, as he had frequent opportunities of observing. Nor is it more true what is said of their forsaldng their young after they are excluded the shell. On the contrary, the young ones are not even able to walk for several days after they are hatched. During this time, the old ones are very assiduous in supplying them with grass, and very careful to defend them from danger ; nay, they encounter every danger in their defence. It was a way of taking them among the ancients, to plant a num- ber of sharp stakes round the ostrich's nest in her absence, upon which she pierced herself at her return. The young, when brought forth, are of an ash-colour the first year, and are covered with feathers all over. But in time these feathers drop ; and those parts which are covered assume a different and more be- coming plumage.
The beauty of a part of this plumage, particularly the long feathers that compose the wings and tail, is the chief reason that man has been so active in pursuing this harmless bird to its de- serts, and hunting it with no small degree of expense and labour. The ancients used those plumes in their helmets j the ladies of the East make them an ornament in their dress ; and, among us, our undertakers and our fine gentlemen still make use of them to decorate their hearses and their hats. Those feathers which are plucked from the animal while alive, are much more valued than those taken when dead ; the latter being dry, light, and subject to be worm-eaten.
Beside the value of their plumage, some of the savage nations of Africa hunt them also for their flesh, which they consider as a dainty. They sometimes also breed these birds tame, to tat the young ones, of which the female is said to be the greatest delicacy. Some nations have obtained the name of Strutho- phagi, or ostrich-eaters, from their peculiar fondness for this food J and even the Romans themselves were not averse to it.
BIIIDS. ♦. 35
Apioius gives a receipt for making sauce for the ostrich ; and Heliogabalus is noted for having dressed the brains of six hun- dred ostriches in one dish ; for it was his custom never to eat but of one dish in a day, but that was an expensive one. Even among the Europeans now, the eggs of the ostrich are said to be well tasted, and extremely nourishing ; but they are too scarce to be fed upon, although a single egg be a sufficient entertain- ment for eight men.
As the spoils of the ostrich are thus valuable, it is not to be wondered at that man has become their most assiduous pursuer. For tliis purpose, the Arabians train up their best and fleetest horses, and hunt the ostrich still iu view. Perhaps of all other varieties of the chase, this though the most laborious, is yet the most entertaining. As soon as the hunter comes within sight of his prey, he puts on his horse with a gentle gallop, so as to keep the ostrich still in sight ; yet not so as to terrify him from the plain into the mountains. Of all known animals that make use of their legs in running, the ostrich is by far the swiftest ; upon observing himself therefore pursued at a distance, he be- gins to run at first but gently ; either insensible of his danger, or sure of escaping. In this situation he somewhat resembles a man at full speed; his wings, like two arms, keep working with a motion correspondent to that of his legs : and his speed would very soon snatch him from the view of his pursuers ; but, unfortunately for the silly creature, instead of going off in a di- rect line, he takes his course in circles ; while the hunters still make a small course within, relieve each other, meet him at un- expected turns, and keep him thus still employed, still followed for two or three days together. At last, spent with fatigue and famiiie, and finding all power of escape impossible, he endea- vours to hide himself from those enemies he cannot avoid, and covers his head in the sand, or the first thicket he meets. Some- times, however, he attempts to face his pursuers ; and thoug!\ in general the most gentle animal in nature, when driven to des- peration, he defends himself with his beak, his wings, and his feet. Such is the force of his motion, that a man would be ut- terly unable to withstand him in the shock.
The Struthophagi have another method of taking this bird ; they cover themselves with an ostrich's skin, and passing up an arm through the neck, thus counterfeit all the motions of this
36 HISTORY OF
animal. By this artifice they approach the ostrich, which be- comes an easy prey. He is sometimes also taken by dogs and nets, but the most iisu.il way is that mentioned above.
When the Arabians have thus taken an ostrich, they cut its throat, and making a ligature below the opening, they shake the bird, as one would rince a barrel ; then taking off the ligature, there runs out from the wound in the throat a considerable quantity of blood, m/xed with the fat of the animal ; and this is considered one of their greatest dainties. They next flay the bird ; and of the skin, which is strong and thick, sometimes make a kind of vest, which answers the purposes of a cuirass and a buckler.
There are others who, more compassionate or more provident* do not kill their captive, but endeavour to tame it, for the pur- poses of supplying those feathers which are in so great request. The inhabitants of Dara and Lybia breed up whole flocks of them, and they are tamed with very little trouble. But it is not for their feathers alone that they are prized in this domestic state ; they are often ridden upon, and used as horses. ]\Ioore assures us, that at Joar he saw a man travelling upon an ostrich ; and Adanson asserts, that, at the factory of Podore, he had two ostriches, which were then young, the strongest of which ran swifter than the best English racer, although he carried two ne- groes on his back. As soon as the animal perceived that it was loaded, it set off running with all its force, and made several cir- cuits round the village ; till at length the people were obliged to stop it, by barring up the way. How far this strength and swiftness may be useful to mankind, even in a polished state, is a matter that perhaps deserves inquiry. Posterity may avail themselves of this creature's abilities •, and riding upon an ostrich may one day become the favourite, as it most certainly is the swiftest, mode of conveyance.
The pai-ts of this animal are said to be convertible to many salutary purposes in medicine. The fat is said to be emollient and relaxing ; that while it relaxes the tendons, it fortifies the nervous system ; and being applied to the region of the loins, it abates the pains of the stone in the kidneys. The shell of the egg powdered, and given in proper quantities, is said to be use- ful in promoting urine, and dissolving the stone in the bladder. The substance of the egg itself is thought to be peculiarly i.our-
liiRus. 37
ishinsi;; liowever, Galen, in mentioning this, asserts, that the eggs of hens and pheasants are good to be eaten ; those of geese and ostriches are the worst of ul\.
CHAP. V.
THE EMU.
Of this bird, which raany call the American Ostrich, but lit- tle is certainly known. It is an inhabitant of the New Conti- nent ; and the travellers who have mentioned it, seem to have been more solicitous in proving its affinity to the ostrich, than in describing those peculiarities which distinguish it from all others of the feathered creation.
It is chiefly found in Guiana, along the banks of the Oroono- ko, in the inland provinces of Brasil and Chili, and the vast forests that border on the mouth of the river Plata. Many other parts of South America were known to have them •, but as men multiplied, these large and timorous birds either fell be- neath their superior power, or fled from their vicinity.
The Emu, though not so large as the ostrich, is only second to it in magnitude. It is by much the largest bird in the New Continent ; and is generally found to be six feet high, measur- ing from its head to the ground. Its legs are three feet long ; and its thigh is near as thick as that of a man. The toes diflfer from those of the ostrich ; as there are three in the American bird, and but two in the former. Its neck is long, its head small, and the bill flatted, like that of the ostrich ; but in all other re- spects it more resembles the Cassowary, a large bird to be de- scribed hereafter. The form of the body appears round ; the wings are short, and entirely unfitted for flying, and it wants a tail. It is covered from the back and rump with long feathers, which fall backward, and cover the anus ; these feathers are gray upon the back, and white on the belly. It goes veiy swiftly, and seems assisted in its motion by a kind of tubercle behind, like a heel, upon which, on plain ground, it treads very seciu-ely ; in its course it uses a very odd kind of action, lifting up one wing, which it keeps elevated for a time ; till letting it drop, it
iu. n
38 HISTORY OF
lifts up the other. What tlie bird's intention may be in thus keeping only one wing up, is not easy to discover ; whether it makes use of this as a sail to catch the wind, or whether as a rudder to turn its course, in order to avoid the arrows of the Indians, yet remains to be ascertained ; however this be, the emu runs with such swiftness, that the fleetest dogs are thrown out in the pursuit. One of them, finding itself surrounded by the hunters, darted among the dogs with such fury, that they made way to avoid its rage ; and it escaped, by its amazing velocity, in safety to the mountains.
As this bird is but little known, so travellers have given a loose to their imaginations in describing some of its actions, which they were conscious could not be easily contradicted. This ani- mal, says Nierenberg, is very peculiar in hatching of its young. The male compels twenty or thirty of the females to lay their eggs in one nest ; he then, when they have done laying, chases them away, and places himself upon the eggs ; however, he takes the singular precaution of laying two of the number aside, which he does not sit upon. When the young ones come forth, these two eggs are addled ; which the male having foreseen, breaks one, and then the other, upon which multitudes of tiies are found to settle ; and these supply the young brood with a sufficiency of provision, till they are able to shift for themselves.
On the other hand. Wafer asserts, that he has seen great quantities of this animal's eggs on the desert shores, north of the river Plata ; where they were buried iti the sand, in order to be hatched by the beat of the climate. Both this, as well as the preceding account, may be doubted ; and it is more probable that it was the crocodile's eggs which Wafer bad seen, which are undoubtedly hatched in that manner.
When the young ones are hatched, they are familiar, and fol- low the first person they meet. I have been followed myself, says Wafer, by many of these young ostriches ; which, at first, are extremely harmless and simple ; but as they grow older, they become more cunning and distrustful ; and run so swift, that a greyhound can scarcely overtake them. Their flesh, in general, is good to be eaten ; especially if they be young. It would be no difficult matter to rear up flocks of these animals tame, par- ticularly as they are naturally so familiar : and they might be found to answer domestic puqjoses, like the hen or the turkey.
Bums. 30
Their maiiiteiiauco could not be expensive, if, as Narboiougli si.ys, they live entirely upon grass.
CHAP. VI.
THE CASSOWARY.'
The Cassowary is a bird which was first brought into Europe by the Dutch, from Java, in the East Indies, in which part of the world it is only to be found. Next to the preceding, it is the largest and the heaviest of the feathered species.
The cassowary, though not so large as the lormer, yet appears more bulky to the eye ; its body being nearly equal, and its neck and legs much thicker and stronger in proportion ; this confor- mation gives it an air of strength and force, which the fierceness and singularity of its countenance conspire to render fomidable. It is five feet and a half long, from the point of the bill to the extremity of the claws. The legs are two feet and a half high, from the belly to the end of the claws. The head and neck to- gether are a foot and a half; and the largest toe, including the claw, is five inches long. The claw alone of the least toe, is three inches and a half in length. The wing is so small, that it does not appear ; it being hid under the feathers of the back. In other birds, a part of the feathers serve for flight, and are differ- ent from those that serve for merely covering ; but in the cas- sowary, all the feathers are of the same kind, and outwardly of the same colour. They are generally double ; having two long shafts, which grow out of a short one, which is fixed in the skin. Those that are double, are always of an unequal length ; for some are fourteen inches long, particularly on the rump j while others are not above three. The beards that adorn the stem or shaft, are, from about half way to the end, very long, and as thick as a horse hair, without being subdivided into fibres. The stem or shaft is flat, shining, black, and knotted below ; and from each knot there proceeds a beard : likewise the beards at the end of the large feathers are perfectly black ; and towards the root of a gray tawny colour ; shorter, more soft, and throwing out fine * This is alio lallod the Emu.
40 HISTORY OF
fibres like down j so that nothing appears except the ends, whic-h are hard and black ; because the other part, composed of down, is quite covered. There are feathers on the head and neck ; but they are so short and thinly sown, that the bird's skin aj)- pears naked, except towards the hinder part of the head, where they are a little longer. The feathers which adorn the rump are extremely thick ; but do not differ, in other respects, from the rest, excepting their being longer. The wings, when they are deprived of their feathers, are but three inches long ; and the feathers are like those on other parts of the body. The ends of the wings ai'e adorned with five prickles, of different lengths and thickness, which bend like a bow ; those are hollow from the roots to the very points, having only that slight substance within, which all quills are known to have. The longest of these prickles is eleven inches ; and it is a quarter of an inch in diameter at the root, being thicker there than towards the ex- tremity ; the point seems broken off.
The part, however, which most distinguishes this animal is the head : this, though small, like that of an ostrich, does not fail to inspire some degree of terror. It is bare of feathers, and is in a manner armed with an helmet of horny substance, that covers it from the root of the bill to near half the head back- wards. This helmet is black before and yellow behind. Its substance is verj* hard, being formed by the elevation of the bone of the skull ; and it consists of several plates, one over another, iike the horn of an ox. Some have supposed that this was shed every year with the feathers ; but the most probable opinion is, thut it only oxfoliates slowly like the beak. To the peculiar oddity of this natural armour may be added the colour of the eye In this animal, which is a bright jellow, and the globe being above an inch and a half in diameter, gives it an air equally fierce and extraordinary. At the bottom of the upper eye-lid, there is a row of small hairs, over which there is another row of black nair, which look pretty much like an eye-brow. T'he lower eye- lid, which is the largest of the two, is furnished also with plenty of black hair. The hole of the ear is very large and open, being only covered with small black feathers. The sides of the head, about the eye and ear, being destitute of any covering, are blue, except the middle of the lower eye-lid, which is white. The part of the bill which answers to the upper jaw in other animal%
BIllDS. 41
is very hard at tiie edges above, and the extremity of it like that of a turkey-cock. The end of the lower mandible is slightly notched, and the whole is of a giayish brown, except a green spot on each side. As the beak admits a very wide opening, this contributes not a little to the bird's menacing appearance. The neck is of a violet colour, inclining to that of slate ; and it is red behind in several places, but chielly in the middle. About the middle of the neck before, at the rise of the large feathers, there are two processes formed by the skin, which resemble somewhat the gills of a cock, but that they are blue as well as red. The skin which covers the fore-part of the breast, on which this bird leans and rests, is hard, callous, and without feathers. The thighs and legs are covered with feathers, and are extremely thick, strong, straight, and covered with scales of several shapes ; but the legs are tiiicker a little above the foot than in any other place. The toes ;u-e likewise covered with scales, and are but three in number; for that which should be behind is wanting. The claws are of a hard solid substance, black without, and white within.
The internal parts are equally remarkable. The cassowary unites with the double stomach of animals that live upon vegeta- bles, the short intestines of those that live upon flesh. The in- testines of the cassowary are thirteen times shorter than those of the ostrich. The heart is very small, being but an inch and a half long, and an inch broad at the base. Upon the whole, it has the head of a warrior, the eye of a lion, the defence of a por- cupine, and the swiftness of a courser.
Thus formed for a life of hostility, for terrifying others, and for its own defence, it might be expected that the cassowary was one of the most fierce and terrible animals of the creation. But nothing is so opposite to its natural character, nothing so differ- ent from the life it is contented to lead. It never attacks others ; anil, instead of the bill, when attacked, it rather makes use of its legs, and kicks like a hoi-se, or runs against its pursuer, beats him down, and treads him to the ground.
The manner of going of this animal is not less extraordinary than its appearance. Instead of going directly forward, it seems to kick up behind with one leg, and then making a bound on- ward with the other, it goes with such prodigious velocity, that the swiftest racer would be left far behind
1)3
■12 HISTOUY OF
The same degree of voraciousness wliich \vc perceive in the ostrich, obtains as strongly here. The cassowary swallows every thing that comes within the capacity of its gullet. The Dutch assert, that it can devour not only glass, iron, and stones, but even live on burning coals, without testifying the smallest fear, or feeling the least injury. It is said, that the passage of the food through its gullet is performed so speedily, that even the very eggs which it has swallowed whole, pass through it unbro- ken, in the same form they went down. In fact, the alimentary canal of this animal, as was observed above, is extremely short ; and it may happen that many kinds of food are indigestible in its stomach, as wheat or currants are to a man when swallowed whole.
The cassowary's eggs are of a gray ash colour, inclining to green. They are not so large nor so round as those of the os- trich. They are marked with a number of little tubercles of a deep green, and the shell is not very thick. The largest of these is found to be iifteen inches round one way, and about twelve the other.
The southern parts of the most eastern Indies seems to be the natural climate of the cassowary. His domain, if we may so call it, begins where that of the ostrich terminates. The latter has never been found beyond the Ganges ; while the cassowary is never seen nearer than the islands of Banda, Sumatra. Java, the Molucca Islands, and the corresponding parts of the continent.* Yet even here this animal seems not to have multiplied in any considerable degree, as we find one of the kings of Java making a present of one of these birds to the captain of a Dutch ship, considering it as a very great rarity. The ostrich, that has kept in the desert and unpeopled regions of Africa, is still numerous, and the unrivalled tenant of its own inhospitable climate. But the cassowary, that is the inhabitant of a more peopled and pol- ished region, is growing scarcer every day. It is thus that in proportion as man multiplies, all the savage and noxious animals
* A species of the Cassowary has been discovered in New Holland : it is seven ieet two inches long ; the crown of its head flat, which with the neck and Body are covered with bristly feathers, varied with brown and grey; its throat, is nal<edish, and of a bluish lead colour ; the feathers of the body ai-c a little incurved at the tip ; its wings are hardly visible ; its legs are of a brown colour, aiui its feet with tlu'ce toes.
BIRDS. 43
fly before him : at his approach they quit their ancient liabita- tions, how adajjted soever they may be to their natures, and secK a more peaceable, though barren, retreat j where they willingly exchange plenty for freedom ; and encounter all the dangers of famine, to avoid the oppressions of an unrelenting destroyer.
CHAP. VII.
THE DODO.
Mankind have generally made swiftness the attribute of birds ; but the dodo has no title to this distinction. Instead of exciting the idea of swiftness by its appearance, it seems to strike the im- agination as a thing the most unwieldy and inactive of all nature. Its body is massive, almost round, and covered with gray feath- ers ; it is just barely supported upon two short thick legs, like pillars, while its head and neck rise from it in a manner truly grotesque. The neck, thick and pursy, is joined to the head, which consists of two great chaps, that open far behind the eyes, which ai-e large, black, and prominent ; so that the animal, when it gapes, seems to be all mouth. The bill, therefore, is of an extraordinary length, not flat and broad, but thick, and of a bluish white, sharp at the end, and each chap crooked in oppo- site directions. They resemble two pointed spoons that are laid together by the backs. From all this results a stupid and vora- cious physiognomy ; which is still more increased by a bordering of feathers round the root of the beak, and which gives the ap. pearance of a hood or cowl, and finishes this picture of stupid deformity. Bulk, which in other animals implies strength, in this only contributes to inactivity. The ostrich, or the casso- wary, are no more able to fly than the animal before us ; but then they supply that defect by their speed in runn.ing. The dodo seems weighed down by its own heaviness, and has scarcely strength to urge itself forward. It seems among birds what the sloth is among quadrupeds, an unresisting thing, equally in- capable of flight or defence. It is furnished with wings, covered with soft ash-coloured feathers, but they are too short to assist it in flying. It is furnished with a tail, with a few small curled feathers ; but this tail is disproportioned and displaced. Its legs are too short for nmninf. and its body too fat to be st^•o.^g. One
4.4. rllSrORY OF
would take it for a tortoise that had supplied itsell" with the feathers of a bird ; and that thus dressed out with the instru- ments of flight, it was only still the more unwieldy.
This bird is a native of the Isle of France ; and the Dutch, who first discovered it there, called it, in their language, the nau- seous bird, as well from its disgusting figure as" from the bad taste of its flesh. However, succeeding observers contradict the first report, and assert that its flesh is good and wholesome eating. It is a silly simple bird, as may very well be supposed from its figure, and is very easily taken. Three or four dodos are enough to dine a hundred men.
Whether the dodo be the same bird with that which some travellers have described under the bird of Nazareth, yet remains uncertain. The country from whence they both come is the same ; their incapacity of flying is the same ; the form of the wings and body in both are similar; but the chief difTerence given is in the colour of the feathers, which in the female of the bird of Naznreth are said to be extremely beautiful ; and in the length of their legs, which in the dodo are short ; in the other, are described as long. Time and future observation must clear up these doubts ; and the testimony of a single witness, who shall have seen both, will throw more light on the subject than the reasonings of a hundred philosophers.*
* The Dodo, described above, lias now become extinct, and its former ex. istence lias even been called in question by some writers. The following: is a statement of all that is known regarding it.
The Hollanders, who, in 151)3, fitted out a fleet commanded by Admiral Cornelisz Van Neck, landed at the Isle of France, then generally called Jlauritius, and before that kno« n under the name of Ilha do Cirne, or Cisne, which had been iinyosid upon it by the Poj tuguese, and higiiifying- the isle of swans. They there found birds as bulky as u swan, which had on a very thick head a sort of capote of skiu, and but tluee or four black feathers iu tlie place of wings, and four or five small greyish feathers, and frizzled, in. Btead of a tail. These birds were named by the Dutch )y<ilyvogeh, which literally signifies birds of disgust, on account of the hardness of their flesh, whi<'h cooking only seemed to render more coriaceous, except that of the stomach, v\hich was found tolerably good.
A Dutch vessel set out from liie Te.xel at the end of 1618, under the com- mand of Bontekoe, and having landed at the Isle of Bourbon, then called Mascarenas, the crew found there the same kind of birds, which, so far from being able to fly, were so fat that they even «'alked with difficulty. The KoUandeis named them Dod-aers or Dod-acrsen. The relation of Bontekoe, inserted in Hakluyt's Voyages, contains a figure of one of them under the first of these names, but without any ot'icr details.
BOOK II.
OF RAPACIOUS BIRDS.
CHAP. I.
OF RAPACIOUS JBIKUS IN GENERAL.'
THEf.E seems to obtain a general resemblance in all the class- es of nature. As among quadrupeds, a part were seen to live
I The auimals of this order are iUl carnivorous : they associate in pnira, liiilil their nests in the most lofty situations, and produce generally four young- ones at a brood: and tlie female is mostly larger than the mala. They consist of vultures, eagles, hawks, and owls.
Clusius has described tlio same bird under the name of gallus gallinaceui peregrinus, and of cygnus cucullaius, which latter e])itliet is derived from some fancied resemblance between the membrane covering the bird's heiid, to the capote, or cowl, of a monk. He describes it as having the bill oblong, thick, and crooked, yellow at the base, bluish in the middle, and black at the "Xtremity. The body, according to his statement, was covered only with some short feathers, and four or five black quUls were in the place of wiugs. Tlie liiuder part of the body was very fat ; and instead of tail there were foiu- or five ash-coloured and frizzled feathers. The legs were rather eliort, and of an equal circumference tltfoughout, covered with sailes of a yellowish brown, from the knee to the toes. Tlie same writer adds, that in the stomach of these birds were foimd stones of different forms and sizes, which, probably, they were iu the habit of swallo^ving, like the granivoroua birds to which systematists have associated them.
Tliis description has been copied by Nieremberg ; and Bontius, who has devoted to the dodo the seventeenth chapter of liis " Natural and Medical History of the East Indies," adds, that it has lai-ge black eyes, mandibles, the aperture of which is very ample, a curved neck, and a body so clumsy . and fat, that its walk is very heavy.
The description of Willoughby differs but little from that of Clusius and Bontius ; but he adds, that he himself beheld the spoils of this bird in the museum of Sir John Tradescaut.
Herbert, in his travels, tells us, that the dodo weighed at least fifty pounds, and that the stomach was hot enough to digest stones. The weight would appear to be exaggerated, and the pretended faculty of digesting stones is utterly inadniissilile.
4-G HISXORY Of
upon the vegetable productions of the earth, and another part upon the flesh of each otlier ; so among birds, some live upon vegetable food, and others by rapine, destroying all such as want force or swiftness to procure their safety. By thus peopling
The figure of the dodo, found ia " Edwards's Gleanings," was copied from a drawing made at the Mauritius from a living indi\idual. Tliis figure has served as a model for all others, and particularly for those given by Dr La- tham, by Blumenbach, and by Shaw. The last writer, having remarked some relations between the bill of the dodo and that of the albatross, in- quires, whether an inacciu'ate representation, done by a sailor, might not have given rise to the supposition of a new genus ; but when he considers what excessive negligence it would be in any painter to represent a web. footed bird with cleft and separate toes, and to substitute simple winglets for wings of considerable extent, he dismisses this conjecture as of little weight. The same naturalist being deterniined to continue lijs researches, in conse- quence of the assertions of Chai-leton, who, in his OiiomaHicon Zoicon, af- firms that the bill and head of the dodo were then in the Museiun of the Koyal Society, and of Grew who mentions the leg of one of these birds among the curiosities of the British Museum, found the leg in question at the Museum, and another log, with the bill and p.-ui; of the cranium, in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, to wliich all the curious objects in that of Tradescaut had been transferred. These two pieces came from the indivi. dual examined by Willoughby and Ray ; and the foot, notwithstanding some injuries of time, seemed to him exactly like the one he had seen in London. Shaw gives the figures of them both, and declares that his doubts concerning the existence of the dodo were completely dispelled.
There are, unfortunately, no other facts than those we have stated which are calculated to throw any light on the existence of the dodo, which has never been seen in Europe since the era above mentioned, when it was s;ud that these birds were found in great numbers in the Isles of France, Bour- bon, Rodrigue, and Sechelles. From the notes furnished by M. Jlorell to the Abbe Kozier, in 1'77S, and whicli were inserted in the " Journal de Fhy- Bique," that all those monstrous birds called Dronte, or Dodo, SoUtan/ Dodo, and Naxarene Dodo, were perfectly luiknown to the oldest inhabitants of these islands, where they had not been seen for more than a century, it ii» impossible to conceive how birds of such weight, without proper ^^'ings, and not web-footed, consequently unable either to SAvim or fly, could cross the space which separates the islands which they have assigned as their habita- tion. This reflection, too, invalidates the conjecture of Grant, that the dodo may yet be found on the coasts of some uninhabited islands. The only mode remaining of enabling us to form any positive judgment on the bird ui ques- tion, would be to examine and compare the earliest relations of the pen. guins and manchots, and to see what analogies may exist between them and the accounts of the dodo.
Mr John V. Thompson, in a comnumicatiou to the Magazine of Natural History, on the subject, says, " Having resided some years amongst tliose islands, iudusive of Madagascar, .uid being curious to find whether any tes. tiniony could bo obtained on the spot, as to the existence of the dodo in anj of the islands of this or the neighbouring archipelagoes, I may venture to say.
iiiuus. 47
the woods with animals of different dispositions, nature has wisely provided for tlie multiplication of life ; since, could we suppose that there were as many animals produced as there were vegetables supplied to sustain them, yet there might still be ano-
that no traces of any kind could he found, no nioro than of the truth of the boautilul talo of Paul and Virgiuifi, althonj^'h a very ppucral belief pre- vailed as to both the one and the other. 1 there discovered, however, a copy of the scarce and curious voyage of Lepuat, who, and liis companions, appear to have been the first residents of Rodriijue ; and, althouf,'h some al. lowances appear to be necessary on account of tlie period in which he wrote, for descriptions and drawinirs apparently from memory, and a somewliat traveller-like stretch of imagination to enhance the value of his book, j-et his evidence must be deemed conclusive, strenfifthened as it is by the collateral testimony of other voyag-ers, aiid by all the facts and statements broug-lit forward by Mr Duncan, in a paper upon this subject, published in the Zoo- logical Journal for January, lS-28, p. rA!.., from which it appears, that aliird of corrosponding size and character nm actually exist, of which the only re. mains are a fiill and foot in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, and afoot in the British Museum, all of which I liad the satisfaction of examining on my return from the Mavu-itius in 1816.
Mr Duncan, in the paper alluded to, proves that a specimen of tliis bird existed in lYadescaut's museum at Lambeth, where it was seen by Ray and Willoughby. This museum being subsequently removed to Oxford by Dr Ashmole, we find the specimen there in 1700, by the testimony of Hyde, in his Religionis Veterum Persarum, SfC. Hist.; and in a catalogue of the mu- seum, dra«ai up since 1755, it is stated that " the Nimibers from 5. to 46. (No. 29. being that of the dodo) being decayed, were ordered to be destroyed at a meeting of the visitors, Jan. 8. 1755." It is, therefore, almost certain that the bill and foot stiM to be seen in that depository, were those of the above specimen. To verify the painting which is also to be seen in the British Museum, Mr Duncan appears to have taken all the piiins possible, and states it to have been drawn from a living bird, .sent from the Maiu-itius to Holland, the Dutch being the first colonists of that island ; to dissipate all doubts as to its accuracy, liowever, it should be collated with a doscrip. tion taken from the Ashmolean specimen, should such be found to exist.
The island of Rodrigue, or Diego Ruys, although seen by several of the earlier voyagers, after the discovery of the route to India by the Cape, does not appear to have been visited anterior to the voyage of Leguat, from ita unapproachable appearance, and the apparent continuity of the extensive madreporetic reef which every where surrounds it, and upon wliich the sea continuiilly breaks, at a very considerable distance from the shore ; the same causes still operate in repelling the tide of colonisation, as, at the time of onr late conquest of the group to which it belongs, a single French family constituted the whole of its population. Leguat and Iiis companions, then may be presumed to have seen it in its virgin state ; a circumstance which makes his narration doubly interesting, and shows not only the abundance of its animal productions, but the paradisiacal peace and amity wliicli ap- peared to reign amongst them, and the little dread they seemed to possess Ht the presence of their di^stinod destroyer. Of the dodo, he says . —
*' Of all tlie birds which inhabit this island, the mo.st remaruable is tliat
48 lUSTOKY OF
ther class of animals form.d, whicli could find a sufficient ■sus- tenance by feeding upon such of the vegetable feeders as hap- peiied to fall by the course of nature. By this contrivance, a greater number will be sustained upon the whole ; for the num-
which has been railed SoUtare (the soUtary,) b.^caiisc they are rarely seen in flocks, although there is abundance of them. The nuiles have generally a jrreyish or brovvn plumage, the feet of the turkey-cock, as also the beak, but a little more hooked. Thoy have hardly any tail, and their posterior, covered %vith feathers, is rounded Uke the croup of a horse. They st;uid higher than the turkey-cock, and have a straight neck, a little longer in pro- portion than it is in that bird when it raises its head, nie eye is black and lively, and the head without any crest or tuft. They do not fly, their wings being too short to support the weight of their bodies ; they only use them in beating their sides, and in whirling round ; when they wish to call one another, they make, ^-ith rapidity, twenty or thirty rounds in the same di- rection, during the space of four or five minutes ; the movement of their wings then makes a noise which approaches exceedingly that of a kestrel (Crecerelle,) and which is heard at more than 200 paces distant. The bone of the false pinion is enlarged at its extremity, and forms, under the feath. ers, a little round mass like a musket-bullet : this and their beak form the principal defence of this bird. It is extremely diiliciat to catch them in the woods ; but as a man runs swifter than they, in the more open spots it is not very difficult to take them ; sometimes they may even be approached very easily. From the month of March until September, they are extremely fat, and of most excellent flavour, especially when young. The males may be foimd up to the weight of 45 lb. ; Herbert even says 50 lb. The femnle is of admirable beauty. S-jmc are of a blond, others of a bro«-n, colour ; I mean by blond the colour of flaxen hair. They have a kind of band, Uke the bandeau of widows, above the beak, wliich is of a tan colour. One feather does not pass another over all their body, because they take great care to admst and poUsh them with their beak. The feathers which accompany the thighs are rounded into a shell-like form, and, as they are very dense at this place, produce a very agreeable effect. They have two elevations over the crop, of a somewhat whiter plumage than the rest, and wliich resemble wonderfuUy the fine breast of a woman. They walk with so much stateli. ness and grace combined, that it is impossible not to admire and love them ; 8o much so, that their appearance has often saved their life. Although these birds approach, at times, very fainiUarly when they are not chased, they are incapable of being tamed; as soon as caught, they drop tears, without crying, and refuse obstinately all kind of nourishment, until at la-st they die There is always found in their gizzard (as Avell as in that of the males) a brown stone, the size of a hen's egg ; it is slightly tuberculated (raboteuse,) flat on one side, and rounded on the other, very heavy and very hard. We imagined that tliis stone was born with them, because, however young they might be, they always had it, and never more than one ; and be. sides this circumstance, the canal which passes from the crop to the gizzard, is by one half too small to give passage to such a mass. We used them, in preference to any other stone, to sharpen our knives. When these birds set •about building their nests, they choose a clear spot, and raise it a foot and a half off the ground, upon a heap of leaves of the palm tree, which they col.
BIllU-^.
49
Iwrs would be but very tliiii wi-ie every creature a candidate for (he same food. 'J'hus, by supplying a variety of appetites, na- ture has also multiplied life in her productions.
In thus varying their appetites, nature has also varied the form of the animal ; and while she has given some an instinc- tive passion for animal food, she has also furnished ihem with powers to obtain it. All land birds of the rapacious kinds are furnished with a large head, and a strong crooked beak, notched at the end, ior the purpose of tearing their prey. They have strong short legs, and sharp crooked talons, for the purpose of seizing it. Their bodies are formed for
int together for the purpose. They only lay one egg, which is very much larger than that of a goose. The male and female sit b^ turns, and it does not liatih until afti>r a period of seven weeks. During the whole period of incubation, or that they are rearing their young one, which is not capable of providing for it.<elf tnitil after several months, they will not suffer any bird of their own kind to aiiproach within 200 paces of their nest ; and what is very singular is, that the male never chases away the females ; only, when he perceives one, he makes, in whirling, his ordinary noise, to call his com- panion, which immediately comes and gives chase to the stranger, and which she docs not quit until driven without their limits. The female does the same, and allows the males to be driven oflf by her mate. This is a cir- cumstance that we have so often -witnessed, that I speak of it with cer- tainty. These combats last sometimes for a long time, because the stranger only turns off, without going in a straight line from the nest ; nevertheless, the others never quit until they have chased them away."*
We have, in this last relation of Leguat, who resided in the midst of them for a considerable period, a detailed, although rude, description, and a na- tural history of the dodo, probably the only one that was ever penned under Buch favourable circumstances. No doubt this first colony, in so small an island, considerably reduced the number of the dodo : but when they fin. ally disappeared does not appear to have been any where recorded. From the nature and habits of the bird, it is clear that the duration of the species was wholly incompatible with the dominion of man : had it been capable of domestication, or had it possessed the swiftness of foot of the ostrich, or the aquatic habits of the pengfuin, to compensate its want of the power of fly- ing, they might still have shared some of the possessions originally assigned to the race ; or even like the turkey-cock and goose, have administered to the wants of mankind, in every temperate region of the globe ; under exist- ing circumstances, however, they appear to have been what may be truly termed a paradisiacal bird, and predestined to disappear at their proper time. As they are the only vertebrated animals which we can make cer. tain of having lost since the last creation, they furnish an interestin(f sub- ject of meditation to the philosophic naturalist.
• \*oi-afie do Fiaiitois i.eguat. (jpntilhomme, Brossjn, 1706L III. £
50 HlSXORY OF
war, being fibrous and muscular ; and their wings for swiftness of flight, being well feathered and expansive. The sight of such as prey by day is astonishingly quick ; and such as ravage by night, have their sight so fitted as to see objects in darkness with extreme precision.
Their internal parts are equally formed for the food they seek for. Their stomach is simple and membranous, and wTapt in fat to increase the powers of digestion j and their intestines are short and glandular. As their food is succulent and juicy, they want no length of intestinal tube to form it into a proper nour- ishment Their food is flesh ; which does not require a slow digestion to be converted into a similitude of substance to their own.
Thus formed for war, they lead a life of solitude and rapa- city. They inhabit by choice the most lonely places, and the most desert mountains. They make their nests in the clifts of rocks, and on the highest and most inaccessible trees of the forest. Whenever they appear in the cultivated plain or the warbling grove, it is only for the purposes of depredation ; and are gloomy intruders on the general joy of the landscape. They spread terror wherever they approach : all that variety of music which but a moment before enlivened the grove, at their appear- ing is instantly at an end : every order of lesser birds seek for safety, either by concealment or flight ; and some are even dri- ven to take protection with man, to avoid their less merciful pursuers.
It would indeed be fatal to all the smaller race of birds, if, as they are weaker than all, they were also pursued by all -, but it is contrived wisely for their safety, that every order of carnivo- rous birds seek only for such as are of the size most approach, ing their own. The eagle flies at the bustard or the pheasant ; the sparrow-hawk pursues the thrush and linnet. Nature has provided that each species should make w ar only on such as are furnished with adequate means of escape. The smallest birds avoid their pursuers by the extreme agility, rather than the swiftness of their flight ; for every order would soon be at an • end, if the eagle, to its own swiftness of wing, added the versa- tility of the sparrow.
Another circumstance which tends to render the tyranny of these animals more supportable, is, that they are less fruittul
BIRDS. 51
ttiMi Other birds ; breeding but few at a time. Those of the larger kind seldom produce above four eggs, often but two ; those of the smaller kinds, never above six or seven. The pigeon, it is true, which is their prey, never breeds above two at a time ; but then she breeds every month in the year. The carnivorous kinds only breed annually, and, of consequence, their fecundity is small in comparison.
As they are fierce by nature, and are difficult to be tamed, so this fierceness extends even to their young, which they force from the nest sooner than birds of the gentler kind. Other birds seldom forsake their young till able, completely, to pro- vide for themselves : the rapacious kinds expel them from the nest at a time when they still should protect and support ihem. This severity to their young proceeds from the necessity of providing for themselves. All animals that, by the conforma- tion of their stomach and intestines, are obliged to live ujmn flesh, and support themselves by prey, though they may be mild when young, soon become fierce and mischievous, by the very habit of using those arms with which they are supplied by na- ture. As it is only by the destruction of other animals that they can subsist, they become more fuiious every day ; and even the parental feelings are overpowered in their general habits of cruelty. If the power of obtaining a supply be difficult, the old ones soon drive their brood from the nest to shift for them- selves, and often destroy them in a fit of fury caused by hunger.
Another effect of this natural and acquired severity is, that almost all birds of prey are unsociable. It has long been ob- served by Aristotle, that all birds with crooked beaks and talons are solitary : like quadrupeds of the cut kind, they lead a lonely wandering life, and are united only in pairs, by that instinct nhich overpowers their rapacious habits of enmity with all other animals. As the male and female are often necessary to each other in their pursuits, so they sometimes live together ; but except at certain seasons, they most usually prowl alone ; and, like robbers, enjoy in solitude the fruits of their plunder.
All birds of prey are remarkable for one singularity, for which it is not easy to account. All the males of these birds are about a third less, and weaker than the females, contrary to what obtains among quadrupeds, among which the males are always the largest and the boldest : from thence the male i»
e2
0« mSTOllY OK
cilled by falconers a tarcel; that is, a tierce or third less than the other. The reason of this difference cannot proceed from the necessity of a larger body in the female for the purpose of breeding, and that her volume is thus increased by the quan- tity of her eggs ; for in other birds, that breed much faster, and that lay in much greater proportion, such as the hen, the duck, or the pheasant, the male is by n.uch the largest of the two.
Whatever be the cause, certain it is, that the females, as Willoughby expresses it, are of greater size, more beautiful and lovely for shape and colours, stronger, more fierce and generous, than the males ; whether it may be that it is necessary for the female to be thus superior, as it is incumbent upon her to pro- vide, not only for herself, but her young ones also.
These birds like quadrupeds of the carnivorous kind, are all lean and meagre. Their flesh is stringy and ill-tasted, soon cor- rupting, and tinctured with the flavour of that animal food upon which they subsist. Nevertheless, Belonius asserts, that many people admire the flesh of the vulture and falcon, and dress them for eating, when they meet with any accident that unfits them for the chase. He asserts, that the osprey, a species ol the eagle, when young, is excellent food ; but he contents him- self with advising us to breed these birds up for our pleasure rather in the field, than for the table.
Of land birds of a rapacious nature, there are five kinds. The eagle kind, the hawk kind, the vulture kind, the horned and the screech owl kind. The distinctive marks of this class are taken from their claws and beak : their toes are separated : their legs are feathered to the heel : their toes are four in number ; three before, one behind : their beak is short, thick, and crooked.
The eagle kind is distinguished from the rest by his beak, which is straight till towards the end, when it begins to hook downwards.
The vulture kind is distinguished by the head and neck ; which are without feathers.
The hawk ktnd by the beak ; being hooked from the very root.
Tlie horned owl by the feathers at the base of tiic bill stand-
BIKUS. 53
fng forwards ; and by some feathers on the head that stand out, resembling horns.
The screech-owl by the feathers at the base of the bill stand- ing forward, and being without horns. A description of one in each kind, will serve for all the rest.
CHAP. IL
THE EAGLE AND ITS AFFINITIES.
The Golden Eagle is the largest and the noblest of all those birds that have received the name of eagle. It weighs above twelve pounds. Its length is three feet ; the extent of its wings, seven feet four inches ; the bill is three inches long, and of a deep blue colour ; and the eye of a hazel colour. The sight and sense of smelling, are very acute. The head and neck are clothed with narrow sharp-pointed feathers, and of a deep brown colour, bordered with tawny; but those on the crown of the head, in very old birds, turn grey. The whole body, above as well as beneath, is of a dark brown ; and the feathers of the back are finely clouded with a deeper shade of the same. The wings, when clothed, reach to the end of the tail. The quill- feathers are of a chocolate colour, the shafts white. The tail is of a deep brown, irregularly barred and blotched with an ob- scure ash-colour, and usually white at the roots of the feathers. The legs are yellow, short, and very strong, being three inches in circumference, and feathered to the very feet. The toes are covered with large scales, and armed with the most formida- ble claws, the middle of which are two inches long.
In the rear of this terrible bird follow the ring-tailed eagle, the common eagle, the bald eagle, the whi(e eagle, the hough-fooled eagle, the erne, the black eagle, the osprey, the sea eagle, and the crowned eagle. These, and others that might be added, form ditterent shades in this fierce family ; but have all the same ra- pacity, the same general form, the same habits, and the same manner of bringing up their young.
In general, these birds are found in mountainous and ill-
e3
51 HISTORY OF
peopled countries, and breed among the loftiest cliffs. They choose those places which are remotest from man, upon whose possessions they but seldom make their depredations, being con tented rather to follow the wild game in the forest, than to risk their safety, to satisfy their hunger.
This fierce animal may be considered among birds, as the lion among quadrupeds ; and in many respects they have a strong similitude to each other. They are both possessed of force, and an empire over their fellows of the forest. Equally magnani- mous, they disdain smaller plunder ; and only pursue animal worthy the conquest. It is not till after having been long pro- voked, by the cries of the rook or the magpie, that this generous bird thinks fit to punish them with death : the eagle also dis- dains to share the plunder of another bird ; and will take up with no other prey but that which he has acquired by his own pur- suits. How hungry soever he may be, he never stoops to car- rion ; and when satiated, he never retiwns to the same carcase, but leaves it for other animals, more rapacious and less delicate than he. Solitary, like the lion, he keeps the desert to himself alone ; it is as extraordinary to see two pair of eagles in the same mountain, as two lions in the same forest. They keep separate, to find a more ample supply ; and consider the quantity of their game as the best proof of their dominion. Nor does the simili- tude of these animals stop here : they have both sparkling eyes, and nearly of the same colour ; their claws are of the same form, their breath equally strong, and their cry equally loud and terri- fying. Bred both for war, they are enemies of all society : alike fierce, proud, and incapable of being easily tamed. It requires great patience and much art to tame an eagle ; and even though taken young, and brought under by long assiduity, yet still it is a dangerous domestic, and often turns its force against its master.
When brought into the field for the purposes of fowling, the falconer is never sure of its attachment : that innate pride, and love of liberty, still prompt it to regain its native solitudes ; and the moment the falconer sees it, when let loose, first stoop to- wards the ground, and then rise perpendicularly into the clouds, he gives up all his former labour for lost ; quite sure of never beholding his late prisoner more. Sometimes, however, they are brought to have an attachment for their feeder ; they are then highly serviceable, and liberally provide for his pleasures
Hi (IDS.
5S
and support. When the lalcoiier lets them go from his hand, they play iiboiit and hover ruuiid him till their game presents, which tlicy see at an immense distance, and pursue with certain destruction.
Of all animals the eagle tlies highest ; and from thence the bncients have given him the epithet of the bird of heaven. Ot all others also, he has the quicke^t eye ; but his sense of smell- ing is far inferior to that of the vulture. He never pursues, therefore, but in sight ; and when he has seized his prey, he stoops from his height, as if to examine its weight, always lay< ing it on the ground before he carries it off. As his wing is very powerful, yet, as he has but little suppleness in the joints of the leg, he fuids it difficult to rise when down ; however, if not instantly pursued, he finds no difficulty in carrying off geese and cranes. He also carries away hares, lambs, and kids ; and often destroys fawns and calves, to drink their blood, and car- ries a part of their flesh to his retreat. Infants themselves, when left unattended, have been destroyed by these rapacious creatures •, which probably gave rise to the fable of Ganymede's being snatched up by an eagle to heaven.
An instance is recorded in Scotland of two children being carried off by eagles ; but fortunately they received no hurt by the way -, and, the eagles being pursued, the children were re- stored unhurt out of the nests to the affrighted parents. •
The eagle is thus at all times a formidable neighbour; but peculiarly when bringing up its young. It is then that the fe- male, as well as the male, exert all their force and industry to supply their young. Smith, in his history of Kerry, relates, that a poor man in that country got a comfortable subsistence for his family, during a summer of famine, out of an eagle's nest, byro'o- bing the eaglets of food, which was plentifully supplied by the old ones. He protracted their assiduity beyond the usual time, by clipping their wings, and retarding the flight of the young; and very probably also, as I have known myself, by so tying them as to increase their cries, which is always found to increase the parent's despatch to procure them provision. It was lucky, however, that the old eagles did not surprise the country-man as
* Ray relates, that in one of the Orkneys, a child of a year old was seized by an eagle, an<l carried about four miles to its nest. The raother pursued It, foimd her child in Uie nest, and took it away uiUivu-t
56 HISTORY OF
he was thus employed, as their resentment might have been dangerous.
It happened some time ago, in the same country, that a peasant resolved to rob the nest of an eagle, that had built in a small island in the beautiful lake of Eallarney. He accordingly stripped, and swam in upon the island while the old ones were away ; and, robbing the nest of its young, he was preparing to swim back, with the eaglets tied in a string ; but while he was yet up to his chin in the water, the old eagles returned, and, missing their young, quickly fell upon the plunderer, and, in spite of all his resistance, despatched him with their beaks and talons. •
In order to extirpate these pernicious birds, there is a law in the Orkney Islands, which entitles any person that kills an eagle to a hen out of every house in the parish in which the plunderer is killed.
The nest of the eagle is usually built in the most inaccessible cliff of the rock, and often shielded from the weather by some jutting crag that hangs over it. Sometimes, however, it is wholly exposed to the winds, as well sideways as above ; for the nest is flat, though built with great labour. It is said that the same nest serves the eagle during life ; and indeed the pains bestowed in forming it seems to argue as much. One of these was found in the Peak of Derbyshire ; which Willoughby thus describes. " It was made of great sticks, resting one end on the edge of a rock, the other on two birch trees. Upon these was a layer of rushes, and over them a layer of heath, and upon the heath rushes again : upon which lay one young one, and an addle egg ; and by them a lamb, a hare, and three heath-poults. The nest was
• A gentleman who lived in the south of Scotland, had, not many years ago, a tame eagle, which the keeper one day injudiciously thought proper, for some petty fault, to lash with a horse-whip. About a week afterwards, the man chanced to stoop within reach of his chain, when the euraged ani. mal recollecting the late insult, flew in his face with so much fury and vio- lencp, that he was terribly wounded, but was luckily driven so far back by the blow as to be out of all further danger. Tlie screams of the eagle itlarmed the family, who found the man lying at some distance in a very bloody condition, equally stunned with the fright and falL Tlie animal was still pacing and screaming in a manner not less formidable than mi^jestic It WIS even dreaded whether, in so violent a rage, he might not break loose ; which, indeed, fortunately perhaps for them, he did, jast as they withdrew, and thus escaped for ever.
BIRDS. 51
about two yards square, and had no hollow in it. The young laglo was of the shape of a goshawk, of ahnost the weight of a goose, rough footed, or feathered down to the foot, having a white ring about the tail." Such is the place where the female eagle deposits her eggs ; which seldom exceed two at a time in the largest species, and not above three in the smallest. It is said that she hatches them.for thirty days : but frequently, even ot this small number of eggs, a part it is addled ; and it is extremely rare to find three eaglets in the same nest. It is asserted, that as soon as the young ones are somewhat grown, the mother kills the most feeble or the most voracious. If this ha])pens, it must proceed only from the necessities of the parent, who is incapabiC of providing for their sujjport ; and is content to sacrifice a part to the welfare of all.
The plumage of the eaglets is not so strongly marked as \\ hen they come to be adult. They are at first white ; then inclining to yellow; and at last of a light brown. /\ge, hunger, long ca])tivity, and diseases, make them whiter. 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. They are equally remarka- ble, says, Mr Pennant, for their longevity, and for their power of sustaining a long abstinence 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 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 hunger for twenty one days, without any sustenance whatever.
Those eagles which are kept tame, are fed with every kind of flesh, whether fresh or corrupting; and when there is a deficiency of that, bread, or other provision, will suffice. It is very dan- gerous approaching them if not quite tame ; and they sometimes send forth a loud piercing lamentable cry, which renders them still more formidable. The eagle drinks but seldom ; and per- haps, when at liberty, not at all, as the blood of its prey serves to (juench its thirst. The eagle's e.vcremcnts are always soft and moist, and tinged with that whitish substance which, as was said before, mixes in hird.s with the mine.
58 HISTORY Of
Such are the general characteristics and habitudes of the cHgle ; however, in some these habitudes differ, as the sea eagle and the osprey live chiefly upon fish, and consequently ))uild their nests on the shore, and by the sides of rivers on the f-Tiound among reeds; and often lay three or four eggs, ra- ther less than those of a hen, of a white elliptical form. They <-atch their prey, which is chiefly fish, by darting down upon them from above. The Italians compare the violent descent of these birds on their prey to the fall of lead into water ; and call them aquila piombina, or the leaden eagle.
Nor is the bald eagle, which is an inhabitant of North Caro- lina, 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 woolly feathers, the female eagle lays again. These eggs are left 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 lannot overtake their prey, like others of the same denomina- tion. To remedy this, they often attend a sort of fishing-hawk, which they pursue, and strip the plunderer of its prey. This is the more remarkable, as this hawk flies swifter than they. These eagles also generally attend upon fowlers in the winter," and when 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 ; it is large enough to fill the body of a cart ; and is commonly full of bones half eaten, and putrid flesh, the stench of which is into- lerable.
The distinctive marks of each species are as follow :
The golden eagle : of a tawny iron colour ; the head and neck of a reddish iron ; the tail feathers of a dirty white, marked with cross bands of tawny iron ; the legs covered with tawny iror feathers.
The common eagle : of a brown colour ; the head and uppei part of the neck inclining to red ; the tail feathers white, black- ening at the ends ; the outer ones, on each side, of an ash co- lour; the legs covered with feathers of a reddish brown.* ♦ The Common Eagle, is found all over Europe and North America. It Ire-
Biitu<. 59
The bald eagle : brown ; the head, neck, and tail feathers, white ; the feathers of the upper part of the leg brown.
The white eagle : the whole white.
The rough-footed eagle : of a dirty brown ; spotted under tlio wings, and on the legs, with white ; the feathers of the tail white at the beginning and the point ; the leg-feathers dirty brown, spotted with white.
The white-tailed eagle : dirty brown ; head white ; the stems of the feathers 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 chestnut ; the points of the wings blackish ; the tail feathers white j the legs naked.
The black eagle : blackish ; the head and upper neck mixed with red ; the tail feathers, the first half white, speckled with black ; the other half blackish ; the leg feathers dirty white.
The sea eagle : inclining to white, mixed with iron brown ; belly white with iron coloured spots ; the covert feathers of the tail whitish ; the tail feathers black at the extremity j the upper part of the leg feathers of an iron brown.
quent* rhiefly in the high mountains of France, Switzerland, Germany, Po. land, and Scotland, and descends into the plains in winter. It has been seen in Barbary, and it wo'Jd appear that it also exists in Arabia and Persia. It has been found in Louisiana, the Floridas, Carolina, and at Hudson's Bay. During summer, it never quits the mountains, but when it descends in winter the forests become its asylum during the rigour of that season. Tlie flight of this eagle is so high, that it is often completely lost sight of. From tliis great distance, however, its cry is still audible, and then resem. bles the barking of a small dog. This eagle builds, on the most rugged rocks, a flat nest about five feet square where it rears the young, M-hose operations it also directs during their adolescence. Its eggs are of a brown red, M'ith blackish stripes. It is particularly fond of hares, which form its principal food It also preys on various birds, and even on lambs. The male eagle never hunts alone, except when the female cannot quit the eggs or young. At other seasons they always hunt together ; and some moun- taineers pretend that one beats the bushes, while the other remains in some elevated place to stop the prey on its passage. According to Marco Polo, the eagle is employed in Tartary to hunt hares, and even wolves and foxes, but this probably applies to the great eagle : the common eagle was of no use in falconry. Spallaiizani has observed, in relation to this bird, that when it swallows pieces of meat, two streams of fluid spring from the aii. ertures of its nostrils, run down the upper part of the beak, and uniting at its point, enter it and mix \\'ith tlie food.
rQ uisroRY 01'
The osprey : brown above, white below, the buck of the head white, tiie outward tail feathers, on the inner side, streaked witli
while; legs naked.*
The jean le blanc : above, brownish grey ; below, white, spot
* The O^prc!,, or Ossifrage, is so nan.ed, because fragments of bones of considerable ma^itude have been fouml in its stomach. It is found in the :i entcountri^of Europe and North America ^'7^'^. >* ^^-^ 4^ nerallv to prefer cold and even frozen regions, such as Russia, Siberia, and Kam Iciatka, Poiret has seen it in Barbary. From it. usual habitat on the seLlore, on the banks of great rivers and lakes over which it is contmu aJW hove ing, it has received the denomination of the great sea eagle. Fish U the principal article of its subsistence, which it seizes by darting on it when it is on a level with the water, and sometimes even by plunging aft r t It also preys on sea-birds, young seals, hares and even lambs. It hunts and fishes both by night and day, having the double advantage of seeing better in daylight than the nocturnal birds, and by night than the diurnal. The Lorning Ld evening, however, are the principal times which it de votes to this exercise. Its flight is neither as elevated nor as rapid as that of the great eagle, and not being so long-sighted, it does not pursue its prey
"""ne osprev builds its nest in the rocks which border the sea-coast, or in very lofty oaks. It lays two round and very heavy eggs of a dirty white. It nurses its young with the greatest affection ; but as one of the eggs is Ln u2itfll. the species, though considerably extended, is not very nu-
'"'Tre%ygLgusTwhich is now ascertained to be of the same species as the osprey, though formerly separated, is found in the northern parts of both c.n.tine,.ts Pallas beheld a prodigious quantity of them m the mountains .,f the Vol'-a. This bird frequents the sea-coasts and lives on hsh, young .e-ils duck= &c , and the carcases of animals cast on shore by the waves. To make itself master of the diving birds, it perches on the point of the rucks and judging from the agitation of the water of the place where the ;:;:d wrre-app^ea' it seizes it at the very instant of its rising to the surface. When it has possessed itself of a prey too heavy to be raised out of the wa- ter it drags it to the shore, flying backwards; but when its talons have entered the body of some large seal, and it cannot disengage them, it is drawn into the water by the animal, and is heard to utter the most pierc ino- cries Aristotle says, that this bird also preys on fawns, deer, and roe- bucks it has been observed that the pygargi which frequent inhabited places hunt only for some hours in the middle of the day, and rest in the moniii.g, evening, and night. This bird biulds its nest in rocks, and com. noses it of small branches arranged in a circuhir form : the interior is fur- nished with weeds, grass, moss, and feathers. Bufton informs us, after WiUoughby, that this nest is also found on large trees, whose foliage con- Btitutes its only shelter above. The female lays two whitish eggs of the form and size of goose eggs. Incubation takes place in April, and frequent- Iv but one young one is hatched. These birds feed their yo.mg by throw- ing pieces of flesh into the nest, which the latter quit as soon as they are able to fly, and accompany the parents to lie ch;ise.
muus. tjl
tei] with tasvny brown ; tlie tail featlicrs, on the outsidp and at tlie extremity, brown ; on the inside, white, streaked with brown ; legs naked.
The eagle of Brasil : blackish brown; ash colour, mixed in the wings; tail feathers white; legs naked.
The Oroonoko eagle : \a ith a toj)ping ; above, blackish brown ; helow, white, spotted s\ itli black ; upper neck yellow ; tail feii- thers brown, with « bite circles j leg feathers white, spotted with black.
The crowned African eagle : with a topping ; the tail of an ash colour, streaked on the upper side with black.
The eagle of Pondichcrry : chestnut colour : the six outward tail feathers black one half.*
* To these may be added, a species of sea eagle, which M. Audubon has failed the Bird of Washington, as being- the noblest of the genus known to naturalists. The flight of tliis bird is very ditterent from that of the white- headed eagle, encircling more diameter than the latter ; whilst sailing, keep- ing nearer to tlie land and the surface of the water ; and when about to divo for fish, falling in a circuitous spiral manner, as if with an intention of check, ing all retreating movement which its prey might attempt, and only when within a few yards darting- upon it. 'Ihe fish-hawk often does the same. When rising with a fish they fly to a considerable distance, forming, in their line (if course and that of the water a very acute angle, something not ex. Deeding tliirty degrees, when several bundled yards distant from the spot emerged from.
The male bird weighs about 1 1^ lbs. avoirdupois, measures 3 ft. 7 in. in length, and 10 ft. 2 in. in extent. The upper mandible 3| in., dark bluish black.
The Martial eagle, sometimes called the griffurd, is a large species dis. covered in Africa by Le Vaillant. It inhabits the country of the great Namaquois, between the twenty-eighth degree of south latitude and the tropic, and probably exists in the other parts of Africa. Wlien perched, it emits sharp and piercing cries, mixed with hoarse and lugubrious tones, which are heard at a great distance. It flies, with the legs pendant, and, like the common eagle, rises so high that it is lost siglxt of, though its cry is Etill audible. Highly eourag-eous, it never sufters any great bird of rapine to approach within its domain. It hunts gazelles and hares.
The griffards, like the other eagles, are usually observed in couples, but during the hatching time the male alone provides for the subsistence of the family. The nest is formed between precipitous rocks, or on the summits of lofty trees. Its basis is constituted like that of the other eagles' nests, but it is covered witli a large quantity of small wood, moss, and roots, which give it a thickness of about two feet. This bed is again covered with small bits of dry wood, on which the female lays two eggs almost round, entirely white, and more than three inches in diameter.
The Balbuzxiird is pretty generally spread through France, Germany, •nd most of the countries of Europe from north to south. It is also fouiiil III. i'
€5} HISTORY Of
CHAP. III.
THE CONDOR OF AMERICA.
We might now come to speak of the vulture kind, as they hold the next rank to the eagle ; but we are interrupted in our
iu Barbary, Egrypt, Louisiana, and even in the island of Pins in the South Sea. The balbuzzards of the reeds iu Carolina and Cayenne, appear to be only varieties of the same species, which equally inhabits Pennsylvania, and is sometimes called piravera. '! he places which the balbuzzard prefers to frequent, are not the shores of the sea, but low lands bordering on ponds and rivers, from which habit it might be termed the fresh-water eag-le. Perched on a lofty tree, or hovering at a considerable elevation in the air. It watches the fish from afar, descends upon it with the rapidity of light- ning, seizes it at the moment it appears on the surface of the water, or even plunges in completely after it, and carries it off in its talons. But this prey, the weight of which renders the flight of the bird slow and laborious, does not always remain the portion of the balbuzzard. On the banks of the Ohio, where it goes to fish, when the peica oceltata quits the ocean to enter the river, dwells al-o the formidable pygargus. Wlien he sees the balbuzrard arrived to the height of his ejTie, he quits his own, pursues him closely, until the fisher, convinced of his inferiority, abandons the prey ; then this fierce antagonist w^ith folded wings shoots do«n like an arro\v, and with the most inconceivable address, seizes the fish again before it reaches the river. The right of the strongest is the sovereign arbiter of small and great events, and governs throughout the universe with resistless sway, in the air, on the earth, and under the waters.
But as a corsair, whose booty has been taken by an enemy in sight of port, undertakes a new expedition in the hope of being more fortunate, so the balbuzzard recommences his operations, and possessed of a fresli prey, he usually succeeds, if it be not too heavy, in escaping with it from his re- doiibtable foe. These scenes continually occiu' as long as the fish above- raentionod remains in the river. When it returns to the ocean, the pygar. giis retires to his mountains, to pursue game, and the balbuzzard betakes Jiimself to the sea-shore, where he is no longer obliged to pay tribute for liis plunder.
The balbuzzard builds its nest on the lofty trees of thick forests, or in the crevices of rocks. According to Lewin, it is also constructed on the gromid in the midst of roeds. Two or three white eggs are generally laid, some- times four, and spotted \vith red.
These birds are almost always in pairs ; but when the waters are frozen, they separate in search of milder climates and a more facile subsistence ; they are usually very fat, and the flesh savours strongly of fislu It is said, that they might easily be trained for fislung as other birds are for hunting, and it appears not improbable. In Siberia, where they are very common, an opinion prevails that they carry a mortal poison in their talons, and the su- perstitious inhabitants are dreadfully afraid of a single scratch. — See " The Animal kingdom of Baron Cuvier. With Additional Descriptions." Vol. V \, London, 19i9.
BIUDS. 63
method by the consideration of an enormous bird, whose place is not yet ascertained ; as naturalists are in doubt whether to refer it to the eagle tribe, or to that of the vulture. Its great strength, force and vivacity, might plead for its place among the former ; the baldness of its head and nt'clc might be thought to degrade it among the latter. In this uncertainty, it will be enough to describe the bird by the lights we have, and leave future his- torians to settle its rank in the feathered creation. Indeed, if size and strength, combined with rapidity of tlight and rapacity, deserve pre-eminence, no bird can be put in competition with it. The condor possesses, in a higher degree than the eagle, all the qualities that render it formidable, not only to the feathered kind, but to beasts, and even to man himself. Acosta, Garci- lasso, and Desmarchais, assert, that it is eighteen feet across, the wings extended. The beak is so strong as to pierce the body of a cow ; and two of them are able to devour it. They
'J'lie Great Hai-py is a bird « liidi has been described under various Byiiouyms, in consequence of the variations wliich result from age and sex, in its magnitude and plumage. It is found in Brazil, New Granada, nnd Guyana, where it particularly inhabits the forests of the interior. It is also found in other countries of America, and is peculiar to that con. tinent. It is said to be tlie most robust and powerful of the feathered race. If the stories told of it be true, the benefits of nature seem, in this way, to be pretty equally distributed to both worlds. While the old can boast of the most terrible of qnadinipeds, the fiercest and strongest of birds has fallen to the inheritance of the new. Travellers have assured Mauduyt, that Uie harpy maVies its usual prey on the ai and the unau, and that it often carries off fa «Tis and other young quadrupeds. It also attacks the aras, and the larger parrots.
It does not appear very clearly, why this eagle should come under the section of the fisher-eagles, a denomination to which, in many cases, we must not attach much importance, and which is generally applied to those eagles whose thick and short tarsi are altogether or in part naked. The places inhabited by the harpy, and all we know concerning its mode of life, is confirmatory of this observation. Sonnini is persuaded that this bird does not fish, and describes, mider the appellation of the great eagle of Guiana, an individual whose size exceeds the usual magnitude of the harpy or de. Btructive eagle. There is every probability of the identity of species in this case, and the individual in question may be the female of the harpy, on the sexual differences of which no well-authenticated observations seem hither, to to have been made. Sonnini has measured and described the individual wliich he killed, and the only material difference between it and the do. structor consists in relative size. It also frequents the hot and humid coun- tries of America. But we cannot expect for a very long time to gain any precise notions respecting a bird whose solitary abode, in the depth of aU most impenetrable forest.s, is so far removed Jcm the habitations of man,
r2
64 HISTORY OF
do not even abstain from man himself : but fortunately there are but few of the species ; for if they had been plenty, every order of animals must have carried on an unsuccessful war against them. The Indians assert, that they will carry off a deer, or a young calf, in their talons, as eagles would a hare or a rab- bit ; that their sight is piercing, and their air terrible ; that they seldom frequent the forests, as they require a large space for the display of their wings ; but that they are found on the sea-shore, and tlie banks of rivers, whither they descend from the heights of the mountains. By later accounts we learn, that they come down to the sea-shore only at certam seasons, 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 upor. the shore. We are assured, however, that their countenance is not so terrible as the old writers have represented it ; but that they appear of a milder nature than either the eagle or the vul- ture.*
* It is astonishing:, observes Humboldt, that one of the largest of terres- trial birds and animals inhabiting countries which Europeans have been ac- customed to visit for more than three centuries, should have so long re- mained so imperfectly known. The descriptions even of the most modern naturalists and travellers concerning this bird, are replete with contradic tion, error, and falsehood. By some, the size and ferocity of the condor have been immeasurably exaggerated; others have confounded it with ap. proximating species, or assumed the differences observed in the bird from infancy to age, as the diagnostic characteristics of sex. Baron Cuvier, in speaking of the form of the condor, after a careful investigation of all that has been written on the subject before Humboldt, expresses himself thus : " Some authors attribute to the condor a brown plumage, and a head cloth- ed with down ; others, a fleshy crest on the forehead, and a black and white plumage. It has not yet been described with any precision." Of the two drawings given by Dr Shaw, the second alone bears the least re- semblance to the great vulture of the Andes. " But the head," says baron de Humboldt, " is without character. It more resembles that of a cock, than the head of the Peruvian condor : Buffon has not even risked an en. graving of this bird. The one added to the edition of his works, at Deux Pouts, is below all criticism."
The baron do H umboldt liaviiig resided for seventeen months in the native moiuitains of the condor, haviug had occasion constantly to see it in its fre. quent excursions beyond the limits of perpetual snow, has been enabled to render the most essential service to zoology, by publishing a detailed de- fcriptiou of this animal, and the drawings which he sketched of it on the spot.
The name of condor is derived from the Qquichua language, the general Innguage of the ancient Incas. It should be written cun(ui; as other natik
BIRDS. f»5
Condaminc has frequently seen them in several parts of the mountains of Quito, and observed them hovering over a Sock of sheep ; and he thinks they would, at a certain time, have at- tempted to carry one off, had they not been scared away by the
ralists had previously observed. Eiu-opeans, by a corrupt pron\inciation, rbang-e the Peruvian u and t, as they change the syllable hiia into gita. They say, for instance, the voli'ano of Tong-uragua, instead of Tungurn. chua, and Andes, instead of And. IJaron de Humboldt thinks, that ciintur is derived from cuntuni, which signifies to smell well, to spread an odour o. fruit, meat, or other iUiraents. The baron observes, that, as there is nothing more astonishing than the almost inconceivable sagacity with which the condor distinguishes the odour of flejli from an immense distance, the ety- mologist may be allowed to believe, that both cuntur and cuntuni come from one and the same unknown root. He has chosen, however, to re tain the popular name of condor.
W. Dumeril has separated the condor from the genus vultur, and joined it, and the papa, and the oricou, in a new genus, to which he has given the aaxas of sarcoriimphus. This appears a very judicious distinction ; for the crests, or fleshy ciirundes, which crown the beak, present a very distinctive character.
The young condor has no feathers. The body, for many months, is cover, cd only with a very fine down, or a frizzled whitish hair, resembling that of the young uJula?. This down disfigures the young bird so much, that it appears almost as large in this state as when a<lult. The condor at two years old has not the black plumage, but a fawn-coloured brown. The female, up to this period, has not the white collar formed at the bottom of the neck by feathers longer than the others, 'lliis collar the Spaniards name golilta. From a want of proper attention to these changes produced by age, many naturalists, and even the inhabitants of Peru themselves, «-ho take little interest in ornithology, have announced two species of condors, black and bro\vn {condor negroy condor par do). M. de Humboldt has met persons, even in the city of Quito, who assured him, that the female of the condor is distinguished from the male not only by the absence of the nasal crest, but also by the want of the collar. Gmelin and the Abbe Molina make the same assertion. It is, however, qtiite certain, that such is not the fact. At Riobambo, in the environs of Chimborazo and Antisana, the hun. ters are thoroughly acquainted with the influence produced by age on the form and colour of the condor ; and for the most exact notions concerning those varieties we are indebted to them.
The beak of the condor is straight in the upper part, but extremely crooked at the extremity. The lower jaw is much shorter than the upper. The fore part of this enormous beak is wliite, the rest of a grayish bro^v^l, end not black, as stated by Linnaeus. The head and neck are naked, and covered wiih a hard, dry and wrinkled skin ; this same skin is reddish, but furnished here and there with brown or blackish hairs, short and very stiff. The cranium is singularly flat at the summit; as is the c;i,<e with all very ferocious animals.
The fleshy, or rather cartilaginous crest of the condor occupies the su:n. mit of the brad, and one-fourth of the leur^tli of the b^ak. This crest is en.
HISTORY OF
shepherds. Labat acquaints us, that those who have seen th, animal, declare that the body is as large as that of a sheep j and that the flesh is tough, and as disagreeable as carrion. Ihe Spaniards themselves seem to dread its depredations ; and there have been many instances of its carrying off their children.
tirely wanting in the femal.-, and M. Daadin has erroneously attributed it o her It is of an oblong figure, wrinkled, and very slender. ^ >y "^^ of L ndor exhibits a very considerable aperture ; but it .s concea ed und r the folds of the temporal membrane. The eye is singularly elongated moie emit frornti. beau than in the eagies ; ^Z^'^''^''^ t^Z'^^i^ our The entire neck is garnished with parallel wrinkles ; but the sk u is Tss flaccid than that which covers the throat. These wrinkles are placed lonlua 1^^^^^ and arise from the habit of this vulture of contracting Us neck and colcealing it in the collar, which answers the purpose of a hood TWs'coui- which i! neither less broad, nor less white in the adul female Sn ^n the' male, is formed of a tine silken do... It ^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^ separates from the naked part of the neck the body of ^'^ J^;;"* /^^J;^^^^^ wfth genuine feathers. Linnaeus, and after h.m Daudm have both asserted Tut without foundation, that this colla: is wanting xn he fema^ In both Bcxes.thehoodisnot entire; it does not close exactly m front and the neck is naked as far as the place were the black -^^^^kTlXy grayish.
The rest of the bird, back, wings and tail, are of a blacK s"D'"'y « * Tirnlumes are sometimes ^f a brilliant black ; niost frequently, however S:btck boTders on a gray. They are of a triangular figure, and cover
central chain of the 7-" -" ^^ ^^'^;/„'';^th 2 condor as with Patago. ^''"'^:^r rJrt^ oi^e o^^ ae^^^^^^^ natural history,_the more
mans and so many o^i^" ° J ^ ^^ enormous dimensions been
they have been examined, the more have t^^^^ ^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^.^^ ^^
found to dimimsk The "Y^-g^ but three feet three inches. Their usual '''" '''''^re 'r:r nte' e f ' ^om individuals from a superabundant sup. X^^rent or" oth^r causes, may have attained an extent of wing, of fourteen feet.
BIHD9. 67
Mr Strong, tlie master of a ship, as he was sailing along the coasts of Chili, in the thirty- third degree of south latitude, ob- served a bird sitting upon a high cliff near the shore, which some of the ship's company shot with a leaden bullet and killed.
The condor, like the Uaraa, the vicunna, the alpaca, and several alpine plants, is peculiar to the diaiu of the Andes. The region of the globe which he appears to prefer to every other is of an elevation of from 1600 to 2500 toises. Whenever the baron and his friend M. Bonpland were led, in the course of their herborizing- exciu'sions, to the limits of perpetual snows, they were always surrounded by condors. There they used to find them, three or foiu- in number, on the points of the rocks. They exhibited no dis- trust, and suflorod themselves to be approached within a couple of toises. They did not appear to liave the slightest inclination to attack. Baron de Humboldt declares that, after the utmost research, he never heard a single example quoted of a condor having carried otf a child, as has been so fre- quently reported. M. do Humboldt does not, however, doubt that two condors would be capable of depriving a child of ten years of age of life, or even a grown man. It is very common to see them attack a young bull, and tear out his tongue and eyes. The beak and talons of the condor are of the most enormous force. Nevertheless all the Indians who inhabit the Andes of Quito are unanimous that this bird is not dangerous to man.
Though the condor exclusively belongs to the chain of the Andes ; though it prefers situations more elevated than the peak of Teneriffe or the sum. mits of Mont-Blanc ; tho\igh of all animals, it is the one which removes to the greatest distance from the surface of our planet ; it is yet not less true, that hunger will sometimes induce it to descend into the plains, and more especially into those which border on this mighty mountain chain. Condors nre to be seen even on the shores of the southern ocean, especially in the cold and temperate latitudes of Chili, where the chain of the Andes may be almost said to border on the margin of the Pacific. Still it is observed that this bird sojourns but a few hours in these lower regions. It prefers the mountain solitudes, where it respires a rarefied atmosphere, in which the barometer does not rise above 16. On this account, in the Andes of Peru and Quito, many small groupes of rocks, and platforms elevated 2450 toises above the level of the sea, bear the names of Cuntur-Kahua, Cuntur.Palti, Cwitur.Huachatia, names signifying, in the Inca language, watch-tower, Brooding place, or nest, of the condors.
M. de Humboldt was assured that the condor builds no nest ; that it de- posits its eggs on the naked rock, without siu-rounding them with straw or leaves. The eggs are said to be altogether white, and from three to four Inches in length. It is also reported that the female remains with tlu; little ones for the space of an entire year. When the condor descends into the plains, it prefers alighting on the ground to perching in the trees, like the vultur aura. The talons of the condor are very straight ; and it is a re- mark of Aristotle, that birds of prey with very crooked talons are not fond of settling upon stones or rocks.
The habits of the condor are similar to those of the laemmcr-geyer. If it is not larger than the latter, it appears to be superior in strength and audacity. 'Iwo condors will dart upon the deer of the Andes, upon the puma, the vi-
68 HISTORY OF
They were greatly surprised when they beheld its magnitude ; for when the wings were extended, they meastir'-d 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 a half in circumference.
We have a still more circumstantial account of this amazing bird, by P. Feuille, the only traveller who has accurately de- scribed it : " In the valley of Ilo, in Peru, I discovered a con- dor perched on a high rock before me : 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 dilficulty that it flew to another rock, about five hundred yards distant 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 terrible, and defended itself upon its back with its claws extended against me, so that
canna, and the guanaco. They will even attack a heifer. They pursue it for a long time, wounding it with their beak and talons, until the animal, breathless and overwhelmed with fatigue, thrusts out its tongue bellowing. The condor then seizes the tongue, a morsel to which it is much attached. It also tears out tlie eyes of its victim, which sinks to the earth, and slowly expires. In the province of Quito, the mischief done to cattle, but more especially to sheep and cows by tliis formidable bird, is immense. In the savannahs of Antisana, 2101 toises above the level of the sea, bulls are constantly found which have been wounded in the back by condors.
The condor appears to have more tenacity of life than any other bird of prey. M. de Humboldt was present at certain experiments ou the life of a condor at Riobamba. They first attempted to strangle it with a noose. They hung it to a tree, and dragged the legs with great force for many minutes : but scarcely was the noose removed, than the condor began to walk about as if nothing had been the matter. Three pistol-balls were then discharged at him within less than tour paces distance. They all entered the body. He was wounded in the neck, chest, and belly, but still remained on his feet. , A fifth ball struck against the femur, and rebounding, fell back on the ground. This ball was for a long time preserved by M. Bonpland. The condor did not die for half an hour after of the numerous wounds which it had received. UUoa informs us, that in the cold region of Peru the condor is closely furnished with feathers, that eight or ten balls may strike against his body, without one piercing it.
It is worthy of observation that the condor prefers carcasses to living animals. It subsists, however, on both, and seems to pursue small birda ets than quadrupeds.
BIUU3. 69
I scfirccly knew how to lay hold of it. Hud it not been mor- tnliy wounded, I should have found it no easy matter to take it ; but I at last dragged it down from the rock, and with the assis- tarice 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, that were of a beautiful shining black, were two feet four inches long. The thickness of the beak was proportion- able to the rest of the 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, co- vered the head ; the eyes were black, and surrounded with a circle of reddish brown. The feathers on the breast, neck, and M-iiigs, 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 was armed was black, and three quarters of an inch. The other claws were in the same proportion ; and the legs were covered with black sciiles, 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 find on the sea- coast, except when the 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."
It is doubted whether this animal be proper to America only, or whether it may not have been described by the naturalists of other countries. It is supposed that the great bird called the Rock, described by Arabian writers, and so much exaggerated by fable, is but a species of the condor. The great bird of Tar- nassar, in the East Indies, that is larger than thd eagle, as well
70 HISTORY or
as the vulture of Senegal, that carries off children, are probably no other than the bird vve have been describing. Russia, Lap- land, and even Switzerland and Germany, are said to have known this animal. A bird of this kind was shot in France, that weighed eighteen pounds, and was said to be eighteen feet across the wings ; however, one of the quills was described only as being larger than that of a swan ; so that, probably, the breadth of the wings may have been exaggerated, since a bird so large would have the quills more than twice as big as those of a swan. However this be, we are not to regret that it is scarcely ever seen in Europe, as it appears to be one of the most formi- dable enemies of mankind. In the deserts of Pachomac, where it is chiefly seen, men seldom venture to travel. Those wild re- gions are very sufficient of themselves to inspire a secret hoiTor : broken precipices — prowling panthers — forests only vocal with the hissing of serpents — and mountains rendered still more ter- rible by the condor, the only bird that ventures to make its re- sidence in those deserted situations.
CHAP. IV.
OF THE VULTURE AND ITS AFFINITIES.
The first rank in the description of birds has been given to the eagle ; not because it is stronger or larger than the vulture, but because it is more generous and bold. The eagle, unless pressed by famine, will not stoop to carrion ; and never devours but what he has earned by his own pursuit. The vulture, on the contrary, is indelicately voracious ; and seldom attacks living animals when it can be supplied with the dead. The eagle meets and singly opposes his enemy ; the vulture, if it expects resistance, calls in the aid of its kind, and basely overpowers its pfcy by a cowardly combination. Putrefaction and stench, in- stead of deterring, only serves to allure them. The vulture seems among birds what the jackal and hya;na are among quad- rupeds, who prey upon carcases, and root up the dead.
Vultures may be easily distinguished from all those of tne eaele kind, by the nakedness of their heads and necks, which are
BUDS. 71
V'lt'oout featliers, and only coveicd with a very slight down, or a tew sciittiTud hairs. Their eyes are more prominent; those of the eagle being buried more in the socket. Their claws are shorter, and less hooked. The inside of the wing is covered with a thick down, which is different in them from all other birds of prey. Their attitude is not so upright as that of the eagle ; and their flight more difficult and heavy.
In this tribe we may range the golden, the ash-coloured, and the brown vulture, which are inhabitants of Europe ; the spotted and the black vulture of Egypt ; the bearded vulture ; the Bra- zilian vulture, and the king of the vultures, of South America. They all agree in their nature ; being equally indolent, yet ra- pacious and unclean.*
* It would be idle to notice all the species of vultures which have beeu enumerated by naturalists. To do so would, in fact, be to dwell for the most part on a series of names, which have been const.mtly applied to tho same species seen under different modifications, M. Vicillot remarks, that, after having observed the liviug vultures under the various metamorphoses which the difference of age occasions in their plumag-e, and liaving most at- tentively studied the subject, he is fully convinced that few of their genera are composed of as many species as some naturalists have adopted without examination, and otliers have repeated without reflection. Brisson, Gmelin, and Latham have described seven or eight species of vultures in Europe, though it appears more than probable that there are but throe or four.
Of all the characters drawn from the anterior portion of tho body in the vulture tribe, the most distinct is the greater or less degree of nudity of the head and neck. To this may be added, that they differ from the eagles with which they have been vulgarly confounded, by having their eyes on a le^'el with the head, while the eyes of the otliers are sunk >\ithin their orbits. They differ also in their discovered ears, in the form of their claws, (those of the eagle, properly so called, being almost semicircular,) and in the tarsi, wliich, in the known species, are totally naked. Besides these characters, which are merely methodical, there are others of a more prominent kind which cannot lead into error, nor permit the confusion of tlie genuine vul- tures with any of the other birds of prey. Their port is inclined, half hori. zontal, a position indicating their grovelling nature ; whereas the eagle stands proudly upright and almost perpendicular on its feet. On the ground, to wliich, by the way, they are much attached, their wings are pendant, and their tail trailed along. Accordingly, we fiud the end of the peufeathers constantly worn. Their flight is heavy, and they experience considerable difficulty in taking their full soar. Finally, they are the only birds of prey that fly and live gregariously.
TTieir mode of life, disposition, and habits, exhibit characters still more marked. The vultures are cowardly, disgusting, gormandizing in the ex- treme, voracious, and crueL They rarely attack living animals, but whry they can no longer satiate themselves on dead bodies. They attack a sinyle
HisTOftT( or
The GOLDKN VULTURE secms to be the foremost of the kind ; and is, in many things, like the golden eagle, but larger in every proportion. From the end of the beak to that of the tail, it is four feet and a half; and to the claws' end, forty-five inches. The length of the upper mandible is almost seven inches ; and the tail twenty-seven in length. The lower part of the neck, breast, and belly, are of a red colour ; but on the tail it is more faint, and deeper near the head. The feathers are black on the back ; and on the wings and tail of a yellowish brown. Others of the kind differ from this in colour and dimensions ; but they are all strongly marked by their naked heads, and beak straiglit in the beginning, but hooking at the point.
They are still more strongly marked by their nature, which,
enemy with numbers, and tear carcasses even to the very bone. Tliey are attracted by the savour of corruption and infection. The hawks, the fal- cons, and even the smallest birds of this order, exhibit more courage than the vultures; for they hunt their prey alone, almost all of them disdain dead flesh, and will reject that which is corrupted. Comparing birds with quadrupeds, the vulture appears to unite the strength a; d cruelty of the tiger with the cowardice and gormandism of the chacal, which likewise joins in troops to devour carrion and root up the dead : \\ liile the eagle has the courage, nobleness, magnanimity, and generosity of the lion.
Endowed with a sense of fmelling exti-emely keen, the odour of corrupt- ed flesh attracts the v\iltuies from a considerable distance. They fly to. wards it in flocks, and all the species are admitted indiscriminately to the disgusting banquet. If pressed by hunger, they will descend near the habi- tation> of men, but they never attempt an attack except on the peaceable and timid tenants of the poultry yard.
The vultiu-es are more numerous in the southern than in the northern parts of the g obe. Still, it does not appear that they dread the cold, and seek warmth in preference ; for in our part of the world they live in the greatest numbers on the highest mountains, and descend but rarely into the plains. In the hot clmates such as Egypt, where they are vcrj' numerous and of great utility, because they clear the surface of the earth of the debris of dead animals, and prevent the ill consequences of putrefaction, they are more frequently seen upon the plain than in the mountains. They approach inhabited places, and spread themselves at day break in the towns and vil. la^es, and render essential service to the inhalntants by gorging themselves with the filth and carrion accumulated in the streets. In our climates thfl vultures during the fine season, inhabit the most lofty and deserted moun- tains : there, says Belon, they build their nests against shelvy rocks and in inaccessible situations. Authors are not agreed as to the number of their eggs, some stating it at two, others more. 1 hey do not carrj- food for their young in their talons, like the eagles, which even tear their prey in the air to distribute it to their family ; but they fill their <rop, and then dUgorge the contents into the beaks of the little ones. In winter they migrate into p. Marnier i'1im;ite.
BIKDS. 73
as has been observed, is cruel, unclean, and indolent. Their sense of smelling, however, is amazingly great ; and Niiture, for this purpose, has given them two large apertures oi nostrils without, and an extensive olfactory membrane within.* Their intestines are formed differently from those of the eagle kind ; for they partake 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 fact, they seem adapted inwardly, not only for being carnivorous, but to eat corn or what- soever of that kind comes in the way.
This bird, which is common in many parts of Europe, and but too well known on the western continent, is totally unknown in England. In Egypt, Arabia, and many other kingdoms of Africa and Asia, vultures are found in great abundance. The inside down of their wing is converted into a very warm and comfortable kind of fur, and is commonly sold in the Asiatic markets.
Indeed, in Egypt, this bird seems to be of singular service. There are great flocks of them in the neighbourhood of Grand Cairo, which no person is permitted to destroy. The service they render the inhabitants is the devouring of all the carrion and filth of that great city; which might otherwise tend to cor. nipt and putrefy the air. They are commonly seen in company
* It is now imagined by naturalists, that it is the eye, and not the scent, which leads birds to their prey. The toucan is a bird which ranks next to the vulture in discerning-, whether by smell or sight, the carrion on which it feeds. The immense size of its bill, which is many times larger than its head, was supposed to present in its honeycomb texture an extensive pro. longation of the olfactory nerve, and thus to account for its smelling at great distances ; but on accurate examination, the texture above mentioned in the bill is found to be mere diploe, to give the bill strength. Now the eye of this bird is somewhat larger than the wliole brain ; and it has been ascer- tained by direct experiments, that where very putrid carrion was inclosed in a basket from which effluvia could freely emanate, but which concealed the otfal from sight, it attracted no attention from vultures and other birds of prey till it was exposed to their view, when they immediately recognized their object, and others came rapidly from different quarters of the horizon wliere they were invisible a few minutes before. This sudden appearance of birds of prey from immense distances and in every direction, however the wind may blow, is accounted for by their soaring to an altitude. In this Bituation, their prey on the groimd is seen by them, however minute it may be ; and therefore their appearance in our sight is merely their descent froiu high regionj to within the scope of our optics.
III. a
i '
74 HisToav OK
with the wild dogs of the country, tearing a carcase very deii- oeratcly together. This odd association produced no quarrels ; the birds and quadrupeds seem to live amicably, and nothing but harmony subsists between them. The wonder is still the greater, as both are extremely rapacious, and both lean and bony to a very great degree ; probably having no great plenty even of the wretched food on which they subsist.
In America they lead a life somewhat similar. AVherever the hunters, who there only pursue beasts for the skins, are found to go, these birds are seen to pursue them. They still keep hovering at a little distance ; and when they see the beast flayed and abandoned, they call out to each other, pour down upon the carcase, and, in an instant, pick its bones as bare and clean as if they had been scraped by a knife.
At the Cape of Good Hope, in Africa, they seem to discovei a still greater share of dexterity in their methods of carving. " I have," says Kolben, " been often a spectator of the manner in which they have anatomized a dead body : I say anatomiaed ; for no artist in the world could have done it more cleanly. They have a wonderful method of separating the flesh from the bones, and yet leaving the skin quite entire. Upon coming near the carcase, one would not suppose it thus deprived of its internal substance, till he began to examine it more closely ; he then finds it, literally speaking, nothing but skin and bone. 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 entering into the hollow which they have made, they separate the flesh from the bones, without ever touching the skin. It often happens that an ox re- turning home alone to its stall from the plough, lies down by the way : it is then, if the vultures perceive it, that they fall with fury down, and inevitably devour the unfortunate .iiiimal. They sometimes attempt them grazing in the fields ; and then to the number of a hundred or more, make their attack all at once and together."
" 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 entertainments, and makes them all keep theii distance till he has done. They then fall to with an excellent
BIRDS. TA
appetite ; and their sense of smelling is so exquisite, tliat tlie instant a carcase drops, we may see the vultures floating in the air from all quarters, and come sousing on their prey." It is supjiosed by some, that they eat nothing that has life ; but th;s is only when they are not able ; for when they come at kvnbs, they show no mercy ; and serpents are their ordinary food. The manner of those birds is to perch themselves, several togetiier, on the old pine and cypress-trees ; where they continue all the morning, for several hours, with their wings unfolded ; nor are they fearful of danger, but suffer people to approach them very near, particularly when they are eating.
The sloth, the filth, and the voraciousness, of these birds, almost exceeds credibility. In the Brasils, where they are found in greiit abundance, when they light upon a carcase, which they have liberty to tear at their ease, they so gorge themselves that they are unable to fly; but keep hopping along when they are pursued. At all times, they are a bird of slow flight, and unable readily to raise themselves from the ground ; but when they have over-fed, they are then utterly helpless ; but they soon get rid of their burden ; for they have a method of vomit- ing up what they have eaten, and then they fly off with greater facility.
It is pleasant, however, to be a spectator of the hostilities between animals that are thus hateful or noxious. Of all crea- tures, the two most at enmity is the vulture of Brasil and the crocodile. The female of this terrible amphibious creature, which in the rivers of that part of the world grows to the size of twenty-seven feet, lays its eggs, to the number of one or two hundred, in the sands, on the side of the river, where they are hatched by the heat of the climate. For this purpose, she takes every precaution to hide from all other animals the place where she deposits her burden : in the mean time a number of vul- tures, or galinassos, as the Spaniards call them, sit silent and unseen in the branches of some neighbouring forest, and view the crocodile's operations, with the pleasing expectation of suc- ceeding plunder. They patiently wait till the crocodile has laid the whole number of her eggs, till she h.;s covered them care- fully imder the sand, and until she is retired from them to a convenient distance. Then, all together, encouraging each other with ciies, they pour down -.iron the nest, hook up the
g2
76
HISTORY or
sand in a moment, lay the eggs bare, and devour the whole brood without remorse. Wretched as is the flesh of these animals, yet men, perhaps when pressed by hunger, have been tempted to taste it. Nothing can be more lean, stringy, nau- seous, and unsavoury. It is in vain that, when killed, the rump has been cut off 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, at least those of Europe, usually lay two eggs at a time, and produce but once a year. They make their nests in inaccessible cliffs, and in places so remote, that it is rare to find them. 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 the native retreats, has ban- ished all living animals but themselves ; they then come from their heights, and brave the perils they must encounter in a more cultivated region. As carrion is not found, at those seasons, in sufficient quantity, or sufficiently remote