1 88 REPTILES AND BIRDS. 



a fact truly inexplicable, in spite of every hypothesis more or less 

 reasonable which has been advanced by naturalists. 



Men have no control over birds, and therefore opportunities of 

 studying their habits in a state of nature are few. Some species 

 may be retained in captivity, and observers have been able to gain 

 a knowledge of them while in that condition ; but, except two or 

 three species, it has been impossible to reduce them to a state of 

 domestication. The habits and manners of the feathered race are, 

 therefore, entirely dependent on chance observation. 



The Humming-bird we know is confined to certain portions of 

 America. The Nightingale, if a visitor to Scotland, is only found 

 in Berwick and Dumfriesshire in fine seasons, while it is constantly 

 seen in Sweden, a country much colder and much more northerly. 

 The Toucans, so brilliant in plumage, are only found in tropical 

 South America. The Swallow, so rapid on the wing, clearing its 

 twenty leagues an hour when it leaves for its southern wintei 

 quarters, never deviates from the route which seems to have been 

 traced for it by a sovereign master, but the reasons we cannot 

 define. 



It may, then, be stated that the great zones of the earth differ 

 as much in Birds as in the Mammalia found in them. We find in 

 climatic regions birds, or groups of birds, of perfectly distinct species, 

 which are rarely found beyond that particular zone. Glancing at 

 the various countries forming a region, particular types of birds are 

 easily recognised. Africa, for instance, alone possesses the Great 

 Ostrich, while only a small species exists in America, the Rhea ; 

 he Emu represents the genus in Australia, and the Cassowary in 

 the Malaccas. Africa has species of birds brilliant as the most 

 precious stones. To America belong exclusively the Humming- 

 birds, so remarkable for the brilliancy of their plumage. Again, 

 if Africa is the country of the Vulture, to America belongs the 

 Condor. 



Nevertheless, the acclimatisation of birds is by no means be- 

 yond our power. Experience proves that by carrying a bird far 

 from its native country, and placing it in conditions approaching 

 those to which it has been accustomed, it will live and multiply 

 acclimatise itself, in short, to its new home. 



Europe possesses no ornithological type peculiar to it. It is 

 only in Africa and America that we find those rich varieties of form 

 and colour which characterise the feathered race. The Island of 

 Madagascar is the land which possesses the greatest number of orni- 

 thological types simply, perhaps, because that island abounds in 



