ON NORTH AMERICAN ZOOLOGY. 137 



species of skunk, some pretty weasels, (but no martins,) and a 

 wolf very much like the Canadian species, which descends also 

 to the warmer valleys. The white-head sea-eagle, the Virginian 

 horned owl, the common barn owl*, and a smaller species, with 

 sparrowhawks and falcons are the common birds of prey in 

 the cold region, where the Brazilian urubitingas and naked- 

 headed carrion vultures also come. Snow-birds, buntings, gros- 

 beaks, a great variety of finches, and a peculiar kind of long- 

 legged ground cuckoos are the chief singing birds, and among 

 the water-fowl which cover the extensive alpine lakes there are 

 at least ten or twelve of our northern ducks. Terns and gulls 

 seldom fail to appear at certain seasons, but they are species 

 that have been described by Hernandez alone, and are not yet 

 introduced into our systems f. These remarks, though greatly 

 abridged from the original, will serve to show how much the 

 North American fauna in general would be elucidated by an 

 investigation of that of Mexico. 



In the following observations on the Mammalia, the arrange- 

 ment of Cuvier's R^gne Animal is adopted. 



Ord. QUADRUMANA. 



One animal of this order {inuus silvanus) ranges in the Old 

 World northward to the rock of Gibraltar, lying in the 36th 

 parallel, but we are informed by Lichtenstein that no monkey 

 has been observed in the New World beyond the 29th degree of 

 north latitude. Mr. Ogilby again tells us that there are no real 

 quadrumana in America |, none of the monkeys inhabiting that 

 quarter of the globe having a thumb truly opposable to the fingers, 

 and he has therefore proposed to arrange them in a group named 



• There is reason to believe that many owls which have heretofore been con- 

 sidered as only geographical varieties of the Strix flammea are in fact distinct 

 species, though closely resembling the European type. 



f The views of Mr. Swainson with respect to the junction of the North and 

 South American zoological provinces in Mexico correspond generally with 

 those of Lichtenstein, though these authors do not appear to have been 

 acquainted with each other's labours on that subject. Lichtenstein's paper is 

 of a prior date to the Geographical Dictionary or Mr. Swainson's Treatises in 

 Lardner's Cyclopedia. 



X Ogilby, Zool. Proc, No. 39, 1836. " In ateles the thumb is either merely 

 rudimentary or entirely absent; in mycete$, lagothrix, aotus, pithecia and 

 hapale it is similar to the other fingers and in a line with them ; while in cebus 

 and callithrix, though placed a little further back than the other fingers, it is 

 weaker, and acts in the same direction with them, never in opposition to them." 

 " None of the true quadrumana have prehensile tails." The American mon- 

 keys have other peculiarities, of which the most characteristic are their lateral 

 nostrils. That they rarely sit erect is indicated by their hairy buttocks. 



