48 Dr Craigie's Observations on the 



To illustrate more forcibly the comparative peculiarities of 

 the human and volucrine skeleton, he gives a representation of 

 each on opposite pages. The human skeleton, however, is not 

 very well proportioned ; and Belon has not only made the hu- 

 man chest too narrow and the pelvis too wide, but he has made 

 the thigh bones preposterously short, and has failed to remark 

 the arched appearance of their d'wphyses, though these peculi- 

 arities had been already indicated by Berenger and Vesalius. 

 He has also committed a more serious error in representing the 

 phalanges of the fingers and toes as terminating in claws. 



In collecting his ornithological anatomy, Belon appears to 

 have been very assiduous and persevering; for he assures us 

 that no animal fell into his hands which he did not dissect, and 

 that he must have examined the Internal parts of at least ;^00 

 different species of birds, " on which account," he observes with 

 much simplicity and some vanity, " it need not appear strange if 

 we describe the bones of birds, and delineate them with some 

 accuracy*." 



The work of Belon is Illustrated with rude but spirited wood- 

 cuts, in which the different birds then known in Europe are 

 accurately represented. The second book is devoted to the 

 birds of prey, of the vulture and falcon tribe; and, among 

 other curiosities, we find some amusing observations on the 

 art of falconry. In the third he gives the history of the web- 

 footed swimmers ( Pulmipedes ) ; and tlie last chapter con- 

 tains the description of the bill of a species of Toucan (Rham- 

 phastos), either the Aracan or the Green, illustrated by a 

 fio-ure, then recently imported from the new world. The 

 fourth book is devoted to the river-birds without flat feet, or wa- 

 ders (Grallae), as the crane, heron, bittern, spoonbill, egrette, 

 nio-ht-heron, a black ibis, not positively determined by mo- 

 dern zoologists (Cuvier), the stork, sea-pie, curlew, godwit, 

 spotted redshank, lapwing, spotted water-hen, water-rail, land- 

 rail, woodcock, purre or stint, king-fisher, and bee-eater. The 



• " One ne tumba animal f ntre noz mains, veu qu'il fut en nostre puis- 

 ance, duquel n'ayons fait anatomie. Dequoy est advenu qu'ayons regarde 

 les interieures parties de deuxcents diverses especes d'oiseaux. L'on ne doit 

 done trouver estrange si nous descrivons maintenant les os des oyseaux, et les 

 portrayons si exactment." — VHistoire de la Nature des Oyseaux, A Paris, 

 1555. Liv. I. chap. xii. 



