469 



BIRDS. 



BIRDS. 



170 



suckers it is a tubular pump, and in the woodpeckers it is an insect 

 spear. In both cases it can be protruded and retracted at pleasure ; 

 and the simple but beautiful machinery by which this act of volition 

 is performed is adapted with the most masterly fitness to the motion 

 required. Upon examining the tongue of the common green wood- 

 pecker, we shall find that, instead of being very long, as it is 

 erroneously supposed to be, it is really very short, sharp-pointed, and 

 horny, with barbs at its sides. Behind this lies the singular tongue- 

 bone (os hyoides), slender, and with two very long legs or appendages 

 (cnira). This is made up of five parts, consisting of a single portion 

 and two pairs of carti- 

 lages. Let us suppose 

 the tongue to be at rest, 

 and then the single 

 piece lies in a fleshy 

 sheath, capable of great 

 extension. To this 

 piece the first pair of 

 cartilages, which are 



situated at the sides 



Os Uyoidcs of Woodpecker. 



of the neck, are joined, while the second pair, springing from 

 these, run under the integuments completely over the skull, and, 

 advancing forward, converge in a kind of groove, terminating 

 generally in the right side of the upper jaw. This second pair, 

 by their elasticity, become the springs which set the whole in 

 motion. When the organ is to be protruded, the anterior pieces are 

 drawn together, and enter the extended sheath of the single piece : 

 the tongue is thus elongated as it were, and the bird can thrust it 

 far forth. 



Touch.- As applied to external objects this sense must be, generally 

 speaking, very obtuse in birds. Feathers, horny beaks, and scaly 

 skin, do not offer a satisfactory medium for conveying impressions by 

 contact. But in those birds which search for their food in mud 

 (ducks, for instance), where neither sight nor smell can be of much 

 avail, the bill is covered with a skin abundantly supplied with 

 sensation by nerves from all the three branches of the fifth pair, 

 in order that they may successfully feel about for their hidden 

 sustenance. 



Reproduction and Migration. 



The continuation of the species is earned on by eggs, which are laid 

 in a nest more or less artificial according as the nestling is more or 

 less capable of gathering its own food at the time of its exclusion from 

 the egg. Of those birds whose young possess this capability in the 

 highest degree, the male is for the most part polygamous, and does 

 not pair ; but among those whose young depend for some time on the 

 parents for their sustenance, one male confines his attentions to one 

 female, as long at least as the seasons of love, incubation, and parental 

 anxiety endure. To the first and second of these seasons we, in great 

 measure, owe that outpouring of melody which renders our groves 

 and gardens so musical in spring. 



" There is every reason," writes Montagu, " to believe it is necessary 

 there should be native notes peculiar to each species, or the sexes 

 might have some difficulty in discovering each other, the species be 

 intermixed, and a variety of mules produced ; for we cannot suppose 

 birds discriminate colours by which they know their species, because 

 some distinct species are so exactly alike that a mixture might take 

 place. The males of song-birds, and many others, do not in general 

 search for the female ; but, on the contrary, their business in the 

 spring is to perch on some conspicuous spot, breathing out their full 

 and amorous notes, which by instinct the female knows, and repairs 

 to the spot to choose her mate. This is particularly verified with 

 respect to the summer birds of passage. The nightingale and most of 

 its genus, although timid and shy to a great degree, mount aloft to 

 pour forth their amorous strains incessantly, each seemingly vieing in 

 their love-laboured song before the females arrive. No sooner do they 

 make their appearance than dreadful battles ensue, and their notes 

 are considerably changed ; sometimes their song is hurried through 

 without the usual grace and elegance, at other times modulated into 

 a soothing melody. The first we conceive to be a provocation to 

 battle on the sight of another male ; the last an amorous cadence, a 

 courting address. This variety of song lasts no longer than till the 

 female is fixed in her choice, which is in general in a few days after 

 her arrival ; and if the season is favourable she soon begins the task 

 allotted to her sex." 



We entirely agree with the writer of this animated passage that 

 " Tis love creates their melody," and that the ear is a principal guide 

 to the hen-bird in her choice of a mate ; but we cannot entirely exclude 

 thu eye when we remember what pains have been taken in most in- 

 stances to distinguish the sexes by the colour of their feathered garb, 

 arid even in many instances to prepare a nuptial dress ('plumage de 

 noces ' of the French) for the male, which fades when the season of 

 love has passed away. 



We must not dwell here upon the wonders of birds'-nests, their 

 admirable structure as places of comfort and concealment, and the 

 exquisite \vni-kiiianHhip of some of them that of the goldfinch, for 

 instanr . I ii f IM .-.- -nir/ i' '''-[ttacles the eggs are depOHit--l un<l hatchtxl. 

 Tlii u Ui>' <,M l>inis feel all the parent within them, and entirely forget 

 thuir own safety and wants hi protecting and providiu.; for tlmr help- 



less nestlings. This parental love changes the timid at once to the 

 brave ; for birds of prey, cats, dogs, and sometimes even man, when 

 he approaches the sanctuary, are attacked and followed with angry 

 cries. For some time after quitting the nest this care continues, till 

 the nestling is able to provide for itself. Then the whole scene 

 changes. The young bird still lingers about the old one, and 

 approaches it when it finds a worm or insect, expectant of the morsel. 

 At first the young bird is unheeded and treated coldly ; but if it does 

 not take this hint, and perseveres in its solicitations, the parent, 

 which but a few days before would have braved a hawk or a cat in 

 its defence, and would have been content to suffer hunger rather than 

 have seen it without food, gives it a buffet, and thus compels it to 

 rely on its own resources. 



Few' phenomena have attracted more attention than the migration 

 of birds. That some of our delicate songsters, with no great power of 

 wing, should cross the seas periodically, returning, as they undoubt- 

 edly do, to those spots which they have before haunted, and which 

 are associated in their memories with the pleasing cares of former 

 years, excites our admiration, if not our astonishment. As regularly 

 as the seasons, of which many of them are the harbingers, do these little 

 travellers visit us, and as regularly do they take their departure. The 

 immediate cause of migration is no doubt to be found in temperature 

 and food, particularly that which is adapted for the sustenance of the 

 young ; and the instinct of the bird accordingly leads it from one 

 climate to another. 



Systematic Arrangement and Natural History. 



Birds appear to have been objects of interest from the earliest 

 periods. In comparatively later times we find them mingling in the 

 superstitions of Greece and Rome ; and it is evident that their history 

 and habits were familiar not only to the husbandman and the augur, 

 but to the great mass of the people. Without such a familiarity on 

 the part of the Athenians, Aristophanes would hardly have ventured 

 on introducing his audience to Nf<t>f\aKOKKvyla (see his play entitled 

 "OpnOfS,' ' The Birds ' ) ; nor would other poets, Grecian and Roman, 

 so often have referred to these animals as well-known harbingers of 

 certain times and seasons. But it remained for Aristotle, and after 

 him Pliny, to take up the subject philosophically. The former, in his 

 ' History of Animals,' has distinguished the species, and recorded the 

 habits of birds with the accuracy and power which distinguished that 

 great observer ; the latter, in the tenth book of his ' Natural History ' 

 has displayed much learning but not a great deal of originality. 



In modern literature the first writer of note on this subject is Pierre 

 Belon, who in 1555 arranged these animals according to their habits 

 and their haunts. In his system the rapacious birds form the first 

 division, the waders the second, the swimmers the third, and the birds 

 which nestle in trees or on the ground, the fourth. He was an able 

 zoologist and accurate observer, and has pointed out the comparative 

 anatomy of birds with reference to that of man especially. 



The third part of Conrad Gesner's ' History of Animals," published 

 in 1555, consists of his treatise on birds, where he has with some labour 

 collected their various national names, and referred to the writers who 

 had noticed the subject. 



In 1599 Aldrovandus of Bologna published his ' Ornithology.' Pur- 

 suing the plan of Belon, he arranged the birds according to their haunts 

 and their food, adding many new descriptio'ns. 



These three works are all illustrated with woodcuts. 



In 1657 Johnston published his ' Natural History,' a kind of ' Reper- 

 torium Zoologicum,' wherein all that had been done before his time 

 was condensed, and where every monstrous zoological fable was per- 

 petuated, even in the copper-plates, which ministered to the appetites 

 of those who loved to see what mermen and mermaids were like, and 

 delighted in the sight of " hydras and chimeras dire." 



We now approach a period wherein the reign of System commenced ; 

 and we owe one of the first natural arrangements, if not the first, to 

 Francis Willughby, an English gentleman, whose ' System of Orni- 

 thology ' was edited by our celebrated countryman Ray in 1678, after 

 the author's death. It is a work of very great merit. The general 

 divisions are two, ' Land-Birds,' and ' Water-Birds.' The laud-birds 

 are further divided into those which have a crooked beak and crooked 

 talons, and those which have those parts nearly straight. 



The water-birds are arranged in three sections. The first consists 

 of waders, and those which haunt watery places ; the second of those 

 that are of a " middle nature, between swimmers and waders, or rather 

 that partake of both kinds, some whereof are cloven-footed and yet 

 swim ; others whole-footed, but yet very long-legged, like the waders ; " 

 the third is formed by the palmated birds, or swimmers. 



The same friendly office that was performed for Willughby by Ray, 

 Dr. Derham executed for the latter, whose 'Synopsis Methodica 

 Avium,' a posthumous work, but entirely completed by the author 

 before his death, was published by the Doctor in 1713. In this Synop- 

 sis Ray carried out and further improved Willughby' s system. Upon 

 the works of these English uaturulists rested in great measure the 

 zoological system of Linnjcus. 



The first sketch of the Swedish naturalist's ' Systema Naturic ' 

 appeared in folio, at Leyden, in 1 735. It consisted of twelve pages. 

 and was, as Linnicus himself says, " Conspectus tantum opens et quasi 

 mappa geographica." Eight subsequent editions, iu various forms, 



