NOTES ON THK CERK AND LEGS OF BIRDS. 8 



great celerity at the least appearance of danger, shrinking even from the shadow 

 of a passing bird. In the book of Leviticus the Coney is mentioned as chewing 

 the cud, but it would seem that this expression refers to the peculiar motion 

 of its jaws when eating, which appears to resemble the action of ruminating so 

 much, that Bruce, the traveller, who kept one in order to watch its habits, 

 says, "it certainly chews the cud." Its food consists principally of grain, 

 vegetables, and roots. It is considered an acceptable prize by the Eagles and 

 other birds of prey that frequent the localities in which it is found, for the 

 purpose of feasting on any stray one which they may observe wandering beyond 

 safe limits. 



The Rev. Dr. Wilson, of Bombay, who describes and gives a representation 

 of a specimen which he obtained near the convent of Mar Saba, between 

 Jerusalem and "the Dead Sea, seems to have been the first English traveller 

 that actually recognised the Coney within the bounds of the Holy Land, so 

 that it still continues to inhabit Palestine and Syriaf, and Mount Lebanon in 

 particular, in great numbers, although in the "Biblical Cyclopaedia," edited by 

 Dr. Kitto, it is slated that in the countries just mentioned, not a trace of it 

 has been found. 



The various species of the genus Hyrax seem to bear confinement well; they 

 are mentioned among the animals in the collection of the Zoological Society 

 of London. 



Aberdeen J September, 1853, 



NOTES ON THE CERE AND LEGS OF BIRDS. 



BY JOHN LONGMUIK, ESQ., JUN. 



A considerable time ago, when the attention of the writer was first directed 

 to the Raptorial order, an almost constant similarity appeared to him to prevail 

 in the colours of the cere and legs of the birds of that division. As no 

 statement confirmatory of this was found in a few accessible ornithological 

 works, it was held to be a mere supposition, true perhaps in a few instances, 

 but not entitled to the position of a general rule. An article in "The 

 Naturalist," (vol. ii., page 96,) by the Rev. Greorge Sowden, directed attention 

 to the subject once more, and another examination was determined on. With 

 this view, the works of Gould on the Birds of Europe and Australia, the 

 descriptions of the species inhabiting Western Africa, by Swainson, and the 

 volumes containing the biography of the Raptorial tribes of the United States, 

 by the celebrated Audubon, were consulted. 



For the sake of some who may peruse the following remarks, a few words 

 may be said about the cere, which is so called from its resemblance to wax, 

 {cera.) It is a belt of naked soft skin, generally smooth, though sometimes 

 rough, as in the Sea Eagle, covering the base of the bill. It is of various 

 forms — long, as in most of the Vultures, and short, as in the group of the 

 Falcons. In all birds of prey the nostrils are situated near ths middl« of 



