and the tiny Sun Birds : from regions of ice, to 

 regions of burning heat — from the greatest to the 

 least : he knew their habits and their wants, their life 

 and their deatli, and every incident is portrayed with 

 the hand of a master and the mind of a genius. 



In endeavouring to choose an extract which 

 will fittingly illustrate the nature of the work, one is 

 somewhat at a loss to know which to take from such a 

 rich store. Usten to his description of the Frij;ate 

 Bird. 



•• . . . at an elevation of ten thousand feet royally 

 •• floats a little bird ... It is the Ocean-F;agle, first 

 " and chief of the winged race, .... tlie lord of the 

 •' tempest, the scorner of all peril — the man-of-war or 

 " frigate bird. We have reached the culminating point 

 " of the series commenced by the wingless bird. Here we 

 '• have a bird which is virtually nothing more than wings: 

 •■ scarcely any body — barely as large as that of tlie domestic 

 " cock — while his prodigious pinions are fifteen feet in 

 " span. The great problem of flight is solved and over- 

 " passed, for tlie power of flight seems useless. Such a 

 •' bird naturally sustained by such supports, need but 

 "'allow himself to be borr.e along. The storm bursts ; he 

 '• mounts to lofty heights, where he finds tranquility. 

 " The poetic metaphor, untrue when applied to any 

 "other bird, is no exaggeration when applied to him: 

 " literally, he sleeps upon the storm. When he chooses to 

 •' oar his' way seriouslv, all distance vanishes, he breakfasts 



" in Sene«^al : he dines in America envy 



" seizes us, when amid the glowing azure of the Tropics, at 

 •' incredible altitudes, almost imperceptible in the (lim 

 '' remoteness, we see him triumphantly sweeping past us, 

 '• this black solitary bird, alone in the waste of heaven." 



Of the Weavers, a long account is supplemented 

 by an extract from Levaillant respecting the Sociable 

 Weavers (^PJiiletccrus sociiis) and their wonderful nests, 

 of which we may be able to give our members a 

 description in a future issue. 



Michelet was fortunate in having a most exquisite 

 and lifelike delineator of birds and their surroundings, 

 to illustrate his work. 



Giacomelli excelled in depicting birds in their 



