FRAZERA. 



FRIXGILLHXE. 



6S2 



0. rotund ifoliti is universally distinguished as a second species of 

 this genus ; differing in its leaves being much longer, the leaflets 

 roundish, ovate, acute, not cuspidate, coarsely serrated, entire, arid 

 rather cuneate at the base, and not at all hairy underneath. In flowers 

 it is much the same. It is a native of Calabria and elsewhere in the 

 south of Europe. 



These two plants are interesting as producing the sweet laxative 

 substance known in the apothecaries' shops under the name of Manna. 

 It is a secretion from the leaves and branches ; and, according to F^e, 

 is caused either by artificial wounds or by tlie puncture of an insect. 

 Both species yield the substance, but, according to Tenore, that from 

 0. rotundifolia is of better quality than the other. 



" In Calabria and Sicily," says this physician, " in the hottest part 

 of the summer month?, the Manna oozes out of the leaves, and from 

 the bark of the trunk and larger branches of the Fmxinm, or 

 Calabrian Ash. The Omits likewise affords it, but from the trunks 

 and larger branches only, and that chiefly from artificial apertures ; 

 whereas it flows from the Fraxinus through every little cranny, nnd 

 bursts through the large spores spontaneously. The different qualities 

 of the Manna are from different parts of the tree." 



The sweetness of this substance is not due to the presence of sugar, 

 but to a distinct principle called Mannite, which differs from sugar in 

 not fermenting with water and yeast. Some trees yield the Manna 

 spontaneously ; these only grow in the most favourable situations, 

 and the ?ap runs out during the greatest heat of summer. It begins 

 to ooze out about mid-day, in the form of a clear liquid, which soon 

 thickens, and continues to appear till the cool of the evening, when 

 it bi'gins to harden into granules, which are scraped off the following 

 morning. This kind is called ' Manna in Tears,' and is as pure and 

 white as the 6uest sugar. Inferior qualities are obtained by making 

 incisions in the trees, which forms the principal pnrt of the Manna 

 sold in our shops. 



(London, Arboretum Eritannicum.) 



FRAZE'RA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 CfntUtnacea, named after John Frazer, a collector of North American 

 plants. It has a 4-eleft deeply-parted calyx. The corolla 4-parted, 

 rotate, deciduous, with a bearded orbicular gland in the middle of 

 each segment. The stamens 4, inclosed ; filaments filiform ; the 

 c,i]j-ulo compressed, partly margined, 1-celled. The seeds few, 

 imbricated, elliptical, winged, and fixed to the margins of the valves. 



F. C'aroliiteatit, the F. Walteri of Michaux, is the only species of 

 this genus. It has a biennial root ; stem from 3 to 5 feet high, erect, 

 sub-quadrangular, and smooth ; leaves opposite and verticillate, 

 oblong, lanceolate, the lower ones a foot long and more than 3 inches 

 broad ; flowers in aggregate clusters. This plant is indigenous in the 

 swamps of the Carolinus, and is found on the borders of lakes in 

 Pennsylvania and New York. The whole plant has a very stately 

 appearance, and in character approaches so near to Swertia that, 

 without examining the fruit, it might be mistaken for a species of 

 that genus. The root yields a powerful bitter, nearly as pure as that 

 of quassia, and wholly destitute of aroma. It is fully equal in its 

 medicinal effects to gentian, and when fresh is said to be emetic and 

 cathartic. The roots have been imported into Europe as a sort of 

 <':diimba, and hence have acquired the name of American Calumba. 

 This plant requires moisture, anil flourishes best in a peat soil. It 

 should be protected the winter after being raised from seed or that 

 preceding its flowering. 



(Don, Dichlamydeout Plan's ; Lindley, Flora Medica.) 



FR K KSTi > \ E. [SANDSTONE.] 



FUKHII.l.'S. fCoBViDA] 



FRKNCH BERRIES. [RHAMNUS.] 



F1UGATK. [PELECANID.E.] 



nUKGE-TREE, the English name of the American shrub 

 ni/hiu Vii-i/i. 



FRINGILLA, a genus of Birds belonging to the order Frinr/illidw 

 atid the division Intettora. The beak is straight, longer than deep, 

 conic, and pointed ; mandibles nearly equal, cutting edges entire, 

 forming a straight commissure; nostrils basal, lateral, oval, partly 

 hidden by the frontal plumes. Wings with the first quill-feather 

 longer than the fifth, but a little shorter than the second or third, 

 which are equal, and the longest in the wing. Legs with the tarsi of 

 moderate length ; toes divided, and adapted for hopping and perching ; 

 claws curved and sharp. 



f. cceltbi, the Chaffinch. [CHAFFINCH.] 



P. montifi-inyiUa, the Mountain Finch, Brambliug, or Bramble 

 Finch. This bird is a visitor to this country only in winter, coming to 

 us from the north, but at different times, according to the temperature 

 of the country from which it emigrates. They have not been known 

 to breed in any part of this country ; those kept in confinement 

 under the most favourable circumstances have never done so. It is 

 not an uncommon bird in Denmark. Mr. Hewitson saw them at one 



flaoe in the southern part of Norway, where they were breeding, 

 b is described as building in fir-trees ; the nest formed of moss, and 

 lined with wool and feathers; the eggs four or five in number, white, 

 tinged with yellow, and spotted with dark red, like those of a chaf- 

 finch. The call-note of this bird is a single monotonous chirp. 



FRINOI'LLID^E, a family of Birds belonging to the order 

 J-nl'.uorti and the division Coniroitra, This family is commonly 

 HAT. HIST. PIV. VOL. II, 



known by the name of Finches. According to Mr. Vigors this family 

 embraces, iu addition to Alauda [ALAUDIN^B], to which Emlcriza 

 (the Buntings) [EMBEKIZID.E] and its affinities seem nearly allied, the 

 greater part of the Linuaean Fringillte, together with the Liumeau 

 Tanagne [TANAGER], which approach them iu their external characters 

 and in their habits, as far as has hitherto been ascertained. These 

 latter groups contain many natural genera which may be traced, in 

 his opinion, from the point of their connection with the Linnacau 

 Fringillce back, by a gradual increase of the base of the bill in 

 breadth and height, to the family of Loxiadce [LoxiAM], which 

 unites with them at the opposite extremity of the series of families 

 which compose tbe tribe. The Frinyillidfc again, according to the 

 same author, by means of the sharp-pointed and lengthened bill of 

 Carduelis, and by the extension of the eulmen of the upper mandible 

 iu nn angular form for some extent upon the front of the head, 

 conduct us on the other side to the gee us Icterus (Briss.), which 

 commences the succeeding family. Here Mr. Vigors thinks that the 

 genus Ploccus of Cuvier also seems to hold an intervening station 

 between the two groups, so as to render it difficult to decide in which 

 of them it should be placed. There is also, he states, another decided 

 line of relationship between the two families, namely, that which 

 some species of the Linnaean Alauda, particularly A. OtaJMMtf, bear 

 to the Sturnus Ludovicitmus, or Crescent Stare, of Dr. Latham. This 

 latter bird is well known as the Alauda mayna of Linnajus and of the 

 American ornithologists. But its still stronger affinity to the Sturni 

 and Icleri necessarily places it among them. The former relationship 

 appears to Mr. Vigors to be one of analogy, not of affinity ; while the 

 direct passage between the families is found iu Ploccus (the Weaver 

 Birds). [PLOCECS.] Mr. Vigors makes Fringiltidie the first, and 

 Loxiadce the last family of the Coniroslres. Mr. Swaiuson makes the 

 Fringillidai (including Loxia, apparently ; for his Coniroslres consist 

 of the Cowidw, Slurnidw, Fringillidte, Musophayidce, and Buccridce, 

 omitting Loxiadce) the third family; and the order of the names 

 given will show the position he assigns to it. " No group in the 

 ornithological circle," writes Mr. Swainson in his ' Classification of 

 Birds,' vol. i., " exhibits this powerful structure (strength of the bill) 

 so much as that of the Fringittidce, where the bill is short and 

 nearly conic ; both mandibles are equally thick, and when closed their 

 height and breadth are nearly the same. Iu many of the Finches (as 

 in the sub-genera Amadina, Coccothraustes, &c.) the thickness of the 

 bill at its base in comparison to the size of the head is enormous ; 

 but in Loxia ottrina of Vieillot, a rare and most extraordinary bird 

 from Western Africa, the bill in not much inferior to the size of tho 

 head. It is well known that all these ' hard-billed ' birds, as the old 

 writers aptly called them, feed entirely upon seeds and nuts ; and tho 

 harder these are the stronger are the bills of such species as are 

 appointed to derive nourishment from the different sorts ; whenever 

 nn insectivorous and frugivorous diet is united, as is the case with 

 most of the Tanager Finches, the upper mandible is notched for the 

 obvious purpose of more firmly securing that part of their food 

 which can escape." 



M. Lesson, in his ' Table Me'thodique,' places the Fnngillidte as the 

 third family of the Conirostres, and makes it consist of the following 

 genera : Emberiza of Linnaeus, Emberizo'ides of Temminck, Fringilla 

 of Linnaeus namely, P//rgita, Fr'uiyilla, and Carduelis of Cuvier ; 

 Linaria of Bechsteiu; Vidua of Cuvier; Coccolhranstes of Brissou; 

 Pyrrhula of Brisson ; Loxia of Brisson ; Paittiroeira of Temmiuck ; 

 Cun/thtu of Cuvier; C'olius of Brisson and Linnanis; P/tytotoma of 

 Molina ; and Ploceus of Cuvier. 



Cuvier, in his ' Regue Animal,' arranges the Buntings (Embtrita of 

 Linnaeus) immediately after the Titmice (Parut of Linnaeus) ; and 

 next to the Buntings he places the Sparrows, Lea Moineaux (FringiUa 

 of Linuieus). 



Cuvier designates the Buntings as possessing an extremely distinct 

 character in their conical short straight bill, the narrower upper 

 mandible of which, entering within the lower, has on the palate a 

 hard and projecting tubercle ; and as grauivorous birds which have 

 little caution, and readily enter the snares prepared for them. Those 

 Buntings which have an elongated nail on the hind toe, like the larks, 

 are distinguished by Meyer under the generic name of Plectrophanes. 



The Sparrows (FringiUa) are characterised by Cuvier as having a 

 conical bill more or less large at its base, but not angular at the com- 

 missure. They subsist principally on seeds, and are subdivided by 

 that zoologist as follows: The Weavers (Ploceus, Cuvier), a form 

 found in both the old and the new continents. Those of the Old 

 World make a nest by interweaving very skilfully the fibres of vege- 

 tables, whence their name. Such are the Toucnam Courvi of the 

 Philippine Islands (Loxia Philippina of Linnaeus), with its pendulous 

 nest, having a Vertical canal opening below, which communicates 

 laterally with the cavity where the young are laid ; and the Repub- 

 lican (Loxia soda of Latham), which builds in society, and whose 

 conjoined nests form one large continuous mass with numerous 

 compartments. Among the Weavers of the new continent Cuvier 

 places Le Maugeur de Riz, Petit Choucas de Surinam, de la Jamaique, 

 Cassique Noir, &c. (Oriolus nigcr, Oriolus oryzivorus, Cormis Surinam- 

 ensis, Omelin), which in countless flocks lay waste the fields of many 

 of the warm parts of America. Next to tho Weavers are placed the 

 Sparrows, properly so called (Pyrgita of Cuvier), of which the well- 



3 '. 



