LONDON, CHATTO & WIND US PICCADILLY I THE TUKALIST'S LIBRARY. SIR WILLIAM JAUIMNK, BABT., F.B.H.B,, V.L.H., KTC,, XfO* VOL. XL ORNITHOLOGY. BIRDS OF WESTKIiN AFEICA-PAKT I. «Y W. SWAINSON, ESQ. I'.H.i , F.L.B., M.W.U., ITC., AJTP O»ilVl»A.L FOI1IOW ACADIMTKM, W. ||. LI/.AES, 3, ST. JAMBS' SQUABB. r;. BOHN, YOEK ST., COVBNT GABDEN. BIOLOGY LIBRARY G CONTENTS, MEMOIR OF BRUCE 17 INTRODUCTION ..;.... 85 FALCONID^ or FALCON FAMILY . . . . 103 Cuckoo Falcon. Aviceda Cttctdoides. Plate 1 104 Rufous-necked Falcon. Falco ruficollis. Plate II 107 Rufous Kestral Falcon. Falco rufuscens 109 Grey Falcon. Falco concolor. Plate III 112 Black-chinned Goshawk. Aster monogrammicus. Plate IV. . . . 114 Senegal Sparrow-hawk. Accipiter brachydactylus . . . . . 118 Little Red-billed Hawk. Accipiter erythrorynchus . . . . 121 THE STRAGHXE or OWLS .... 124 White-faced Scops Owl. 124 African Scops Owl. -Scops Senegalensis . ,• • • • . 127 CONTENTS. African Passerine Owl. Scotophilus perlatus .... THE ORDER OF PERCHERS, OR INSESSOKES White-backed Crow. Corvus leuconotus. Plate V. Senegal Piapec. Ptilostomus Senegalensis Red-billed Hornbill. Purple -headed or Scaly Grakle. Golden-eared Grakle. Lampratornis chrysonotis. PI. VI. Blue-eared Grakle. Lamprotornis cyanotis Long-tailed Grakle. Lamprotornis longicanda. PI. VH. Chestnut-bodied Grakle. Lamprotoi-nis rufiventris White-bodied Grakle. Lamprotornis leucogaster. Plate VIII. FRINGILLID^, OR FINCHES Crimson Nutcracker. Pirenestes sanguineus. Plate IX. White-billed Nut-cracker Dertroides albirostris .... Blue-billed Nut-cracker. Spermophaga cyanorynckus . , f Rufous-necked Weaver. Ploceus teortor Round-winged Weaver^ Ploceiis brachypterus. Plate X. . Yellow-bodied Weaver. Broad-shafted Whidah-Finch. Vidwa, paradisea. Plate XL Crimson-collared Whidah. . Vidua rubritorqiies CONTENTS. R* THE UNIVEKS1TY ALTHOUGH the claims of Bruce, the African Tra- veller, as a benefactor to science, belong rather to Geography than Natural History, yet from the im- portance of his discoveries as enlarging the means of human knowledge, and opening up an unexplored region to future adventurers in the same path, his name well deserves a place in the catalogue of dis- tinguished men who have contributed to the ad- vancement of Natural Science. The interesting countries through which he penetrated have been repeatedly visited by Europeans since his time ; but with him rests the merit of having first excited that thirst for information respecting their antiquities, mariners, and productions, which has led so many enterprising travellers to the same fountain. Abyssinia, the most prominent theatre of Bruce's discoveries, had then aroused no spirit of inquiry in Great Britain ; and it was nearly as little known to the inhabitants of this part of the world, even up to the middle of the last century, as it was in the days of Herodotus and Strabo. From the Mosaic record we learn that the Jews were acquainted with IB MEMOIR OF BRUCE. " Ethiopia above Egypt," which corresponds to the Nubia and Abyssinia of modern geography. The knowledge of these districts possessed by the Greeks and Romans was chiefly traditionary, derived from the merchants of the Red Sea, who imported into Egypt the rich products and manufactures of Arabia, Persia, and India. But their poets and philosophers universally regarded that mysterious region as the cradle of those arts which, at a later period, covered the kingdom of the Pharaohs with so many won- derful monuments and stupendous edifices ; as also of those religious rites, which, after being slightly modified by the priests of Thebes, were adopted by the predecessors of Homer and Virgil as the basis of their mythology. From the days of the Ptolemies, or about the beginning of the Christian era, more than a thou- sand years passed away, during which no European acquired any knowledge of that remote land, or set a foot within its borders. Its history is shrouded in titter darkness ; and we can only conjecture that the Mahommedan conquerors, after subduing the Greek province of Egypt, or more probably some of the barbarous native hordes, more potent than the rest, may have established their dominion in the desert, and extinguished in their civil wars those lights of civilization which once illumined the fabled regions of ancient Meroe. The only gleams of intelligence that break occasionally through that long night of historical silence, are the feeble rays of uncertain information afforded by the early Christian writers, MEMOIR OF BRUCE. 19 who laboured to connect the ecclesiastical affairs of that country with those of the patriarchate of Alex andria. It was not until the epoch when the Portuguese, attracted at once by their love of gold and their zeal for making converts to the Romish faith, pene- trated into Eastern Africa, that any degree of knowledge was obtained respecting its political con- dition, or its natural productions. The grand object of their maritime as well as their missionary exer- tions, was, as is well known, to reach the territory of that celebrated and mysterious personage called Prtster John, whom they believed to be the king of the Christians and emperor of Ethiopia. Their pious curiosity was at length rewarded by the dis- covery, or the supposed discovery, that the dominion of this second Melchizedek was no other than Abys- sinia. The error indeed was afterwards detected, but it had the effect of stimulating their apostolical zeal, and obtaining from eye-witnesses a more en- larged and accurate account of the country than had then reached Europe. The travels of the Jesuits in the sixteenth century, while labouring to propagate their faith among the natives, are detailed in the Collection compiled by Father Balthazzar Tellez, whose curious volume may be regarded as the first attempt to compose a general history of Ethiopia. One of these missionaries, Peter Paez, who set out in 1589, is generally alleged to have visited the sources of the Nile ; at least his description of them, as quoted by Kircher, strongly resembles that after- 20 MEMOIR OF BRUCE. wards given by Bruce. Jerome Lobo, another of these missionaries, who resided there nine years, and whose History was translated by Dr. Samuel Johnson, also describes the " coy fountains" of that celebrated river, as if he had seen them ; but whe- ther he actually visited them, or merely wrote from information communicated by others, has never been clearly ascertained. The names of Ludolf and Geddes are familiar as having written on Abyssinia; but since the journey of Poncet (1698), who visited Sennaar, Gondar, and other Abyssinian towns, a long interval had elapsed, during which the name of the country was almost forgotten ; and no travel- ler seemed inclined to revive it, until the romantic spirit of Bruce turned his attention to those ne- glected regions, in the hope of tracing the hidden fountains of the Nile ; a problem which had excited, without rewarding, the curiosity of men of science from the earliest ages. JAMES BRUCE, of Kinnaird, was descended of an ancient Scottish family which claims kindred with the royal hero of that name who restored the inde- pendence of his country on the field of Bannock- bum. He was born at Kinnaird House in Stirling- shire, on the 14th of December, 1730. His mother was a daughter of Graham of Airth, in the vicinity of his own residence, who was then Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, and Judge of the High Court of Admiralty in Scotland ; a man of distinguished abilities, and respected for his public and private MEMOIR OF BRUCE. 21 virtues. Young Bruce had the misfortune to lose his mother in the third year of his age ; his father married a second wife, by whom he had two daugh- ters and six sons, some of whom embraced a military life and died in the service of their country. In his childhood, Bruce possessed nothing of that daring spirit and athletic constitution which after- wards carried him safely through so many perilous adventures. The insidious disorder that hurried his amiable mother to a premature grave, seemed to have marked him out as another victim; but the phthisical symptoms of infancy gradually disap- peared, and at eight years of age his father sent him to London, where it was intended he should receive a liberal education, suitable to his future prospects in life, as the heir apparent of the family estate. He was entrusted to the friendly care of his uncle, Counsellor Hamilton, under whose superintendence he remained until 1742, when he was removed to Harrow School, then conducted by Dr. Cox. At this famous seminary he prosecuted his studies with unusual diligence, and had the reputation of being one of the most promising boys that the master ever had under his charge. Bruce quitted that institution on the 8th of May, 1746; and during the four years of his residence there, he not only acquired a competent share of classical learning, but gained the esteem of many individuals who became his attached friends ever afterwards. He had now reached the age of sixteen, but he by no means enjoyed confirmed health or a 22 MEMOIR OF BRUCE. robust constitution. His tall stature and his general appearance indicated that he had grown faster than his strength ; however, as it was considered neces- sary that he should follow some profession, Mr. Hamilton was requested to converse with him on that important subject. His own preference was to prosecute the study of divinity and become a clergy- man, as being more in unison with the gravity of his character and habits. Meantime, after leaving Harrow, he was sent for a short time to another academy, where, besides Latin and Greek, he studied French, arithmetic, and geography. His father having expressed a wish that he should abandon the church, he at once complied, and consented to turn his attention to the law, with the view of becoming an advocate at the Scottish bar. Having greatly improved in his health, he re- turned in May, 1747, to his native place, and devoted the following autumn to the invigorating sports of the field, which gave him a decided taste for that sort of amusement. In the winter he repaired to Edinburgh, where he attended the pro- fessors of Civil and Scotch law ; but a short trial soon convinced him that his mind was not adapted for these pursuits. He had no relish for dry tech- nicalities, the use or importance of which he could not comprehend ; and after hanging his bewildered head for a season over the pages of Heineccius, while his fancy was roaming among the poetic flowers of Metastasio an