SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 97 



slow, but not totally extinct, respiration. If this orifice be coated 

 over with a coat of wax or varnish, so that all possible connexion 

 with external air be excluded, animal life becomes altogether extin- 

 guished, never to be again restored. We have observed this minute 

 puncture in the winter covering of the H. ericetorum and some 

 others ; and it is probable that all whose aperture is closed during^ 

 the cold season only, are furnished with this beautiful apparatus for 

 the preservation of life." 



Thus we see in every contrivance the wisdom of the Creator r 

 nothing — not even the organization of the lowest creature — is left 

 to chance ; but every thing is adapted by its peculiar structure for 

 the situation in which it is to be placed and the functions it is to 

 discharge. Truly may we conclude, in the words of the Divine 

 Psalmist, " O, Lord ! how manifold are thy works ! in wisdom hast 

 thou made them all." , 



Feb. 22, 1836. A. B. M. 



SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



Gould's " Birds of Europe.'^ 



Second Part. 



Plate I. Exhibits a splendid figure of the Griffon Vulture, — 

 Vultur fulvus, — le Vautour Griffon, Fr., — Aroltoio di color castag- 

 no. It., — Weiskopfiger Geier, G. An excellent drawing of it is 

 given in the second plate of the first livraison of Werner's Atlas. 

 This fine bird, — le Griffon, of Buffon, and, in its immature state, 

 the Vultur Kolbit, of Latham, and le Vautour Chasse-Fiente, of 

 Vaillant, — inhabits Turkey, the Tyrol, Alps, Pyrenees, South Eu- 

 rope, and the northern regions of Africa. It abounds particularly 

 in the vicinity of Gibraltar. The nest is formed in inaccessible 

 rocks and precipices. The eggs are greyish-white, marked mth 

 spots of a reddish-white colour. 



Plate II. — The Pufl5n, — Mormon Fratercula, of Temminck» 

 Alca arctica, Linnaeus, — Labradora, Gmelin, — Fratercula arctiea, 

 Stephens, — and Puffinus fiavirostris, of the Family of the Alcadee, 

 of ornithological reformers. This singular bird,^ — the Pufiin Auk 



VOL. IV. — NO. XV. G 



