450 Nahiral History infor-eign Comitries : — 



mercantile house in London, informs me, with English 

 specimens of H, rdstica, urbica, and v4^pus before him, that 

 it is seen all the year in the neighbourhood of Rio Nunez and 

 Sierra Leone; but that they are less numerous in the rainy 

 season, from June to September. They inhabit rocks from 

 80 to 90 miles from the coast, flying about rivers and lakes. 

 He never observed any on the sea shore. Neither did he see 

 any nests or eggs. The natives never shoot them ; but they 

 are pursued by hawks. Thunberg saw them in September 

 and October, building their nests, soon after their arrival in 

 Caffi'aria ; whence he says they migrate, but whither the peo- 

 ple of the country are unable to ascertain. From the above, 

 I conclude that it is an inhabitant of both extremities of the 

 old continent; breeding in the temperate regions from June 

 to August in Europe, and in September and October at the 

 southern extremity of Africa : both sets migrating to the 

 equator in the winters of the countries where they breed, 

 their migrations corresponding with those of the thrushes of 

 Scandinavia." {Stokes's Botanical Commentaries, vol. i. p. xxiii.) 

 Scarabcs'us Ateuchus sdcer, {Jig, 90.) — "During the first 

 night watch, Dr. Ehrenberg found 

 a Scarabse'us Ateuchus sacer ; and 

 his account is curious enough for 

 those who are unacquainted with 

 the mythological significance of this 



animal. He heard a noise, and 

 soon afterwards discovered in the 

 dark a great rolling ball. He ex- 

 pected to find a hedgehog or tor- 

 toise, but it was only a ball formed 

 of the excrement of the horse. Behind it was a great black 

 /Scarabae'us, which was pushing on the ball with his hind legs. 

 The ball, from its rolling in the sand, became soon so large 

 that, from the juxtaposition, the S'carabae^us appeared most 

 insignificant in size. It is well known that the Egyptian 

 priests believed the A^carabae^us to come forth from the excre- 

 ment of a bull; which, being hidden twenty-eight days under 

 ground, was supposed to produce the kantkaros without 

 the interference of a female. Hence the iScarabae'us became 

 a symbol of various import. Descript. de VEgypte Ant., vol. ii. 

 •p. 413." {For, Rev. and Cont, Misc., Oct. 1828.) 



T/ie Fezzan Ram. — The ram, of which an accurate repre- 

 sentation is subjoined {^g. 91.)? was imported by Mr. George 

 Davis into New York, in the year 1810, on his return from 

 Tripoli, where he had been consul for the United States. The 

 •ram was tall, and his long legs were covered with short hair ; he 

 had two spiral horns, which were small for a male of his size. 



