b CLASS II. BIRDS. ORDER II. PASSERES. 



in former days, the hawk and the falcon were educated with 

 great care, and trained so as to be employed as assistants in 

 hunting. 



The nocturnal birds of prey include only the different spe- 

 cies of owl. They are destitute of the dignity arid beauty 

 which distinguish the diurnal. They have very large heads, 

 which are sometimes surmounted with feathers that give them 

 the appearance of being horned. Their eyes are very large, 

 and, unlike those of most other birds, are directed, for wards, 

 and surrounded by a rim or circle of projecting feathers. 

 Their structure is calculated to admit so much light, that the 

 full rays of the sun dazzle and blind them ; and they are 

 capable of seeing only in the twilight or evening. The owls 

 are awkward and clumsy in their motions, and their wings are 

 too short arid weak for long flights. They prey upon mice 

 and other small quadrupeds, upon birds and insects. 



II. Passeres, or Sparrows, form the most extensive and 

 numerous order, embracing a very great variety of species, 

 which differ so much among themselves, as to be hardly capa- 

 ble of an intelligible description, common to them all. To this 

 order belong those species which are most celebrated for the 

 sweetness and harmony of their notes; and in general the 

 organ of voice is in them larger and better formed, than in 

 any others. Among them are some that have a sharp, pointed 

 beak, and feed upon insects, such as the blackbird, the robin, 

 the nightingale, and the linnet; and others with a short, flat 

 beak, and wide mouth, which enable them to catch arid swal- 

 low insects, while upon the wing. These migrate during the 

 winter; among them being the swallow, the martin, and the 

 salangane, a species whose nests, made of a gelatinous sub- 

 stance, probably the spawn of fishes, have been celebrated for 

 their nutritious and restorative qualities. Some of this order 

 have a strong, conical beak, feed upon seeds, and devour great 

 quantities of cultivated grain ; as the lark, the titmouse, the 

 yellow-hammer ; and some are larger birds, as the crow and 

 the magpie, which feed also in part upon grain, but are fond 

 of flesh, and will sometimes take and destroy mice and other 

 small animals. 



The Birds of Paradise and the Humming Birds are also of 

 this order. The birds of paradise have been celebrated for 

 the splendor of their plumage, and the profusion of long feath- 

 ers with which different parts of their bodies are adorned. It 

 was formerly believed that they were destitute of feet, and 

 never alighted upon the earth, but were always supported in 



