MAMMEA MANAKIN. 



203 



little more than enumerate the different families, of 

 which Cnvier makes two, dolphins and whales. The 

 dolphins comprise the dolphins properly so called, the 

 porpoises, the narwhales, and a few others, all of 

 which have the head small in proportion to the size 

 of the body ; and the whales contain the spermaceti 

 whales, which have teeth at least in one jaw ; and the 

 whalebone whales, which are destitute of these instru- 

 ments. 



Such, in brief outline, are the mammalia, according 

 to the arrangement of the most scientific naturalist 

 of any age ; and had we not already exceeded all 

 ordinary bounds with the extent of this article, we 

 should have felt desirous of adding two sections more. 

 The first of these would have treated of the climatal 

 distribution of the different orders, groups, and genera 

 of the mammalia, both as affected by latitude, and by 

 the physical character of the surface ; and the second 

 would have consisted of an attempt to trace some- 

 thing like a progressive history of the greater and 

 more important divisions, including those which are 

 extinct, and those which are entirely domesticated. 

 The subjects of both these sections are, however, in 

 great part anticipated, by remarks scattered through 

 the different sections ot this article ; and therefore 

 we shall not enter upon them, but shall conclude by 

 pleading the great importance of the mammalia for 

 the length at which we have noticed them, and ear- 

 nestly recommending the farther and more minute 

 study of them to every reader of the " BRITISH CY- 

 CLOPAEDIA OF NATURAL HISTORY." 



MAMMEA (Linnaeus). A South American fruit- 

 tree belonging to the natural order Gutti/erce. This 

 is the Mammee or wild apricot of the West Indies 

 and the American continent. The fruit is large, about 

 the size of a cannon-ball, and covered by a double 

 rind, the outer tough and leathery, the inner tender 

 and membranous. The flesh, which is firm and of a 

 bright yellow, has a singularly pleasant taste and fra- 

 grant scent ; but the skin and seeds are very bitter 

 ana resinous. It is either eaten fresh or cut into 

 slices with wine and sugar, or made into a preserve. 

 In Martinique the flowers are distilled in spirit, to 

 which they impart their flavour, and form a liqueur 

 called eau-creole. The wood is good and used for 

 many purposes. 



MAN. SEE BIMANA, and MAMMALIA, Passim. 

 MANAKIN (Pipra). A group of Dentirostral 

 birds ; and the last in Cuvier's arrangement, as pos- 

 sessing some characters in which they approach to 

 the syndactylic birds, inasmuch as they have the two 

 exterior toes united for about a third part of their 

 length. The general characters of the groups are : 

 the bill compressed, higher than broad, a notch toward 

 the top of the upper mandible, and the nasal grooves 

 large. Their tail and feet are short ; in the general 

 form of their bodies they bear some resemblance to 

 the tits, but their manners are different. They are all 

 natives of foreign countries, either of the oriental 

 islands or of the tropical parts of America ; and the 

 beauty of the plumage in some, and the peculiarities 

 of the habits in others, render them birds of con- 

 siderable interest. The habits of the genera are, 

 however, so different, that no one general descrip- 

 tion could be so framed as to include them all. 



The three genera are : Rupicola (cock of the rock) ; 

 Cali/ptomcnes, which have no English name ; and 

 Pipra (the true manakins). We shall take these in 

 their order : 



RUPICOLA. Characters : the bill of mean length, 

 stout, slightly arched in the culmen, a little hooked 

 toward the tip and notched, rather broader than high 

 at the base, but compressed toward the tip. Lower 

 mandible straight, notched, sharp pointed ; nostrils 

 basal and lateral of an oval form, partly open, but en- 

 tirely covered with the feathers of the crest, which 

 can be elevated in the form of a semi-circle, not un- 

 like the crest of the hoopoe. Feet stout, tarsus as 

 long as the middle toe ; the toes four, three to the 

 front, the external and middle are united to the second 

 articulation, and the inner united to the middle at the 

 base ; the hind toe very strong, and furnished with a 

 stout claw ; the first quill drawn out in a thread shape 

 and short ; the second and third also shorter than the 

 fourth and fifth. The tail short, and squared over 

 at the extremity. 



Only one species of this genus is distinctly made 

 out. It is a native of tropical America, a moun- 

 taineer, or more strictly speaking a rock bird, and very 

 peculiar in the place which it chooses for its dwelling. 



In consequence of the violent internal action by 

 which the northern Andes, that is the Andes of Peru, 

 and that spur which extends from them towards the 

 Caraccas, appear to have been formed, and the 

 violent currents of water to which they have been 

 subjected by the bursting out of lakes, and the vio- 

 lence of the seasonal rains, their surface is more 

 diversified than that of any other portion of the globe 

 of nearly equal extent ; the water has in many places 

 cleft channels with perpendicular banks, hundreds of 

 feet in depth, so that it requires the light of a vertical 

 sun to reach the bottom. In some places the softer 

 strata have been excavated away from under the 

 harder ones, thus forming natural bridges of the most 

 sublime character, the chasms, cauldrons, and even 

 cascade? below which are so deep, sinuous, and im- 

 pervious to the light, that they are as dark as Erebus. 

 In countless other places, where the water has not 

 been able to effect a passage through, or where earth- 

 quakes, and other agencies may have been at work, 

 there are caves in great numbers, and penetrating so 

 far into the rocks, that they cannot be examined 

 except by torch-light. Those caves are the proper 

 abodes of the rock birds. They occur in great num- 

 bers, and are found in the caves at all times ; though 

 it is understood that they fly indiscriminately by day 

 and by night. In some of their other habits, besides 

 this habitual dwelling in caves, they bear some analogy 

 to our rock doves, which are understood to be the 

 common parents of all the races of domestic pigeons. 

 They live in pairs, are much attached to each other, 

 and the males more frequently leave the caverns than 

 the females do. The eggs are two in number, of a 

 white colour, and not unlike those of pigeons ; the 

 birds are also about the size of pigeons, but they are 

 not nearly so powerful on the wing. Their habit 

 does not require it ; for in the vicinity of the dark 

 and damp caves of a country of such powerful na- 

 tural action as that which they inhabit, there is an 

 abundant supply of insect food at all times, without 

 the bird requiring to range to any great distance at 

 any time. And if this food should fail, they have re- 

 course to the small fruits, which grow plentifully upon 

 the trees and bushes. 



But though they have the resemblance to pigeons, 

 which we have stated, they do not belong to the 

 same order ; for they are insectivorous in their lead- 

 ing character. They are exceedingly active bird, 



