i6o 



*'in Hebrew, the Bird of God, it is never seen alive. 

 " It lives aloft in the air, it is like a Swallow in body 

 "and beak, yet distinguished with diverse coloured 

 ** feathers : for those on the top of the head are of a 

 •' golden colour, those of the neck like to a Mallard, 

 "but the tail and wings like Peacocks ; it wants feet: 

 " wherefore if it become weary with flying, or desire 

 " sleep, it hangs up the body by twining the Feathers 

 " about some bough of a tree. It passeth through the 

 "air, wherein it must remain as long as it lives, with 

 " great celerity, and lives b}^ the air and dew onely. 

 *' The Cock hath a cavity deprest in the back, wherein 

 " the Hen lays and sits upon her egs. I saw one at 

 ''Paris which was presented to King Charles the 

 " Nineth." 



We are naively told in a side note that " Whoso- 

 "ever desires to know more of the truth of this bird, 

 " let him read Chisius &c." 



But let us not laugh at the worthy ancient who 

 so minutely describes the habits of a bird which " is 

 never seen alive." Are there not moderns who tell us 

 that the reason why sitting gamebirds are not scented 

 by dogs is because the odoriferous glands of the skin 

 discharo^e their contents at that time iiito the intestines! 



IS EGG-FOOD NEEDED ?— Mr. Carr, the joint 

 Hon. Sec. of the N. B. B. and M. Club writes to me, " I 

 " may state I quite agree with 3^ou re yolk of ^Z%. I 

 " have kept small insectivorous British Birds for the 

 " past seventeen years, and for the last five years I 

 " have not used any ^z^, and I can safely say my birds 

 " have done far better and moulted out just as well 

 " without it, and I have not lost one through being too 

 " fat." 



