EAGLE SHOOTING. 143 



him settle on the carcase, and then let fly. In the meantime 

 it is amusing to watch the carrion birds. The Gull walKs 

 about, scarcely venturing a tug, but the Raven, alightmg on 

 the head, strives to pick out an eye, which he has now done. 

 Having gulped it down, he croaks again, and is joined by an- 

 other. They tear up the flesh in morsels, and seem to enjoy 

 their good fortune, yet not without fear., for every now and 

 then they listen and cast a glance around. — There, they are 

 all off. Some sudden alarm. Have they not smelt us ? — No, 

 they have seen a dog, or a shepherd, or an Eagle ; they have 

 not gone far. — Beautiful bird ! thou wert worthy of being 

 the thunder-bearer of Jupiter ! There thou standest perched 

 on the ribs of that dead sheep, and gatherest up thy large 

 wings, and erectest thyself, casting a glance of pride on those 

 birds which thy presence has awed. — But the explosion puts 

 an end to admiration, and the smoke has obscured the view ; 

 let us out, and see what the buckshot has done to those " mus- 

 cles which are as firm as pieces of cable, and their tendons 

 almost as rigid as dried cat-gut." 



Returning fi-om this imaginative digression, we may now ex- 

 amine the organs of sense in a bird of the rapacious family. 



One well suited for this purpose is the common Buzzard, 

 which is sufficiently large to enable us to see the difi'erent parts 

 of the organs in a satisfactory manner, and not so rare but that 

 a person desirous of verifying our observations may contrive to 

 procure a specimen. In the head of this bird, of which one 

 has just arrived from Dr Robertson of Dunkeld, Plate XVII, 

 Fig. 1, we observe externally, the upper mandible, a; the 

 lower mandible, b ; the tongue, c, with the aperture of the 

 windpipe at its base ; the palate, d, having in its median line, 

 the long slit, placed opposite the aperture of the glottis, and 

 into which, when the mouth is shut, the air passes into the 

 canal of the nose ; the cere, e, or bare skin at the base of the 

 upper mandible, in which are perforated the nostrils ; then the 

 eyes, over which are the supraocular ridges ; and lastly, the 

 external aperture of the ear, concealed among the plumage. 

 Let us now examine these parts in succession. 



VOL. III. I, 



