I

I

ZOOLOGICAL LECTURES .

GEORGE SHA>OLDJKK.S.*V

from the firft Authorities and most select 8p«vimriis

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GRIFFITH.

Loio>o N

tor c Kear«ley Kl.-ct I8O9.

ZOOLOGICAL LECTURES

DELIVERED AT THE

ROYAL INSTITUTION

IN THE YEARS

1806 AND 1807,

BY

GEORGE SHAW, M.D.F.R.S.

&c. &c.

VOL. r.

LONDON:

PRINTED TOR GdORGE KEARSLEY, FLBBT-SRTEET } BY THOMAS DAVISON, WHITXFRIARI.

1809.

ADVERTISEMENT.

JL HE present short course of Lectures is by no means intended as a deeply scientific and ela- borate series of zoological disquisitions, but may rather be termed, in the words of Sir Kenelm Digby, " a familiar discourse with Lady-Audi- tors." The general tenor of the explanations is purposely conducted with as little appearance of the parade of technical terms as possible ; and the reader must not expect to find any long disserta- tions relative to the nature of animal life, any very minute observations relative to the classification of the animal kingdom, and still less any quota- tions from Aristotle in order to prove that " a man hath ten toes * j" but the whole is merely intend

* Grew, Mu«. Reg. Soc.

ADVERTISEMENT.

ed as a plain illustration of the animal world ac- cording to the Linnaean mode of arrangement, with some occasional deviations and transpositions.

It should be added, that these Lectures were accompanied by a very numerous collection of en- gravings, drawings, &c. in order to elucidate the respective subjects; and, wherever circumstances rendered their introduction possible, by preserved as well as living specimens of the animals them- selves.

British Museum, May 30, 1808.

The reader is requested to pay particular attention to the list of Errata, and to cast his ei/es on the Notes and Illustrations.

SYLLABUS OF LECTURES. VOL. I.

LECTURE I.

INTRODUCTION. General description of the Animal King- dom, according to different authors. Lin mean ar- rangement. Union of animal and vegetable life in Zoophytes, and particularly in Polypes. General de- scription of Polypes.

LECTURE II.

Linrucan arrangement of MAMMALIA or viviparous Qua- drupeds. Order Primates, comprehending the Apes, Macaucos, and Bats. Vampyres. Order Bruta. Bra- dypus or Sloth. Fossil skeleton, supposed to be allied to this latter genus.

LECTURE III.

Continuation of Linnaean Mammalia. Genera of Da- sypus or Armadillo, Munis or Pangolin, Myrmeco-

SYLLABUS.

phaga or Ant-Eater, Platypus or Duckbill. Order Ferte. Canis or Dog, Felis or Cat, Viverra or Wee- sel. Didelphis or Opossum, Macropus or Kanguroo. Order Glires. Hystrix or Porcupine, Castor or Bea- ver, Arctomys or Marmot, Lepus or Hare, Sciurus or Squirrel, Mus or Mouse, Dipus or Jerboa.

LECTURE IV.

Continuation of Linnsean Mammalia. Elephant. Mam- moth. Order Pecora. Giraffa or Camelopard, Cer vus or Deer, Bos or Ox, Camelus or Camel, Moschui or Musk, Antilope or Antelope, Ovis or Sheep, Capra or Goat. Order Belluts. Equus or Horse, Hippopota- mus, Rhinoceros, Tapir, Sus or Hog. Pinnated Mam- malia. Phoca or Seal. Trichechus or Walruss. Whales. General History of the different genera and species of ditto.

LECTURE V.

BIRDS. General description of the anatomy of. Linnaean division of. Order Accipitres. Vultures, Eagles, Owls. Order Pica. Hornbills, Toucans, Parrots, Wood- peckers, Paradise-Birds, Kingfishers, Cuckows, and Hununing-Birds.

SYLLABUS.

1 KCTURE VI.

Continuation of Birds. Order Passcrcs. Pigeons, Thrushe*, Chan, in •>, GrnNln-aks, Tim k and Slcnder-Billed Small- Birds. Nightingale, Taylor-Bird, Titmice, Swallows, and Goatsuckers. Order Gallin*. Pheasants, Turkey, Partridge, Dodo, Peacock. Ostrich. Cassowary. Bustard. Order G rathe. Jabirus, Herons, Storks, Bitterns. Ibis, Scarlet ditto, Egyptian ditto, Curlew. Jacana. Trumpeter. Spoonbill. Snipes and Plo- vers. Flamingo. Order Anseres. Swan. Supposed song of. Black Swan. Pelican. Corvorant. Pen- guins. Albatross. Tropic-Bird.

VOL. II.

LECTURE VII.

I.miuvan AMPHIBIA. General description of. Genus Testudo or Tortoise, different species of. Genus Rana or Frog, different species of. Genus Lacerta or Lizard, different species of. Crocodiles, viz. Indian,

SYLLABUS.

Argo or Paper Nautilus. Description of the Linnsean genus Nautilus, or Pearly Nautilus. Genera of Den- talium, Serpula, Teredo, and Sabella. Bivalve Shells exemplified. History of the Mytilus margaritiferus or Mother of Pearl Shell, of Pearls, of the Pearl- Fishery, and manufacture of artificial pearls. Genera of Spondylus, Chama, and Pinna. Multivalve Shells exemplified by the genus Lepas or Barnacle. History of the Lepas anatifera, &c. Hatching of shell-ani- mals, and growth of shells.

LECTURE XII.

Linnaean Vermes and Zoophytes. The Vermes or Worms elucidated by a description of the genera of Tsenia, Gordius, Filaria, &c. Genus Furia, with the history of the Furia infernalis. Zoophytes or Plant-Animals. Genus Hydra or Polype particularly described. Gene- ral description of the Coral tribe, with the observations of Marsigli, Peyssonel, Ellis, &c. Genera of Sertularia, Tubularia, Flustra, Gorgoriia, Isis, and Madrepora. Formation of coral rocks and islands in the Indian seas by the different species of Madrepoe, &c. Animal- cula Infusoria or Animalcules in fluids, general his- tory of. Description of the genus Vorticella, and of some of the chief species. Genus Cercaria, with the particular description of Cercaria mutabilis. Genus

81 1 I \I1US.

Trichoda, with particular description of Trichoda Sol. Genus Volvox, with particular description of Volvox Globator or the Globe- Animal. Genus Vibrio, with t)tion of the Vibrio Anguillula or Paste-Vibrio. Genus Cyclidium. Genus Monas, containing the smallot of all animals visible by the assistance of the microscope.

The Vignette represents, in its natural size, an elegant species of Humming-Bird, called the Trochilus furcatus or Smaller Fork-Tailed Humming-Bird, seated on a sprig of the Ipomsca coccinea.

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LECTURES,

LECTURE I.

JL HE study of Natural History at large, or in all its branches, has of late been so much cultivated, that it seems almost unnecessary to enforce its utility by any particular recommendation. _Its importance begins to be understood, and it is generally acknowledged, that, exclusive of its more consequential aims, it has the peculiar advan- tage of uniting amusement with instruction, and of impressing the mind with a train of the most pleasing ideas while engaged in Contemplating tin infinitely-varied forms exhibited in the fi< M d Nature, and in tracing their gradations and con

LECT. I. B

2 LECTURE I.

nexions ; and we must readily allow that it is no unimportant object to be able to secure to our- selves some species of study, which in its pro- gress may continue to afford a rational delight, and in the pursuit of which there can be no fear of soon exhausting the subject.

I shall here beg leave to introduce the opinion of one of the greatest and most estimable cha- racters that perhaps ever ornamented this or any other nation. I mean the celebrated Ray, whose dignified simplicity of language enforces with peculiar energy the truth of his sentiment.

" We content ourselves, (says he) with a little skill in philology, history, or antiquity; and we neglect that which appears to me of much greater moment : I mean the study of Nature, and the works of Creation. I do not mean, (he adds,) to derogate from or discommend those other studies ; I only wish that they might not quite jostle out and exclude this; and that men would be so equal and civil as not to vilify or disparage in others those studies they themselves are not conversant in, No knowledge can be more pleasant to the soul than this; none so satisfying, or that doth so feed the mind; in comparison of which the study of

II.CTUREI. S

i.l phrases seemeth insipid and j- June; for words lii-iii*; hut the images of things, to be given up wholly to their >tudy, what is it but to verify the folly of Pygmalion, to fall in love with a statue, and neglect the reality! The treasures of Nature are inexhaustible : there is enough tor the most indefatigable industry, the happn-t op- portunities, the most prolix and undisturbed \;i- cancies."

Such appears to have been the opinion of Mr. Ray.

I shall next observe that the celebrated poet Gray was in a peculiar manner devoted to the study of Natural History ; as appears from the testimony of his friend Mr. Mason, who assures us that Gray frequently felicitated himself on having been early introduced to so delightful a, science, and which improved in so remarkable u manner the general tenor of his health and spirits. I might also here mention, as a circumstance not generally known, that Gray translated the Lin- iiiran Genera or Characters of Insects into elegant Latin hexameters, some specimens of which have been preserved by his friends, though they were never intended for publication.

4 LECTURE I.

Another exalted character, whose hours of leisure from the official employments of his life were devoted to this pursuit, was the learned and accomplished Sir William Jones, whose works bear ample testimony to the attention which he paid to the history of the Productions of Nature.

The mistakes which occasionally appear in the works of various authors, even of the highest cele- brity, arising from a want of accurate information relative to the natural subjects of which they are speaking, are numerous and striking; the epithets by which many objects are distinguished, are, for this reason, improperly chosen, and utterly incon- sonant with the character of the things intended. This is no where more strikingly illustrated than in the august lines of Milton, in which the de- scription of a sleeping whale is injured by an epi- thet of all others least according with the nature of the animal.

-" That sea beast

Leviathan, which God, of all his works Created hugest that swim th' ocean stream. Him haply slumb'ring on the Norway foam The pilot of some small night-founder' d skiff,

JJXTL'RF. I. j

Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell, With fixed anchor in his scaly rind, Moore by bis tide under tbe lee, while night Invests tbe sea, and u MJC J mom delays."

Hut none oftlic whale-tribe are furnished with scales, or any tiling analogous to them. It must be acknowledged, however, that this observation may apjx ar a mere piece of hypercriticism, and that Milton by the expression of scaly rind, might only mean rough or scaly, in the same sense that those epithets are often applied to the bark of a tree, or any other irregular surface. There can be little doubt, however, that real and proper scales were intended by the poet, nor is it difficult to dis- cover the particular circumstance which impressed Milton with this erroneous idea, viz. a figure in the works of Gesner, so injudiciously expressed as to ap- pear on a cursory view, as if coated with large scales, scales, with a vessel near it, and an inscription above it, importing that sailors often mistake a whale for an island, and thus endanger themselves by attempting to anchor upon it. As the general learning and extensive reading of our great poet are so well known, it can hardly be doubted that he was conversant with the writings of Gesner,

6 LECTURE L

whose work was then the great depository of na? tural knowledge, and that the figure and descrip- tion there given left a lasting impression on his mind. It must be confessed also that the poet was here deceived by the naturalist.

A modern writer, having occasion to allude to the dormant state of the Butterfly and Moth tribe, during their period of imperfection, has evidently shewn that he supposed the animal to become a chrysalis after having appeared in its complete or flying state, and has thus entirely inverted or reversed the real progress of the animal.

" Thus the gay Moth, by sun and vernal gales

Call'd forth to wander o'er the dewy vales,

From flower to flower, from sweet to sweet will stray,

Till, tir'd and satiate with her food and play,

Deep in the shades she builds her peaceful nest,

In lov'd seclusion pleas'd at length to rest :

There folds the wings that erst so widely bore j

Becomes a household Nymph, and seeks to range no more."

A curious example of ridiculous ignorance re- lative to such subjects, might be taken from some of the public papers for the month of July 1794, in which we were informed that in the neighbour- hood (I think) of Sheffield, were found (in the

-

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y

I

I. 1

criber) " two strange ph:rnomen;i -T< i ii, and covered

or r-lated over, il id exact eh- ^re-

senting shell-work: tin- I: tliese animals

wen :hat of a Lion, and upon the

slightest touch, it darted out two spears behind, of the line.st scarlet colour, and at the same time one before, which was white, and shaped like the paw of a bear: they had each of them fourteen legs, and on each side the back of these wonderful ( T< atures, was the representation of the animal itself, in perfect white, which shone like silver."

It is extremely easy to all who are conversant in the history of insects, to guess what these for- midable monsters must have been : viz. a brace of harmless Caterpillars, of a species, singular indeed in appearance, but by no means very uncommon, and which do, by a slight aggravation, in some degree justify the description of the observer.

A few years ago, a description, (accomp;. by a figure,) of one of the most common insects in England, but in its first state, (in which it always resides under water) was given, with much solem- nity, in a periodical publication, (the Gen Magazine) and was considered by its dcscribcr,

8 LECTURE I.

who, I believe, was the late Mr. Philip Thicknesse, as a new, and till then unheard-of animal, of which he believed himself to have been the first describer. To a total ignorance of the real nature of ani- mals (excusable in ancient times, but not so in mo- dern) must be attributed the numerous histories of showers of frogs and mice, and other animals ; the raining of blood ; the change of certain Frogs into. Fishes, and back again from Fishes to Frogs, with many other particulars equally extravagant} and from these and many other instances which might be adduced, we may perceive what mistaken notions may be adopted by those, who otherwise well informed, happen to have paid little or no re- gard to the general doctrines of Natural History. Natural History at large, divides itself into what are called the three Kingdoms of Nature ; viz. the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral kingdom.

Of these the Zoological or animal kingdom is what naturally engages our first attention, and seems to claim a superiority over the rest. It would be unnecessary to add, that Zoology com- prizes the whole animal world, or all those beings which are called by the name of Quadrupeds, Birds, Amphibia, Fishes, Insects, Testaceous

LECTURE I. D

animal-, and Zoophytes, which latter are of very various. f<»rm>, and arc allied by many resemblances to the vegetable world.

In taking a survey of the animal world, we may cither commence with the highest order of animals, and gradually descend from our own species to the minutest animalcules visible by the assistance of the microscope; or from these minute points, as it were, of existence, to Man himself, the chief of Creation here helow.

I must observe, that it may be greatly doubted, whether it be practicable to make out a continued natural chain or series of animals, united through- out by evidently connecting links; at least, all at- tempts of that kind have hitherto failed; and the animal world, and indeed all the productions of Nature, seem rather connected by many points of affinity on different sides, than by a regular chain of gradation; so that, as the learned Dr. Pallas has well observed,the face of nature may rather be said to represent a reticulated or polygonal surface, than to be disposed in a continued linear progression.

But though a perfectly natural chain or arrange- ment of animals cannot be contrived, it is still ne- cessary to form some kind of classification, in order

10 LECTURE T.

to keep together such tribes as most evidently re- semble each other. Naturalists have therefore in- vented several systems or distributions of animals; formed, either from the general external appear- ance, or from the structure of the principal in- ternal organs.

The most ancient division of animals, (exclusive of the slight sketches to be found in some parts of the sacred writings,) is that of Aristotle, who divided animals into viviparous or such as produce living and perfectly-formed young, and into oviparous, or such as produce eggs, from which the young are afterwards excluded. This distinction of animals was not conducted with perfect exactness, and Aristotle himself was sensible that it was liable to some exceptions, and that it contained certain inac- curacies. It continued however to be in use, with some modifications, till towards the decline of the seventeenth century, when our famous Mr. Ray formed a new classification of animals, founded chiefly on the structure and nature of the heart and lungs in the different tribes ; and the Linnaean arrangement of the animal kingdom still acknow- ledges that of Ray for its basis ; particularly with respect to quadrupeds.

LECTURE I. 11

The great or gnu-mi Linn;van outline or ar- rangemt nt of the animal world is thus distributed.

First, into such animals as have warm ml blood, and a heart di\id<d into two ca\ it ies, or ventricles, ;ts anatomists term them. These animals consist of Quadrupeds and Birds; the former being vi- viparous, or producing living and ready-formed voung, and the latter or birds being oviparous, or producing eggs, from which the young are after* wards excluded.

The next division consists of such animals as have a heart with a single cavity or ventricle, while the blood, though red, is of a far lower tern-

iture than in quadrupeds and birds; insomuch that it is commonly said to be cold blood. These animals consist of what Linnaeus calls Amphibia, such as Tortoises, Frogs, Lizards, and Serpents, and in the next place, of Fishes. The former of these subdivisions, or the Frog, Tortoise, Lizard, and Serpent tribes, have what Linnaeus terms ar- bitrary lungs, or such as can suspend respiration at pleasure, for a considerable time, without injury to the animal. The latter tribe, or that of Fishes, instead of lungs, is furnished with what are

12 LECTURE I.

commonly called gills, in which innumerable divi- sions of blood-vessels are disposed in semicircular ranges.

The third order or great division of animals consists of such as Linnaeus supposes to have a heart with a single cavity, and a cold whitish or nearly co- lourless blood. These animals consist of Insects, and of a very numerous and diversified tribe, called, iu a large acceptation of the word, by the name of Worms. The former of these tribes, or that of Insects, is distinguished by the particular organs called antennas, and resembling small horns ; while the latter tribe, or that of Worms, is distinguished by having tentacula or flexible feelers. Modern observations seem to prove that the former of these divisions, or Insects, have, in reality, no true or regular circulation : this however is a point which I confess I consider as by no means com- pletely ascertained.

Since the establishment of the Linnaean arrange- ment, so captivating appears to have been the study of system- making, that numerous arrange- ments have been attempted in different parts of the animal kingdom; more particularly within a

I KCTURE I. 13

Ii in. iv li«)\\«-MT br nujcli doubted \\li.thcr tin study of Natural History has been greatly ad\an< ••• I by their institution.

It ^ ini|i"^;l)lc not to allow some degree of just;. , • com plaints uttered on this subject by

an ingenious naturalist in a neighbouring nation, \\lio thu.N expresses his sentiments.

By u hat fatality does it happen, that the beau- tiful and elegant science of Natural History is be- come an assemblage of systems, of methods, and discussions of nomenclature, as dry and tedious as they are idle and unnecessary? How can it hap- pen that men of any sterling sense should spend their time in endeavouring to reduce into geome- trical divisions the beautiful gradations of Nature, and to be the slaves to arbitrary and petty ar- rangements, which rise and perish, like so many mushrooms, and which appear to be of no oth«-r

t but to disgust and fatigue those who are doomed to study them? When shall we see a stop put to that inundation of new and barbarous words and terms, which deform and disgrace almost all our new works on Natural Hi-story, and which threaten to reproduce the scholastic jargon of

14 LECTURE I.

ages of darkness ? A certain methodical arrange- ment is indeed absolutely necessary in the science of natural history; but it is by no means necessary to obscure an easy and elegant study by the intro- duction of innumerable harsh and ill-constructed technical terms, and to sacrifice every grace and elegance of language to the desire of torturing Greek into bad French, and to substitute unin- telligible awkwardness for elegant explanation. It is certain, continues this author, that neither Arnoldus de Villa Nova, nor Raymond Lully, or any other among the old masters of the study of Alchemy, ever introduced a diction more bar- barous, or terms more repulsive, than some of our modern managers of systematic Natural History. I give this quotation as a proof of the ridicule to which the spirit of minute arrangement, so much admired among the lower order of natural- ists, has of late unthinkingly exposed itself. I hope, however, that the author had no intention of glancing at the celebrated Monsieur Cuvier, whose arrangement of the animal kingdom, not- withstanding the unnecessary minuteness of some of his divisions, must be allowed to possess a very

LECTURE I. 15

degree of iin-rit, ;m«l perhaps may he allowed to be tin- mo-4 truly philosophic that ha- \ et l>een p , it.

Monsieur Cuvicr di\ ides the whole animal world into what he calls Vertebrated and IH.->TU '>rated animals ; that is, Mich as are furnished with a back- bom , divided into the joints called vertebrae, and forming a case, or guard for the spinal marrow, and into such as are destitute of this series of bones, and are therefore Invertebrated animals. His first class, viz. the Vertcbratcd animals, are subdivided into such as have warm blood and a heart with two cavities or ventricles, and into such as have comparatively cold blood, and a heart with one ventricle. In the first division then of Verte- brated animals rank Quadrupeds and Birds, and in the second, or such as have cold blood and a single ventricle, rank the Linnajan Amphibia and Fishes.

The second great class, consisting of the Iirccr- tebratcd animals, or such as are destitute of the .spine or back-bone, is divided into such as have a system of blood-u >M Is for the purpose of circu- lation, and Midi as have none.

The first of these divisions, or that consisting of

16 LECTURE I.

animals furnished with blood-vessels, contains the major part of what Linnaeus calls Mollusca or soft-bodied animals, and also all the Crustacea or such as are furnished with a moderately hard or crustaceous covering. In the second division of Invertebrated animals, are contained those which are supposed to be destitute of a regular system of blood-vessels ; these animals are Insects and Zoo- phytes ; Monsieur Cuvier not allowing a circu- lation of the blood in insects, and in the animals called Zoophytes, it has certainly never been observed.

Such is the general outline of Monsieur Cu- vier's Zoological System.

His institution and arrangement of the various genera of animals, under each more particular division of his system, is conducted with great anatomical precision, and evinces the highest de- gree of philosophical knowledge of animals ; but the whole arrangement has a somewhat compli- cated and forbidding appearance to a general reader, and is of course less immediately attrac- tive than the more simple arrangement of Lin- naeus.

Animals are, in general, sufficiently and readily

MUSOIPULA

Jffpff Oct'iJLcndfn fi*AUj)nt tt GJicarsUt fii-,-t Strr.-f

I I « II RE f. 17

'shed fniin \ ill-stances in which we can Mippose a person in the

sounding tip in. Vet I many indistinct approximations l> and VCgi tabl.'s, • \« lilsive «»!' tin- r

petni^ link-. Tims tli« •!•«• an many

animals \\hirli . '"i-pid as tin- in.

part of vegetables: and a^ain, then ome

v. hich M em almost t-> trench upon tin-

prop !' animaN, l»y tlu-ir p« cnliar motion on

being suddenly irritated ; thus, tin- Diona.i Mu--

cipnla, or \'mn.N'- Fly-Trap, an American plant, well known to all who are con\er>ant with the M -it nee of Botany, i^ fnrnishod with leaves pos- sessed of so strong a degree of irritability, as to

(online, by their Midden contraction, any -mall animal which happens to alight upon them; and the 1 1( (ly->arnm gyran-, an the papilionaceous or pea-bloom tribe, >. possess a kind of voluntary m'-ii'-n in the -mall

the ba-e of the la I hoWe\er, the di-Un. 1

u animals and too strikin

admit of any hi ->it at ion, and it would be a mere •<!' time, in the -ho: tu ouc prey

IT. I.

18 LECTURE I.

sent course of Lectures, to enter, with any degree of minuteness, into the history of the possible cases in which a doubt might be supposed to arise between the two kingdoms, to which sucli parti- cular subject should be supposed most properly to belong.

The limits of animal and vegetable life are generally allowed to concur or unite in those extra- ordinary beings called Zoophytes, and above all others in those Zoophytes called Polypes, of which four different species have been discovered in our own country, as well as in many other parts of Eu- rope. They are small water animals, of a very tender substance, and furnished at the upper part with several long and slender arms, with which they seize their prey : the body is of a lengthened and tubular form, and the whole creature possesses, in. a very high degree, the power of extending or contracting itself at pleasure. It produces its young principally by a species of vegetation ; cer- tain small swellings or tubercles appearing at in- tervals on different parts of its body, which, in the space of a few days, become complete, and resemble the parent animal in every respect ex- cept that of size. When thus fully formed, they

LECTURE I. 19

drop off from the body of the parent animal, ami attach themselves to any convenient substance: it often happens that a Polype shall IK- loaded, not only with a primary but a secondary offspring, the young animals themselves, before their se- paration from the parent, producing others in a similar manner ; so that the whole may be com- pared to a kind of genealogical tree. These crea- tures are highly voracious, and possessing, as be- fore observed, a very high degree of contractile and extensile power, are capable of swallowing other animals of far larger size than themselves} the tubular body of the Polype enlarging in order to receive them. The act of seizing their prey is very sudden and violent, but their mode of swal- lowing or absorbing it is very gradual. When a Polype is cut into two or three pieces, each piece, in the space of a few days, especially in warm weather, becomes a perfectly complete animal, by the reproduction of every part deficient. Thus, if a Polype be cut into three pieces, the office of the head or upper part is to produce a new extremity or tail, with its sphincter-muscle; of the tail part to produce a new head and arms; and of the middle part to produce both extremes. It there-

20 LECTURE I.

fore cannot be doubted that the Polypes do really constitute the connecting link between animal and vegetable life.

The figures of the Polype, selected for our pre- sent inspection, are from the work of the cele* brated Roesel ; and represent with great elegance and fidelity, the appearance of these extraordinary animals, both in their natural size, and magnified by the microscope. The species in these figures of Roesel are the Green, the Brawn, and the yellowish-Grey Polype.

These most curious and interesting animals were first fully described by a Monsieur Trembley, of Geneva, who, about the year 1730, happened to discover them in searching after some small aqua- tic plants. They had indeed been discovered long before by the celebrated Leewenhoeck, who gave a general description of the animal, and observed that it multiplied by an apparent vegetation ; but it was reserved for Monsieur Trembley to discover and describe, in an ample and circumstantial man- ner, all its extraordinary properties. Monsieur Trembley happened first to observe the small green Polype, or Hydra viridis, and being greatly sur- prised at the appearance of a creature, which had •

the middle /uji't i ////////////>>/

LECTURE I. 21

sit once the aspect of a plant, and the motions of mi animal, determined £o try the experiment of cutting it in two, in order to ascertain its doubtful nature; and was beyoiul measure astonished to Find that instead of destroying it, hot li parts seemed uninjured by the wound, and that, in a very i< u days, each had reproduced every deficient organ, and that each animal seized its prey, and moved about as before.

This striking discovery, being announced, was at first considered by many as a fable ; and it was even contended, that this division of animal life was in itself absolutely impossible upon the prin- ciples of common sense, as well as of sound philo- sophy: but, at length, the attention of philosophers in every part of Europe being excited by the sin- gularity of the circumstance, the animals were every where sought after, and experiments made by cutting them in every possible direction. Their real nature was thus completely ascertained ; and, from subsequent experiments, it was found, that in reality many other tribes of the inferior aniinaK were likewise possessed of the power of repro- duction, though in a less striking degree ; and thus a wide field of philosophical investigation was sud-

32 LECTURE I.

denly opened, which may be said to have consti- tuted a new era in the sconce of Natural Historv.

In .warm weather so rapid is the multiplication of the common Polype, that the descendants of a single animal are supposed to amount to several thousands in the course of a single summer.

An ingenious observer in our own country, soon after the first account of Monsieur Trembley's dis- coveries had been published, made the following observations, which I shall give in his own words.

" A single Polype, say she, was put into a glass by itself, on the 12th of July, with two intentions, viz. first, that I might learn how long-lived the creature is, and at what rate it produces branchers. It is still alive in this present week of September ; and goes on to produce at least five in a week, one week with another. But, because this Polype had the appearance of a young one on it when I first set it apart, (which young one was separated by falling off from the parent in three days' time,) I was willing to make trial how long it would be before a young Polype might be expected, pro- vided the old one was without any appearance of a bud, and was itself only of moderate growth. Ac- cordingly I took such a one, which was a brancher

LECTURE I. tz

"from the first-mentioned animal, and put it into a glass by itself' on the 23d of July, and in a w< time it pr«>diuvd a young one, and since that time produces at the rate before-mentioned, viz. fm in 4 week. Soon after, I sent to a friend well .skilled in figures, to desire him to make a computation of the number jv single Polype would produce in a year's time, and on the moderate supposition, that, (a week being allowed for every hrancher when separated, before it begins to produce,) it be sup- posed afterwards to produce one in three days. But he informs me that there exists no rule by which such computation can be made ; that it is in itself extremely difficult, and that, after all, mis- takes might arise in such a multitude of figures as would be necessary ; but that he went so far as to calculate the number of the second generation, which amounted to more than eleven thousand. AVhut then, says he, must be the amount of the whole !"

The objections made at the time of the first dis- covery of the extraordinary power of reproduction in the Polype were chiefly these. If the animal soul or life, said the objectors, be one indivisible essence, all in all, and all in every part, how comes it in this animal, to endure being divided several

24 LECTURE I.

times, and yet continue to exist and flourish? Again, if animal identity consists in consciousness, and if every living creature is sensible of pleasure and pain, or in other words, has a consciousness, which is generally thought a reasonable suppo- sition; when the Polype is divided into several parts, which all become perfect Polypes, where shall we find the identity of the original animal ?

A letter dated from the University of Cam- bridge, inserted in the Philosophical Transactions, reasons thus on the subject.

The last news from Paris gives us something very surprising; viz. that an animal called the Polypus is of such a nature, that life is preserved in it after it has been cut into several pieces ; so that one animal seems by section to be immediate- ly divided into two, or three, or more complete animals, each separately enjoying life, and con- tinuing to perform all the usual operations of its species. Such an account would have been less; regarded, had we not been informed that letters avouching the reality of the fact had lately been, communicated to the Royal Society, and that its reality had also been confirmed by some of our best observers.

Some of our friends, who are firmly attache^

I.I CTURK I. 25

to the general metaphysical notions v Mrmerly Irani* (1, reason strongly against the pos- .-ihility of &uch a f.iet , hut, as I have myself for- merly confessed my distrust of tin- truth of some of those principles, I .shall n<»w make no scruple of acknowledging that I have already seen so many .-.trance tilings in Nature, that I am become > i ant ions in allinning what may, or what may not pu»ibly be. The most common operations of Nature- in the animal and vegetable world are all in themselves astonishing, and nothing but daily experience and constant observation makes us see without amazement an animal produce another of the same kind, or a tree blossom, and produce leaves and fruit.

The same observation, and daily experience, make it also familiar to us, that, besides the first way of increasing vegetables from their respective seeds, they are also increased by cuttings; and every one knows that a twig of a willow, cut off, and placed in the ground, does presently take root and grow, and by degrees becomes as much a real and perfect tree as the original one from which it \\ as taken.

Here is then, in the vegetable kingdom, a fa- miliar instance of the very example hitherto un-

26 LECTURE I.

known in the animal kingdom. The best philoso-« phers have long ago observed very strong analo- gies between these two classes of Beings, and the moderns have every day found reason to extend that analogy; and some have even talked of a scale of Nature, in which, by an insensible transition, a connexion is made from the most perfect of ani- mals to the most imperfect of vegetables. Now in such a scale who shall say, here animal life entirely ends, and here the vegetable life begins ? or just thus far, and no farther, one sort of operation goes, and just tiere another quite different sort takes place ? Or again, who will venture to say, Life in every animal is a thing absolutely different from that which we dignify by the same name in every vege- table ? and might not a man even be excused if he should modestly doubt whether vegetables may not themselves be considered as a very low and im- perfect tribe of animals, as animals might, in like manner, be considered as a more perfect and exalted kind of vegetables ?

At our next meeting I shall proceed to give a general description of the different tribes of the animal kingdom.

LECTURE II.

VV E have already seen that Linnaeus has ar- ranged the whole animal world into three great divisions; the first containing such animals as have \\i\rm red blood, and a heart divided into two ca- vities, or ventricles; the second containing ani- mals with cold red blood, and a heart with one cavity only; and the third consisting of animals with pale or colourless cold blood, and a heart (as Linnanis imagined) furnished with a single cavity. The secondary or more particular Linnaean dis- tribution of Animals is thrown into six divisions, the first of which is entitled Mammalia, compre- hending such animals as suckle their young, being furnished \vitli proper organs for that purj> The second division comprises Birds. The third the Amphibia in the Linnaean sense of the word, comprising the Lizard, Tortoise, Frog, and Ser-

£* LECTURE II.

pent tribes. The fourth division comprehends Fishes; the fifth Insects, and the last Worms, which latter term is to be received in a very extended signification; comprising a great multitude of Animals which, in common language, bear very different titles.

With some occasional variations and transposi- tions, the Linnasan distribution of animals will be that by which we shall regulate our own survey of the animal world ; and we shall, of course, begin with Quadrupeds or Linnasan Mammalia. The old and generally received English term Quadru- ped, means, as every one knows, a four-footed animal; and it is evident that it will apply to a Lizard, a Tortoise, or a Frog, as well as to the higher order of Quadrupeds, or such as are ge- nerally called four-footed Beasts. It was therefore absolutely necessary to fix upon some term which should sufficiently distinguish the viviparous from the oviparous quadrupeds; and Linnaeus according- ly instituted the expressive term Mammalia, mean- ing such animals as are furnished with organs for suckling their young. This (except in one doubt- ful instance) sufficiently distinguishes Quadrupeds of tl>e higher order, or four-footed Beasts, from the

LECTLU1. II

-uadrupeds \\hich we shall find to !«• more properly referred to the Linna-an Amphibia. Aiiioni; the Mammalia \\e muM not In; .surprised to find all the kinds of Whales arranged; it being well known that those animals nun rish their young by suckling tin in, in the manner of other Mamma- lia; and that in the structure of their skeleton and internal parts, they resemble quadrupeds and not fishes; so that they may be considered as Mamma- lia in the disguise of Fishes.

The doubtful instance which I just mentioned .empt'itied in that most singular animal called the Duckbill: a native of New-Holland, and dis- covered but a very few years ago. In this animal we have the appearance of an indistinct alliance to very different tribes, since the bill or snout resem- bles that of a Duck, and, upon the strictest • ruination that has yet been made, no appeal . of teats has been discovered in the female; so that. if the animal be really destitute of those organs, it cannot belong to the Linnxan Mammalia, the •jrund or essential character of which consists in being provided with them.

The general characters of the Mammalia at large are the following.

30 LECTURE II.

The plan or fabric of their Skeleton, as well as of their internal organs, bears a degree of general resemblance to that of Man.

Their outward covering consists, in general, of hair; but in some few, the animal matter or sub- stance of the hair takes the form of distinct spines or quills, as in the Porcupine and Hedgehog tribe, and in a highly curious species of Ant-Eater dis- covered in New Holland, and called the aculeated Ant-Eater, or Porcupine Ant-Eater. In other Mammalia the same substance is expanded into the appearance of very strong and broad scales, as in the quadrupeds of the genus Manis or Pangolin, which from its general appearance has obtained the improper title of the Scaly Lizard; though no other- wise allied to the Lizards; being a genuine vivi- parous quadruped, and consequently belonging to the Linngsan Mammalia; and lastly, in one set of Mammalia, called Armadillos, instead of hair, which is only sparingly scattered over some parti- cular parts of the animal, we meet with strong bony zones or bands, forming a regular suit of armour, and securing the animal from all common, injuries.

The instruments of loco-motion, or feet, in the

LECTURE n. 91

Mammalia are generally four in immUr, and fur- nished \\itli M j>nrate toes, or di\ MOM-, "ii.inlrd by claws, more or less strong in tin- ditVerent tribe!*. Jn vnin,-, as in the M«>nk«-y>, the l'« ••» II.IM- tin- ap- pearanee of hands; aii<l the daws often b< .ir a great resemblance to the human nails, for which ration these animals have sometimes been called Quadmmane$i as having four hands, rather than four feet*. In some tribes of Mammalia the feet are armed or shod with strong hoofs, either quite entire, or cloven or divided. In such of the Mam- malia as possess the power of flight, as in the Bat tribe, the fore-feet are drawn out into slender fin- gers of an immoderate length, and united by a common membrane or web. In some of the aquatic Mammalia, as the Seals, for instance, both the fore and hind feet are very strongly or widely webbed; and in the Whales, there are in reality only two feet, the bones of which are inclosed irt it are commonly-ailed the fins, while the lobes of the tail in some degree answer the purpose of a pair of hind-feet, but consist merely of strong

• The celebrated Cuvier in particular has adopted this name, which indeed bat often been applied to such animal* by many prior writer*.

32 LECTURE II.

muscles and tendons without any internal joints or bones.

The arms, or offensive and defensive weapons of the Mammalia, besides the claws and teeth, (which will be afterwards particularized,) are prin- cipally the horns; inserted in various directions, and on different parts in the different tribes. The horns are either perennial or annual. In the Rhi- noceros the horn is perennial, and situated on the top of the nose. In the Deer tribe the horns are annual, branched, covered while young, with a soft villous skin or coat; they grow from the tip, and become very solid and strong at their full size. In the Ox tribe, as well as in the Sheep and Goat, they are hollow, mounted on a bony core, and grow from the base. Besides the assistance which they derive from horns and claws, the Mammalia have many other modes of defence, which they occa- sionally exert; and sometimes even deter their enemies by their voice or their scent, of which we have many curious examples in the history of par- ticular animals.

The Teeth in Quadrupeds or Mammalia are of three kinds. [ . Front or Cutting-Teeth, of a broad, compressed structure, designed for cutting their ,

I.I < Tl KK II. 33

lengthen. (I, or canin

tu.ilej on caeh side the t nil niur-t< «'tli, and ealeti- l.it< -I tor t, .1 I di\ idini; tin- lo. i« I; and l.t -llv ,

(mnders, \sith broad, angular tops, for c«mmi- iiuting or grinding the loud. They are MM: in the human >ubj« ( l, on ( a< h side tin \ja\\v The teeth afford a principal < liara< h r in forming the trilx ncra, or piirtirular setsof Quadrnp<

their distribution dilfcring greatly in the different kinds. In >oinr tin: canine tc-cth arc wanting; in other- tli, front teeth; and some few are totally it nte of any teeth.

The tail in Quadrupeds is formed by a con- tinuation of the vertebra; or joints of the back-boncj and i.s in some of great length, and covered with long hair: in others very short; and in >om«. few entirely wanting, as in the real or genuine Api

The .Senses of the Mammalia consist, as in

Man, of the orgaJM ot'>ifht, Uearinif, ta-tin^, and

Miidling, and the power of feeling; and in many of

animals the organs are of greater acutein^

or sensibility than in Man. The K\es, m some

Quadrupeds, are furni>hcd with what is call< d a

iiietitatinmnembrane, or wini^traiiNpan-iit -.:uard.

LKCT. II. »

34 LECTURE IL

situated beneath the eyelids, and which can at pleasure be drawn over the ball of the eye for its farther defence. The nose or organ of smelling is more or less compressed and lengthened. In the Elephant it is extended in a most wonderful man- ner into a long and tubular proboscis or trunk, at the tip of which are placed the nostrils. The tongue in Quadrupeds is usually of a flattened and lengthened shape; sometimes, as in the Cat or Lion-tribe, beset on its upper surface, with small, reversed spines. In some few, as in the Ant- Eaters, it is of a cylindric shape, and lengthened into the form of a worm, and is extensile at the pleasure of the animal.

The Teats or Mammae are found in all these animals, and, as before observed, give rise to the Linnaean title of the whole class.

After this general description of the Mammalia, we may proceed to take a slight view of the prin- cipal tribes or orders, and their most remarkable genera and species.

Modern Naturalists have disagreed with respect to the particular methods or distributions into which they have arranged Quadrupeds. The cele- brated Count de Buffon entirely neglected all me-

LECTUBE II. S5

thod or systc m, Diving his elegant, hut too diffuse di -c -i -iptinn* without any regular order t»f <i but ion; and having begun his natural history of Qu.ulnijx tls in this manner, lie chose to continue it through tin- \\holi- of his \i»lumiitou«, work, ex- cept in a few instances, in which he seems to I found the necessity of being systematic even in spite of himself. Not contented with this general neglect of all arrangement in his history of Qua- drupeds, Bufibn seems to have taken a pleasure in endeavouring to depreciate the merit of systematic arrangement in general, and more particularly that of Linnaeus. Linnaeus, however, appears to have been fully conscious of his own superiority, and to have understood the policy as well as the dignity of literature too well, to exalt into cele- brity the petulant remarks of Buffon by conde- scending to answer them. He even carefully ab- st ained from mentioning that author; not a sh quotation from the work of Burton making its ap- ance in the whole course of the twelfth edition of the Systema Naturae of Linnaeus. A cl» which is very properly remedied in the enlarged edition of that work by Dr. Gmelin.

The whole class of Mammalia is divided bv

36 LECTURE II.

Linnaeus into seven orders. The first of these orders is entitled Primates, as containing the chiefs of the Creation. Its characters are, four front or cutting teeth above and below ; and one canine or sharpened tooth on each side these. The feet are formed with a resemblance of handsy and the nails are more or less ovate in shape. Most of the order feed chiefly on vegetable substances. In a merely zoological view, the Human kind stands at the head of this order, forming the Linnaean genus Homo. Of the human species it can only be necessary here to observe, that it is strongly allied in the general structure of the body to a race of animals by no means calculated for flatter- ing us by the resemblance.

The leading characters of the genus Simia, comprehending the whole race of Apes, Baboons, and Monkeys, are, that the teeth have the same disposition and general form as the Human teeth ; i. e. that there are four flattish front teeth both above and below, a sharpened or canine tooth at some distance on each side these, and several grinders beyond : the feet also have a general re- semblance to hands, and in most species are fur- nished with nails rather than claws.

4

fBI-, GTED

«&><? t>ct'jJ.otuton. fubtykiJ tf fcXcarsicr ftect Street.

LECTUKK II.

This numerous race, con^tin^ of the dill< r< lit kiiul> of A|)« Sj Bui ...... is ami Monkcy>, lias in all

ages extorted from tin- philosopher and the mo- ralist, sentences expressive either o1' complaint or admiration.

The < i i IK- tribe, or the Orati Otan, has

been often studiously held up as nut. only making ircr approach to I ral figure of Man-

kind than any other animal, hut even a> pos- ->iii^ a di intellect. superior to the rest of the

animal world ; and a variety of exaggerated descrip- tions might be cited from those who have given its natural histor\. Tu o very distinct s]>ecies of Oran Otan are known: the one a native of Africa, and of a Mack colour; the other a native of the East Indies, and of a reddish or chesnut colour. It is to thexr that most of the popular tales relate. But the two species, distiw

till lately confounded by most authors, and among others by Linna'us, under the title of Sinn'ti Sa- fi/rns. The sji liich makes the nearest ap-

proach to the human figure, is the chesnut-coloured or reddish Oran Otan, well represented in the \\-itrks of Vosmaer and Audebert. It i^ also injured by Fxl wards. The general fault of the

38 LECTURE II.

common figures of these animals is, that the artists represent the mouth as if furnished with human lips.

The Black Oran Otan, which, as before observed, is a native of Africa, has been long ago very elegantly figured in the celebrated work of Dr. Tyson. It is somewhat less strikingly allied to the human figure than the former animal, the face being rather more prominent. Like the former, it has hitherto been brought to Europe in a young or unadvanced state, and its height has hardly ever exceeded that of two feet ; but it appears probable that both species at their full length may arrive at a size not far inferior to the human sta- ture, and indeed the black species, if we may rely on the accounts of some travellers, has been known to surpass that height.

The manners of both these animals, in a state of captivity, are gentle, and void of that disgusting ferocity so remarkable in many of the large ani- mals of the Genus Simia. Their imitations of human actions, and the feats of dexterity for which they have been celebrated, have been so often re- peated in various works of natural history, that they must be familiarly known to all persons of

>-,;/, . , . ;

BLACK ORAW-O TAT? .

I 1 ( Tt III II. 39

retd. M! it must l>r quite Unix < . -sary to re-

tlicm to ;ui audit-nee like the pr«-.s« nt. Those \\ln» max x\i-h t«» « their history m<>r< mi-

nutely, must he referred to tlir works of Hullon, t'amper, VOSIII.M rt Daiilit-ntoii, and OIXHT. Coiuinccd 1»\ the ln:iii'.:«'Hs

latter enquirer^, ivluti\< U> the aii:ifon. thi - Hii-ulai- animal-, \ve >hall find tliat ther-

ntial ditTen n their l>odilv

structure and that of the human race ; and .shall readily dismiss all apprehensions of being too !y allied to animals, which ha\e, l»y unin- iornied philosophers, been held up a-^ the rivals of Mankind.

From the ob>erva;ions of Camper and Cu evident tliat these animals are in reality dilated for running and climbing in the manner of mo-t other quadntptds, and not for walking up- right, as they are generally r ted. It i< however true, that they can ir liily a-um« that po>ition than most other quadrupeds, and may no doubt ha\e been somctimo M m in Mieh a posture in their native woods. Like the r« M d the g'-nuine Ape<, tin- Oran Otans are perfectly d« stitnte of a tail.

40 LECTUKE II.

The manner of both the species of Oran Otan, viz. the black and the chesnut-coloured, are repre- sented as extremely gentle when in a state of cap- tivity. Dr. Tyson, who about the close of the 17th century gave a description of a young Oran Otan of the black species, assures us that it was- (to use his own expressions) " the most gentle and loving creature that could be. Those on ship- board that h° knew, he would embrace with the greatest tenderness, and, as I was informed, al- though there were other Monkies on board, yet it was observed that he would never associate, and, as if nothing akin to them, would always avoid their company."

Mr. Vosmaer's account of the manners of a chesnut-coloured Oran Otan, brought into Holland vin the year 1776, and presented to the Prince of Orange's Menagerie, is so curious, that I shall repeat it from his accurate publication on that subject.

This animal, says Mr. Vosmaer, was in height about two Rhenish feet and a half. It shewed no symptoms of fierceness or malignity, and was even of a melancholy appearance. It was fond of being in company, and shewed a preference to

• "IT Hi: II. 41

\\lio took ilai! \vhieh it -*•• int (I

jo !.<• \rry ^ •iisibl,.. Oft, ii, v, !,' ii ill ,1, )t

would tlirov. "ii tin Around ;is if in despair,

Mttering -lamentable cries. I k p< T lia\in^ 1

accn sometimes to sit near it on tin- ground,

• •Hid take tin hay of its bed, and -pr< ad it in tin- form of a cushion or a

moiistration invite i<> kc^p. r to Mt \\ith it. It-, usual manner of \\alkii. on all lours, but it

eonld id.M> \\alk on i»» two hind feet. One inorn- ini; it ur"t unchained, and we beheld it, with won- derful ability, ascend the Ix anis and rafters of the building: it was not without .xoine trou!>le that it

taken, and we then remarked the prodigious strength of the animal; the a.v>istancc of four men beinir necessaiy, in order to hold it in such a man-

as to Ix properly secured. During its state of liberty, it hud, among other things, taken the cork from a bottle of Malaga wine, which it drank t<> the la-t drop, and had set the bottle in i^ place

n. Wlu-n presented witfj .strawberries on a plate, of which it was extremely fond, it was \, r\- umutiii^ to Bee it take them up one by one with a fork, and put them into its mouth. Its common drink was water, but it also willingly drank all

42 LECTURE II.

sorts of wine, but preferred Malaga. After eating, it always wiped its mouth, and when presented with a toothpick, always used it in a proper man- ner. This animal lived seven months in Holland, and was brought from the island of Borneo.

Two other very remarkable species of Ape are those called the long-armed Apes, or Gibbons. One of these is of a black colour, with the arms of such a length, that the tips of the fingers touch the ground when the animal stands upright. It is a native of India, and grows to the height of about three feet. It is remarkable for having been once placed by Linna3us, in one of the earlier editions of the Systema Nature, under the genus Homo, having been considered at that time as being still more nearly related to the Human race than even the Gran Otan. It was the Simla Lar of Linnssus, and is finely represented in Miller's Miscellaneous plates of Natural history*. The other species of Gibbon, or long-armed Ape, differs from the pre-

* But besides this animal, Linnaeus, in 8orae editions of the Systema Naturae, once introduced a species under the name of flw/;r> Nocturne, which was evidently no other than the Oran Otan, indistinctly described, with various circumstances of aggra- vation, from certain voyages and travels.

7

>>!.•. .MAIXRTAN

DOG-FACEUD BABOON'.

fuklifh'd. i>* OJUarrlyfUtt ftr-cet.

i i CT! IM II. 43

ceding in l»cinu; entirely \\hile, except tin- face ami hands : it / It of And. !

(){' this annual, an admira' imci) exists in

tin- I 11 Miis.-nm, and i-, well repres-

th«' M (-(Mill number <>!' the \\i.rk entitled Museum rinmnn. It i» im|><>-Ml.lr ; tlic

aniin;:!, witlioir with tl pe-

culiar apprarance \vhidi i: :nl'lance

to the luiniau figure giv« > it.

coininon !' \ .nid tho smaller

i \ «>r Pvjj:niy Apo, arc too w< 11 known to re- (juire partieula. uppo-rd by

Mr. Pennant t<> \\ , \\\>- I'x.^my of tho an-

cier/ \vith

the Crai

Siniia •

(•• in

u ith 1- ti^theiv like

; \ miiM -tilar bodies, and tails of rl ths in the different . One of the in.»>t

irkahle is the Simia Ijamadryas of Linnaeus, or (ir« v li.ihooii. It is of an ( le-ant »n-y colour, with the hair thickly mottled or freckled with mi- nut-- dusky \ :t is ])articn' diitingaished by th- ->ive length and fulnesi

44 LECTURE II.

of the hair on each side the head, which flows over the shoulders in such a manner as to form a kind of mantle. It is a native of many parts of Africa, and, like most other Baboons, is of a ferocious dis- position. In a state of nature it feeds entirely on fruits and grain ; and is said to commit great ha- voc in plantations of various kinds. This Baboon \vas one of the sacred animals of the ancient Egyp- tians, and frequently appears among the hierogly- phics inscribed on the ancient sarcophagi and obelisks of that country. It is also one of those species which are furnished with a tail of moderate length.!?

Among the Baboons with very short tails, the most remarkable is the S. Mormon, or variegated Baboon; finely represented in the first, number of the Museum Leeerianum. It is of an olive-brown colour, with a •)' yellow, and thickly be-

sprinkled with small black specks. The whole length of the nose, in the full-grown animal, is of a vivid red, and the checks of a bright blue, marked on each side b. il deep furrows: round the

lower part of the body, the skin is of a beautiful changeable violet-colour, shaded with red. Like the former, it is a native of various parts of Africa.

8

VAHIKC-AT F i> BABOON .

/>, J fc. G. K.>mvln flfti Strttt.

x iT

MONKEY

oS Oct^JLonJan fuMi/hH fy G&arslcr Fleet Street.

II. 45

Tin i . >cmhlin

,il in ha\iii«; tin- 1

l»rill: ,'.d. 1 Lin-

n.i i: iigMbLas ; tj ol the

f<»rm< r, hut Iml;. <ii^' mil.

Am.

\\ ith \» ry h>i / nunikry, or

S. Su/nri! ij)l(\

[ts col nr i- a <larl. !i tin- t:

- of llu- body and i :inhs \\i

the tail lini;;- ami I/'.

I must not - ne Mon-

. particularly li, !irni>h<<l

•\\ith uhat Lim iN a p

part be; (1, as t- > the JH»\\«T

of stron at plra>Miv,

and \\n- j)in

h hand : . in such

mm, '--arc, a::

'I'o i '.-, ith

the

IS, I m' Schreber, f.ll, < t« (I all

46 LECTURE II.

scribed. Several good figures may also be found in the magnificent work of Audebert, though many bad ones may also be there found. It may be added, that from indistinct or transient views of some of the larger kind of Apes and Baboons, must have originated the ancient idea of Satyrs, as the smaller kind of Apes gave rise to that of Pygmies.

The next natural genus, or assortment of the Order Primates, is that of Lemur or Macauco. It consists of a set of animals, allied to the mon- keys in some degree, but of a much more elegant appearance.

The particular character of the genus Lemur consists in tlie disposition of the teeth, which re- semble those of Monkeys, but the lower front teeth are stretched out or forwards ; and the canine teeth are placed close to them. As a secondary character, it maybe observed,, that the feet are formed like hands, and that the index or second finder of the hind feet is often furnished with

o

a sharp lengthened claw. The genus Lemur, like that of Simla, feeds chiefly on vegetables; though some species are also observed to be carni- vorous.

JO

MACAPCO

• LEMF

iff 08 l>cti.£oiuk>n fuhli/Jni (n> (,' hcwslev F&ef Street.

LF< T\ RE II. 47

•tally 1 1 of a

. uliili- ' that p.

Of the taillr-s kiml. ! uiir "la:

Slow I.' • Indian Nand>,

and particularly of (Y\lon. This animal is ex-

v slow in all its motion dun: from th

ii .ailed tin ( Noth,

though not at all allied in any other r<->peet to the. Sloth- properly so called, or tin- Bradypn- tril>e. Another and sinnewhal smaller >pecies of Lemur, \vhich h. •nndi d \\ itli th« IMIHK r.

i> the slender-limbed L«-mur: it . 'ntcofa

tail, and i- di>tin^ni-hed hy ti. sl6B»

ileriK-.N' of its limbs. It U -aid to !.•• naturalh tht r a (jnick and lively animal ti A in its

motions.

A -lailt-il of L« mur, Ihr

inoxt elegant is ih-- I.emnr Cattaof Liniuvn-, or

,!i aniie

and a ] >low Lemur in iti

maniM-r- ; I- leaping uith |" i . It i>

often l»;-oi!ulit over to !

•.vn Ma-

48 LECTURE II.

cauco, differs in being of a brown colour without variegation ; in some, rufous on the breast, and white beneath.

The two genera of Simla and Lemur may be said to constitute the real or proper Primates : Linnasus, however, as is well known, places in this order the genus Vespertilio or Bat j an association which at first appears incongruous, but which is justified by a consideration of many particulars in the structure of those animals ; though not appa- rent at first view; nor will the transition from the genus Lemur to Vespertilio appear too abrupt, if we consider, that in the Linnaean genus LEMUR once stood a very curious animal, allied in many points to the rest of that tribe, but so different in others, that it is now, by the common consent of Zoolo- gists, removed from it, and allowed to constitute a distinct genus. It is the Colngo, formerly called the Plying Lemur ; the Galeopithecus of Pallas, a large animal, measuring about three feet in length, or from head to the extremity of the tail, and is furnished with expanded lateral membranes, ul.cn fully extended, measuring nearly as much: these membranes are not naked, as in the bats, •but covered with a furry skin, like the rest of the

( ' OX.TTGO or [' ! A'TS" G L

f/fff Strret .

i RK II. 49

, rind M ;K liiii'.- to tin- f« < t tli« in continued from the hind-feet to the tip of th«- tail, \\hich is included iiith- kin*. This curious

quadruped, \\hich lias often hem iudM in< tlv de- serihetl |>y Indian travellers, under the title of the

:'g Cat, \- a native .,f i. Indian inlands,

where it lives in the manner uf the IM nu> Lemur, but flutter-* about during tin- night in the manner of a bat. Its general eolour is grey, with a slight of reddish brown. Specimens are figured in the work of Audebert, from the museum of the Prince of Orange. That figured in tin- work of Mr. Peniuin: ian museum. This

animal therefore may, at 1 ad us, hy a

kind of natural transition, to the genus V< >jr rtilio or Bat.

Linna-us has been sonv i ely cen>

for placing the Hats in tl. tribe with the

Primal. iich, on a < view, th

so little alii* d. A> it is certain. ho\..-ver, that we cannot form a fairly eontn •< t< d chain of the animal world, these seemingly abrupt transitions are but

* Its particular characters are : no front-u-i-th in the upper-jaw; but in the lower six broad, short, and distinct or separate teeth, deeply notched or pectinated on the tips.

1ECT. II. i

50 LECTURE II.

of small consequence in an arrangement of Qua- drupeds. I may add., in the words of an inge- nious French writer, " so easy is it for a person con- versant in subjects of this nature to ring changes, as it were, on the animal world, that a new system of Quadrupeds might be composed in less than half an hour."

Without enquiring, therefore, whether the Lin- nasan arrangement be in all points the best and most natural, it may perhaps, with some variations, be considered as the most convenient.

The genus Vespertilio, or Bat, is characterized by having, in general, small, upright, numerous, sharp-pointed teeth; and the fingers or divisions of the fore-feet are stretched out to a great length, and connected by a thin, naked membrane, giving the animal the power of flight. With respect to the teeth, however, in this genus, I must observe that they differ so much in the different kinds or spe- cies, that several distinct genera might be formed, instead of one, if an exact regard were paid to the particular disposition of the teeth in the various tribes. Some of the French naturalists have pur- sued this plan, and have instituted several genera from the single Limuuun genus Vespertilio.

EAT in tivo attitudes

1808 Oct'j. London fuhti/h'd b\- GEcarf/fr Ftrcr Street.

LECTURE II. 51

curiou^ .structure "I the wings m tin- Bat tribe cannot I"- contemplated \\ithoiit admir.c

so forilK 'I OS to |M- capable, from tll'-il- I

, of In-ill -4 ..'iii-

ini r. ill!.- \\ rink! t«i lie in

\\hcn tin- auiin.i- HI;! to !. :ied into

a v. ut.

union Bats of our own country, lio\v- iiy curious, sink into insignificant oi.jeets compan (1 to the enormous species found in some parts of India, Africa, and South America. Of tln-sr the chid' is a species, lo, -rated IP

the name of tlie Vamp\ re Bat: it is the \Y- tilio V*auip\rus of LinnaMis, and n >rdinary

hi>t<>ry, if true, may \\i-Il l»e said to d ticular attention. The body of this animal is tuice the >ixe of a squirrel, or even larger, and the extent of the win^s often measures at

fl\ e fe< t * : I lie Colour of the |MM|\ I- .1 dusk} l»ro\\n,

the head, neck, and should, -i > of a redi \ n :

the \\in. k, as in the e.Mmnou l.,it. '1'his

-i' nt il

r Hans Sloane, xi appears by his catalogue*, pr the British Museum, was in po^cssion • measuring

•even feet. This is the largest I ever remember to have be.; and was brought from Sumatra.

52 LECTURE II.

is pretended that it has the power of inserting the tip of its tongue so dexterously into the vein of a sleeping person, as to draw away a considerable quantity of blood, without waking the patient ; all the while fanning with its wings, and agitating the air, in those hot climates, in so pleasing a manner, as to fling the sufferer into a still sounder sleep. It is therefore said to be unsafe for any person either to sleep in the open air, in regions frequented by these animals, or to sleep in a chamber with an open window. The cattle in many parts of South America are said to be often destroyed by these bats. The tongue of the Van> pyre bat, when accurately examined, is found to be covered with very numerous, small, sharp prickles ; but, except these, as the Count de Buffon observes, there seems to be nothing very par- ticular in its structure, which can enable the animal to exert this singular power of bleeding without causing pain. It is, however, on account of this quality that Linnxus has denominated the species Vespertilio Vampyrus ; but as he has given no explanation of the name, it is probable that the reason may not be generally known. A Vampyre is an imaginary monster, or spirit, sup- posed to suck the blood of sleeping persons. It

LECTURE II 53

also alludes to one of tin m<-t .il.>urd and de- grading superstition* tliat «-\er entered the liuman niind. Ahotit tin- year 1732, an idea prevailed in some parts of Poland an<l HIM. tun

human bodies, after interment, became possessed of a power of extracting or absorbing blood from those \vli-i urn so unfortunate as to pass over, or stand near their gra\es: such bodies were said to In- possessed by Vampyres, and in order to put a stop to their pernicious power, it was supposed necessary to disinter them, and wound them with a sword. Astonishing as this folly may appear, it is yet more astonishing to find that a great many learned treatises were written on the subject, and tint while some endeavoured to combat the ab- surdity upon all the principles of sound philosoplu , others defended it, from what they called un- doubted facts. In the Bibliotheca Anatomica of the learned Mailer may be found a list of m< the publications on this .subject, and uh< read.s that entertaining work of the late Lord Orford, entitled Reminiscences*, will be fully «

* In this work we are informed by his lordship, that a very •xalted personage, in the time of his father, was perfectly coo-

54 LECTURE II.

vinced that this superstition was by no means con- fined to the vulgar. We see, therefore, the pro- priety of the Linnaean name Vampyre or Blood- Sucker applied to this kind of Bat.

It is also to be observed, that the propensity to sucking the blood of animals is not in reality confined to the Vampyre bats, but is practised by many other species; and even the common bats of Europe are said to possess a similar faculty. Some of the large animals of this genus are well represented in the superb work of Seba, entitled Thesaurus rerum Naturalium, and are repeated, on a smaller scale, in Schreber's work on the Mammalia.

Bats are animals that lie torpid during the winter months; sometimes concealing themselves singly in any convenient cavity, and sometimes hanging together in clusters under rocks, in ca- verns, and sheltered places. When thus taken, in a torpid state, the circulation of the blood is not to be perceived by the microscope in the vessels of the membrane of the wings ; but on the

vinced of the existence of these beings, and expressed high dis- pleasure against Sir Robert Walpole for speaking irreverently of Vampyrcs.

1 1 ( 1 1 RI: ir. 55

application of a certain d< gree of heat, the animal

:rom its torpor, and the ci lation of the blood becomes visible.

Tin- general appearance of tlio Bat, tog»

with 11^ ii'tctunial flight, must be confessed to

lea of something hideous and dismal ;

and for tins reason the ancients conscc:;tt< d it to

i pine, and supposed it to be one of the inha-

itt of her dusky regions : and it cannot fail to occur to the recollection of every one, that painters, in their representations of ilend> and demons, usually exhibit them with the leathern \\ in'^s of the Bat. It is also equally evident, that the fabulous Harpies of the ancients must I

, nated from a similar source; the larger I of India and Africa, by a little poetical exagi: tion of their manners, answering extremely well to the general description of thus, monsters.

I know not whether it may he worth while to mention the cel< Ic-ated experiments of Spallan- ya:ii, n Hurt ini: a supposed additional x-nse or

;ry in Hats, enabling them, when depm- siu;ht, to avoid any obstacles as readily as v. they retained their power of MMUM. These expe- riments are cruel, and pi -r baps do not lead U

56 LECTURE II.

any very important discoveries in the animal ceco- nomy: nevertheless, that I may not seem entirely to neglect a phenomenon which has been thought worthy of attention by several eminent experi- mentalists, I shall here give a short abstract of Spallanzani's observations.

Having observed that Bats would fly in the most dusky chambers with precision, and not even touch the walls, he found them equally exact in their motions when the eyes were closely covered : and at length he destroyed the eyes, and covered the socket with leather ; and even in this state the animal continued to fly with the same precision as before; avoiding the walls, and cautiously sus- pending its flight in seeking where to perch. It even flies out at a door without touching the archi- traves. The Abbe repeated his experiments on several species of Bats; and with the same suc- cess. These experiments were repeated by Vas- salli at Turin, by Rossi at Pisa, Spadon at Bologna, and Jurin at Geneva. Spallanzani's arguments for supposing that in these instances no other sense can supply the place of sight, are the following.

" Touch cannot, in this case, supply the place of sigh', because an animal covered with hair

CTURE II. 51

Cannot be supposed to have that sense very deli-

. In fly ing tin-on- !i tin- mid. Ik- of a narrow passage which timnd at n-Jit ail"!. >, the Bali regularly bent their flight at the curvature, though two f it distant from tin- nails. They discovered r their retreat ; found a : j>lace on

thr cornice] a\<.i«led the branches of trees sus- j» iidcd iii a room; ll«-\v thruugh threads hung

• iiilicularly from the ceiling, without touching them, though they were scarcely at a greater distance from each other than that of t! tended \\mur-s and \\hrn the threads were brought IT, th« y contracted their wings to pass through them. They equally avoided every obstacle, though the whole head was covered with a varnish madr of Sund.iiach dissolved in spirit of wine.

" The ear could not have discovered a cor- nice, or the threads ; this sense therefore docs not compensate the want of vision. Besides, Bats fly equally well when the ear is most carefully

red. The smell might possibly a»ist them; for when the nose was stopped, they breathed \\ith dilliculty, and soon fell. While they did lly. h«»weur, they avoided obstacles very well; and the smell could scan : in dis-

60 LECTURE II.

The genus Bradypus or Sloth is highly remark- able. It consists of but very few species, of which the most curious is the three-toed Sloth, or Brady- pus tridactylus of Linnaeus. This quadruped is a native of the hotter parts of South America, where it resides on trees, feeding on the foliage and fruit. It is of all quadrupeds the slowest in its motions, appearing even to move with difficulty, and never exerting its progressive powers, except when urged by a want of food. Before the dis- covery of the western hemisphere, the common Tortoise seems to have been considered as the established type of tardiness; but the three-toed Sloth is a much more striking example of languid motion and habitual inactivity. The early ac- counts, however, of this extraordinary animal seem to have been given with a considerable degree of exaggeration; it having been at first pretended, that the creature could scarcely advance to the distance of a stone's throw in less than fifteen days: that it required eight or nine minutes, in order to move one foot to the distance of three inches. The general appearance of the Sloth is extremely uncouth: its size is that of a smallish

LECTURE II. «1

I thr l><>cly is of a thick shape, the fore-legs very ; the hind' liorter: the feet are vn-y

small, hut they are each armed uith three most >sively strong and large claws, of a slightly curved form, and sharp-pointed: the- head i^ Miiall: t, \vith a rounded or blunt Miout : the II, black, and round: the ears flat, round- ed, lying (lose to the head, and not ill resembling • of Monkeys. The general colour of the animal is a greyish brown, and the hair is extreme- ly coarse, moderately long, and very thickly covers the whole body and limbs. A remarkable character as to colour in this animal is a broad patch on the upper part of the back of a reddish or ycllou isli brown, marked on each side by several black spots, and down the middle by a \eiy COO cuous long black stripe. In the young animals this stripe is but very obscurely, if at all, visible. The I^adiiiL; or specific character of the animal in all tin- ' sg furnished with three

claws; which affords an ea>\ and n a«K ; distinction between this species and th< / , >-toctl Sloth or Bradypus didact \lus-, which is of .similar and COnsid< i-ibly alli< d to it in form, bir

62 LECTURE II.

invariably two claws only on the fore-feet, and three on the hind*.

The Count de Buffon, in one of those flights of paradoxical eloquence in which he sometimes in- dulges, is not willing to allow the common or three-toed Sloth any share in contributing to the general beauty in the scale of animated nature, but considers it as an ill-constructed mass of de- formity, calculated only for misery, which he thinks is the less to be wondered at, since perhaps the major part of Mankind experience a similar fate.

" From a defect in their conformation, says this author, the misery of these animals is not less con- spicuous than their slowness: they have no cutting- teeth : the eyes are obscured with hair ; the chaps are heavy and thick; the hair is flat, and resembles withered herbs ; the thighs are ill jointed to the handles; the legs are too short, ill turned, and ter- minated still worse : their feet have no soles, and no toes which move separately, but only two

* The three-toed Sloth exhibits a peculiarity in the structure of its skeleton, unexampled by that of any other quadruped : viz. that the neck has nine vertebrae or bones ; the number in all other quadrupeds, and even in the two-toed Sloth, being only seven.

i i en • ir. n

or three cla proportionately Inn-', and ;

dou which move together, ;iud are more

hurtful !•• their walking than ad\antai;eous in as- Mstm- i • (limb. Slowness, habitual pain,

and .stupidity arc the results of iliis strange and ^rled conformation. The Sloths have no wea- pons cither • or defensive. They are fur- ni>lied \\ith no in. aiis «>f .-afety; for they can neither run, nor di.-j into the earth. Confined to a small space, or to the tree under which they are brought forth, they arc prisoners in the midst of space, and

;ot move the length of one fathom in an hour. They drag theniM 1\< -s up a tree with much labour and pain; their cry, and interrupt they

only utter in the ni.?ht: all these circum- .stanee.s ann-Mince the misery of the Sloths, and recal to our minds those defeetiu- monsters, those im-

• i -ketches of Nature, \\hieh, bein^ hardly

! with faculties of existence, could not sub-

IciiLrth o\' time, and ha\c accordingly

been .-.truck out of the list of beings. li'the, regions

inhabited by the Sloths were not desert, but had

been occupied for any length of time by Man and

the larger anim ds, these creatures would neu-r ha\c

descended tu our times } but would hav

64 LECTURE II.

hilated, as in some future period will be the case. Every thing that Nature could possibly produce, capable of existence, has been produced, of which the Sloths are a striking example. They constitute the last term of existence in the order of animals endowed with flesh and blood: one other defect added to the number would have totally prevented their existence. To regard these bungled sketches as beings equally perfect with others; to call in the aid of final causes to account for such dispropor- tioned productions, and to make Nature as brilliant in these as in her most beautiful animals, is to view her through a narrow tube, and to substitute our own fancies for her intentions. Why should not some animals be created for misery, since in the human species the greatest number of individuals are devoted to pain from the moment of their ex- istence ? Evil, it is true, proceeds more from our- selves than from Nature. For a single person who is unhappy because born feeble or deformed, there are millions who are rendered miserable by the oppression of their superiors. The inferior ani- mals, in general, are more happy, because the species have nothing to fear from individuals : to them there is but one source of evil : to Man there

LECTURE II. 65

an- two; Moral L'vil, of ulneh In- is himself the fountain, li:is accumulated into an immense ocean, which COM ri :nnl aflliets tin \\hole surface of the earth. I'hy-ica! < \ il, on tin- contrars , i^ i. -trained within \ery narrow bounds: it seldom appears alone, for it is always accompanied with an equal, il not a superior good. Can happiness be dcnu d to animals, when they enjoy freedom; have the faculty of procuring subsistence with ease, and pos- more health and organ> capable of affording more pleasure than those of the human species? Now the generality of animals are most liberally endowed with all these sources of enjoyment. The aded Sloths are (jcrhaps the only animals to whom Nature has been unkind, and which exhibit io us the picture of innate mist

In opposition however to this eloquent ha- . v. c may venture to suppose, without any fear of being in the wrong, that the Sloth, notwith- standing this appearance of wretchedness and de-

>ity, is as well fashioned for its proper modes and habits of life, and feels as much pleasure in its solitary and obscure retreats, as the rest of the animal world, of greater locomotive powers, >u|n rior e\ti rnal elegance.

LECT. II. P

66 LECTURE II.

I should add, that although the Sloths are na- tives of South America, yet it is contended by Seba and some others that the two-toed species has been found in some parts of the East-Indies, and particularly in the island of Ceylon.

A few years ago a very remarkable animal was brought into this country from the interior parts of Bengal, which by Mr. Pennant and others was referred to the present genus, and considered as a species of Sloth. Its general appearance however was so much allied to that of a Bear, that it was natural enough, at first sight to sup- pose it to belong to the genus Ursus. It was in company with Mr. Pennant that I first examined it with accuracy, and could not but agree with him in opinion that it should be regarded as a species of Sloth, from the appearance of the teeth. But the age of the animal was not ascertained, and it was not clear that it had gained the legitimate number of its teeth. It was described by myself under the name of Bradypus ursinus or the Ursine Sloth, and has been extremely well figured by an ingenious artist, whose representation has been re- peated in different works. The animal was about the size of a Bear, and of a black colour, with very

LECTURE II. 67

long shaggy hair; a lengthened, naked, and flexible snout; fi\» < M . ^i\. K strong, curved claws on tin: tret, and live much smaller, and of a rounder sh;i|>r, on tlir hind feet ; the tail and car> \<T\ -hort. Its motions u< re not peculiarly languid, as in the Sloths, but moderately lively: its manners were gentle, and it fed on vegetable substances and milk. I forbear any longer description of the ani- mal, and must refer those who wish for more par- ticular information, to the description given in the Naturalist's Miscellany, and in last Edition of Mr. Pennant's Quadrupeds; but I have now to observe that in consequence of information received on this subject from an ingenious naturalist lately arrived from India, and who has had opportunities of examining the animal in its native regions, it ought really to be referred to the genus Ursus or Bear, and may therefore not improperly be named Ursus Bengalensis or the Bengal Bear*.

To the genus Bradypus or Sloth is allied, ac- cording to the ingenious Cuvier, the celebrated

* In the Lcverian Museum, the impending dispersion of which must be considered as an unspeakable disadvantage to the study of Natural History in this Country, may be seen a very fine specimen of this remarkable animal

68 LECTURE II.

fossil skeleton of a very large quadruped, dug up a few years ago in South America, and preserved in the Museum at Madrid. It has been described under the title of Megatherium, and differs, ac- cording to Cuvier, in its characters, taken together, from all known quadrupeds; and each of its bones, considered apart, also differs from the correspond- ing bones of all known animals; but it appears more nearly allied to the Sloths than to any other of the Mammalia. The skeleton measures near twelve feet in length^ and six in height.

I.KCTUU: 111.

J.N tlit^ preceding lecture, I repeated the o !<•-

brated harangue of the Count de Billion, relative to the supposed misery of the Quadrupeds called Sloths, and concluded \\ith a slight account of a supposed Indian species, and of a remarkable

I >kel<-ton, seemingly allied to the same genus. I .shall iiu\v proceed to the remaining animals of this order, all of \\hieh an distinguished by the total uant of front teeth, and some- are totally destitute of any teeth.

One of the most remarkable of tin -M- (ienera of Quadrupi <U i> that of Dasypus, or Arma- dillo. This genus is readily distinguished from all others, shift- all the species lu-lougiivs: to it are l»y nature iurnisli- d ^ith a most » Ir^ant suit of

. armour, so curioiislv di^jxisi-d, that it i> im-

ihl«- to behold it without the biglic.^t admira-

70 LECTURE III.

tion. The long zones or divisions, covering the upper part of the body, differ in number in the different species, and thus afford a good general character of distinction. The most common spe- cies is the Dasypus novem-cmctus, or nine-banded Armadillo. All the Armadillos are natives of South America, where they reside in dry and rocky places, and have the faculty of burrowing under ground. They wander about chiefly by night, and devour various kinds of roots and grain: they also prey on worms and insects; and when in a state of captivity, will readily eat ani- mal food, and that in considerable quantities. The side-teeth or grinders are numerous, but they have neither canine nor front-teeth. They are of a perfectly innocent and inoffensive nature. The largest species known is the twelve-banded Arma- dillo, which arrives at the length of four feet from the snout to the tip of the tail : all the rest are of a much smaller size, measuring noif more than a foot in body, exclusive of the tail. The general colour of Armadillos in a living state seems to be brown, but some are of a very pale or yellowish brown cast ; and all, in a natural state, have the shelly or bony armour covered with a

MAK1S TETHADACTYLA

failed fango/itt

JoJf, .'

iS PElfTADACTTXA

or short tailed fangolws

i4oS PcUlontJcn fuAU/lid fiy C.fraf.t/r< F/rff Street.

LECTURE III. 71

thin, semitran-parciit epidermis or skin, beneath \\liicli the bony cn^t itself is \\hite. When the Armadi!! d by other animals, they

roll theiiiM-hes up into tin- form of a hall, hy o>n- tlu-ir body and limbs, and arc thus secured from all common violence ; aH'onling one of the utiriil and striking instances of the bene- \«.!«-nt care which Nature has taken in the pro- tection of animals of a weak and inoilrnM\e nature.

The genus Mania or Pangolin, is distinguished by an appearance so far removed from that of the generality of viviparous quadrupeds, that, at first view, it rather suggests the idea of an animal of the Lixard tribe; and hence these quadrupeds

been oft eii called by the improper tit! Scaly Li-iink. The mouth is lengthened into the form of a tubular snout, without any teeth, and the tongue is very long, round, and capable of being extended at pleasure, to a great length, and in-tead of hair, the animal is coated on all parts, except on the belly, by extremely strong and large scales, composing a suit of armour, capable of defending the creature, when rolled up, from the assaults of t i f. rocious enemies. The Pan-

72 LECTURE III.

golins are of a harmless nature, and are chiefly found in various parts of India and the Indian islands : they feed on the smaller kinds of insects, and particularly on ants, which they obtain by stretching out their long worm-shaped tongue amidst heaps of those insects, and when covered with them, suddenly retracting it, and swallowing them.

There seem to be only two or three distinct species known, with some occasional varieties of each. The principal species is the Mauls pen- tadactyla of Linnasus, or the five-toed Pangolin ; distinguished by having five claws on the fore- feet, and four on the hind: the middle claws of the fore-feet being extremely large and strong. In India this animal is particularly called the Pangolin; it is said chiefly to frequent woods and marshy places, walking slowly, and when pursued, rolling itself up into the form of an oval ball; and thus becomes so strongly armed, that even the Tiger and the Leopard cannot attack it with impunity, but wound their own feet in the assault. The colour of the five-toed Pangolin is a pale, yellowish brown; besides the character of five claws on the fore-feet, the tail, in this species, is-

M < Tl HK III. 73,

shorter than tin- body. It gTOWl i<> lh€ l<-:i:jih of lour or five feet, <»r even more. Tin- other specie* or four-lord Pangolin, tin- M. t- ; r.tdaetyl Limurus, is \<r\ ( los.lv allied tu tin- pi-ending, Itut i- <>f a ratlin- lon-rr or more sender shape, \\ith only four claws uii all the feet ; and tin- tail i. ral)l\ lon.m-r than the body. Its man- arc >imilar to ilm-i <»!' tlu- pi < -r diiii; kiiul, and it> size scarcely infs-rior.

Tin- n<-xt genus which \vo .shall attend to, is that o£ Myrmecophaga, or Ant-Eat .IT. It is distin- guished, like that of Manis, !>y h.ivinLj the mouth thrn< d into tlic tonn of a snout, and perfectly destitute of teeth, < -\ccpt that, very d'-ep at the ijack part of the mouth, an .said to be situ; (according to th Camper) a pair

of small bony promin which may be sup-

posed to act as a kind of grinders: the tongue, as in the former gem :^, round, and

d»lr of bei. udrd to a Ljreat distance

from the tip of the snout. The hod ,t in

one <>r two species lately discoveivd, i> covered with hair. The sp, ;irt. n,,t nu-

merous. The chief is th< : Ant-eater, or

M. Jubata of Linnxus, a qua- ..TV eon-

14 LECTURE III.

siderable size and of very singular aspect, mea- suring from six to seven feet in length, from the tip of the snout to that of the tail ; the body is of a lengthened form, with a small head, long snout, and very long hairy tail. The colour of the animal is a deep iron-grey, with a broad black band or stripe, edged with white, passing along each side of the breast and flanks -3 the tail is also black: on the fore-feet are four claws, and on the hind-feet five: the two middle claws of the fore-feet being extremely strong; a circumstance which renders this quadruped, though destitute of teeth, a very formidable adversary, since it has been known to destroy animals of much greater apparent strength, by continued laceration and pressure. It is a native of South America j chiefly of Brasil and Guiana; sleeping during the greatest part of the day, and coming out by night. It feeds entirely on ants and other insects, laying its tongue on the hillocs or nests of these insects, and from time to time retracting it, in order to swallow the ants with which it is covered. The finest specimen of this animal perhaps ever brought into Europe, is preserved in the Leverian Museum. The smallest species of Ant-Eater is a highly

TWO TOETj) &JST K

\ IN E

LECTUKl. III 75

elegant animal. l\ larger than a squirrel,

.UK! measuring little more than seven inches from tin- HOM- to the tail, u hich is longrr than the whole body and head, and i> also ttroBgly prehensile: the snout is slightly bent, rather sharpem d, and of a tubular structure; the h-^s short, with the fore feet furnished with only two claws on each, I. ut of excessive size in proportion to the limb. The hind-feet have each f'<>ur cla\\-, of mode-rate size. The colour of the animal is an elegant pale yellow-brown, and the hair is beautifully undulated or waved. This species, which is called the two- toed Ant-Eater, Myrmecophuga dldactyla of Lin- iKrus i< a native of South America, where it re- sides on trees, and lives on insects, and particularly on a species of Ants, which form their nests on the trees it frequents. An excellent figure of tin* species of Ant-KaUr has been given by Edwards, in his Gleanin- \ itural History.

Tin- BCiea "t Ant-F.ater which I .shall

men: n nati\e of Au>t rala.sia or New Hol-

land, and di tiers from all the rest in being covered, not \\ith hair, hut with strong and ^-harp quills or spines, .similar to tho>cof a Porcupine, but shorter in proportion. This highly curious species usually

76 LECTURE III.

measures about a foot or fifteen inches in length, and is of a thick and strong form, with very short limbs, and a narrow tubular snout. It affords a striking instance of one of those collateral affinities which we had before occasion to advert to; by which animals of different tribes have a kind of connexion with each other; in the present in- stance, we see an affinity between the genus Myrmccophaga in the order Bruta, and the Por- cupine, which belongs to a widely different tribe of animals, and ranks in an order called Glires. The Aculeated or Porcupine Ant-Eater, is of a black or very dark brown colour on the limbs and lower parts, while the spines or quills are of a yellowish white, with black tips. On the fore-feet are five very strong claws, and on the hind four ; the tail is excessively short, and beset with large upright quills. In its mode of life this animal resembles the rest of the Ant-Eaters. It is ge- nerally found in the midst of some large ant-hill. It burrows with great strength and celerity under ground, when disturbed, and it is said that it will even burrow under a very strong pavement, re- moving the stones with its claws: during such exertions, its body is observed to be stretched or

I.I.CTURE III. 71

tinned t«> an HIM-'. iimion d :;rce, so as to ap-

\ dill't i-( nt from tin- -hort .-lid j)luni|) a uhich it b«-ar> in its undisturbed state.

It cannot liau 1 the attention of every

one, that the ^cncru of the Pangolins and Ant- Eaters diller nnly in their external covering from each other; the Linn;'., ua M yrmecophaga

being covered with hair, and that of Manis uitli strong horny scalo. In con-vqui IK •<• therefore of tlie discovery oi' the aeuli-aicd or porcupine Ant- Eater, it follows that the Linna-an character of the L:* nus Myrmeeophaga, is in part rcnderrd inap- plicable, sin- nuine .spi-eic.-, <.)' Ant-Eater is now discovered, which is coated, not with hair, but with strong spines or quills. \\V may th- fore either enlarge the Linna-an character of the Ant-l;.att -rs, l.\ that tlie body is covered

r \\itli hair or .spino, or < Kc uc ma\ consider the aculei'tr.l . \nt-l -titntini( a new and

distinct ^enu.s, of which the characters will be, a mouth of a tubular structure, and without teeth, but furnislK (1 \\ith n^ilr tongue, and

th» body covered with .strong spines. I may add

two oth« r j-pcci'-v have been lately di-cu\cred,

LECTURE III.

ewhat sma«er

of a s colour.

This senus, w .

- -

i :rh at present consists hich at pi

« name having been given the webs of its

fore-feet, and the bill

v,-^v, has the resemblance

theT;'tEnIu generic name of D^

58 ^ ^ ording to the Linn^n ar-

rank this anlmal dmg ^ ^^^.^

rangement of f^^^tute of teeth, belong to the order J 8 ^ or

but if we rank it accordmg to * g

t might find a place among

s,

^

H <

a S

.:

20

Btak IcFectofttu. 3*1ATYI»17S of theirNatural stzt.

I.F.CM HK III. 19

inspirit^, ha\e exhibited tin- least appearance of I'M- MM klinu the \ouiiLr; nor i> il < a>y to COI1- ceive \i»\\ the animal roiild perform tip- action of Mirk: Oce tin- mouth or Mioul hi-ars tli*- iii'M

.Mam •«• to the hill of a Dm k, ami par- Meularlv tu that of the broad-billed Ducks called Show -Hers. This beak is surrounded at tin- ! by a circular llap or border, resembling leather, and perfectly .separating the base of the bill from the I'm- of the head. There are no teeth of any kind; and cvc-n the tubercles or processes, which may be perceived by dissection, on each side the base or back part of the beak, are not real teeth, having no sockc not bring of a really bony

nature. The tongue is situated very far back in the mouth, and is broad and short: the fore-feet are wrhbrd, much more widely in proportion than in any other \vrb-footed quadruped, and are fur- nished with five short, sharp, and strong claws: the hind-fret are less deeply webbed, and have of a slightly curved form; besides which, in the male animal is situated on each foot ronic and sharp crooked spur or

.-i\th claw, not ill resembling the spur of a Cock: the body is of a broad, and sli^InK d< -

SO LECTURE III.

pressed shape, with a rather small head, and eyes so small, and so deeply imbedded in the fur, as not to be distinctly visible without a close in- spection : the tail is broad, rather short, and very slightly pointed. The whole animal is thickly covered with strong, but soft and glossy hair, which on the upper parts is of a deep iron-grey, more or less intense in different individuals, and on the under-parts considerably paler; in some specimens whitish. The general length of the animal, from the tip of the bill to that of the tail, is from twelve to sixteen or eighteen inches.

This most extraordinary and dubious qua- druped is a native of Australasia or New Hol- land, where it inhabits fresh-water lakes, and is supposed to feed on worms, water-insects, and perhaps on various weeds, in the manner of a Duck. It is obliged to rise every now and then to the surface in order to breathe, and it is at this particular juncture that it is principally taken, by transfixing it with a small kind of harpoon. It is supposed to burrow, at a considerable depth into the banks of the waters it inhabits.

If there be no mistake in the anatomical dis- quisitions hitherto made on the Duckbill, its in

« Tt RE HI. 81

tiriial structure is not i< ^ordinary than

• xtrrnal ; since it appears to be oviparous,

,111 appe;-.ranee \\liich gives reason for

supj.. ihat it hears internal eggs, in the

inanniT of many of the li/anl tribe, from \\hich

the yonii.^ ar. hatched before their final

cloaioD.

This Quadruped therefore may be considered

as tlu miracle of Modern Zoology.

In the Phil. Trans, for 1802, may be found an. excellent description of the anatomy of this in- teresting animal, by the ingenious Mr. Home.

The order Eruta presenting several highly curious animals, we have dwelt somewhat longer upon it, than its proportional limits would other- wise ha\e allowed us to do; and must ha through the remaining orders with a more rapid step.

third Linnxan Order of the Mammalia is entitled I-\-ra-. It contains the predacious qua* s, and consists of several genera, all agree-

in liavinir teeth evidently calculated for feeding on liesh. The front-teeth, which are usually six both above and below, approach to a conical or pointed figure-; the canine-teeth are longi and

LECT. HI. G

82 LECTURE III.

the grinders not flattened at the top, but are of a lobated and sharpened form ; the claws also with which the feet are furnished are sharp, and more or less curved in the different species.

The first genus of the Ferte or predacious quadrupeds, (if we exclude that of Phoca or Seal, which will be more properly stationed in a dif- ferent division), is that of Canis or Dog ; this comprehends all the animals of the Dog tribe : it consequently consists of the common Dog, with all its numerous varieties; the Hycena, of which there are two distinct kinds; the Fox, of which many varieties exist ; the Wolf, so common and so destructive in many parts of the northern world; and the Jackall, peculiar to Eastern and Southern regions. The chief character of the Dog tribe, consists in having six front-teeth above and below ; the middle ones in the upper jaw,

and the side ones in the lower jaw lobated : the

/ grinders are six or seven on each side : the toes,

or divisions of the fore-feet are five in number, and of the hind-feet four. To these characters may be added that the visage is of a lengthened shape.

Next succeeds the genus Fdis or Cat, compre-

'

PABTTHEH

/8cSCrir i J.i IK/€/

• GJ?earslc\ f'ft-ct Mr,-,-t

III.

bending ;ill I In- ('.it or I. ion tribt , from the \\hiehisthe leading 01 principal . to tin:

Tii- :n tin- mnu^

p|-ett\ 1,11111 :

perhap^, \vl. i m perfection, the > au-

tiful of (jiiadnip ul lively

orange-colour, uith i hlack

stripes. The Panther i- a liiL'iily lx ;iutilnl species, of a l>riu,ht lawny yellmv eolotir, marked \\ itli nninerous Ma- »sed in < irclcs of

tour or five spots in each, with one or more cen- tral spots: the Leopard extremely resemhles the Panther, hut is smaller, and ditlers in having no central ^pot in the circles of black spots with which the skin is covered. These two animals, tin Panther an 1 the Leopard, have been very fre- quent I v confounded in the work.s of naturalists: lowever will he readily pereeivetl on inspecting their ii\e skin* in tin shops

of the dealer* in fu

Of these animals ti i er is chiefly found in

:il tin- Lion, Panther, and Leopard in

Africa; but none of them are nati Vm< rica,

other sp emis beiii!^ improperly so

named Of these the chief i* the Jct^liar, com-

84 LECTURE III.

monly called the Brasilian Tiger, about the size of a Wolf, and of a tawny colour, with the top of the back marked by long black stripes, and sides by rows of irregular lengthened spots. Many of the smaller American animals of this genus are very beautiful, and are collected and figured in the works of Schreber and others.

I shall dismiss this genus by observing that the general shape of most of the species resembles that of the common Cat, which, in a wild state, is

a native of many parts of Europe, and among >

others of our own island ; being occasionally found in woods: in its natural or wild state it is far larger •than the domestic kind, and is of a grey colour, with darker stripes. The numerous varieties of the domestic Cat are well known: the variety call- ed the Angora Cat is reckoned the most elegant, and is remarkable for the fulness of its hair: it is also often seen with one eye of a bright blue, and the other yellow. All the generic characters of the whole lion tribe may be readily exemplified by an examination of the common Cat, and it is therefore unnecessary to particularize them here; we may only observe as a particular mark, that the claws are retractile, that is, so constituted as

STJilATED Y

IK Tl Kl III. 85

at pleasure \uthdrawn into ;i kind of sh< ;uhs when not in use.

Tin- MIC< •«•< -dim: genu^ COnt it many

speci. v, comprehending all tin- annuals of the Wea.M -I kind. Ijim:rus indeed in parate genera for these animals, on account of iin dillerem -t - observable in the di>p<^it ion of the tt < th; luit, in a general \ic\v, tht-y m:iy all lx- ( oii-^idcred as furnishm «-nus or

assortment, under the till- .crra. Tin

il rhara> tlie \\'e.i->el trilte is a certain

hlenderiK ss and length of l>ody, \vith a sharpened visage, short legs, and, in most sj» loutish

tail; ,r«-r n is xhort in but a few.) The front teeth are six in number: with the middle ones shorter than the re

To the Wea>el tribe belongs the celebrated animal called the Iclmuemon, which was so highly « si,-,.|n.-<| by the ancient Egyptians on ac- count of it^ utility in destroying serpents and other noxious animals. It has a general re- very large ferret, but i> of a brow n-

* The animal known by the name of the Polecat, (Mustela Potorius, Lin.) may serve to give some idea of the general op- pcarance of the animals of this gemu.

86 LECTURE III.

ish-grey colour, with the hair freckled by innumer- able minute dusky specks. The snout is long and sharp, and the tail thick and full at the base, and gradually tapering to the tip. Like many other animals of this tribe it is a dangerous enemy to many creatures larger than itself, over which it gains an easy victory by fastening upon them, and sucking their blood. It is a native both of Asia and Africa, and varies in size in the different regions.

Some of the Weasel tribe are remarkable for diffusing, when disturbed or hunted, a most intoler- ably fetid small, so powerful as to taint the air to an incredible distance. If the accounts given of this odious vapor are not aggravated by those who have experienced its effects, every other ill smell which Nature is capable of producing is surpassed by the overpowering fetor of these extraordinary quadrupeds. In consequence of the dreadful ema- nation, even the dogs are said to relinquish their prey, and the men to fly with the utmost precipi- tation from the tainted spot. One of the most re- markable of these animals is the Mephltic IVcasel, a North- American species, of the size of a small cat, and of a deep chocolate-brown colour, with a

1 ' ( Tl HF. III. 81

.1 uliilc stripe down the hack, and ;i \. bu>liy tail of a \\hite colour.

Oiher ;mimul> of the Weasel tribe an; e.|iiall\

lor ditVii- ii. .MI odor of a highly p; kind; as tin animal called the ( ' t for

m.Ntaiirr. \\ hit Ii i- a large vi\rrr;i or V»'.-a>rl, nu-a- Mirini; iimn; than thn • l\ • t from i to

the end of tin- tail: it is of a y«»llo\\ jsh i;rcy colour, marked aloni^ the >id« > hy iari;e blackish or <lu.-.ky xj)ot> disposed into rou>: the throat, luva-t, and

,il>o l.laek. The Mibstance called Ci\ ohtaiiu (1 l»y scrap in;.: it out from tim<' to time from a peculiar inland or ca\ ity in which it is con- tained. When fre>h, it i- \dy stronir, hut grows milder hv length of time.

The remaining LT- nt ra ot'aiiimals helonmng to trihe are the following, viz. Ursus ^ I' mprehendiug many sp<

Didcljthix or Opossum, a numerous genus.

ropus or k <>, a geun- gn ally allied

»f ()po»uni in some points, hut diifering

alily in other>, and not feeding on animal

food, nor in striri proj»rit ty to be ranked in this

orcii

ti or M

88 LECTURE III.

Sarex, or Shrew ; and lastly,

Erinaceus, or Hedgehog.

Of these genera the most remarkable are those of Didelphis and Macropus, Opossum and Kanga- roo. The Opossum tribe is characterized by hav- ing small rounded front teeth, ten in the upper, and eight in the lower: the canine teeth are long, and the grinders are lobed or divided on their up- per part. But the chief character of the genus consists in a peculiar cavity or pouch in which the parent places the young, immediately after their birth, and in which she preserves them till they are sufficiently advanced in growth to be able to defend and provide for themselves. In this pouch the teats are placed, which are six or eight in number. The Opossums are also often distinguished by the appearance of a thumb on the hind-feet, and in some species the tail is of that kind which Linnaeus calls prehensile, formed, as in some of the Monkeys, in such a manner as to be able strongly to coil round any object at pleasure.

The Opossums now constitute a pretty exten- sive genus of quadrupeds, many new species hav- ing been of late years discovered in Australasia or

*4

ViKi'.r.\i.v.\

. SS*fi tlif l.rrrmvi Vksrion .

OPOSSUM

1,1 ::B OPOSSUM

/, W/v, ruhtijtnl :» /•:/, . <>,:,

I 1CTI HI. 111. 89

({••Hand. Inn tin first discovered is a

1 0111-

moi; i in partit uhir. It is about the

fur, ••!' a pal.- y. I-

lour, .in<l naked flesh

• 1 tail, coated with a kind of .scale-, like t. on llif ta;l ot a rat, hut! i !«-s in woods,

and pre\> principally on birds and tin

Anton-.: th«- Nc\v Holland Opossums the Le-

ninriiit.- OpovMim i- f the mosl «-lr^;iiit : of

til- size of a C'at, of a line dark-grey col»»ur, yt-llo\s-

ath ; v. ith an r\ijii ,11 1'ur, and with

e much rc-cmhlini; th< Lt-mur; the tail

ply furred, and prehensile at the tip*.

\ still more el< ^ant kind of \e\v Holland

P '.unriiH' O/)(>\.fin/i, often i:

Miring nioie tiiau a \ard in length from the nose t" the tip ot the tail. 'J ' )possum has

i lie 1 ig Scjuirrel, being

furnislu-d \\ith a broad furry membrane, from the

the help of uhieli it springs

* d. Scinrta is aKo .1 New-Hol-

land species oi gre:i; ,t the G:

: white beneath, with ihe tail very lull of hair, and tipprd with bl.:

90 LECTURE III.

from tree to tree, and to a very considerable dis- tance: the hind-feet are furnished with thumbs,

\

and the tail is long and thickly furred: the colour of the whole animal is a most beautiful sable or blackish grey, of a yellowish cast beneath, and its fur is still finer than that of the lemurine Opos- sum. It is known in its native regions by the name of Hepoona Roo.

But the most curious of all the Opossums is •the Didelphis pygmcea or Pygmy Opossum, which in its general form is similar to the Hepoona Roo, but no larger than a common Mouse. Its colour is an elegant pale brownish-grey, white beneath, •and the tail is slightly flattened, with the hair spreading to a small distance on each side, throughout its whole length.

The genus Macropus or Kangaroo, which fol- Jlows that of Opossum, is strongly allied to those animals in being provided with a pouch for the temporary preservation of its young, but differs in the front-teeth, which are six in number in the upper jaw, and two in the lower, which lower teeth are extremely large, long, sharp, and prominent: the grinders are five on each side, both above and below: it also differs in its manner of life, being

PYGMY OPOSSUM.

SSn *~

.- CfKEY or &IC7ER

bv GJTcarslcv fleet Street.

Ill III.

Ton-, and in reality should not be : ,-;r. It i- Hi"

; tin- K :<• of tl»e most

animals disco\. r< il in

mod< rn tin; 'I'li ' ra-

I till then n , a corm-r of tin; world, was

lartof tlx i \\liidi \cu South \\'ates.

'.hen i'uil

a lull i;roun sliccj) : the uppet remarkably

,.IIHJC Of

ill ay

picturesque •rt,

will: il i:ito :, h iurnished

uith a .sharp and soin«-what c,-«M.k«'»I claw: the thighs aiul hind-'

ami are so const run • , at first

sight, rumpnscfl of but th , <>t \shich the

nnd'1 id is furnished with

a rl; i-ih; and u hat apf»cars on a

cursory \.«\s the niwr toe, will be found,

on a n«-ar III-JK < -lion, to consist of tuo .-mall toes,

.92 LECTURE III.

united under a common skin, with the respective claws placed so close to each other as to appear like a split or double claw. The Kangaroo rests on the whole length of the foot, which is callous, blackish, and granulated beneath, and bears a ge- neral resemblance to that of a bird. A popular error seems to prevail, that it never touches the ground with its fore-feet; but all who have con- templated the animal when at large, must have observed that it every now and then places the fore-feet on the ground ; though its favourite atti- tude appears to be that of supporting itself, on its hind-feet, with the assistance of its tail, which is remarkably strong. This animal is observed to produce but a single young at a birth, which it carries for a great length of time in its ventral pouch, and which frequently emerges in quest of food or exercise, and again returns on the least alarm. Of the Kangaroo there seem to be differ- ent races or varieties, or perhaps even distinct species, the exact discrimination of which yet re- mains to be investigated. The common kind is x>f a pale brown colour; but some are of a dark iron-grey, and others of a very fine whitish or 'blueish grey.

-

i I KK III.

(.1 IKES.

maining Orders ot'the Lmn;> :nmalia, having passed through

the tin-

•tli Onlrr is entitled G7;m or S

lyinir. an animal of

Knirli-.li term Sleepers, proposed by some

Zool iilU>t In- eolite.vM d to 1)C IllUCll tOO

vague a term ; - >i<>nLrli >t-v«-ral Quadni)

of tliis order lie dormant during a good part of tin \vinti r, \( t the major part do not. The prin- cipal < 1, of the animals of this order con- sists in a pair of very con^|>nuoii-, strong, and •li, placed dox- tom-ther in the front of both jaws. They have no canine teeth, but are furnUIied with grinders on each side.

Tin- tii>i a>-ortm< nt or genus of the Glires is

that of Ilystr'u' or Porcupine, which, ( -\( -lusive of

, MK li as just mentioned, \< distinguished,^

as every one knows, by the extraordinary covering

to body, v.hidi is beset, all over the upper p

94 LECTURE III.

with very long, strong, and sharp spines or quills, elegantly variegated with alternate zones of black and white. The common Porcupine, which is about the size of a small dog, is a native of many of the wanner regions of Asia and Africa, and even of some of the warmer parts of Europe. It is an animal of a harmless nature; feeding en- tirely on vegetable substances, as roots, barks of trees, and fruits. It inhabits subterraneous re- treats, which it is said to form into several com- partments or divisions, leaving only a single hole for entrance. It seems to admit of several va- rieties as to size, and length of its quills, and is distinguished, as a species, by having the upper part of the head crested as it were by long bristles.

It would be a waste of time to particularize the long-continued error (for such it, in a great degree, is), of the Porcupine possessing the power of darting its quills at pleasure, with great vio- lence, and to a considerable distance, at its ene- mies : this notion seems now pretty generally ex- ploded, and perhaps might have originated from some accidental circumstances ; for the Porcupine, like most other quadrupeds, having the power of

I I.CTURE III. n

iracting ami shaking the general skin of tin- body, ma\ -oin. hint -, by this motion, cast oil' ;i few of its IOOMT <juills to some distance, and tlms

D slightly uoimd any aninuil tliat may happei. in it^ \\ay . and this may have given rise to tin- popular id< a of its darting them at pleasure ai;am>t its ciieiii

Tlw poet Claudian, it is well known, lias availed hiniM If of this notion, and has represented the Porcupine in tli u mil stile of false wit so re- markable among the minor poets.

" Ecce, brevis propriis munitur bestia telis, Externam nee quirit opem, fert omnia secura, Sc phareu^a, sese jaculo, sese utitur arcu !"

" Ann'd at all points in Nature's guardian mail, See the stout Porcupine his foes assail ; And, urged to fight, the ready weapons throw,. Himself at once the quiver, dart, and bow."

;e are several different species of Por- rnpinr, one of the most remarkable of which is called tin- Canada Porcupine. It is of the size of a- Miiali or half-grown Beaver, and has, at first sight, so little of the appearance of a Porcupine, that >uld hardly be supposed by any common-

96 LECTURE III.

spectator to belong to the same genus; the fur, i

which is extremely full, and of a dusky brown colour, being much longer than the quills, which are only to be observed on a close inspection : these quills have their points barbed with many minute reversed spines, and are very apt to wound and adhere strongly to the skin of any animal that happens to make a close approach; and so conscious does this Porcupine appear of their power, that he is observed, when attacked, pur- posely to brush against the aggressor, leaving numbers of his spines infixed on his skin.

It will naturally occur to every one, that we have not yet particularly noticed an animal greatly ' allied in its general appearance to the Porcupine tribe: viz. the Hedgehog. But the Hedgehog, which, on a general view, might be associated with the Porcupines, is, in fact, widely removed from them in the structure of its teeth, which are perfectly those of the Order Ferai.

Perhaps the most extraordinary genus among the Glires is that of Castor or Beaver; it is cha- racterized by the very strong pair of cutting teeth in each jaw, and, more strikingly, by the very singular structure of the tail, which is large, of a

91

in .1 <>\.i! i I \\itli large scales.

The-

• lour a liii'1, de< |>, Hi<

u< II known to require

ii-ular mention, l»ni ii i> to I red that

Q . , i , Mil-, l.riieatii the longer

, that i, ii- <l in the composition of so m

.UK! \aries aeeordini; to tlr

season of ti the health of tlur animal, ami

many nthi-r ciixunHtaii'

I 'Uiritr r. i the Heaver are retired

vvatry ami woody .situation-. In >uc!i places tin- animal-; MS4 ;nl»lc, and M.mrt inn •.- t«j tin- mir of se\cral hundnds, living in a kind ul' lam and l»ii,l. ,u<li<d inaiiMoi]-, eurioiislv

I or j)I;r ••• ithrlax. Of these a lonir and

agreeahlr dcMTi|iti«in ma\ l.«- t'.nitul in the wiv

iulVon. In such i iln- H. a\.r>, \\hich

Byi naii\(s of cold climates, and j

:lie northern parts of America, ; rigour of the winter months; f.-cding at in- ils on the twius and hi-unches of the softer km.; nd poplars, great q

s of \\hirh ilu-y cut into proper lemrih-, and Soim times, however, the

LECT. III. H

93 LECTURE III.

Beavers seem to forget their usual ceconomy, and live in a less regular stile, straying about, and ap- pearing to have merely a few common holes in the banks of the waters they frequent. It has been said that the Beaver fed entirely on fish; and the Count de Buffon, who delighted in such speculations, fancied this kind of diet to have been originally the cause of the flattened, scaly, and fish-like appearance of the tail of the animal; the organic particles of its fishy food having at length impressed on the Beaver something of a fishy form. It seems, however, pretty generally agreed that the principal food of the Beaver is of a vegetable nature.

From the Beaver is obtained the celebrated dcagcalled Castor, which is the product of a par- ticular gland, and is taken from the animal imme- diately after killing it : it is one of the strongest or most fetid of all animal substances, and is of very considerable use in medicine.

Linnaeus comprized a large tribe of animals be- longing to the Order Glires, under one extremely numerous genus entitled Mus, or Mouse, or Rat : but the genus was by this rendered too extensive; and as many of the species admitted into it were

99

it in h:i!.it or .r, neral appearance, it

was at length tli«u;ht iNtribute them

into sever. il distinct gen- T;I, l« -axim? the Mouse or

tribe, strictly so called, to form the genus

Mus.

Among the genera thus formed out of the old I.nmaean genus Mus, one of the chief is that railed C'a\ia, or, as it may be otherwise pro- noiinc.-d. . -a\i-i, i:i Kn.nIMi Circy.

As the characters of the teeth in almost all the Glires are very nearly similar, it is often un- necessary to 'hem. I -hall then only observe, that the genii i> in general of a thick and short form, and of various size. As tlif most familiar example, we may mention the well-kn improperly eallcd the G'uinea-

which i> now the Cavia Cobnya, or varies. Cavy, and was tli-' Mu> Porcellus of th<

the S\ sterna Naturae of Linnaeus. It native of the hotter parts of South-America, and is now well known in .,f Europe.

The South American animal called tin- \ or Java-Han-, belongs also to this genus, and is Of tin- Mire of :i U:;bbet or larger.

largest kind of Ca\ \ yi-t known, is a spe-

100 LECTURE III.

cies not often to be found in the European Mu- seums : it is called the Patagonian Cavy, and is considerably larger than a Hare, and of a pale brown colour, with a large black patch on the hind part of the body. It occurs in the Leveriau Museum, and in that of the late Mr. John Hunter. Another genus latety subtracted from that of Mus, is called Arctomys or Marmot. It contains but few species, most of which are of a thick form, with large, roundish, and somewhat flattened heads, and small mouths, which, when held open, appear longer in their perpendicular than their transverse diameter. The Marmots feed on roots, grain, and leaves, which they often collect into heaps; they reside in subterraneous holes or burrows, and sleep during the winter. The most common European species is the Alpine Marmot, a native of the Alps and the Pyrenean mountains^ Its general size is rather superior to that of a Rabbet, and its colour a tawny grey. It inhabits the higher part of the Alps, in which situations several individuals unite in forming a subter- raneous retreat, well lined with moss and hay, which they prepare during the summer, as if con- scious of the necessity of providing for their long

in. in. 101

> in winter. At llie commencement of the autumnal frosts, tli. .• up the holes or en-

trances of their inan-M.n, and gradually fall into a torpidity, in which they continue till the arrival of the MICH ceding spring.

The g< mi- J.i-/i;ijs or Hare, i- easily distin- guished aiming th<- rot of the Glires : the cult

i in tin upper jaw being disposed in a double pair; two small inner teeth being placed at the base of the large or outward pair. As this is a genus of which the history, (in the European species at least) i> well known, I shall at present only particularize the distinction between the eoniinoii Hare and the Rabbet, which two animals ach other so much, that the con- stitution of a genuine specific character of each been found a task of some diiliculty; and it curious fait that the attempts at a specific

r of the Rabbet in particular, by Linn; in the- earlier editions of his Systema Nat;, remarkable for want of preei>i«»n. The criterion proposed by the late Mr. Dailies Harrington, in

the Philosophical TraBaactiooi, ha-* b((n a.lnpnd

by mod tic writers, and con>i>t- in the

comparatiu' length of the hind Ict^s withtl,

102 LECTURE III.

the body. In the Hare the hind-legs are longer than half the length of the back ; in the Rabbet they are shorter.

The genus Sciurus or Squirrel, is so well characterized by the remarkable disposition of the hair on the tail, as to require no other ex- planation. I shall only observe that it is a nu- merous genus, that some of the exotic species are of very considerable size, and that some squirrels have a furry skin, stretching from the fore to the hind-feet, enabling them at pleasure to spring to a far greater distance than those species which are unprovided with such a la- teral skin. The European Flying Squirrel is an elegant, but rather small species, found in Poland, and in some parts of Siberia, where it is chiefly said to inhabit birch-woods. Its colour is a beautiful pale grey, white beneath. In North America is a still smaller species of an elegant pale-brown colour, and which has been some- times confounded with the former ; and in some parts of Asia is a very large species, of a dark colour, and much allied in its general appearance*, to the Petauririe or Flying Opossum of New Holland.

LECTURE III. 103

The yvnus Miio.iiix or Dormouse, is principally distinguished from that <>f Squirrel by the form of the tail, which is round or cylindricj not flattened and .spreading. The genus contains but few spe- cies. Tlie common Dormouse is too well known to require any description. The chief or prin- cipal species is the (His of the ancient Romans, which is the Fat Dormouse of Pennant, and is a native of the South of Europe, living in the manner of a Squirrel, but sleeping through the winter. Its size is not very far short of that of the common Squirrel, and its colour pale grey, white beneath.

The genus Mus or Mouse, under which, as we have before observed, were once arranged a great many animals now placed under different genera, is still extremely extensive; comprehending all the species of the Rat and Mouse tribe strictly so called. Of these, the chief species known to our ancestors in this country was the black Rat, now become a rare animal in comparison with the brown Rat, introduced above a century ago from the Kasli rn n gion>, and vulgarly culled the Norway Hat. It is at present the common Rat of our o\\n country, and has, in a great do-

104 LECTURE III.

gree, destroyed the black Rat, or original English species : it is a size larger than the black Rat, and, as is well known, is of a brownish grey colour, white beneath. It is a native of India.

The Common Mouse needs no description, and the same may be said of our common field- mice, and the Water-Rat ; but the beautiful Har- vest-Mouse, first distinctly described as a British species by the late Mr. White of Selburne, claims our attention from its peculiar elegance. Its size does not much exceed half that of the common Mouse, and in its colour it bears a near resem- blance to the Dormouse, being of a pale rufous brown above, and white beneath. It is common in some parts of Hampshire.

The exotic species of this genus are excessively numerous, and vary in size, from nearly that of a Rabbet to a degree of minuteness beyond that of the common small British species. Among the large exotic Rats one of the most remarkable is the Mas Typhlus or Blind Rat, a native of the Southern parts of Russia, where it burrows under ground, and feeds on the roots of various vegeta- bles. It usually measures about eight inches in length: is of a brown colour and destitute of a

HAMSTEK

RAT

ill.

tail; hut it is chiclly remarkable for the total \\anl

.!< rnal cyt s, having merely two ahr.o-t imprr-

Me rud! i under

iiibits the only instance

•.!il\ Mind quadruped ; for the Mule and some

red as blind, on account of

of their eyes, have still

those organs complete in all the usual parts; but

*-J A i. *

the M»is Typhlus is totally blind. In return, its In aring is said to be uncommonly acute, enabling it readily to avoid all the general dangers to which it may be expo

Of the European Rats of large size the Hamster or Mus Cricctus is the most remarkable. It i- of t eral size of the brown Rat, but of

a thicker form, and is uf a pale reddish colour above, and black beneath j with, generally, two or three white on each >ide the fore-parts.

On • :i«>uth the Hamster i> fur-

nishrd with a large membranaceous pouch which is capable of containing the quantity of a quarter of a pint I ji^lish measure. This animal i inhabitant of (lermany, Poland, and Russia, .1- !y destructive, by devouring quantities of grain, \\hich it carries oil' in its

106 LECTURE III.

cheek-pouches, and deposits in its subterraneous retreat in order to feed on during the autumn. On the approach of winter the Hamster conceals himself in his deep cell, well lined with dried grass and moss, and falls into a state of the most profound sleep and entire torpidity ; every animal function being so entirely deadened, that it is said the creature may be cut open without exhibiting any sign of sensibility : the heart, however, may

be observed to contract and dilate alternatelv,

«/ '

but with a motion so slow that the pulsations do not exceed fourteen or fifteen in the space of a minute : the strongest stimulants are of no avail, and the electric shock may be passed through the animal without exciting any appearance of irri- tability. This lethargy of the Hamster has been generally ascribed to the effect of cold alone 5 but late observations have proved, that, unless at a certain depth beneath the surface, so as to be beyond the access of the external air, the animal does not fall into its state of torpidity ; the se- verest cold, on the surface, not affecting it. On the contrary, when taken out of its burrow and exposed to the air, it infallibly wakes in a few hours. Its waking is a gradual operation, au<i

LECTUHK III. 107

.iiul profound in- spirations, it open-* it ;m<l i-nd; avou walk, l)iit iv i is ;ilu)iit I'm- some time, as if in a stah of intoxii ation, till at length it j recovers till it- i

Another singular species <>t Rat, furni>h« d with pouch < ach side the mouth fur the

temporary nccption of food, \- dt-crihcd in the fifth volume of the Transactions of the Lim. Society, under the name of the Canada Rat ; its and colours nearly resemble those of the brown or Norway Rat, but it i> Munewhat paler, and of a yellower cast. Its way of life is Mip- posed to be similar to that of the Hamster.

The i^enus Dipu* or Jerboa i> remarkable for the peculiar .Mrueturc of the legs, of which the fore-pair are t \tr< in< Iv >ln>rt, and the hind-pair melyl" (ring the animal the appearance

of a Kangaroo in miniature: the teeth resemble those of the rest of the Glircs, and no

\entral pouch a> in the Kangaroo: ol

limal.s and the Kaii^an" -s might ah: admit of bein? plac< d in the same assortm

union Jerboa, of \\hic ->mc

to size and colour, is a native of r..

IDS LECTURE III.

of the Eastern and Southern parts of the world -y frequenting dry and sandy places, where it burrows under the surface and conceals itself during the day, coming out to feed during the night. Its general attitudes are those of a bird, hopping on its hind-legs, and when, pursued, springing, by vast and quickly repeated leaps, to a great dis- tance, so as not to be easily overtaken by the swiftest of quadrupeds. The general size of the common Jerboa is that of the common or brown Rat, and its colour pale yellowish-brown, white beneath ; the tail very long, and elegantly ter- minated by a feather-shaped tuft, of a black co- lour, tipped with white. It is well represented in the works of Bruce, Buffon, Edwards and other modern authors.

The genus Hyrax, which concludes the Order Glires, is of rather late institution, and consists of two species, each about the size of a common Rabbet, and of nearly similar colour. The genus Hyrax differs from all the rest of the Glires in the front teeth of the lower jaw, which, instead of two, are four in number, rather broad, and notched at the edges or tips. Of the two species of Hyrax, one is the Ashkoko of Mr. Bruce, which

SYRIA!* HYRAX.

CAPE HYKAX.

I.I-XTl UK III. 109

he supposes to !><• tin- Stijthnn of ihr sarn <1 urit- in_u>. It i^ foinnl in several parts of AlVica, and inhabits tin ( a\ nx ks.

The ntln-r >p< c'us i> the Cape Hyrax, a natiu; of tlic Cape of Good Hope, inhabiting similar situations uitli tlie fornu-r.

LECTURE iv.

VV F, now turn our attention to the nrxt order

Mammalia, which is a very extensive one at »"

Species, though tli not numerous.

'I'll is order is entitled Peconi, and contains all the

Cattle, commonly so called, as ()\< n, Sheep, Goats

and others. It also comprises the Camelopardi,

tlie Deer tribe, the Antel- p( -, tlu- Musk and some

others. In this order also, at p , though

naps not quite of a similar nature \\itl

. \\e may l»e permitted to rank the Klephant,

\vhich in its maune:-> ur habit tin- I*.--

i, though it • a ruminate, and is not fur-

ni>hrd uitlf any Iront-teeth.

In the Linmran arrangement the Elephant is

pla.'-ed among the Kritta, from the want of fore-

li. I3y Mr. Pennant it i> arranged under the

112 LECTURE III.

cloven-hoofed Order, in which stand the Linnaean Pecora. By Monsieur Cuvier it is considered as constituting an Order distinct from all others. The mouth is usually furnished with one very broad grinder on each side both above and below, and with two upper tusks. The general appear- ance, and even the general history of the Elephant is pretty well known to most persons. It is a na- tive of the warmer regions of Asia and Africa, where it is chiefly seen in woody regions, and feeds entirely on vegetable substances, as the tender shoots of trees, and various kinds of fruit and grain. The Elephant 'drinks by means of its trunk, first sucking up the water into it, and then conveying it to the mouth. The intelligence and docility of the Elephant are well known, and are generally detailed, with sufficient enlargements]m most of the common publications on Natural History. I shall here only observe that in general the intelligence of animals is in proportion to the size of the brain : yet in the Elephant that part is by no means large.

In some parts of North-America, are often found fossil bones bearing a general resemblance to those of the Elephant, arid commonly known

LECTURE IV. n z

by the title of Mammoth loin-: tin- teeth i ever, (that is the grinders,) are of an appearance widely dilVei-eni from those of the Elephant, I.,

;>ly lobed on the top, like those of Carnivorous animals. Of this curious, and at present unknown animal in a recent stale, the complete skeleton has been of late di-i inred in North America, and was, as is well known, exhibited in this me- iropolis. Every one must have been struck with .al similitude to that of an Elephant, but the grinders or lateral teeth, as before observed, are of a very different appearance, and seem to indicate an animal of a carnivorous nature. By Mr. Pennant this animal is considered as a species of Elephant, under the title of the American Ele- phant, and he seems to be of opinion that it may yet exist in some of the remote parts of the American Continent yet unvisited by European <. Others have Mippo.sed it an animal of an extinct

,>•>, and in reality allied only to the Elephant in the general size and appearance of its bones, while some particular parts seem to prove a dif- ferent tribe, and there have not been wanting

o

•one, who have even imagined it to be a marine animal. All however is at present conjectural on LECT. IV. I

lit LECTURE IV.

this subject, and it can only be mentioned as one of those interesting zoological curiosities which will probably long continue to remain imperfectly understood.

One of the great or leading characters of the Order Pecora or Cattle, to which we now proceed, is the total want of front-teeth in the upper jaw. In the lower jaw there are six or eight front-teeth: the grinders or side-teeth are usually pretty numer- ous, and such of the Pecora as are furnished with horns, have no tusks or canine-teeth; which on the contrary are conspicuous in such as are not fur- nished with the defence of horns. Another cha- racter belonging to most of this tribe of Mammalia is the power of rumination, or ruminating: that is, of throwing up into the mouth at intervals a por- tion of the food which has been hastily swallowed during their feeding, in order that it may undergo a more complete grinding by the teeth. This action is so conspicuous in Cows and other cattle, that every one is perfectly acquainted with it. The stomachs of these animals and of others that ruminate, are wonderfully calculated for facili- tating this necessary operation, and may be found described at large, accompanied by proper expla-

IV. 115

natoi\ plates', in flu- mormons . \S of

Daubciiton, amirvd to lljr ijuarto « -dilion of JiulVmi's II; i Qnadrnpr

All the IVcora or Ruminants ;is they an- «»!'; called, an- hoofed; and in the major part the hoof is dmded into tuo principal parts, \\itii the addi- tion, in many, of two very small undivided hoofs or processes on each side, or rather behind the principal ones.

In the Camel the structure of the foot is pe- culiar; the M>lt or part beneath the hoofs, being swelled into a kind of clastic pad, covered with an extremely strong, but flexible skin, admirablv adapted for enabling the animal to travel over the dry and sandy deserts which it is chiefly destined to inhabit.

The whole Order Pecora, without an excep- tion, feeds entirely on vegetable food. Of these • •ra I shall only particularize a few of the most remarkable. One of these is the CamdopartS, or fj'u.

The most curious or singular genera in the IV-cora, or Kuminant tribe, are those of i, Can" I, J/w.v/;, and Antelope. The i, \\hich is the CamelitparduHs Glraffa

116 LECTURE IV.

of the modern editions of the Systema Nature of Linnaeus, was once considered as a species of Deer ; but it differs from the Deer tribe in its horns, which are never cast, but are permanent, simple or unbranched, covered by a skin, and terminated by a tuft of short bristles. The Ca- melopardi or Giraffe is the tallest of all Quadru- peds, often measuring seventeen feet from the top of the head to the soles of the fore feet : its neck is of a vast length, and the fore-parts of the ani- mal appear, on account of their conformation, to be considerably higher than the hinder. The whole aspect of the Camelopardi is at once sin- gular and elegant in the highest degree : its co- lour is a very pale yellowish or whitish brown, with numerous, large, squarish spots of light chesnut-colour. The history of this animal has been much elucidated of late years by the re- searches of various African travellers, and speci- mens of the complete skin have been brought into Europe, of which one of the finest is in the Museum of the late Mr. Hunter j now the Mu- seum of the College of Surgeons. Mr. Pennant, in his History of Quadrupeds observes, that, had he not seen the dried skin of the Camelopardi,

inn i;i, IV.

11 alm«»t inclined to < ntertam

duul> • tlic existence • >rdmai \ an

.•iniinal. I: was ho .ell kno\\n t«> tin an-

cient li'Miians \\ ho >umel lines exhibited it t«.

juiblic sheu> ; and n- r< pn

ation occurs in tli atcd remain of anti-

quity gene-rally called tlic Pr.riK >tiiit- Pavement. The Deer tribe or the gi >-cus is cha-

rixcd liy liavin^ branclicd horn», which are annually deciduous, lulling off at a particular son, being gradually replaced by others. Of tin : tribe the largest species is the Elk, (Cciui- Ale- a native of the northern parts of

Europe and America, in which latter it i by the name of Moose. The Elk is not an ani- mal of an elegant shape, having a large head, and a very thick short neck; its colour is a dark ish brown.

The Stag or red Deer, (C. Elaphus Lin.) on contrary may be co of the most

ant of the \\holc tribe: its co!

:>roun, and its II-MI^ are branched, or di- d into man)- round, and sharp-pointed pro- ••«. It is a native of the v >po, and particularly of Germany.

118 LECTURE IV.

The Fallow Deer, (C. Dama. Lin.) is the spe- cies so generally seen in our parks, and is distin- guished by having the horns dilated into a broad, subdivided expanse at the upper parts. In colour it varies greatly, as do most animals when in a state of captivity.

Rein-Deer. C. Tarandus. — A moderately large species of a grey colour, and with slender horns of great length, dividing into numerous processes. This species, as is well known, constitutes a great part of the wealth of the Laplanders, and is most providentially ordained to support that simple and harmless people with many of the chief conve- niences of life.

The Ox tribe, or the genus Bos, is distinguished by having bent or lunated horns, which are permanent, and have a core or central bony part, on which the horny shell is mounted. The Wild Ox or Urus, is found in the more northern parts of Europe and Asia, and from it have been gra- dually derived all the breeds of domestic cattle.

One of the most remarkable species of this genus is the Bos grunnkns of Linnaeus, or grunt- ing Ox, so named from its voice. Its size is that

o

of a small bull ; and its colour blackish brown : it

< TURF. IV. \\>

is coven (1 \\itli l«iiix \\ooll\ hair, and is i-mirk able lor the vaM l< n:;th and fiilm 19 <>t I h< hai the tail, wlmh of a milk-

\\hite colour, and reaches to tin- L.nmml tai!> - of Ox, v. liidi in

coiintrv «>I"I ill«-'l th

• UN <•!' la.-shiini in China, India, and other

of the Eastern world, \>\ of tl\-i

and an- c'arried, on ><>mc of authoritv.

.

The tr< -mis Came/us or Cam«-l contains the Camel and Dromcdan . and other S]

Ciinicl and Dromedary . i to

ahno>t e\ery one: the C(tmclii.i Dromedarim IJiiiiaMiN or Arabian Camel ha 'ion

or Imneh on the back: the Cuinclux Kacl rt . of Ijiiuieiis or Baetrian Camel ha !>nt the

nam«-> of Camel and 1 : nj)plied by diiferent writers, \vi, ea»-e> a de^,-< e oi iking1 of

them. It h -oiiu.' that \\.< -\

litnte in realit\ but on<

t irh'T with a single or double < K\ation on the i !s arc of the gr«-ai -:hlr

120 LECTURE IV.

utility to the inhabitants of many of the Asiatic and African regions, since with a very small portion of food they can travel for several days together, and can also suffer a long abstinence from water. The admirable contrivance of Na- ture for enabling the animal to do this must by no means be omitted. This consists in the sto- mach of the Camel and Dromedary being so formed as to be divided internally into a vast many separate cells or cavities ; and as the whole organ is of great size, when the Camel drinks, it takes in a very large quantity of water, which is preserved in the cells of the stomach, and is, at the pleasure of the animal, thrown back into the mouth, in order to refresh that part when heated and parched by the sun and dust.

The genus Moschus or Musk is distinguished by having no horns, and in the mouth being fur- pished with long, sharp, crooked tusks, one on each side, directed downwards, and reaching nearly two inches beyond the lips. The com- mon Musk is an inhabitant of the mountains of Thibet, and is of the size of a Roebuck, and of a deep iron grey colour. The substance called Musk, by far the most powerfully diffusive of

-

v! .

LECTURE IV. 121

:ill animal odors, (if we except that of some of llic American Viverra-, before mentioned) is con- tained in a small pouch about the size of an egg, .situated !• IK at h the body ; and is of an unctuous substance, and of a reddi.sh brown colour. Wh- n

i, it is said to be so excessively powerful or ju-iii tratiiiLC, as to force blood from the nose, eyes, and cars of those who incautiously smell it. It form- well known, an article of com-

and i> used both as a medicine and a perfum

T<> this genus belongs a very elegant little (juadruprd, about the size of a small cat, and

1 1 the IV.^iny Musk. It is found in many Java and Sumatra, but is of so tender a nature as not to be capable of being brought alive into Europe. It is distinguished as a species, by the total want of the small or secondary hoofs behind tin larger pair on each foot, and which are found in almost all the n-t < f the Cattle tribe. To this litlK s of Mu>k also be-long

the very minute le^s with their hoofs, sometimes

* It has been also observed that the smell of mu«k is not easily discharged even from metallic substances themselves which hare been rubbed with it.

122 LECTURE IV.

seen ii? Museums, and which do not much exceed the size of a quill in diameter. They have often been tipped with gold and used for the purpose of a tobacco-stopper, and are sometimes called by the mistaken title of the legs of Greenland Deer.

In the Order Pecora we find a very extensive genus under the title of Antelope, forming the modern genus Antilope, (for Linnaeus arranged the few species then known, among the Goat tribe.) The Antelopes are in general remarkable for the elegance of their appearance. The com- mon Antelope or A. Ceroicapra is a native of many parts of Asia and Africa, its general size is somewhat smaller than that of a fallow deer, and its colour a tawny reddish-brown above, and white beneath : the horns black, of a peculiarly beautiful form, having a double flexure, first in- wards, and again outwards, and they are elegantly and distinctly marked, throughout almost their whole length, by numerous prominent rings or circles. The Antelopes in general inhabit the hottest regions of the globe : their swiftness is proverbial, and it is observed that most spe- cies are of a gregarious nature, forming herds of manv hundreds or even thousands together. For

COMMON ANTELOPE. i unit ti

!\. 123

figures of this numerou> mid < 1, -.;-ant tribe I nm>t. to the \\ork of Schn l>er, where they arc colh cti d fr<>m the \\orks of Pallas ami many 0 <1. M ; -i!» It, In tin- Leverian MiiM-um, so unfor- tunati ly doom* d to d n, may l»c founcl

some of the most curious kind-.

Of the S/nr/> and Gout tribe, or tlie tu«> Lin- na-an -• n.-ra of Om and C\rprat it may be suf-

nt to say, that tin- sjxr'u-s \vliidi is supposed to be the origin of the Common Sheep in all

arietta, i^ tin- Argali, a large and handsome animal, found in many of the mountainous rc- uion> of the Ka>tern world. In this its natural itate it i> rather covered with hair than wool, and is <>f a pale tau ny-brown colour, with very large horns.

Tlie Common Goat, in all its varieties, is MIJ>- posed to have descended from the animal called the ///<•!•, a lar^e and \ery active (jnadriiped, fmmd in situations not dissimilar to those in \\hii-h th< Ar.urali <>r A\'ild Sheep is seen. The Ibex is of a brown colour, with r\c« - :\« K lariat- and bending or curving backwards and mark. (I above by rows of transverse knobs or half-ci:

124 LECTURE IV.

The chief distinctive character between the two genera of Ovis and Capra or Sheep and Goat, is that in the former the horns have a spiral curvature; in the latter a simple one.

The next, or 6th Linnaean Order of Quad- rupeds is called BELLU.S, a word which cannot admit of any very distinct English corresponding word. We must be content to take the Linnasan term in its original shape. This order, Bcllua, consists, in general, of animals either of large or moderate size, and comprizes the Rhinoceros, Horsey the Hippopotamus, the Tapir, and the Hog.

Of these Genera we surely need not particu- larize that of Equus or Horse, any otherwise than to say, that the common Horse is a native of the Eastern regions, in which it is still seen in a state at least approaching to that of natural wildness, and that the cultivated or improved races of the Eastern countries are allowed to excel all others in swiftness as well as in beauty.

The Ass belongs to the same genus, and, like the Horse, is a native of the East, and is an animal of great elegance and fleetness; and by no means to be judged of from its degraded descendents in the European regions, where it

CTURE IV. 125

generally nj under every possible < ireum-

e of disadvantage.

But, >o far as regards mere beauty, the Afri- can species of this ijcnus, railed the Zclmi, must confessed to stand superior to almost every

lii.-il, even thevTiger itself CXCe] one knov,

distinguished numerous ribband-like, br

stripes on -! < vani-coloured ground. The Z<

not yet been brought into a state of com- plete domestication; its native wildne.vs still pre- v<-nti iv effort at rendering it serviceable

in an economical view.

Lastly to the genus Equus or Horse is re- ferred an animal, discovered of late years in the mountainous parts of Chili in South- America, and distinguished by the titl of the Cloven-fi-

ter of the genus Horse :.) consisting in the hoofs entire or undivided, it fc>! tli- animal just mentioned, must be c<

• nstitutinsr a very anomalous species, . adieting in part, the generic character of . But as nature scorns all artificial ar- rangements, we cannot presume to suppose that

126 LECTURE IV.

she may not have produced a species of this ex- traordinary cast. The Cloven-footed Horse was first described by Molina, in his Natural History of Chili : In its general appearance, size, and colour, it resembles the Ass, but has the voice of the Horse, and the hoofs are divided, like those of ruminant-animals. One might be in- duced to suppose that Molina, from its general appearance, might have chosen to consider it as a species of Horse, but that it really belonged more properly to the Antelope tribe ; but this supposition is contradicted by its anatomical structure, which resembles that of other ani- mals of the Horse genus. It must therefore be considered as one of the most remarkable ani- mals yet discovered.

The genus Hippopotamus, of which we only know of one species, is a highly singular genus. The front-teeth in each jaw are four ; and the tusks, which are single on each side, are very large : the feet are each furnished with four hoofs. The Hippopotamus is a very large animal : its general size equalling that of the Rhinoceros: in its mode of life it is Amphibious, concealing itself during the day in large rivers, out of which

LECTURE IV.

it only • nostnN .it intervals, in <>

t«> breathe ; and coming out by night to graze, - uttn l\ <>ii \. getables. li^ \»im \^ highly uncouth; tin- body hcinu' extremely lar^c, fat, and i^s \cry slmrt and thick :

the in ad verj large, \\ilh >lmrt rounded or \ .-lightly pointed ears, B UK ly wide mouth,

with trrth of ;i vu>t si/e ;uid Micnu,th ; pnrticii- l.nly tin tii^k--, or c;inin« -ic< th of the lower jaw, which arc of u curved form, streaked on their ont-ide with numerous furrows, and appear a> if oliliijiiely cut off at the tips. These teeth some- liiiH'N niea.-urc more than two feet in length. 'I'he skin of the Hippopotamus is smooth, but is thinly covered witli short hairs. When the Hippopotamus first emerges from the water, it t<» he of a Imnvn colour, accom- panied by a hliiei-h cast; hut \vhen dry, is of an oliM ure brown. It is naturally of a harmless disposition, but if pursued or wounded, is said to become excessively furious, and to be cap a-. ble of easily ouTturnm- a canoe or boat, and has sometimes been known to sink them, by biting large pitccs out of the bottom. The j are

:ble of behi£ tamed, and \\e are told by Be-

12$ LECTURE IV.

Ion that he saw one in that state. The Hippo- potamus is a native of the large African and Asiatic rivers, and is sometimes seen in herds. The tusks are much esteemed as a species of ivory, being more hard, and less liable to change colour than those of the Elephant : they are there- fore in great use among the dentists. I shall add, that the Hippopotamus was known to the ancient Romans, and that Pliny tells us that Scaurus a Roman ^Edile, treated the people of Rome with the exhibition of an Hippopotamus accompanied by four Crocodiles, all brought out of Egypt, and exhibited in a temporary lake, prepared for that purpose.

The genus Rhinoceros, which some natural- ists have placed, like the Elephant, among the Bruta of the LinnaBan arrangement, is distin- guished by the remarkable circumstance of a horn or process situate above the nose. The mouth is furnished in each jaw with two teeth, placed at the corners of the jaws in the manner of canine-teeth ; and in each jaw are six grinders on a side. The general height of the Rhino- ceros is about eight feet, but specimens are said to be occasionally seen which nearly equal the

-

c

T e -.

IV. 12J>

,'iant in , 'sin <>f Ihc Rhinoceros

•,onir and : roloiir,

i. Oil I. .lilillKll,

ill Mi' h .1 in;iMM' r .

Mils (.}' |ii<

forward- the

;i|i]i< 11 anim -ted with a kiiul of

arm •>unt of tin- strongly-nr.irki-d folds

and ; in. '1 h

tlic Kill: lie !,

the rrcatup suit of armour .rate \\

Thi'. \Ii)ort D d in

. and many

others, and 1 a kind

'aiulanl !. The

rn of a full- oft hrcc feet : it is .

|>t at thr I) trds, and sluii'p-

pointed. The Rlirn%tn|fl^j^; :!I\ a nathe

1.EC

130 LECTURE IV.

of Asia and Africa, where it is still seen in consi- derable numbers, living in woody regions, and feeding on the young shoots of trees. In some parts of Africa is also found another species, called the two-horned Rhinoceros, having two horns on the nose, one behind the other : this species, which is of equal size with the common or single-horned Rhinoceros, is farther distin- guished by having a much smoother skin than that of the single-horned species, and which (in the younger specimens particularly,) exhibits hardly any of the roughnesses or folds which dis- tinguish the common kind. The ancient Ro- mans had undoubtedly seen a two-horned Rhi- noceros exhibited ; since the circumstance is par- ticularized in an Epigram of Martial, who, in speaking of the combat between this animal and a bear, says that it threw up or tossed the bear with its double horn as easily as a bull would a bag of wool. The animal also appears with a double horn on a coin belonging to the reign of Domitiun. It is well known that the cele- brated Mr. Bruce has been much censured for having figured in his travels the two-horned Rhi- noceros as perfectly resembling in every other

I l.v IV. 131

rill. I!' ill. « ollimon or - III •!•• |)O| : iCg :

it is also certain lliat tin- li nn LTACII in Mr. Him • •'- uoi-k is absolutely a ropy from IJuiluii's fl of the common Rhinoceros, with tin- addi- tion m< r« Iv of a second horn. Jt < • -i liow- I«.||«)U from this rirt un. that Mr. Urine's li^up. j.tis*-, ami it is si;. no improbable circnnM mofi lluit the ctunni"n Rhinoceros may vary with a double horn ; in uhirh ( ase Mr. Bruce, knowing Button's figure to In- correct, nn^ht have thought it unneces- sary to be at the trouble of causing a com- pletely new figure to be executed.

I must add, that Mr. Bruce's description of the manners or habits of the animal, i> an in- teresting and even a sublime composition; and '•oinmend it to all uho \\ish for an ani- mated account of so extraordinary a quadruped. The jjenus called Tapir consists of a single -nly, and is di>tini,ui>hrd by having mi- men.u.N teeth, amounting in all to no fewer than J'<irty-t\io: namely six iront or cutting-teeth above and IM lo\\ ; two canine-teeth aho\.- and below, and tu.nty-siv: grinders: the nose is lengthened out into :i short proboscis -»nd the feet are ea< h

LECTURE IV.

divided into three narrow hoofs in front, with the addition of a small or spurious hoof behind each of the fore-feet. The Tapir is a South-American animal, nearly equal in size to a heifer. Its co- lour is an ohscure brown, and the skin is but spar- ingly covered with hair. It is an animal of harm- less manners, wandering about the woods, and feeding on the young shoots of various shrubs. It has been occasionally brought alive into Eu- rope, and a well preserved specimen occurs in the Museum of Mr. Hunter.

The genus Sus or Hog, concludes the enumera- tion of the Limicean Bellua?. It is characterized by having four front-teeth above, and six below : two short tusks or canine-teeth in the upper jaw, and two very long and curved ones in the lower jaw, projecting upwards from the mouth : the snout is prominent, moveable, and abruptly ter- minated; and the feet are divided into two large, and two smaller hoofs, all pointing forwards. The wild Boar, which is supposed to be the stock or origin of all the domestic breeds, is a native of almost all the temperate and warmer regions of the ancient Continent. It is, in general, of smaller size than the domestic Hog, and is of a dark grey

IV. 135

ii iln- liri-i

mueh lin< r .iixi s,,fi«-,- kind of hair, of a s< uh.it \\oolU in- curled hut the principal

dill. . n thf wild IJuar and the domestic

feukf, uhieh in the uild Boar are often in 1- iiirtli, and capahle of

inflicting the most severe and fatal wound--.

neral si/,- of tin- Wild Boa: interior to that of the domestic, yi-i in

• •nally occurred in which tin- animal en of a -ixc so enormous as far to surj»a>s the general measure of its trihc, and to i\ ndcr credihle the Mcniini,dv extravagant recitals which .sometimes occur iu the works of ancient authors.

PI\ \ATA.

arc nov. to take a \ icw of the pinnated Mammalia, or those in which the divisions or toes of tl iK connected hy \\ehs; enabling the

animal>, whoso principal residence is in the waters,

134 LECTURE IV.

to swim with far greater facility than any other quadrupeds, while, on the contrary, they walk with much greater difficulty.

In the Linnaean System, in which, perhaps, too great a degree of attention is paid to the cha- racters of the teeth, these quadrupeds are some- what awkwardly arranged; making their appear- ance in detached parts of the class Mammalia. In this instance therefore we shall depart from the Linnasan arrangement, and pursue that of Mr. Pennant and others; making a separate order for the pinnated quadrupeds, which will thus be made to lead, by a natural transition to the Ce- taceous Mammalia, or Whales. I need hardly observe, that by the pinnated or web-footed Mam- malia, must be understood those only which are strikingly and conspicuously distinguished by webs on all their feet, and not those which are par- tially web-fooied, as the Otter, Beaver, and many others.

Of the truly pinnated quadrupeds we are ac- quainted with but two distinct genera, viz. that of Phoca or Seal, and that of Trichechus or Munati.

The first ge^us, or Phoca, (Seal,) is entirely

LECTtKl IV.

marine. It i> characterized by haying teeth, inil.ir ill form and disposition to tlm^i- ol'ti

..Inlc the I". ei an- so ionm d a> to resemble .1 kind of leatlnry tin-, through which an- very distinct I »es, which an- terminated

-lightly I- Dgthened nails or < ', tin- whole -eiiu- Plmea is aijiiati.

'itntrd a-> to rctjiiin- i'ci:a>-ion:d interval i <-<.iiM<!>Ta!>l<- decree ot' < ti iiiiinci- on dry land; toi>ukni'_; at particular

the water, and congregating iu multiti on til-- shores, on lloating ice, or on in-u!

nid tin- «->p«-cially at the season in which the young arc produ. The mo>t com

species, or that which x-ein^ t<> have been kn from times <>f remote antiijuity, i> the Phoca ri di- ll na of Linmvus, tlie comn:<

tn-imeiitly termed. It is a nati\c of the Kurope - and is chiefly seen in the mu-ti

I iiit it- -eiu-ral length

ns t-» he from fi\. to six feet, and its colour grey or greyish hrown: the In ad is larg< ami rounded, \\ithout any a|)pearai)

k small and short ; the j -hoi, \ tliick, th-

136 LECTURE IV.

thence towards the extremity : the legs are so very short as to be scarcely perceptible, but the feet are large, and the hinder ones are so placed as to be of the highest use to the animal in swim- ming, being situated at the extremity of the body, and close to each other : the tail is very short : the whole animal is covered with short, thick-set, glossy hair, and its general colour is a dark grey- ish brown. In this respect, however, it is known to vary, like most others of its genus, being some- times seen spotted or variegated. Like the rest of the genus it feeds on various fishes, shell animals, and marine plants. A species much re- sembling this, but larger, is often seen about some of the European coasts: it differs in having a somewhat more lengthened snout than the com- mon Seal, and is generally black above, and white beneath, but, like the former, it varies in colour. It is the Pied Seal of Mr. Pennant, which in the first or folio edition of the British Zoology, was not considered as distinct from the common Seal.

I shall not pursue the description of this genus farther, than to observe that it is of considerable extent, and that several species inhabiting the Asiatic and American seas are of vast size, and

-

I

RE IV.

lieir (Economy or n liibit many

[i.irtiru1. . iption ot'uliicli

I iin r t«> tli- :i of Mr. IVnu.

Hi-' Quadrupeds, \\ lull de>eri|<

liners will he fount!, rxtractcd fr«mi

of high hority.

d t'> tli us, \\hieh is entitled

I ;-izc<l hy the*

want of t«>, \-< ry large tti.sk on

. nwanls : the ^rinder> are I or ii ilar >m, • the

toj>. 'I mhk- thovc <,(' ;

. ami e\ • unite into

tin- a;>jH'ar;' cies.

])riiicip (x Rosmarus

of Liniia-iis, or i ;h> r;i Walruss, an ani

Its nhles that of a

f a thicker « aspect;

its ( iark brown ; the s! \-r tiiick,

and d over with short dusky hair : t!ic !,

.Kill, and rounded, the upper lip very large, divided in the middle, and beset with mum

13$ LECTURE IV.

bristles of the length of three or four inches, and of the thickness and colour of wheat straw j the tusks are of great length, measuring from eighteen inches to two feet or more. The Walruss is of a gregarious nature, often assembling in vast num- bers on the masses of floating ice so often seen in the northern seas; where they produce their young in the spring season, and have generally but one at a birth. In their manners they re- semble the genus Phoca, but feed principally on sea-plants and shell-animals rather than on fishes. The Walruss is naturally a harmless animal, unless attacked, when it becomes extremely vindictive ; roaring in a dreadful manner, and with its long tusks grappling with and endeavouring to overset the boats of those who attack it. It is an animal which has long ago been pretty well represented in the works of some of the earlier zoologists, but it is observed by Mr. Pennant, that the best re- presentation is given in the fifty-second plate of the last voyage of Captain Cook. There appear, however, to be distinct races or varieties of the Walruss, those seen in the icy regions of the Anacrican sens, and represented in the above plate, having longer and sharper tusks in pro-

1 9

portion than those ob- n the northern

in which also tin- tusks are obse: i r. nut to converge, as in the American

the T. boreal is, or Whalc-

1 \Valru-, the feel «>f which very nearly re-

i>le those of Wha! uniting no distinct

app< of the toes or claws. It grows to

a -till longer sj/e llian the common Walruss,

sometimes measuring cight-and-twenty feet in

th, and is an inhabitant of the Asiatic and

in seas.

A third .species is the T. Alanutus, or tin- Ma-

nati, fuinid \n the Indian and- American rivers,

and of which a curious anecdote is told by the

historians of America, who relate that at the

arrival of the Spaniards, a tame Manati was

!>\ .1 Prince of Hispaniola, in a lake a.ljoin-

in^ !•• lii> residence; ;ind whieli, wlicn e;di.-d by

it> name, \\oiild readily appear and suffer it-elf }o

l»y its protectors. It would occa>ion-

ally oiler itself to its Indian favorites and carry

th- in "\-r th«- lake, to the number often at a

'•I playing on its back. At leu •iis-queiice of a violent inundation, it

140 LECTURE IV.

carried back to its native waters, and never more appeared.

It is well known that the common Seal or Phoca vitulina, may also be readily tamed.

Lastly the round-tailed Manati, a species allied to the former, but smaller, is a native of the larger African rivers ; it grows to the length of fourteen feet, and is of a dark colour, with hair somewhat resembling that of the Seals, and a flat rounded fin at the extremity of the body, formed by the juncture of the webs of the hind-feet : the fore- feet are each furnished with flat and rounded nails. A specimen of this animal exists in the Levenan Museum.

CETACEA.

HAVING taken a slight survey of the pinnated or web-footed quadrupeds, we are led by a kind of natural transition to the Cetaceous Mammalia or Whales. These cannot in strict propriety be called Quadrupeds, since they are in reality furnished with only two feet, which have the appearance of

1.K.CTURE IV. 141

Iliick fins uhile the tail, \\liicli is divide.! into two

\\ muscular and i. n-

dinons, hc:< I of any IMMU-S analogous to

the f;-(t in i' Mammalia; th<>>,- hones

'•nnil in tin- fins or fore-feet.

•1 appearance of tin (' ' < eons

lia or Wli.. much resembles that of

a li>h. that it is vt ry natural for anyone to sup-

that they should be classed ainon^ that trilio

iiimals, and not with tlu- rest of th(> Main-

jnali.' ; and indeed so far has this eompliance with

popular ci!>tom Tolloucd, that most natu-

ralists, till the institution of the LinnaMii S\>j< m,

them the appellation of Fi-hcs. Tims, ex-

rln-ivr of the more early writers, the eeh-hr,

.uul Willoughby considered them in this view, and rommeneed their History of Fishes with that of Whales. Nay i veil Limr.vu - him- If, in his well-known work the Fauna Su as well as in

some of tin- earlier editions of the Svst< -ma Xa-

•

turze, at them under the class of IV

Hut, sine.- their whole interior structure a^: with that of the Mannn.iiia; since they have lr and l>nathc, MIX «• tin \ h;;\e \\aim blood, and a heart ic-< uibling in conformation that of Qua-

142 LECTURE IV.

drupeds, and in particular, since they produce and nourish their young in the same manner, it fol- lows very clearly that they can with propriety be ranked in no other class of animals than the Lin- naean Mammalia.

In a general view, exclusive of their Fish-like form, the Whales are distinguished by a particu- larity not to be found in any of the rest of the aquatic Mammalia. This is a double opening or spout-hole, on the top of the front of the head, through which they discharge at intervals, with great violence, and to a great height, the water which they have taken in at the mouth.

Though the Whales, all together, constitute a pretty numerous tribe, yet the genera, or par- ticular divisions into which they have been distri- buted are but few. Linnaeus institutes for the whole tribe only four distinct genera, viz. Bala?ia, Physeter, Monodon, and Delphinus.

The first of these genera, or that of BALDEN A, is distinguished by the total want of teeth j instead of which the mouth is furnished, but in the upper jaw only, with a vast number of very long and broad, horny, flexible plates, disposed in regular rows along each side. These are popularly known

|,v tin- name <>f Whalrhonr: rach plat ply

ed or subdivided at it • into long

.UK! lender bri«tleS, by which i the imdt T iau UK- secure from being wounded by it, and at tin- same lime t be- junction of many iiri-ilrd or suhdi\id< d < as a

. \\hen the nunitli, after PT< i\in-^ 1'ood, >uddi-nl\ . thus retaining the prey, and per-

mitting the superfliiouN \\aler to c-se. The

principal sj». t tlie ^enns llalaiia i» tlie II.

M\Nt:r< tns or i^rcat Wlialeboiie AVbale, M \-ticet, or common Xcrtlieni \\'liale. It is «m all bands alhiued to be the ! »i' all animals yet

tun tly knou-n. Befor th( Northern Whale-F

had reduced the- number of tbi- s, it

no uncommon circumstance to find specimens <>f ;m hundred, an hundred and t < >r e\< 11,

accordin , an hundred and fifty feet ill

lengtb. Such however arc now \vry ranly, if ever seen, and it is not often that th- >und

of more tlian M . jeventy feet in I'-n^tb. In

its general appearance the animal is poculiarh uiKouth; the bead constituting n third of

the u hole ma<s: the mouth is of prodigious width, the tongue measuring eighteen or twenty feet in

144 LECTURE IV.

length: the eyes most disproportionably small; scarce exceeding in size the eyes of an Ox. The common colour of this species is black above, and white beneath ; but in this it is known to vary : the skin, as in all the rest of the Whale tribe, is perfectly smooth, soft, and glossy, and is entirely bare, or destitute of any appearance of hair. The general residence of the animal is in the Northern seas; its food is supposed to consist chiefly of dif- ferent kinds of small, gelatinous marine animals, particularly of the smaller Medusas or Sea-Blub- bers, and Sea-Snails of the genus called Clio. The throat in this Whale is observed to be very j narrow, so that it only preys on the smaller sea- animals in general.

With respect to the anatomy of the Whale, I shall content myself with observing, that on so colossal a scale of magnitude does nature act in these animals, that the vertebrae or joints of the back-bone are of the size of moderate barrels; the ribs and jaw-bones so large as to be occasion- ally used to form the sides of tall, arched gate- ways; the heart too large to be contained in a very wide tub ; the aorta or principal artery mea- sures about a foot in diameter, and it is computed

•TURK IV. J45

:he (jitantity of blood thrown into it at every ti..n of I), . is nut It ss than from t.-

ii gallon-.

1 -!i of tlu1 .threat Northern Whale is

prod . it is able to shatter a strong canoe in

ith a a tail : it swims,

. the compulation of CVpede, at the bout thirty-three feet in a second, and it rther computed that i;i the space of about forty-seven days, it might circumnavigate the globe in the direction of the equator, even allow- ing it to rest by night during the whole time. It imposed to !.,- an extremely long-lived animal. The ii male product ••ncral, but one young

at a birth, which usually measures something more than i in length; and she ha.s the repu-

>n of being very tenderly attached to her

The hast of all the Whalebone-Whales or Lin-

* B. Glacialis or Nord-Caper is a very large species of Whale, but thinner in proportion than the Mysticete : it is an extremely voracious animal ; preying on many kinds of fish, and in par- ticular on Cod and Herring. In the stomach of this Whale have been observed three hundred Cod : and in tin* stomach of 4 second individual were found more than a tun of herring*. LECT. I. L

KG LECTURE IV.

nsean Balsenje is the B. rostrata, rostrated or taper-snouted Whale. It seldom reaches to the length of twenty feet, and is of an elegant shape, its colour is blueish-black above, and white be- neath, and the skin, from the throat to the middle of the body beneath, is marked in a longitudinal direction by very numerous, deep furrows, the in- sides of which are of a red colour: this furrowed structure of the skin beneath the fore-parts of the body, appears to be a wonderful institution of Nature for enabling the animal to increase at pleasure its diameter, and render itself specifically lighter ; by inflating a vast cavity situated beneath the breast and communicating with the throat : during this action the furrowed skin becomes ex- tended laterally, and the insides of the furrows being thus laid open, give the appearance of so many beautiful red stripes, along the sides and be- neath the body. This curious structure, which, perhaps, was first distinctly described by the late Mr. Hunter, is not peculiar to the present species, but exists in some others. The Rostrated Whale is a native of the Northern seas, and has occasion- ally been taken on our own coasts.

The genus PHYSETER, containing what are

47

LECTURE IV. 147

ralk-d Sperma-Ceti Whales, is distinguished \>y having visible teeth in tin- Io\\crjaw only, which \\hi-ii the mouth is dosed, are received into so inaiiv open socket* in the upper jaw : an accurate inspection <>f the upper jaw h that

there are cor respond! n i in that al-o, but

thev are very small, and situated so deep within the sockets as to be totally invisible on a general view.

The Physeter Macrocephalus, or great Sper- maceti Whale, is not greatly inferior in size to the Great Whah hone Whale or Mysticeto, and is of a shape not less uncouth; the head being of so a >i/e a^ at Ica.-t to equal a third of the length of the whole animal. It is from this Whale, as well as from some others of this genus, that the well- known substance popularly known by the name of Spermaceti is obtained. This substance, v.h.ch in the living animal is a liquid oil, is contained in a vast cellular cavity within the head; when ex- posed to thi f cold air, it concretes into a solid form: it exists in other parts of the animal, as well as in the head, and may be gained from the blubber or common oil by proper preparation: in a smaller proportion also it is found to exist in

150 LECTURE IV.

pear indeed to have been guilty of some aggrava- tion in this respect in their poetical and sculptorial representations, while the moderns, on the con- trary, have been somewhat too severe in con- demning them.

The Porpoise or D. Phocana, is a still more common species than the Dolphin, and so ex- tremely similar to it, that there can be little doubt of its having been often confounded with it : it is however a smaller animal, and rarely exceeds the length of six or seven feet: its chief mark of dis- tinction from the Dolphin seems to consist in having a shorter and blunter snout. The Porpoise, being the most common European species of all the Cetaceous tribe, has, of course, been more ac- curately inspected, as to its anatomical structure, than any of the rest; Rondeletius, Ray, Tyson, and others, having given a good general anatomy of the animal. It is also a curious fact, (such is the revolution of taste), that the Porpoise was a few centuries ago considered as a splendid and elegant dish at royal and noble tables ; and this in Eng- land even so late as the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

By far the largest of the Dolphin genus is the species called the Grampus, the D. Orca of Lin-

IV. 151

It arrivi a at tin- l< ii-.:ih of fi\< -ainl tu eiity

and is of an e\tremel\ fierce and \orarioilS

iiatu 'in:; nn the lar-. i- li-ln-s, and c\» n,

•ionally, on the Dolphin and Porpoise th.-m-

I i'.und in tin- Mediterranean and

Atla. 11 as in the polar regions, and is

our of the most ferocious inhabitants of the ocean.

cies it i> chieily distinguished by ha\

the Miout turned a little upwards. I cannot but here observe that the IJnmran character of this

ics inay mislead, since it is said to be furnished ikntibus scrratisy \\-\i\\ serrated or sawed teeth, a particularity not found in any of the Whale tribe, uliich have all simple or plain, conical teeth: but the meaning of the words dentibus scrratis here is only to be understood in the common classical sense, as in Pliny and other authors; meaning so disposed as to give the outline of the jaw a ser- rated appearance in profile.

There remains one more Linncean genus of the Whale tribe, and that one of the most remarkable: this is the ^enus Afonodon or Xanvhal. It is dis- tinguished by an extremely large and long, spi- rally twisted tooth, projecting in a straight direc- tion, from the upper jaw. Sometinn arc

152 LECTURE IV.

two of these teeth, parallel to each other, in which case one is always observed to be somewhat shorter and thinner than the other. Supposing the na- tural number to be two, as stated by Linnams, in his generic character, I neecl not observe, that the name of J\lonodon would be peculiarly absurd. In fact the natural number is two, but one is always observed to predominate, and the probability is that they are so constituted as alternately to supply the defect occasioned by casting, on one side.

The common 'N'torwhtil or M. Monoceros of Linnaeus, sometimes called the Sea Unicorn, is an inhabitant of the northern seas, where it grows to the length of more than twenty feet, exclusive of the tooth, which is about half the length of the body. The colour of the animal is an ir- regular variegation of black and white on the upper parts, and white beneath ; and the young are said to be of a much darker colour than the full-grown animal. The food of the Narwhal, like that of the great Whalebone Whale, consists chiefly of Sea-blubbers or Medusa3 and other small animals, but it is also known to prey occasionally on fishes, and particularly on flat-fish. Before this animal became very distinctly known to the

LECH IM. IV. 15S

iiaturali-ts of Europe, tin- teeth, or spiral lioni- lik> , I<1 in very 1

as tin- -upposed li> Unicorns. \"arious

medical \irturs were attributed to them, and they were even numbered among th<- artidt > oi' i magnitifcnce. At Rosenberg in Denmark is said 11 pri-srrvcd an ancient throne, composed of Narwhals' teeth, and which uas once the seat of state of the ancient Daui-h Monarch*.

I purposely omit speaking of the supposed .•i nt .-pecies of this genus; their dc scription, as yet, IK ing not sufficiently accurate to justify any very clear conclusions.

Having thus taken a general view of the Mam- malia or viviparous quadrupeds, we shall in our ju-xt Lecture proceed to Birds.

I5f

LECTURE V.

W E are now entering upon a beautiful and ex- teiiMve brunch of Natural History, called Orni- thology or the History of Birds. These animals far exceeding Quadrupeds in point of number, it was highly necessary that they should be dis- tributed into orders, and gcneru, in order to faci- litate the- knowledge of the species. In this part of Zoology, as in Quadrupeds, we shall pursue the Limuiun arrangement, with some variations and transpositions.

I know not whether it may be thought neces- sary to be very particular in the description of a bird, us distinguished from a quadruped, but as there are some circumstances which are important in the comparative anatomy of these animals, it may not be improper to give a slight general

. iption of them.

I5G LECTURE V.

The skeleton or bony frame of the animal is in general of a lighter nature than in quadrupeds, and is calculated for the power of flight : the spine is immoveable, but the neck lengthened and flex- ible : the breast-bone very large, with a prominent keel down the middle, and formed for the attach- ment of very strong muscles : the bones of the wings are analogous to those of the fore-legs in quadrupeds, but the termination is in three joints or fingers only, of which the exterior one is very short. What are commonly called the legs are analogous to the hind -legs in quadrupeds, and they terminate, in general, in four toes, three of which are commonly directed forwards, and one back- wards j but in some birds there are only two toes, in some only three. All the bones in birds are much lighter or with a larger cavity than in Quadrupeds.

With respect to the definition of a Bird, as ab- solutely distinguished from all other animals, it would be sufficient to say, according to the old mode, that a bird is a two-footed, feathered animal. The power of flight need not enter into the defini- tion , for there are many birds which are perfectly destitute of the power of flight ; as the Ostrich,

(.ETON

f'/fff .\'tr. ,t

V. 151

the Cassowary, all and some other

MX rs with v. arc covered

logous in their nature to the hair oi' (}na- ing con of a similar Mil^tance

appearing in a di>-imil. Beneath or under

the comm<> or general plumage, the

.skin in bird* is inn: ly covered with a much

. or so: ihrry substance called down.

Tlu- external or common leathers are called by ;vnt names on ditlercnt parts of the animal, longest of the wing-feathers, which are ge- nerally ten in number, in each wing, are called

\ first or great quills, (in the Linmean phrase

remises primores, as being the chief oars or guid-

> i; were.) The feathers constituting the

middle part of the wing are called the secondaries

ccond quills (rcmigcs secondarii of Linnaeus,)

and are more nunn rous than the first- tin- lea-

; nding along each side the back are

atlirrs: the small li-athers

.shoulders are ciilli-d the .smaller wing-

ria, (tectrices minores:) the nev s to

culled the larger wing-coverts, (tcci; secondariae or majore>. an 1 at the edge of the •huuldt.-r arc a few rather strong awl slightly

I5g LECTURE V.

lengthened feathers, constituting what is called the false or spurious wing; the alula or alulet of some ornithologists. The tail, in most birds, consists of twelve feathers; in some of ten only, and in some others of eighteen, twenty, or twenty- four. Sometimes on each side the tail or above it, at the lower part of the back, are placed se- veral very long feathers of a different structure from the rest: these have been called the hypo- chondriac and unpygial feathers. These are the principal distributions of the feathers on a bird. With respect to the particular shape of the fea- thers themselves, they vary greatly in the different tribes.

The particulars most important in the com- parative anatomy of birds are these. The throat, after passing down to a certain distance, dilates itself into a large membranaceous bag, answering to the stomach in quadrupeds : it is called the crop, and its great use is to soften the food taken into it, in order to prepare it for passing into- another stronger receptacle called the gizzard: this which may be considered as a more powerful stomach than the former consists of two very strong muscles, lined and covered with a stout

rruRE V.

and furrowed on the insidi •. In

ivc.-ptaclr the l»»od is completely ground and

r« tin a pulp. Tin- lungs of Birds differ

. those of quadrupeds in not being loose or

in tin- breast, but fixed to the bones all

tin- way down: they consist of a pair of large

spongy bodies, covered with a membrane which

d in several places, and communicates

with I large vesicles or air-bags dispersed

about the cavities of the body.

The eyes of birds are more or less convex in the different tribes j and in general, it may be observed that the sense of sight is more acute in birds than in most other animals -y and they seem t<> possess a greater degree of power in accom-

i at ing the convexity of the eye to any par- ticular distance than other animals, for which purpose they are provided with a curious ap- paratus of scales round the iris or coloured part of the eve not be observed in quadrupeds. Birds have no outward Ear, but the internal is formed on the same general plan as in quadrupeds.

Birds as every one knows are oviparous ani- mal>, ah\a\- producing Eggs, from which the

* In the predaceoos birds or Accipitres this is wanting, the sto- mach being allied to that of quadruped*.

160 LECTURE V.

young are afterwards excluded. The process of the young in the Egg, from the time of its first production to that of the complete forma-r tion of the bird, is extremely curious and in- teresting, and may be found detailed with suf- ficient exactness in the works of Malpighi, Bufr fon, Monro, and many others. I shall only ob- serve on this subject that the first appearance of the young, as an organized body, begins to be visible in six hours after the egg has been placed in a proper degree of heat under the parent animal*.

The number of eggs is extremely various in the different tribes of birds.

Birds are divided by Linnasus into six Or- ders or Assortments, viz. 1. Accipitres or Pre- dacious Birds, such as Vultures, Eagles, Hawks, Owls, and some others.

* A particular highly worthy of attention is, that the chick, or young bird, when arrived at its full size, and ready for hatch- ing, is by 'nature provided with a small, hard, and calcareous protuberance at the point or tip of the bill, by which it is enabled the more readily to break the shell, and which falls off some hours after its hatching. So careful has Nature been, and so accurately has every circumstance attending the process been foreseen and provided for !

I.ECTUIF. V. 161

t. Pica or Pies, containing all the birds of nd Jay kind, tin- Parrots, the Wood- til.- Kingfishers, and a great variety of r bird*.

3. Passercs or Passerine birds, comprising

I, tin- Thrushes, the Larks, and all tin- I inches or small-birds in general, either with thick «*r slender bills

4. Gallitue or Gallinaceous birds, or such as are more or less allied to the common domestic 1 I, and consequently containing the Pheasant and Partridge tribe, the Peacock, Turkey, and a variety of other birds.

5. Gratia or Waders, consisting of all the Heron tribe, the Curlews, the Plovers, and other numerous tribes which have lengthened legs and chiefly frequent watery situations.

6. The Anseres or Web-footed birds, as the Swan, Goose, or Duck tribe, the Gulls, the Pen- guins and many others.

Out of these six Linncean Orders some or- nithologists have instituted a few others, in or- der to give a greater degree of clearness and j cision to the arrangement of birds, but they cannot be considered as absolutely necessary.

LECT. 1. M

162 LECTURE V.

Thus the Pigeons have been sometimes consi- dered as properly forming a distinct order of birds under the title of the Columba or the Colum- bine Order, instead of being ranked among the Passeres of Linnaeus j and the Ostrich, Cassowary, and Dodo have been supposed to constitute an or- der called the Struthious Order, instead of ranking either among the Grallas or Gallinae of Linnaeus.

The first Linnaean tribe of Birds, called Ac- CIPITRES, consists of the Vultures, the Eagles, the Chvls, and the Shrikes or Butcher-Birds ; for all these birds are of a predacious nature, and feed entirely on animal food. Their general charac- ters, considered at large, or as belonging to the whole tribe, are these. The bill is more or less curved, strong, and often covered, round the base, by a naked membrane, called a cere ; and on each side, towards the tip, is a pretty strong point or projection, forming a kind of tooth, and serving the more easily to tear the prey. The wings are large and strong, and the whole body stout and muscular ; the legs strong and short, the claws much curved, and sharp-pointed.

These birds generally make a somewhat neg- ligently or slightly-formed nest, in lofty situa-

PURE V.

163

, and lay from i\\<> t . lour eggs. The fe- male in the pn<la< ,.MI |iird> it aluay.s larger than the ni ih ; and the whole trilu-, according to Liima-us, may In- < d as analogous to

the Order i 'lonir ijiiadnipi iN.

Oi* tin- preda< iom tribe tlu- first genus or

of rultur. It- cliicf character is, a beak of a somewhat lengthened form, running .strait to some distance, but curving strongly at tht tip: it has no cere or naked membrane at base: th.- In ad and neck, in most species, are bare of feathers, being covered only with a kind of down. '1 h s of Vultures are con-

:ahly numerous, and they inhabit almost all tin wanner parts of the globe, but are not so oiuii seen in the Northern regions, where their >cnce would be less necessary. They are rved to prey on dead animals in preference to living ones, and as they are always on the watch for those, and prefer such as are in a putrid state, they may be considered as the Sca- vengers of Nature in the animal world, and are ot extreme utility in the hotter regions, by quickly removing all such animal remains as would other- \\i»e tend to infect the air.

164 LECTURE V.

The largest, and most extraordinary of all the Vultures is the South- American species called the Condor, so long celebrated as the largest of all birds possessing the power of flight, and till lately, so very indistinctly described in the works of naturalists. It does not appear that a spe- cimen of the Condor was ever seen in Europe till about twelve or fifteen years ago, when a female bird was brought over in a dried state by Captain Middleton, and deposited in the Le- verian Museum. About two years afterwards a male, in the most perfect preservation, was ob- tained, and placed in the same collection. It is this latter specimen that has afforded the oppor- tunity of giving a true description of the species, which is distinguished by being of a black co- lour, with the shorter or secondary wing-feathers white j the head furnished with an upright, com- pressed, fleshy crest or comb, the throat, to a considerable distance down the breast, naked and red, and the neck furnished, down each side, with several short, circular wattles or flaps : round the upper part of the neck, where it joins the back, is a kind of ruff or tippet of milk-white, downy feathers ; the wings are of vast extent, and when -

LECTURE V. 165

the bird was fn ,h killed, are said to have mea- sured nearly I'-nit. . n f« •« t from tip to tip. 1

:MCII allords an opportunity of rectifying au important error in i «-ription of the Condor

gi\cn by general obtcnreny who have seen it in its IL. , hut prohahly at a di>tance,

and with it^ \ dosed; tor such descrip-

11 us that the hack of the bird is milk- white, which is not the case, but the mistake may be supposed to have arisen from the white uiiiLc-leatln r> folding over the hack when the . Njsi-d. In SIK h d( x-riptions also, the tail is said to be small, whereas, on the contrary, it i> large in proportion to the bird. The ac- counts of the Condor, by some of the earlier historians of the Western Continent are singu- curious, and such as the more sober phi- losophic faith of Kuropean Naturalists could hardly be supposed to admit. These writers •More us that the Vulture called the Condor is Hatching up, and carrying oil boys -irds of ten years of age; that a pair of these destroyers in concert, will attack a heifer in th«- midst of a field, and tear it in pieces w ith the utmost ease. In short, tke descriptions of

166 LECTURE V.

the Condor bring to our mind the imaginary bird called the Roc or Ruck, which makes so conspicuous a figure in the Arabian Tales.

The most common European Vulture is the V. castaneus, or great brown Vulture ; it is of a dusky chesnut-brown colour, with a naked head and neck ; the long wing-feathers black, and the base of the neck surrounded by a ruff of short whitish feathers. This is the Vulture so often seen in the usual exhibitions of animals. It is found in the South of Europe, and in many parts of Africa.

The next genus of the Accipitres is called Falco, and contains all the Eagles, Falcons and Hawks. It is a genus so very numerous that on the most moderate computation the species may be supposed to amount to about 120. The largest and most celebrated species is the Golden Eagle, or Falco Chrysaetos of Linnaeus, which is of a reddish brown colour, with dusky shades and variegations, and has the cere or naked mem- brane round the base of the bill of a deep yellow or gold-colour : and the legs and feet are of similar colour. Its general length is about three feet, and its weight about 12 pounds. It is ob- served to vary in some degree in its colours. The

i.t«,i t',i.i

J 61

1 1 < n in; v.

•le is the Bud of .Inpitcr of the an-

i - R .llv It l> llllinhiTCil

among our nah\«- British hinK haung been oc- casionally ol«MT\i el to breed in thr northern part-

-i i!ni , hut in I i it i- more < om-

!ii"ii : itl < \trnr ..! \vm-_:s, v\hcn fully c\|)aiulril) is in"--.- than

. 1 1 alia tns of Linn.Tus is

OT ratlun- ini<lilU>sixc(l species

1 hrown colour above1,

lii-iH-atli, \sitli tin' h'-ad uhitisli, and the

, legs and tlrt hluc. Liniucu>, in nu-ntiuning

l»ird, falls into a vulu , in snj (posing

that tin* left foot is .sli-rhtly w« h!>«-d. 'I'lic Osprey

n.itivr i^f Kunjpf, and is found in our o\\ n

, ( hicily frequenting tin: s<-a shor«-<, and

larger LI. B, and j>rryin.^ on fish, which it

y precipitating itM-lf nnon them ti-om a

' H ««f th<-

\ much larger and finer species, very nearly equalling the Golden Eagle in size, u the Falco OstifragHs of Linnaeus,

by many naturalists is also called the Sca-Kagle, though very different from the Common Osprey. Its colour is brown with paler variegations, and it is remarkable for the strong curva- ture of iu sharp pointed claws. Native of England, &c

168 LECTURE V.

have any gayety of colours, but some are pos- sessed of a high degree of elegance, especially some of the smaller kind of Falcons and Ha?cks> among which latter may be particularized the Kestril, a well-known British species of a reddish brown colour above, spotted with black; with the head and tail dove-coloured, the latter marked by a black bar. The female is brown, with black variegations, and the tail is brown also, with numerous blackish bars.

The third genus of the Accipitres is that of Strix or Owl. The bill in this genus is hooked, but without cere at the base : the nostrils are covered by reversed bristly plumes, and the head, eyes, and ears are very large. The genus is pretty numerous ; and the largest or principal species is nearly equal to a small Eagle in size, and of a rich chesnut-brown colour, elegantly marked and spotted with very numerous blackish variegations of different sizes: the head is dis- tinguished by a large pair of feathered tufts, rising above each ear, and the irides or circles of the eyes are of the finest golden yellow. This bird, generally known by the name of the Eagle- Owl, or Great Horned Owl is not very uncom*

GKEAT

t/wi.

ifivt Cttfi I****'* fulA/M *• Mrrnr*** ft,

LECTURE V. ir,!>

mon in ninny parts of Europe, nnd has been times found in Kir, land. In North Aim- I much allied to it, l)iit differing in li;i\ iuur tin- under parts ash-e

•e brown lines or bars.

'I'll.-- < onnnon IJnm n Owl, and the common Hani

mu>t he M;pp<>-ed to he known to everyone.

()v\l> in general are calculated lor seeing to the

.u'-eatesl ad\antage in a sober light, for which

reason tlioy shun the glare of day, and pur-

Mu their prey by night; and, as an eminent

writer somewhat oddly expresses himself, they

see ill because they see too well ; their «

beiii£ sensible to the smallest or weakest im-

-ions of light. Yet some speeies have been

rved to prey, like Ilauks, dnrinp: the d;;y-

tinu ; and it is remarkable that such species

are in some degree allied to Hawks in shape;

having a slender or lengthened body and «i

:«r tail than the rest of their tribe. The

bird called the Caparacoch or Hawk-Owl of

North Aim riea is of this kind, and is well

figured in the ornithological work of Kdwards.

Some of thi> ijrnus are remarkable for their small

; as a Siberian species, called by Dr. Pailus

170 LECTURE V,

Striv demmutdy which is hardly superior to a sparrow in size, and of an elegant grey co- lour, freckled with very numerous dark-brown or ^blackish specks.

Ornithologists differ in some degree about the next or fourth Linna^an genus of the Acci- pitres or predacious Birds; some thinking that it should rather be placed among the Picae or Pies. Its habits however are strictly those of Birds of prey. This genus is called Lanius, in English Shrike or Butcher- Bird, which nanie is given to it on account of its singular practice of separating the limbs of such birds and other animals as it kills, and fastening them on thorns, by regularly transfixing each : this practice is not only common to the several European spe- cies, but is observed in those of Africa and Ame- rica. The Great or Common English Shrike or Buteher-Bird is the Lanius Excubitor of Lin- nreus, and chiefly seen in the northern parts of the kingdom. It is about the size of a Thrush and of a grey colour, with black wings and tail, and a black streak across each eye : the bill and legs are also black. Some of the exotic species of this genus are of very brilliant colours.

Lrrri i:r V. 1:1

1 » PICJB or PM.>, at \vhi< h PI now

0 \ery mum-run-, that, far from passing i all the genera of which it is comp<

I only select a fe\\ Hple--. The

,iy be con-id« n •<! as analog >u-~ to

v among Qnadrn: 1 he bill

lure in the <lill'» rent genera. 1-i.L

•minonly of a slightly compressed and eon-

II : they !)uiM their nests op deposit, iheir in trees, ami their fr,(.| is principally of a

regetable nature, though some genera feed on

I shall now proceed to select some examples

of the genera belonging to this numerous order.

genus Puceros is one of the most singular:

>ts of birds of rather large size, and dis-

;i>hed l.y the excessive size of their beaks,

which an- often still fartln-r ivmark.ihli.- for some

kind of large prominence on the upper man-

dihle. The most conspicu- is the I5n-

lihinoceros of Linnaeus, commonly called

-Bird: its general size is that of

a 'I with a much more slender body

in proportion. It.- colour is black, M'ith the tail

. l>ur: the beak is of

17? LECTURE V*

enormous size, of a lengthened, slightly curved, and pointed shape, and on the upper mandible, towards the base, is an extremely large process, equal in thickness to the bill itself, and turning upwards and backwards in the form of a thick, sharp-pointed horn. The use of this strange pro- cess is by some supposed to be that of enabling the bird the more easily to tear out the entrails of its prey ; but others affirm that it is not of a predacious nature, feeding only on vegetable substances. This bird is principally found in the East-Indian islands. In the Leverian Museum is a remarkably fine specimen.

But the genus Ramphastos or Toucan ex- hibits a still greater degree of disproportion be- tween the size of the bill and that of the bird ; for the Toucans in general are not larger than Magpies; but are provided with bills of so in- ordinate a size as, in some species, almost to equal that of the whole body: the bill in this genus however, notwithstanding its size, is of a very slight substance, having a very large in- ternal cavity, and the exterior sides, in the living bird, are so slight that they may be impressed by the fingers, and afterwards restore themselves

LECTURE V. 113

heir own elasticity. The tongue in tin • Tou-

.s<> much resembles a long .sleud< r f< ather,

that the first describers considered it as really

L: it is of a horny substance, and dividid at the edges into innumerable notches or barbs. Tlu- Toucans arc all natives of South America, and feed mi the softer kind of fruits. One of the most rcmurkahle specie.- is the Toco, the Ram-

tos Toco of Linna-us, a bird about the size of a Pigeon, black above and white beneath; with a bill measuring more than seven inches in length, and of a reddish-yellow colour with a black tip.

The T»ueans are not very numerous, and are in general of very gay colours ; the under parts being commonly either red or bright yel- . ied with both these colours; while the prevailing colour of the upper parts is a greenish black. The bills are, in some species, not less brilliant, being richly marked and shaded with red, green, or yellow, generally in the form of long and broad stripes or bands on each side.

The genus Psittacus or Parrot needs very- little description, since every one knows the usual

174 LECTURE Y.

shape of a Parrot's bill, and that the feet are formed for climbing, or are, in the Linnasan phrase, scansorial, that is, with two of the toes forwards, and two backwards. Every one how- ever may not have observed that in a Parrot's bill the upper mandible is moveable as well as the lower; a very rare particularity in animals; and that the tongue, in most species, is thick and fleshy : in some however, and particularly in some which are natives of New Holland, the tongue is tipped by a fringe of white cartilagi- nous fibres.

So very numerous is this splendid genus, that the species already described in the works of authors amount to more than 170, and new ones are frequently added to the list, particularly from the regions of Australasia or New Holland, and from the Indian islands. The whole genus, for the convenience of investigation, is divided into the long and short-tailed kinds : the long-tailed kinds are remarkable for having the two middle feathers of the tail longest, the rest shortening. gradually on each side, so that the shape of the tail is more or less lanced or sharpened in the dif- ferent species. On the contrary, in the short-

56

GREAT SCAETLIETMACCAW

jSflff VctiZcndon Publi/hd *>• GXearf/e i> fleet Sbret.

i.i < TI I;K v.

1 Parrots thcfrath. n »t fa tail < oC » «jual

! :li, and the end or tip is nearly c\< n or

itly n.imded. Tin- larger kind of long-tailed

in «.ill. .1 Maccaws; the smaller /'</;•-

rakeett. The l'ngli>h term Parrot, in emninmi

!..ii/ii:!'_' usually confined to ilic- H. I or

lxind>. Oi' tl,<- la: -taili «1 Par-

«r .)/</(•(•<: [lieuons is the

Ptittacus Macao of Liniums, or (treat Scarlet

. \\hieh indeed may be well considered

as one i-f tin- most magnificent of the whole

feathered trilie. As a >pei ies, it is distingui-

by hiivinir the Ix.dy >earlet, the wings blue, with

a bar of yellou, and the cheeks ba;-c, \\hite, and

sli^iitly wrinkled. In colours it sometimes varies a

in different individuals. Like the rest of the

t Macraus, it is a native of South- America.

The best figure extant is that of Edwards,

which, in the true expression of character, as

well as of colours, far surpasses that given in

the Planches Enlnmiii- Danbenton. In its

native regions this bird is often seen in large

flocks, \\hich, from the brilliancy of their colours,

when seen at a distance, exhibit the appearance

.1 kind of Hying rainbow. An appearance

176 LECTURE V.

of this kind is described in Anson's voyage, of the description of the beautiful isle oiTinian.

The Psittacus Ararauna or Blue and Yellow Maccaw is of similar size and shape, but is entirely of a fine blue colour above, and gold- yellow beneath.

Psittacus Augustus or kyacinthinus is of equal size with the two preceding, but is entirely of a fine deep blue, with the bill and feet black, and the orbits of the eyes, and base of the lower man- dible surrounded by a bare yellow skin. This very fine species was unknown to Naturalists till it made its appearance in the Leverian Museum. It is supposed to be a native of South-America.

The smaller kind of long-tailed Parrots, or Parrokeets as they are commonly called, are

V •/

wonderfully numerous. As an example of these I shall mention the Psittacus Alexandra or com- mon Ring-Parrakeet, which is a native of India and the Indian islands, and is supposed to have been first made known to the Greeks and Ro- mans by means of the Indian expeditions of Alexander and his Generals. It seems to have been almost the only Parrot distinctly known to the Ancients. It is to this species that Ovid's

,*A#*6> CJT.wsto Met .firrrt

v. m

beautiful Klepy on tin- d< ath of Corimui\ Parrot

t IK f« ['. !Ti (I.

();. i.r in i < Vgant of the Parrakcets is

a species lately brought in a dried state from

l!»IUuid, and which I have myself lately

described under tin- name of Psittacus Melanotos

or black- 1 MI -krd l\irr:ik«-«-t. It ^ a middle-sized

and remarkable for the vivid contrast

,

Among tlu- short or even-tailed Parrots the common Cini/ l\irrot ii rve as an example:

the Psittacus Erithacus of Linnaeus, and is a very well-known , generally of the

of a small I'i^eon, and of a deep-grey co- lour with a red tail : it is a native of the inland I of Africa. The Parrot called the Ama- zon's Parrot (P. JBttiOHt) is also of this di- i, and is .subject to much variety in point of colour.

Tlu- Pa; lied Lories belong also in ge-

neral t<> tin tailed division in this genus.

\ample \\e may take the Psittacus Gar- rulus or Scarlet Lory, remarkable for the beuuty I plumage.

r. i, N

ITS LECTURE V.

Among the numerous genera of the Order Piece one of the principal is the genus Wood- pecker or Picus. It is distinguished by having climbing feet, as in the Parrots, and a strait, strong, pointed bill ; while the tongue is wonder- fully calculated by Nature for the mode of life to which the animal is destined, being of equal length, when extended, with the body of the bird ; but by an admirable apparatus of muscles and tendons, it is either withdrawn into the bill, or thrust out at pleasure, and is tipped with a sharp horny point, serving to seize and transfix the softer kind of insects upon which the birds of this genus feed j as well as to probe or search for them in the cavities of the bark and bodies of trees. The residence of the whole genus Pi- cus, which is very numerous, is in the hollows of trees, in which they breed. The most fami- liar example of the genus is the common Green English Woodpecker or P. viridis Lin. frequent in this country, and of a green colour, with the top of the head sprinkled with bright scarlet spots.

The Picus major is an elegant British spe- cies also, and notwithstanding its name, is of

Pic ITS PILE A-

,;< /rt- t'/n f .

LF.CTl !:i \ 179

izc than tin- former, and of a black d white colour, with ;i ml bar .1- TOSS the k of tin- IK .id.

Oi' tl ; < !«•-•, tlu; greater mini I •

. one of thf elm f i^ the

://.v i»f Limner or H'hite hilled If'ood-

, a I way hed by the ivory uliito

;ll : th If is one of the

.iii.l i> hlaek, with a white

tin! a length-

. iin.-on cresi "ii the li«-a«l.

Picus pilctitn* is ;i North-. \ in .sjii-cies

neai-l\ Allied t«> the former, but distin-

gui>li«I 1' 'iired bill.

Th \\hoK i-, the Picus

minimus of Linnaeus, of the .^i/e \\'ren,

ajid of a brown c-ilMur, with th the head

n-d, and the Lack part black sjxekled with \\hite: tin.- total length of the bird is thro ,•!

a half: it is a native of South-America.

Pica it would be nnpardona' .lendid genus Paradisca or Pamdi - Bird, of which l>nt a very few known » ago, but whiiii

Creased l>y the |,er<cvcriiiLr n.>searches of mo-

ISO LECTURE V.

dern naturalists that the number is pretty coi siderable. Of these the most common, or th which was earliest known to the Europeans is the Paradisea apoda of Linnasus, who did wrong to give it that title, since it still keeps up in some degree the highly absurd idea, that the bird was naturally destitute of feet, the word apoda meaning footless, whereas, on the con- trary, the legs and feet of the Paradise-Birds are rather remarkably stout and large. The cha- racter of the Paradise-Birds is that the bill, which is somewhat lengthened, slightly curved and sharp-pointed, is beset, round the base, with up- right velvet or plush-like feathers, and that from each side, beneath the wings, springs, in most species, a certain number of loose-webbed fea- thers, of a peculiar construction, and greatly ex- ceeding the rest in length.

The P. apoda or common Paradise-Bird is about the size of a Thrush, and of a very fine reddish chesnut-colour on the upper parts, and yellowish-white beneath : the velvet-feathers round the bill are black ; the top of the head and the back of the neck yellow, and the throat of the most brilliant golden-green : the tail is of mo-

.„

GKEAT/V COMMON PARADISE BIRD

<»•* Pft't.lv*** /WA/*./ At CJ^mr^n f'lni Slrrrt

LECTURE V. 1S1

derail- 1< n-th; of the sani«- brown colour with the rest of the- upper part-, a:id is shaped as ill tl, < rality of birds ;:iid is in a «;r--at

ihe loiiLc and beautiful as- sortment oi !;-v. ebbed floating plumes sprinijini; from f the back : these are of the most el< -ant si met in Ic, and arc generally of :i bright jonquil yellow at their base, gradually growing pale or whitish as they advanee in l.-ngth; and besides these, there are two very long naked shafts or .slender quills in the middle. The long floating feathers are popularly called the tail of the bird, though in reality, as before observed, the tail is of a very different appearance and structure.

This species, or the Parudixca apoda, like the rest of the genus, was onee supposed to be natur- ally without feet, and to float almost perpetually in air, never resting, except by the supp- assistance of the two long and slender naked shafts or filaments before mentioned, whieh the bird was supposed to have the power of occasion- ally coiling round the branches of trees, and of thus somt times sleeping. Thc.se laities are now sufficiently exploded. The Paradise-birds

182 LECTURE V.

to live chiefly on the larger kind of Butterflies and Moths. They are the peculiar natives of the Philippine and other Indian .islands, and the reason of the old supposition of their wanting legs was owing to these parts having been gener- ally cut 'off by the natives before they sold the skins to the Europeans. Several of the most ele- gant species of the genus Paradisea, have lately been engraved in a most magnificent manner in a French work on the subject by Audebert and his associates ; but it must be confessed that they neither seem to have been copied from capital specimens, nor can they be said to exhibit with sufficient effect the peculiar splendor and elegance so remarkable in the birds of this genus. A highly learned dissertation on the genus Paradisea may be found in the additions to Mr. Pennant's Indian Zoology, by the late Dr. Reinhold Forster, together with an elaborate and satisfactory dis- quisition relative to the fabulous PhcenLv of an- tiquity, to which these birds have been sometimes supposed to bear a kind of affinity.

The beautiful genus Alcedo or Kingfisher has a strait, strong, very sharp pointed beak; with a very short tongue j legs and feet extremely short,,

EINGPISHEH

LECTURE V.

Ami the toes so con>ntnted as to form \\hat \.in- calls n pes gressoriuf or gressorial toot, con-

f t!'. \\anUand one bickuanU,

\\ith two of the front* toes joined half u.iy from tin- ha>e. The genus Alcedu or K.inuli>h< -r is mini* TOU>, and remarkably brilliant in point of colour, tli«- prevailing ( ast being blue or given, uith dilVereiit • of splendor. The only

European speeirs is the common K-m.^nMicr, one of the most brilliant of all the Knropcan birds. It inhabits the banks of rivulei e it deposit-*

its eggs. The kingfisher is supposed to be the Alcijnn of the Ancients, but the idea of tin- float- ing nest, uhich tin- ai attributed to their Alevon, will by no means apply to ihi^ bird; though Mich a circumstance n ally takes place in a certain g ; aquatic birds of a very dif- ferent tribe.

The genus CifCidu.f or Ciiekow i> ol i/ed

by its slightly curved bill, climbing ti et, and tail composed of ten soft feathers.

It is a numerous genus, differing greatly in si/e and colours in the diifeivnt >pccies: the only species inhabiting Euro| the common

Cuckow or Cuculus Canorus of Liniuvus,

184 LECTURE V.

known by its remarkable note. The common Cuckow is about the size of a turtle-dove, and of a deep blueish grey above, white beneath, with numerous narrow dusky bars : the tail rather long and edged with black and white bars, but the young, or bird of the first year's growth, differs so widely in appearance from the bird in its advanced state, that at first sight, it would hardly be supposed to belong to the same species, being varied with brown, black, and ash-colour, -somewhat in the manner of the plumage of a Woodcock. The extraordinary conduct of the Cuckow in usurping the nest of some other bird, of much smaller size than itself, as the Yellow- hammer, the Wagtail, or the Hedgesparrow for instance, and depositing its egg in it, leaving it to be hatched, and s the young nursed by the care of a stranger, has long excited the wonder of the philosophic world. It is observed that the Cuckow seldom lays more than one egg in the same nest, as if conscious that the space would not be sufficient for the young when hatched. Oti this subject may be found a highly curious and interesting paper in the 78th vol. of the Phil. Trans, by the celebrated Dr. Jenner, from which

COMMOW I'

' '

LECTURE V. 181

it appears that the young Cuckow, on the very first day of its exclusion from the egg, employs itself in throwing out all tin- yotm : of tin- bird under which it. has been hatch sole

possessor of the not, , all the care

of the parent bird. Wjn-tln r any of the mi- nn T- ! . tie Cuekou.s pursue a plan

ueli diilcnng from the general inst itution of Nat i. '\\n.

But, of all the ord(r Picd'y none is so remark- able for beauty and .singularity as the numerous genus Trochi/itx or 1 iumming-Bird. This bril- liant and lively race is p« ciilinr to America, and with it \v (Xi'eptions, to tin- hottail parts of South America. Their vivacity, swiftness, and singular appearance unite in rendering the Ilumming- Hirds the admiration of mankind ; while their colniii-N arc so brilliant, that it is not by com- paring them with the analogous hues of other birds that u c arc cnaMcrl to describe their ap- UHC, but by the more exalted brilliancy of polUhed metals and precious >tone>; the ruby, the topaz, the garnet, the sapphire, the emerald, and polished gold being considered as the most proper objects of elucidation. It is not however

186 LECTURE V.

to be imagined that all the race of Humming- Birds are so decorated j some are even obscure in their colours, and instead of the prevailing splendor of the major part of the genus, exhibit only a faint appearance of a golden-green tinge slightly diffused .over the brown or purplish-brown colour of the back and wings : neither are all the species very small, for some few exist which mea- sure many inches in length, and may be con- sidered as the giants of this generally diminutive genus.

The structure of the tongue in the Humming- Birds, which constitutes the chief part of the ge- neric character, cannot be sufficiently admired. It consists of a very long double tube, formed somewhat on the principle of the long trunk in some of the Moth and Butterfly tribe, except that instead of being rolled into a spiral form when contracted, it is merely withdrawn and doubled deep into the throat as in the Wood- peckers, and at the tip it is fringed on each side with a few horny hairs or processes. By means of this tongue the animal absorbs the sweet juice or nectar at the bottom of flowers, and always feeds on the wing, stretching out its

K IvD THROATED HUMMING B'

jffcff Oct'tl.o/uivn fulili/hJi 6r £J&arslci -ftcer

l.VCTURK V. 187

tongue in tli-- nianiKi- of aM|e Motli, and dart- ing oil with the in -notion <»» Hr- least apprehension of danger. One of tin- mo.st eom- inoii, as well as one of the most beautiful of all tin- Humming-birds is t!ic T me hit us Calabria or red-tluoai< d Humming-bird, which is not confined to South America, hut otv . in most of the. northern parts of that coniincnt, and is • found as far north a> Canada. Its colour above is ti! -id, with purplish-brown wings, and tail, and beneath white, with the throat, to a considerable distance our the breast, of the most inten.se mul \i\id crimson, changing, on the least alteration of pov.uiv, into the most brilliant gold- colour, and again in some particular lights, into a very dark or black i \s before observed, it is found in mosi. parts of North America, and whoever . iii summer-time, some of its fa- vourite llowcrs in the window, as the scarlet Mo- nanla, t 'nxe others, is sure of bein^ visited bv innltitudes of tin s of Humming-Bird. " The mo>t violent pas>i<ms," • writer, " sometii;, ,ite their little breasts: they have often dreadful contests, !i numbers happen to dispi, MI of

188 LECTURE V.

the same flower : they will tilt against each other with such fury as if they meant to transfix their antagonists with their long bills. During the fight they often pursue the conquered into the apart- ments of houses which happen to have the windows open, and, taking a few turns round the room, like the flies in Europe, again make their escape into the open air. They are almost fearless of mankind, and, in feeding, will suffer people to approach within two yards of them, but if ap- proached more nearly, fly off with the rapidity of lightening." An author of high credit, Fer- nandez Oviedo, in his History of the Indies, speaks from his own experience of the wonderful cou- rage and spirited instinct of this minute bird in defence of its young. " When they see a man (says he) climbing a tree where they have their nest, they will fly at his face, and strike him in the eyes, coming, going, and returning, with such swiftness, that no man would lightly believe it that had not seen it." The nest is of an elegance

suited to the architect, being composed of small

i

fragments of mosses and lichens on the outside, and lined within with the down of the leaves of plants : it is somewhat like the nest of a Chaffinch.

TROCHTLTTS MTNIMTJS

1806 Oct'jJ.Oiuloii PubU/hdbv GJcarsbv ////'/ ftrr

LECTURE V. 189

in mini.'1' \\i\\ diamr-tor 1>« ing about

an inch, ami it^ d< |>th about half an inch. The bird la\s only t\\<> eggs, which an- white, round, and of the -mall pease. It is a general

rule of nature that the smallest birds lay the

numb< ^s but in the- IJummin^-

^r jAfe

Bird this rule si d.

The smallest of all the Humming-Birds is the Trochilus Minimus of Linnaeus ; but it is not very splendid in colour, being of a dull gilded green above, with brown or purplish wings and tail, and white beneath ; it measures only an inch and quarter in total length, from the tip of the bill to tiie end of the tail. It is a native of South- America, but is said likewise to be sometimes found in the i>land of Jamaica.

One of the largest of all the Humming-birds is the Trcchilm Pelkt or Topaz Hummingbird, the body of which is of the size of a Wren, but as the two middle tail-feathers greatly < the

k and as the bill is also of consider- able length, the total extent of the bird amounts to more than ri^ht inches. The colour of the body

1 ; of the back, wings, and tail purple; tin- head black, and tin- throat

190 LECTURE V.

and breast of the most vivid changeable polished- gold or topaz-colour, varying according to the light, into deep green. It is a native of Surinam. I should observe, that this very numerous genus is divided into two assortments, according to the shape of the bill, which is either strait or curved. The species just mentioned is one of the curve- billed kinds, but the two preceding ones belong to the strait-billed division. The Humming-birds have rarely been so coloured in the figures given in the works of naturalists, as to convey any very exact idea of their brilliant hues. An ingenious attempt has been lately made by a French artist, Audebert, to express by means of prepared gold itself, properly rubbed on the copper-plate used in the process, the metallic brilliancy of the birds;

but though the work be highly elegant, yet it

/ must be acknowledged that the experiment has

not succeeded so completely as might be wished. The publication itself however is highly valuable, since it collects in one view more species and va- rieties than had ever been represented in any one work before. In this work also the peculiar struc- ture of the brilliant feathers of the Humming- bird is well explained, and it is justly observed

MCTUREV. l»l

thai Iliix is owini; to the barbs <»r lateral plumes of the !. nth. i> In ing of a flattened form, of a so what horny .strurture, and so disposed as to form on each feather very numerous rows of con- cylindric mirror- UN it were, which very strongly reflect the li«;ht which falls upon them in different directions. There is one more particular to be noticed with respect to this curious genus, \\li;< h i*. that if we may rely on the observations of a French observer, who had frequent opportunities of examining their manner of life in the West Indies, some of the larger Humming-birds have been known to swallow minute insects as well as the juices of flowers ; fragments of such, accord- ing to Monsieur Badier, having been sometimes found in their stomachs. This however is con- tradicted by others who have never been able to perceive any remains of insects in the stomachs of these birds, but merely the chrystallized sac- charine matter or juice which had been extracted from flowers.

One would almost be tempted to suppose that in those cases in which the remains of insects had been found, some species of Certhia or Creeper had been mistaken for a Humming-bird j the Certhia?

1*2 LECTURE V.

feeding on insects, and the smaller kinds being so nearly allied in appearance to the Humming-birds that they seem to differ only in the structure of the tongue, which is not of a tubular form.

[93

LECTURE VL

[E Order Passeres of Linnaeus may be said to comprehend most of the smaller kind of land birds in general, together with some of a larger size than the rest. The natural characters of this order of birds are the following. The bill is form- ed so as to operate in the manner of a forceps j the limbs are rather weak than strong: their flight is quick, with a frequent repetition of the move- ment of the wings : they chiefly build in trees, or shrubs, and in general lay a moderate number of eggs, except some of the smaller species, which lay numerous ones. They excel in the art of nidi- fication or constructing their nests. Their food is either animal or vegetable j some live chiefly on insects, some on seeds, and some on both. The whole order is considered by Linnaeus as ana- logous to the Glires among Quadrupeds.

The Pigeon tribe, forming the first Linna?aii

LBCT. i. o

194 LECTURE VI.

genus in this order, under the title of Columba, is by some referred to a distinct order called the Columbine. The generic characters of the Pigeon are a rather weak and slender bill, swelled at the base into a soft protuberance in which the nostrils are situated: the tongue is entire or undivided. The common Pigeon may stand as an example. To give a particular history of the Pigeon would be superfluous. In its wild state it is known by the name of the Stock-Dove, and inhabits the hollows of rocks and other similar situations. In its domestic or cultivated state it runs into a number of beautiful varieties, the culture of which forms a particular kind of business. This ad- diction to the more rare and singular kind of Pigeons is not confined to modern times, but may be traced to the ancient Romans, who, ac- cording to the testimony of Pliny, were as far gone in the expensive varieties of tame* Pigeons

* Among others the variety called the carrier Pigeon was highly esteemed both among the Greeks and Romans : it is the nature of this bird to retain a very strong and almost invincible attachment to the place of its early residence : being therefore carried elsewhere, it hardly ever fails to fly back again to its native spot. If therefore marked by any particular token, as a signal of

LECTURE VI.

as the m«»l»Tns*. Tlie Pigeon is the C. Oenas of

IJIIIKIU-V It must not be coiifoiuiilcil \\ith tin- Wtod-Pigcon, Ring-Doce; or tin- C'olumba Pa- lunihitx of LIMIIUMIS wliicli is of inucli larger size: in -OHM- u liters, ln.\\f\(r, \\r liml this lattrr bird im|>roprr!v naiin <1 the Stock-Dove. Thus Thom- son in particular so names it*

" The Stock-Dove only thro' the forest cooes

Mournfully hoarse; oft ceasing from his plaint,

Short interval of weary woe ; again

The sad idea of his murder' d mate

Struck from his side by savage fowler's guile

Across his fancy comes ; and then resounds

A louder song of sorrow thro' the grove."

intelligence ; or if a letter be tied to its leg, it becomes the swiftest of all messengers. The tales related of this bird are almost in- credible. One has been known to fly from Babylon to Aleppo^ (which is considered as a distance of thirty days journey,) In th« space of forty-eight hours.

* Linflaeus observes that the domestic Pigeon commonly, or at least frequently, breeds once a month ; laying two eggs each time : the increased production of the whole, would amount in the space of four years to the number of eighteen thousand. Others say that from a single pair of Pigeons may proceed four* teen thousand in the space of four years.

196 LECTURE VI.

The species of Pigeons are excessively nu- merous, and many are remarkable for the splendor and beauty of their colours. Of the whole genus by far the most magnificent is the Columba co- ronata of Linnaeus or great crowned Pigeon, a native of the East-Indian islands ; in size not far inferior to a Turkey, and of a beautiful violet purple colour, with a very large, upright, com- pressed crest. The eyes are of the most vivid red, and the whole bird has an air of an unusual mag- nificence.

The Pigeons are succeeded by the numerous tribe of Thrushes, forming the genus Turdus of Linnaeus. The species are so very numerous that those at present known may be supposed to amount to at least 1 60.

The character of the genus consists in having a straitish beak, slightly bending towards the tip with a small notch on each side : the nostrils are oval and naked.

The common Song-Thrush may stand as an example. It is brown above, whitish beneath, with reversed arrow-shaped spots on the breast and belly.

The Fieldfare is another species, brown above,

H

:AT

65

TTLTKAM ARISE AMFELIS

, f/. , f . fft; rf

I.I ( Tt HK VI. iv?

\\ itli tin* In -ad l« ;id-eo|,,nn d or Mueish grey, the body \\hite beneath.

Of tin exotic Thru.slios none arc more remark- able than the celebrated bird called th. .]/,„ I i//^- Thrushj or mocking-bird of America, tin- I Or- pheii- and PoK <^lottus of Linna-nv C)i' this bird an animated description may be found in Mr. Pennant's Arctic Zoology.

The genus .-Impcli? or Chati. r< r, uhicli is very nearly allied to that of Thrush, ditll r> in having the nostrils conc< -al< d l»y small bristles growing over them.

It is not a numerous LM -nn>, l»nt i>> remarkable for the extreme .splendor of it> colour. The Am- pelix ( for instance, or Ultramarine Ampelis,

is of so intense and brilliant a blue as scarcely to

ui|.;i-. d b\ any other natural object, not n by the bine exhibited on the wings of some of the larger exotic Butterflies. The Pompadour Ampelis is remarkable for its fine purple colour: both these species are natiu- of South America*.

* In the large picture at present before us, may be seen both these beautiful species by the ingenious pencil of the Chevalier de Barde; they are taken from select specimens in the Leverian Museum.

198 LECTURE VI.

The only European species is the A. Garrulus, or Bohemian Chatterer of the older writers ; it is a native of many parts of Europe, and is an occa- sional visitant in our own country. It is of a beautiful bright bay colour, with the larger wing and tail-fe'athers black, and is easily distinguished by the remarkable appearance of the secondary wing-feathers, which are each tipped with a small, flat, oval appendage, of a bright red colour and of a shining surface, like that of sealing-wax.

The genus Loyia or grossbeak, is remarkable for the thick or stout appearance of the bill in most species : it is a very numerous genus, and may be exemplified by the Bullfinch, the Cross Bill and many others, and particularly by the bird palled the Coccothraustes or Crossbill.

The genus Emberiza is distinguished by hav- ing a moderately strong bill, with the gape or outline descending rather abruptly on each side the base, and the inside of the upper mandible is usually furnished with a hard or callous tubercle, serving for the convenient breaking of seeds and other vegetable substances on which these birds chiefly live. Like the genus Loxia, it contains a great number of species.

FOCCOTHRAU8TES w C.uossu li.l,

IP VI. 199

The remaining genera of the Order Passert*t consist of the more Muiilcr-billcd small liinls, or sueli as, from the structure of their l>< -aks, arc more calculati .I fef feeding on the smaller and mtou insects than on grain. Linnaeu* ranges the major part of these birds imdrra vast genus called Alotacilla or Warbler, the characters of which are a weak, slender bill, slightly notched at the tip: the tongue either divided or jagged at the tip, and the legs slender. These birds live principally on the smaller kind of insects and worms.

Among the principal species is the Nightingale, which is the J/. Luxcinia of Linnaeus, a native of most parts of Europe and Asia, and of a migra- tory nature. In our own country it arrives, as is well known, about the beginning of April, and leaves us in the month of August.

" To every person, (says the Count de Buflbn,) whose ear is not totally insensible to melody, t lie- name of the Nightingale must recal the charms of those soft evenings in spring, when the air is still and serene, and all nature seems to listen to the songster of the grove. Other birds, the larks, the canaries, the chaffinches, the petty-chaps, the linnets, the goldfinches, the blackbirds, the Ame-

200 LECTURE VI.

rican mocking-birds, excel in the several parts which they perform: but the nightingale com- bines the whole, and joins sweetness of tone with variety and extent of execution. His notes assume each diversity of character, and receive every change of modulation ; not a part is re- peated without variation; and the attention is kept perpetually awake, and charmed by the endless flexibility of strains. The leader of the vernal chorus begins the prelude with a low and timid voice, and he prepares for the hymn to na- ture by essaying his powers and attuning his organs: by degrees the sound opens and swells; it bursts with loud and vivid flashes; it flows with smooth volubility; it faints and murmurs ; it shakes with rapid and violent articulations : the soft breathings of love and joy are poured from his inmost soul, and every heart beats in unison, and melts with delicious languor. But this continual richness might satiate the ear. The strains are at times relieved by pauses, which bestow dig- nity and elevation. The mild silence of evening heightens the general effect, and not a rival in- terrupts the solemn scene."

I must not omit to observe, that, according to

I.KCTURE VI. 201

united testimonies of all modern natura tin admired song of the Nightingale is that of

the male bird, ubo tliu.s cni|il<i\> him-rlf, as if to entertain and soothe the female during her task of incubation; so that tin- celebrated lines of Virgil, however beautiful in point of poetry, are in reality inaccurate in point of natural history.

Quails populea mcerens Philomela sub umbra Amissos queritur foetus, quos durus arator Observans, n'tdo implumes detraxit ; at ilia Flet noctem, ramoque sedens, miscrabile carmen Integral, et mcestis late loca questibus implet.

So close in poplar shades, her children gone,

The mother Nightingale laments alone :

Whose nest some prying churl had found, and thence,

By stealth, convey'd th' unfeather'd innocence.

But she supplies the night with mournful strains,

And melancholy music fills the plains.

Among the very numerous species of the genus

•

Motacilla, every one must be acquainted with the common Water-Wagtail, or M. Alba of Linnaeus; but so very marked and peculiar is the appearance of this bird and a few others nearly allied to it, that Dr. Latham in his excellent Ornithology, has instituted for these birds a separate genus to

202 LECTURE VI.

which he confines the title of Motacilla or Wag- tail, while all the rest of the Linntean Motacilla are referred to a genus called Sylvia or Warbler.

Among the smallest and most curious birds of the genus Motacilla, may be numbered the Indian species called the M.Sutoria or small Taylor-bird. It is so named from its singular practice in build- ing its nest, which consists of one or two leaves proper for the purpose, dexterously sewed toge- ther by the bird, which makes use for this purpose of any kind of fine vegetable filament that it can most easily procure. If the nest be prepared from one leaf only, the two edges are sewn toge- ther, so as to form a kind of pouch : if of two leaves, the edges of both are connected in a similar manner. The figure at present exhibited is copied from Mr. Pennant's Indian Zoology ; and the original was a drawing in the possession of Governor Loten. The hollow of the leaves is filled up with cotton or feathers. The colour of the bird is yellow.

Among the European birds the genus Parus or Titmouse is distinguished for the remarkable neatness of the nest in some species ; more parti- cularly the elegant little species called the long-

SMALL TATLOK -B 1 >

,.{,<•• HMijAit *, K h'wf.

LECTUR1. VI. MB

• I Titmouse, uhich buil \t o\al nest with

a lateral opeiiin:;. Others Imilil pend- nl tin- Pnli-li 'I. or P. pemlulnm->.

Amont; the soft-hilled Passen-s or small-birds tin- ijeniis Ilinimtu or Swallow is r« -markable for many particularities. The eh of liie genus

,11 a -^iiiall short l>ill, ^^itll a broadish base; a uiiir mouth or <^i|x •; a .sliori, divided tongue; long wings, and short I.

The common Swallow, or Hinindo rustica, is a migratory Itird, \arying its residence according to tli >n, on account, chiefly, of the insect

trilu-s on which it ft •« <U. If kept in a sufficiently warm apartment, and supplied with insect food, the ( oinmon Swallow may be kept throughout ih< \\iutcr, without exhibiting any symptoms of an inclination to torpidity. It is well known that it lia^ been by many supposed to remain torpid, or rather concealed in close caverns and other retired situations during the winter season; and this really appears to have been sometimes the ease with the later broods; instances having been known of Swallows suddenly appearing on th*- tops of sunny buildings and rocks in the middle of winter. Among the most extravagant theories,

204 LECTURE VI.

that of the supposed submersion of the Swal- low tribe under water during the winter; but I forbear to dwell any longer on a topic so often discussed, and shall recommend to those who may wish to pursue the arguments on all sides, relative to the dormancy of Swallows, to the pages of Pennant, Buffon, Klein, Willughby, and especially to those of the Gentleman's Magazine, where they may find an ample harvest of observations on the subject.

One curious circumstance should not be omitted in the history of the Swallow, which is, that the same pair have been known to return to the self- . same spot in which they bred the year before : this has been observed for at least three years successively, and has been ascertained by mark- ing the birds, before their disposition to migration, by a circle of red or other coloured silk fastened round their legs.

Allied to the Swallow genus is that of Capri- mulgus or Goatsucker, a genus of birds, differing, as Linnaeus observes, in the same degree from the Swallows that Moths do from Butterflies ; for in reality the Goatsuckers may almost be considered as a kind of nocturnal Swallows. The bill is very

LECTURE VI. 203

small in most species, but broad at the base, tin gape or swallow excessively wide; the edges of the jaws btM t with strong bristles, the wings long, and the tail even, or not forked. They are, in general, birds of moderate size, and are remark- able for their curiously variegated or speckled plumage, without any brilliancy of colour. The common European Goatsucker, the only species known in Europe, is a migratory bird, appearing in England during the summer months, and feed- ing, like the rest of this genus, on the larger kind of Moths, Beetles, and other insects*. The largest of the genus is the Caprimulgus Grandis or Great South American Goatsucker, in size source inferior to a Buzzard, and with a mouth so wide as to measure three inches in the gape, or from the tip of the bill to the angle of the mouth. Its plumage is a dull cream colour with very nu- merous brown freckles or variegations. But the most curious or singular of all the Goatsuckers is an African species discovered not many years ago in Sierra Leona, and which is somewhat smaller than the common European Goatsucker. It is

* It flies by night, and is lometimes called the Fern-Owl, oc Churn-Owl.

208 LECTURE VI.

varieties, of which the most remarkable is that called the Silk Fowl, (S* lanatus Lin.) in which the whole body is covered with feathers so loosely webbed as rather to represent hair than plumes. This variety is most common in some parts of China and Japan. Another very remarkable va- riety of the common fowl is called the Negro Fozcl, in which not only the whole plumage, but the comb, wattles, skin, and even the flesh itself are entirely black. This variety is said to be chiefly found in some of the lower parts of Africa.

The genus or particular set in which the fowl is placed is entitled Phasianus, and comprehends not only the fowl but all the Pheasants. Its cha- racters are that the cheeks or sides of the head are bare, or covered by a naked skin : that the bill is short and strong, and that the legs, in most species, are armed with spurs.

The common Pheasant or Phasianus Cokhicus of Linnaeus, takes its title from the regions of the ancient Colchos, where it was formerly found, and from whence it was first brought into different parts of Europe. Of late years some other highly beautiful birds of this genus have been rendered

ARG-US

VI. 209

common in our own country in :i douieMie si ;i> t of China or /'. piclus of

id M en i re only,

and not tin- bird it- lit have

gined it to ha\ ; lal animal,

than a r |n culiarly vivid

and varied i I plum;;

uirkable for its

si/r ami lieauty, tliou-h unaccompailiecl by any brill i" colour, is a native of Sumatra, arid

has lor many years been eon^idi red as consti- tuting one of the chief ornaments uf ihe F.u- ropean Museums.

There exists in China some very large N|. of Pheasaiit i!»ed, and known to us

only from the long tail-feather !i are some »

tim« Jit over, and which are of such a

length as to exce< d six feet : their colour is grey, with very numerous brown bars.

This may perhaps be the bird mentioned l.v Marc«» 1' that in the neighbourhood

of the city of Siriiras in Carthage are large Phea- sants, with tails measuring from seven to ten spans in length.

. i. P

210 LECTURE VI.

The P. Ignitus or Fire-backed Pheasant, de- scribed in Sir George Staimton's Account of the Embassy to China, is a species, which till that period had either never been described, or so im- properly and indistinctly as to convey no just idea of the bird. I confess however that I have some suspicion of its being very nearly allied to the Guan of Edwards's Ornithology. If so, it has been referred by Linnxus and others to a wrong genus, and considered as a species of Turkey.

The Turkey, so long domesticated in this country as well as in most other parts of Europe, is a native of North America, and by no means of India, as sometimes imagined. The genus to which the Turkey belongs is called Meleagris, and is distinguished by a short, thick bill, and the head and throat covered by spongy tuberculated, bare, reddish, or other coloured membrane. The Turkey in its native regions of North America is commonly of # black colour, accompanied by a coppery and greenish gloss. It is seen in nu- merous flocks, and is principally found in woods. A very fine specimen of the Wild American Tur- key may be seen in the Leverian Museum. Tho

LFCTURE VI. 211

Turkey ii commonly said to have been intro- duced into England, or culti\ated in a domestic staff, in the reign of King Henry the Eighth.

A \cry numerous genus called Tetrao or Par- fridge MU-MC.U. It contains a vast variety of >|M •( -it-, of which by far the major part arc inha- bitants of Africa and America. In our own country the two prevailing species are the Com- mon Partridge and the Common Quail. The former of these is so well known that it would appear a mere loss of time to particularize its description. The latter or the Quail is less com- mon ; and is a migratory species, varying its quarters according to the season. The Quail, says an excellent ornithologist, seems to spread en- tirely through the old world, but does not inhabit the new : it is seen from the Cape of Good Hope cu n to Iceland ; and throughout Russia, Tartary, and China ; and is mentioned by so many tra- vellers and in so many places, that we may almost (all it a universal inhabitant of the old continent. In spring it migrates northward, and in autumn -outhward ; and this in large flights, like most oilier migrating birds. Twice in a year such flights come into the island of Capri (in the

212 LECTURE VI.

Archipelago) that the bishop of the island draws his chief revenue from them, and has thence been sometimes called the Bishop of Quails. Almost all the islands in the Archipelago, and on the op- posite coasts, are also at particular times covered with these birds. On the western coast also of the kingdom of Naples, within a space of about four or five miles, have been taken no less than eight hundred thousand in a day. Great clouds of Quails are also occasionally seen to alight in spring on some of the French coasts, according to the testimony of the Count de Buffon. All these observations may therefore tend to con- firm the account in the sacred writings of the Quail having been the bird sent, heaven-directed, in such countless flights, among the Israelites during their abode in the wilderness.

The Quail is the Tetrao Cuturnic of Lin- naeus, and is distinguished as a species by its pale chesnut-brown colour, with a whitish stripe down each feather, and by a whitish stripe over each eye.

In China is a species much allied to it but of a smaller size, and with a black crescent be- neath the throat. This is the species trained by

HOD ')

/hii t>t GXfarslcr fit** Street.

VI. 213

, in the manner of C in Kurope.

Tii •••lin is a beautiful sperie>, about the

• minon Partridge or rather larger, and

<1 with dilleivnt colours: it is

a native ot' tin- (ireeian Islands, and is the / rrancol Liiina-us.

Among the (iallina« we must by

no moans omit that in alar bird the Dodo,

a very la rue and thick-bodied bird, formerly seen in tin- i>land of Hourbon in the Indian seas, as well as in x»nie parts of Africa, but which for nearly two centuries appears to ha\c- eluded all the diligence of naturalists tu detri-t. The only authentic original 1: f the Dodo is a paint-

•ii)Lc preserved in the British Museum, which is said to have been executed from the living bird, brought into Holland bv the Dutch some time

t

the d: the Indies by the way of

the Cape of Good Hope. The bird ap;> to b derably larger than a Turkey, with

!it, and with a

large head, an e\tn inely large thick bill, and MT\ sj) ;t, thick legs. A skin of a Dodu was preserved in the Museum of the famous John

214 LECTURE VI.

Tradescant, at Lambeth, and was seen by our famous Ray, who mentions it in his Synopsis of Birds; but this skin appears to have been after- wards suffered to decay; the beak alone, with one of the legs, and that in a state of consi- derable decay, being now preserved in the Ash- molean Museum at Oxford, which is well known to contain the old collection of Tradescant. The Leg of a Dodo was also preserved in the Mu- seum of the Royal Society, and is well described by Grew in his description of that collection : it is at present in the British Museum, and, (fortunately for ascertaining the real existence of so extraordinary a bird,) is in a good state of preservation; amply confirming the description given by Dr. Grew, and at once demonstrating to the eye of every ornithologist that it cannot belong to any other known bird. This leg, from the British Museum, with the beak from the Oxford Museum may be found amply de- scribed and figured in the Naturalists' Miscellany, where I have taken some pains to evince the existence of the animal, which has been some- times considered as doubtful. The bird itself however is either grown so rare as to be no

] i < T( i;r. vi. sis

longer easily discoverable in the regions where it \\a> formerly found, or else, like some other nni inuls, must have become extinct, from some of destruction with which we are un-

It would he unnecessary to observe that the generic characters of the Dodo, (which is the l)idii> ineptus of LiimaHis,) are taken from the figures published by Edwards and others, and which have been copied from the painting in the British Museum. The colour of the Dodo is a variegation of black and white, as may be seen in the coloured engraving of Edwards. The figure of the Beak from the Oxford Museum, and of the Leg from the British Museum will give a sufficiently clear idea of the characters of the genus. The bill is strongly wrinkled or indented in the middle ; and the legs are thicker in proportion to their length than in any other bird.

But the Pride of the order Gallinrc, and indeed of the whole feathered race, is tl Pn\-n or Peacock ; in the chief species of which, or /Vt'o L-rlstatus, Nature s« ems to have exhai all her powers of splendor combined with

216 LECTURE VI.

gance. The Peacock is a native of India, and when the conquering Alexander led his deso- lating Myriads into the peaceful plains of India, he is said to have been so struck by the sight of the Peacock in its native regions, and in the full magnificence of its plumage, as to have for- bidden any one to destroy a Peacock under pain of death. It may not be improper to observe, on the subject of the Peacock, that the beau- tiful set of feathers springing from the lower part of the back, and usually called the tail, do not constitute the real tail, which is situated be- neath them, and is short like that of a hen, and serves as a support to the long and beautiful feathers constituting the admired train, which, together with the upright and slightly revolute feathers on the head, constitute the characters of the genus Pavo.

There are two remarkable genera of birds, which are placed by ornithologists in different Orders j some referring them to the present Order Galling, while others rather choose to rank them among the Gralla. These are the genera called Struthio and Otis or Ostrich and Bustard. In reality the birds which rank under

OSTRICH

/-Yr,-/ .Tow/-.

j.i . vi. an

genera >» •< in to be of an ambiguous

caM, and may with almost c-<|iuil propriety be placed in either order. The t'enus Strutlno or O.Mrieh i> eminently . nous among bird>;

containing by far tin- lariat of tin- leathered tribe. Thf generic character.-. CODM^I in a some- what conical, and slightly ilaltencd Ijill ; wings tor flight, and feet forme il for running,

iuf destitute of the hind or back toe. The Common O>trich, of which at least the general appearance and common history must be known to almost every one, is a native of the hottest parts of Africa j the hody of the male is black, of *the female brown ; the wings and tail in both are white; the neck nearly bare, and of a flesh colour: the legs excessively. strong, and the feet have only two toes, a particularity not to be found in any other bird.

The Ostrich is supposed to feed principally on vegetable substances : it has been accused, from the earliest times, of a proverbial neglect of its eggs, which it is supposed to lea\e in the sand without paying any regard to tlu-ir curity. Dr. Sparrman however is inclined to

218 LECTURE VI.

believe that the male and female Ostrich sit b^ turns on the eggs, which are generally from ten or twelve to twenty in number; (not fifty, as mistakenly stated by Linnseus in the Systema Naturae.)

Other travellers of high reputation assure us, that the male Ostrich, accompanied by three, four, or five females, makes a kind of nest or cavity, in which all the females deposit their re- spective eggs, which they all likewise sit on, the male occasionally relieving them by exercising that office himself.

The American or three-toed Ostrich was of course unknown till the discovery of that Con- tinent. It is a native of South America, and perhaps the only specimen known in Europe is that in the Leverian Museum ; but it has rather the appearance of a half-grown bird than one of its full growth. The colour of the American Ostrich is brown, with whitish wing and tail feathers, and the feet have three toes.

In the same genus with the Ostrich is by T/mnatus placed the Cassowary, or Emu, under the title of Stntthio Casudrius; but of late it has

7J

IKCTI 1:1; vr. been ratln ;• i "u>idi>red as belonging to a distinct

i- under tin- name of C'dsmiriux, and is eall«-d

:arill> ( . : itlVC

of the East I IK 1 d was fn>t

into ard- t|;.- < .' • ••

of th h cent i: of a coal-hhrk

d want of win^s having only, in pi. , live or

irong, naked, horny spines or quills on side: on thr head N a very ^trong and some- what flatten*- d rising crest or helmet, down cadi side the neck run a pair of long spongy waul* s of an irregular surface and of a mixed red and violet-colour. The feathers of this bird are re- markably long and narrow, so as to give the bird at first sight the appearance of being co- vered rather with hair than feathers: each fea- ther ;) double, two .springing from one shaft oi- the legs ; mely .^trong, and tli- .uc tlip . all pointing for- ward nong t!i ntations of the v : •> in the sevcntfrnth century, of Mr. Millar in his Miscellaneous Plates of Natural History, and Barraband in some plates lately published at Paris.

220 LECTURE VI.

In New Holland is a species of Cassowary of rather superior size to the Indian Casso- wary, of a brown colour, destitute of a horny crest, and in its whole appearance bearing a nearer resemblance to the Ostrich. It has been described under the name of Casuarius Australia.

The genus Otis or Bustard is characterized by a slightly convex and rather pointed bill, very open nostrils, sharp divided tongue, and long legs, naked above the knee, with feet formed for running, having three toes, all directed forwards. The chief Species is a European Bird, and is occasionally seen in our own country ; some- times in small flocks or groups, and sometimes singly. It chiefly frequents large open plains, is a very large bird, with long neck and legs, and of a yellowish brown colour, elegantly varied with numerous black isa transverse streaks and bars. The male bird has a membranaceous sack or pouch within tin.' neck, for the purpose of holding water; this pouch is capable of containing several pints, but it is remarkable that the fnnale bird is des- titute of a similar apparatus. The general food of the bustard is supposed to be of a vegetable nature, but it also feeds on worms and in.--

BFSTARD

I.FC VI. 221

and, according to sonic lat<- observations on and tield-miee. A | rdinary cir-

cnm :i lately n !at« d of tin- bird ;

lliat it has been kiio'.\n to d«-M •end .suddenly from IN Illicit, and Iron) some unknown capn« .-, l«> attack a horse and its rider with great \i«>- lencc, and \\ ith such blind fury as to sulTrr it>«-|f to I- d 1>\ tin- traveller, rather than at-

tempt an (>ca|)c. Two instances of this are recorded in thr Gentle-man's Magazine of the of about t\\o years jia-t.

The two rcmainiujT Orders of Birds are the (initU and jH.wrcst or the Il'tidcm and the Jl\b-footed Birds. The former of these tribes is termed Oral/a on account of the general length of the legs in these birds, which in some ra is Mich as to give the appearance of the bird.- walking as it Avere on stilts, the Latin

d Gralhe signifying a pair of stilts. The birds contained in this tribe are all the Herons, Craticxj Storks, and nittcrn.s ; all the Snipe and Plircer-kimL The Ibijtes, the Cools and Rails, and several other birds, some of very large size, and >ome ratlu-r small. I must also here ob- serve, that systematical ornithologists differ in

222 LECTURE VI.

opinion as to the arrangement of some of the genera in the Order Grallas, some of which ap- pear of a dubious cast, and may with almost equal propriety be referred either to the Gralla or Gall'ma; while others seem to hang in equal suspence between the Gralla and the Anseres or Web-footed Birds.

In both these tribes I shall, as usual, parti- cularize only some of the most important genera. "We shall commence with the Order Gralla?.

The Order Gratia is considered by Linnaeus as analogous to the Order Bruta among Qua- drupeds. The bill in these birds is generally rather long than short : the legs lengthened, and the thighs often bare of feathers above the knee. Their chief residence is in watery situations, and their food consists of various kinds of aquatic animals, though some feed also on vegetable sub- stances. Their nests are often on the ground, sometimes in tail trees. It is observed that few of the birds of this order lay more than four eggs, and some genera only two.

Perhaps the most remarkable genus among the GraLlz or Waders is that of Mycteria or Jabiru. It is distinguished by having a very

7-*

MTTURE VI. 225

large, pointed beak, which Ujiit3*4 of descend

i the generality of l>inl>, turns slightly up- ward.-: the hunt or face i- bare of i< at i and the 'igth, with feet of

tin- u-ual OH .iciurcj that is ha\in^

tli!' ;md ono backwards.

on!\ of tlii- mi ntioned h\ Lmi

is tiu- Mijctcr'nt ^hncnania or Coimnon Jabiru, ••ird, a nati\<- of South- America, of a white colour, with the bill, long wiu^- fcathtTs and tail black, and the neck bare, of a black colour, ( ncircl« d at tlic bottom by a broad red zone or collar; but of late years two other sptcK > have bi-en added to this genus, one of which is the bird now before us; it is' called the M. S^negatensU or Senegal Jabiru, and ditYcrs from the American or Common Jabiru in ha\ing a pale or whitish beak, with a red

. and < near the middle by a broad

black bar. Of t! a more particular

•ipiion may be found in the fifth volume of tin- Transactions of the Limuean Society. New Holland has aNo atl'orded another species, smaller than the former, and distinguished by having the

224 LECTURE VI.

neck covered with feathers, and of a deep change- able greenish-black colour. A fine specimen may be seen in the Leverian Museum, now (unfor- tunately for the study of natural history,) con- demned to dispersion. The birds of this genus are supposed to live in the manner of Herons, to which their whole habit bears a near resemblance. The Herons, which belong to a genus called Ardea, are by far the most numerous of all the

x

tribe of wading-birds or Grallse, and are distin- guished by a rather large and long, strait sharp- pointed bill, generally marked on each side by a longitudinal furrow. Their legs are very long, and the feet of the usual or general structure, except that, in some species, the claw of the middle toe is deeply serrated or toothed on its inner edge, in order the better to enable such species to hold their prey, which often consists of fish, frogs, and other water-animals. The common Heron must be known to every one, and is a very frequent inhabitant of the country. The Crane, now so rarely seen, and that only as an accidental visitant, was once a constant inhabitant. It is a migratory species, and, unlike most of the genus,

LECTURE VI. j_-

feeds, at least principally, on grain of different kinds*. The largest bird of the Heron tril tin- Ka>t Indian spirits called the Ilargil, or .--, or Giant-Heron j chi»-fly seen in It is of a blackish colour, with a n

, and a

:it craw or crop. On opening one of these birds; says an eminent t:\iv.-iler, was found a land-tortoise ten inches long in its craw, and a large black cat in its stomach. It is said to be easily tamed, and rendered domestic ; in which state it has been permitted to fly about at j sure in the neighbourhood, when it has been ob- served to sit on the tallest trees, and at the dis- tance of two or three miles could spy the dinner carrying along the court-yard; and would th«-n dart from its station, and soon join the company, and has been known to snatch up a whole fowl from the dish, and swallow it in an instant : the traveller adds, that the bone of a shin of beef, being broken asunder, served it but for two mouth-

* The Indian Crane or Ardea Antigone of Linnaeus, is nearly allied in general appearance to the Crane, but differs in having a red bare collar round the neck : it is well figured in the works of Edwards.

LECT. I. O

•J26 LECTURE VI.

fuls. A young bird of this species is preserved in the British Museum.

Many highly elegant birds belong to the genus Ardea, among which may be particularized the Egret or Ardea Garzetta, a beautiful white spe- cies, remarkable for affording, like some other birds of this tribe, a peculiarly elegant kind of long and delicate feathers, appropriated by he- raldic rules to the decoration of certain orders of knighthood and other ceremonials.

The Sfork is a large species of Heron, of a white colour, with the longer wing-feathers black, and the legs and beak of a bright red.

The Bitterns are a kind of Herons which differ from the rest in the thicker or shorter appearance of their bodies, and in the fulness of tlie feathers on the breast. The common Bittern, which is the Ardea stellaris of Linnaeus, is a very elegant bird, of a pale yellowish brown, beautifully varied with darker streaks and specks : it is found in marshy- situations, and is remarkable for uttering, during some particular states of the weather, a peculiarly loud and sudden noise, the nature of which has given rise to many disputes among naturalists, and is thus explained by Sir Thomas Browne. " That a Bittor makctli that mugient noise, or

74

m

-. — -

I -

\.

LECTURE VI. 227

as we term it, humping, t>v putting its bill into a NMd, as m«. or as B"llonius and .V

vain I: iv «•, by putting the same in water or

mud, and alter a while retaining tlic air l>y >ud- dt nly excluding it again, is not out. F<>r my own part, though after diligent MHj.inv, 1 ( <>uld never behold than in this motion;

. ithstandinu; by others whose observation have expressly r< <i informed, that

some hau- beheld them making this noise on the >hore, their bills being i'ar enough removed from reed or water; that is, fust strongly attracting the air, and unto a manifest distent ion of the neck, and presently after with great contention and vio- lence excluding the same again. As for what others affirm of putting their bill in water or mud, also hard to make out. For what may be observed from any that walketh the fens, there is little intermission, nor uny observable pause, tween the drawing in and sending forth of their breath. And the expiration or breathing forth doth not only produce a noise, but the inspiration or hailing in of the air, aflfordeth a sound that majf be heard almost a flight shot.

Now the reason of this strange and peculiar

223 LECTURE VI.

noise, is deduced from the conformation of the wind-pipe, which in this bird is different from other volatiles. For at the upper extream it hath no fit larynx or throttle to qualify the sound, and at the other end, by two branches deriveth itself into the lungs. Which division consisteth only of semicircular fibres, and such as attain but half way round the part : by which formation they are dilatable into larger capacities, and are able to contain a fuller proportion of air; which being with violence sent up the weazon, and finding no resistance by the larynx, it issueth forth in a sound like that from caverns, and such as some- times subterraneous eruptions from hollow rocks afford. As Aristotle observeth in a problem; and is observable in pitchers, bottles, and that instru- ment which Aponensis upon that problem de- scribeth, wherewith in Aristotle's time gardiners affrighted birds.

Whether the large perforations of the extre- mities of the weazon, in the abdomen, admitting large quantity of air within the cavity of its mem- branes, as it doth in Frogs, may not much assist this mugiency or boation, may also be considered* For such as have beheld them making this noise

K3LET IBIS

iffoff CctJ.Lotulen PuJ>ti/h'J by GJfrar.r/ri- Fleet -tV/vv/.

; VI.

out of the \va? a, larg it ion in

. and tlu-ir ordina that of a raven."

The Hud.- MI'S Ba\ Bittern or American Bittern,

ured in t k> of Kd-.vanb.

!y allied to the . h Bittern, but of rather

smaller si/ Ttic Ardea ininuta, or Smallest

Hittern, i- not much larger than a Thrush, and has been sometii ud in Kugland.

'I'll.- • - mis of birds called Tantalus claims our attention, from its ha\in^ i to con-

tain th«- celebrated bird called the Ibi*, s«» niuch esteemed by the ancient I'.v\ jitians, for its useful quality in destroying various troublesome reptiles and other animals. The Linmean genus Tantalus is distinguished by l,a\mu; a Ion;.;, curved bill, 'not sharpened, but rati itly rounded at tin- tip;

and sit or fore-part of the

kin. One of the hand>»im-t gp< is the T. Rubcr or scarl< i Ibis, a natr. Am« nd entirely of a most brilliant

colour, exc< pt the tips of the \\in2:.s, which are Mack: its size i> ti common fowl.

The Egyptian Ibis h; rally been sup-

230 LECTURE VL

posed to be the T. Ibis of Linnaeus, a large spe- cies, of a white colour, with the tips of the wings black, and the beak yellow. From the exami- nation, however, of such specimens of embalmed Ibises as have lately been brought over from Egypt, Monsieur Cuvier is of opinion that the Egyptian Ibis is not the T. Ibis of Linnreus, but either the same with, or very nearly allied to, the bird described and figured by Mr. Bruce, under the title of Abbou Ilannes. It is about the size of a Curlew, and is of a white colour, with the tips of the wings and the scapular-feathers black, the base of the beak greenish, and the head slightly tinged with brown. The bird however embalmed by the ancient Egyptians, and examined by Cuvier and others, has the head and neck naked or bare of feathers, ancl of a blackish colour, a particular which I do not recollect that Mr. Bruce has men- tioned in his description ; nor does it appear in the figure annexed to the description, in which both the head and neck appear plumed ; so that it is not quite clear that Mr. Bruce's bird is really the Ibis of the ancient Egyptians, or that it is the game with the Ibis of Monsieur Cuvier. It is

OUTLrNB of

'// //// /^ i yy //////

YPTJAN 1 H I N

Cfnrs/fr fat Slrrrf

!.!•.( :

probable that tl:

. 'Mil sp< ci( .s (if tl, Mirnl

\( ui-ration.

Herodotus ti 11s ns ' I that l

Egypt!;!. amu.allx invaded by --varms of

small living M Tponts, which 9 ,-ck' <1. .

(1, and killed by the Ibis, which on this account was revered by the Egyptians. He adds that lir had been shewn heaps of the bones of these serpents near the confines of the de- serts. As to the winged serpents, we well know that no such animals are now discoverable; and it i* not very probable that any such have :• existed. The animal called the Dragon indeed, or the Flying-Lizard might be add; as in some degree justifying such an idea; but tli- Dragon is a harmless animal, whereas the Flying-Serpents mentioned by Herodotus are sup- (l to have been highly p6uonon& An in- >>us French author, Monsieur S o far

from supposing any natural antipathy to exist be- ; the Ibis and the ! tribe, imagines

that neither the Egyptian Ibis nor any other of

'•n such reptilo, b( ing by no n-- . dated for such a kind of food, but that the

LECTURE VI.

whole is nothing more than a metaphorical illus- tration of the effects of the hot south-winds and clouds of sand, which at a particular period, viz. during the spring, invade, or as it were threaten the borders of Egypt, at which time all man- ner of contagious diseases prevail, and of the salubrious effects of the cooling north-winds, which blow after the inundation of the Nile, at which time the Ibis makes its appearance, and may therefore be said to have conquered the winged Serpents -} i. e. the hot winds, with all their accompanying evils. The Cerastes or horned Serpent, which is an inhabitant of the hot sandy deserts, was therefore very naturally made an em- blem of the malignity of these winds, with their accompanying sands and diseases j while the Ibis, which so constantly accompanied the effects of the cooling north- winds and the recovered ver- dure of the country, became a kind of emblem of salubrity, and of the conquest over the wingeci Serpents.

The Egyptians, according to this author, instead of saying in common language, The sands, in which the Cerastes resides, are blown into the air and arrive among us with their train of evils ;

LECTU1U. \I 233

IM ihaps ovcruhclm mir cultivated lands

iii; and v« noinous serpent N in.t\ ssess our abed. •> a.-> ill- v now <J-> th< ir iia- .1 i.f >p< iius tli.-y would

in metaphor, The /'/// 'flits ;r/7/ </(

at. Iii tlu* same manner, when, by tin-

:li-\vinds tlic r<nmtr_ >uriluil, a.-d the

irbiuger of fertility, j-c-appoan d, tlir-y

:\, The Ibl , conquered the Serpi

!y, ilu« sand.-, accumulated on the confines of

rt, arrested by vegetation in those places

ulit re the openings between the hills allorded

thrm a passage, might well be denominated the

heaps of bone*, which declared the victory of the

|bis, and justified the veneration paid to the bird.

The genus Numenius or Curlew is so closely

allied to that of Ibis, that Jt only differs in not

having a naked front Tin- common Curlew is a

native of our own island, and is often seen on our

coa> Its colour i- pale-brown, \aried with

vn, and the lower parts are white.

The is not very numerous, l>nt some of the

e birds of considerable elegance -t

:n particular which sometimes strays into this

country, and i> of a brilliant coppery-brown colour,

23-* LECTURE VI.

with greenish, iridescent variegations, according to the direction of the light. It is naturally an inhabitant of Russia, Siberia, and other distant regions, and is the Numenius igneus of modern ornithologists.

Another exotic species much allied to this, and which though a native of South-America., has been seen on the British coasts, is the N. Gnarauna, which is by Linnasus referred to his genus Scolopax. J must also here observe that the supposed Egyp- tian Ibis or the sfbbou Hanncs of Bruce, may be considered as a Numenius rather than a Linnoean Tantalus.

Among the most singular genera of the Grallne or Waders, is a genus called Parra. It is distin- guished by a slightly obtuse beak of moderate length, by a rising scolloped flap or naked skin

above the base of the bill in front, by a spine or

' sharp horny process on each shoulder, and lastly

by the immoderate length of the toes and claws, which in some species nearly equal half the length of the body. The Parra variabilis or variable Parra, called the Jacana, is well figured in the works of Edwards, and is of a chesm.it colour .•hove, white beneath, with green wings. It is a

'

Ii<!l 1!! VI '.MS

of South :», an. I i > ivpn -« ntcti in

Kdwai'd-'s |i!.it«- in its natui. Hut tin most

Mi' bird of the t:enii> i • .died flic faithful

I'.ina or faithful Jaeana; it is th<- • n.i\an.'

and i- of liir .si/e of a Common do-

:c fowl. Jt i> ehicth i.la«-ki>li brown

colour, deeper Ix-ncatii, and .stands lii'.Ji on

;ind ch1 t'j of sncli a length

Jo one another in walk

bird is easily tamed and re nd» n d <loinestic, in xvliit i it is made the guardian of all the

utlit-r kind of poultry, \\liich are coininilt' care in the same manner as a flock of sheep are to that of their attendin During the day-

time iids them from all birds of }>i« y, being

able, by means of the spurs on its shoulders, to dri\e olV «-\en Vultures thin It is said

c-oinmitted to its «

goin^ out with them to proper situations by da\ , and ularly bringing the in all safe home at

'it.

Of a similar disposition and manners is an- . South Auu riean bird belon^iiiLr to th«: e ia% but. of a different genus, called Psophia gi 'liu, iiarity of its notes.

236 LECTURE VI.

The genus Psopbia has a shortish, pointed bill, long legs, and feet of the usual structure. The principal species is called the Golden-breasted Trumpeter, and is a rather large and tall bird, of the size of a domestic fowl, with a long neck, and of a grey colour above, black beneath ; the breast of a changeable golden-green with a blackish cast. This bird is also tamed by the South Americans, and made ilse of as a guard to their poultry in the same manner as the Parra Chccvaria before described, but seems to be some- what inferior to that bird in its character and qua- lities. The Trumpeter is by some ornithologists rather referred to the Linnrean order Gallinsc than that of the Grallas. Indeed it seems to partake of the nature of both these orders.

The genus Platalea or Spoonbill is too remark- able to be passed over in silence. Its character is a long flattened bill, dilated at the tip into a broad and slightly rounded expanse. The common or European Spoonbill, which was once a native of our own island, but which has long since ceased to appear among us except as a mere accidental straggler, is about the size of a Stork, and of a white colour, with the bill and legs blackish or

SPOONBILL.

LECTL'Kl VI. jr>7

• hnivni. It is rcconl« d by Mr. IVnnnnt thai a Hock of tlic.-M. buds migrated into tin- ma,

>uth in th<- y« . Ill !• M.uid

OS Common binl>, but

! South-AmiTi

.ut it'iil .SJM-I •',

mhtoM0M(^l^|^

ce to tli >ean^biK)o»ibill,

a bright rose-colour. South ..

. \« r\ Mnall >| mi-,

vhi< li is said l»y JJiiMiL-ti^ lianlly to i the

a Sparrow, and is of a brown colour above, and white beneath. The birds ol' th. > are

observed to live in the manner of the- I K-ron trih. li>h, reptiles and water insects, and they build their nests on. tall trees.

tw.> genera of Tri/iga and C/iiiradriusmij*-

tain all the birds of the Snipe and Plorer trilx-,

and y much allied t- !ln r, but in the

ailed Tnnga th- re furnished with a

: toe, wl ' initlrin-f thrre is

Of the the T. InU r/urs or

Tuni.stone may serve ;i ; and of the

• enus Charadrius • th«- n.o->t reinarkablr-

C'h. Iliinantopus or : Plover; one of the rare-t «.-f the Hritiah b.

LECTURE VI.

black above, white beneath, with red legs of a most extravagant length.

The last genus of the Gralla which I shall par- ticularize, is the Flamingo or Phoenicoplcrus ; it is distinguished by a large, broad, but rather thin bill, suddenly bent down in the middle as if broken, and finely toothed or serrated on the edges. The Red Flamingo is a most extraordinary bird, of the size of a Goose, but with a neek and legs so enormously long as to appear out of pro- portion to the rest of the animal. The colour of the whole bird when full grown is a vivid scarlet, \rith the tips of the wings black. It is a native of Africa and of South America, frequenting the sea coasts and the brinks of rivers, and feeding in the manner of the Heron tribe, on fish and water insects, and sometimes on vegetables.

As the feet in the .Flamingo are pretty deeply webbed, it may be considered as forming a kind of connecting link between the Grallae and the Anscrcs, or web-footed swimming-birds, to which we shall now direct our attention.

The Anseres consist of such birds as have very strongly or conspicuously-webbed feet, and are, from their general structure, calculated for swim-

FLAMINGO

IK T! UK \ I.

au or Goo

sin- IVn-uiiis, ti s, the Pelicans*

T! oui to ih«-

P Kflluce an; '[amm.dia. The hill in

:-;il rither somr'Ahat dilat« d at the ti; with u Kind of nail or

md in must it is so con- tout Led with Alight prominences. The in all arc v< .oug

:\\\d .t, iat, and i

<'iilar. Tln.ir loud consists of fish and other water animals, and 1'n'qurinly of water- plants. Th< ir rest is generally on the ground; but sometimes on lofty rocks: the nmul> i.i;-<U D|'

i»rd«-r differs greatly in th . rent gci:

laying only one egc: ; othrrs two; o; , and olh»'i> a : 'i to

tutiity.

As the chief examples of the tribe of Ai: or \ may be addin . \vi!d

Hud tan: - i, or t! Cyi^nus f<-ni-, and

clomesticus; the j^eiius Anas nil the

bird

240 LECTURE VI.

names of Swans, Geese and Ducks. This genus is distinguished by having a broad, slightly convex bill, toothed along the edges by numerous small cartilaginous plates or processes, disposed like the teeth of a comb -7 and the tongue is obtuse, fleshy^ and slightly toothed or pectinated at the edges. The two birds often confounded together by natu- ralists, under the titles of the wild and tame Swan, are now found to be truly distinct ; nor does the difference consist merely in the exterior appear- ance, but in the interior organization j the trachea or wind-pipe in the tame Swan being simple or straight, while in the wild Swan it is very strikingly reflected or doubled into the sternum or breast- bone, so as to be able to utter the powerful note for which the bird is remarkable. The wild Swan is rather smaller or more slender than the tame, with a black beak, and a yellow cere at the base ; while the tame Swan, on the contrary, has a red or orange beak, with a large, globular, black cere at the base.

Every one has heard of the supposed musical voice of the Swan, which was believed to be par- ticularly exerted during its latest hours, when it reclined on the banks of its native waters, and

LECTURE VI. 241

took leave of life with a sweetly-mournful song or dirge. So strongly was this idea impressed on tin minds of the ancients, that the Swan became tin syinliol of | )<>< try , Imt ' it really is, it seems

to have had its excuse, and to have originated from some exaggerated descriptions of the natural notes of the wild Swan; the flocks of which, dur- ing tlu-ir flight, have been often observed to emit a sound far from un pleasing in concert, though the general notes of a single bird are harsh and stridulous. The tame Swan has no other voice than a mere hiss : yet so common appears to Imvi been the general belief of its musical pov. that the celebrated Aldrovandus, in his Ornitho- logy, speaks, as he imagines, from good authorit \ , 01 the music of the Swans upon the Thames near London, which he had been well assured, were very frequently heard to sing.

Sir Thomas Brown, with his usual depth o learning and solemnity of diction, endeavours in his P>( -ndoduxia Epidemica, or Vulgar Errors, to explode this popular notion, and concludes with sentence : M When therefore we consider the* dissention of authors, the falsity of relations, the ^disposition of the organs, and the unmusical

LECT. J. R

2*2 LECTURE VI.

note of all we ever beheld or heard of, if gene- rally taken, and comprehending all Swans, we cannot assent thereto : surely he that is bit by a Tarantula shall never be cured with this music ; and with the same hopes we may expect to hear the harmony of the spheres."

There is a Irighly curious species of Swan, a native of some parts of New Holland, and the neighbouring regions, called the Black Swan, which I have myself some years ago described under the name of Anas Plutonia. It is sometimes brought over to this country in a living state, and whoever has closely attended to it, must have been struck with the sweetness of the tones which it occasionally utters : they are not of long continuance, but sin- gularly melodious. I must here observe that the black or southern Swan, though so lately made familiar to the European Naturalists, from the dis- coveries in the Southern Pacific, appears to have been known to navigators a great many years ago, since on some of the older kind of globes and maps, we may occasionally observe about these regions, an inscription importing that black Swans are there to be found.

The genus Pekcanus or Pelican, is distin-

BLACK

CQMMOH

1606 OctJ.J.ondc/1 fubli/tid by GJuarflty flfet Street

VI. 243

rfni-lu d by .1

mandible, .ind by widely v. <th four

toes all turned forwards. The great or r< 11:1111011 \\hite T a native of many parts ot' the old

Continent, and enor .

chiclly |. -h it is said

ally to c an v to IN man '. liile engaged in incubation.

The C'orvorant Pelican, though

•icnibra!! bill is but

nt in this bird. Ti a nati-.

and, and thoi; d lurd i- u

1 to sit or re>; in trees : it builds <»n high rock\ cliiVs. It ha> been son IIM (1 for 'imd

it^ 'I'll- i

ihis jiucj, »se, \, iiieh ••(•(! and

figured in ^ China.

It i^ :it, l»nt

a brown colour above, and whitish with brown spot- beneath. According to Sir G. Staun'

• unt, tl.- • -irried in boats by tin ii

proprietors on the -'ivers, and well trained

244- LECTURE VI.

as not to require any ring round their necks, but spring into the water at the command of their owners, and soon return with their prey in their mouths.

Among the Goose tribe we may particularize a species often found in the northern parts of our own island, and called the Bernacle Goose or Clakis : it is commonly supposed the A. Erythropus of Linnaeus, and is black above with the feathers barred or edged with white. This is the bird which the vulgar, and even some of the learned once supposed to have been produced, not in the manner of other birds, from an egg, but from a peculiar kind of shell-fish called the Bernacle, an animal which we shall have occasion to parti- cularize when we arrive at that department of Zoology.

One of the most singular genera among the Anseres or the web-footed swimming-birds, is the genus Penguin, Aptenodytes or Pinguinaria. We cannot but recollect, that among quadrupeds there are some particular kinds, which in point of ex- ternal appearance, seem to make an approach to animals of a different cast or nature; thus, the Munis has so much the appearance and make of a Lizard that, outward form alone were con-

VI.

it might b. ' upon as const ;>

link Ix-tuccii the j.-rojicr or \i\iparous quadrupeds and li/ard--. Tlie Jerboa and the Kangaroo \ the i. • des «*f birds; generally

ling on the hind legs only. The Bats may also I" adduced aa quadrupeds of an anomalous nature, and possessed of the power of flight ; while tin Cetaceous tribe affords a striking instance of the gradual declension of the quadruped form, till in the Manati it approaches to that of a very different class of beings. Even among birds then- are not wanting Mime instances of the same sort of indistinct alliance to animals of an opposite cast; the Penguins, v\hich I have just mentioned, hcifiLT furnished with wings so very short, covered with leathers so very small, so much resembling scales, and so perfectly useless for flight, that they seem approximated in some degree to fishes, and are capable of exercising with case and rxp' d it ion no other actions than those of swimming and diving; since when they attempt to walk, they can merely stagger alnnir in an awkward manner, and if di>turhed are liable to stumble and l.ill.

-remis I\-n«t{in i> not very numerous, and

246 LECTURE VI.

the largest of all is called the Patagonian Pen- guin ; it is about the size of a Swan, and of a deep or blackish ash colour above, and white be- neath : the head is black, and the beginning of the neck marked by a yellow collar, descending on each side from the eyes. It is an inhabitant of the Magellanic seas ; the other species of Pen- guin are also natives of the Antarctic regions, and are in general about the size of a common Duck. The generic character of the Penguins consists in having a strong but rather narrow bill, slightly bent towards the tip, nostrils linear, and wings useless for flight ; all the four toes placed forwards. There is a European bird, occasionally seen on our own coasts, which a beginning ornithologist might be inclined to suppose a Penguin ; and which indeed is often called the northern Penguin. Its colour is black above, and white beneath, and its size that of a Goose. In the shortness of its wings, and its general appearance, it greatly re- sembles a true Penguin ; but belongs to a dif- ferent genus, called Alca or Av.'k, and is the Alca impennis of Linnaeus. It is the only bird of its genus that is incapable of flight ; the rest of the Awks flying with great strength. The generic

ALB A'!

VI.

diararter of the Auks ftnsistfl in a strong, t bill, compressed 01

forward.

With respeet to the real or >outhern PenflAHU

i hut two • tip-

Of tlir I- • 1111-

;i u itli the Trojiii-Bini

or P ! with ; \lbatross,

1 til-- serial

The Albatross or Diomcdea, i^ a \<iv bird, of a white coK>ur when full-irrnwn, vari«.l with n 11, ]>\]' :i <»f

it b!. -ur, ui, .11, ;ui«l

\vinv rtent as soi

tions, that i: '»ui jmli*

lo pole, ami "in land

i any other known bird. It is the DKUU, « xulans of Linnxus, and the wandering All)at

logists, represented in the works of Eclwa:

2 IS LECTURE VI.

The other genus, or Phaeton, with which Lin- nseus once associated the Penguins, merely on ac- count of the form of the beak, is called the Tropic- Bird. The principal species is the Phaeton aethe- reus of Linnaeus, and is so named from the vast height to which it soars. It is about the size of a large Duck, but more slender in proportion, of a silvery white colour, with numerous trans- verse blackish bars or streaks, and has the middle tail-feathers extremely slender, and of a vast length in comparison with the rest. It is rarely seen beyond the limits of the Tropical regions. Another species is of a pale rose colour.

After these examples of the tribe Anseres or web-footed swimming-birds, it would be unneces- sary to dwell on the less conspicuous genera of the order. I shall therefore request your attention in my next Lecture, to the animals distinguished by the title of Amphibia,

END OF VOLUME I.

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