354 



ORNITHOGLOSSUM ORNITHORHYNCHUS. 



The remaining species resemble this one so much 

 that it will not be necessary to give more than a brief 

 catalogue of them. 



O. chinensis is a species of eastern Asia, where its 

 summer range extends from the southern part of the 

 Oriental Archipelago northward into China. In 

 many respects it resembles the European one ; but 

 it is a larger bird, and there are some differences in 

 the colours of the plumage. The coverts of the wings 

 are yellow, and there is a conspicuous black band 

 passing the base of the bill, and extending over the 

 eyes to the occiput. 



O. paradiseiis is another species of the south-east 

 of Asia, found in those islands which may be regarded 

 as the head-quarters of the birds of Paradise ; and 

 for this reason it was formerly classed with them 

 under the name of the orange bird of Paradise. The 

 throat, the base of the bill, and a large portion of the 

 wings and tail, are black, with the exception of some 

 small yellow spots near the extremity of the principal 

 feathers. The head, the neck, and th'e mantle of very 

 long plumes with which the neck is ornamented, are 

 brilliant orange ; and the greater part of the rest of 

 the body is yellow. The male, with the produced 

 feathers on the neck, is a very splendid bird, but the 

 female and the immature males are without the pro- 

 duced feathers, and dressed in sober olive. 



O. regens the Prince Regent Oriole, is a finely 

 coloured species, and native of New Holland. The 

 prevailing colour is an intensely rich velvet black, 

 with the upper part of the head and neck covered 

 with very closely-set feathers of brilliant orange, and 

 the secondary quills of the wings are bright yellow. 



O. variegatus is another New Holland species,]more 

 diversified in its plumage than these birds generally 

 are. The front of the head is black, and the rest of 

 the upper part is mottled with black, green, and 

 white ; the under part of the body is white, with 

 black spots ; the tail is blackish, with a bluish-grey 

 margin, and a large white spot on the lateral feathers. 



O. viridis is another Australian species. It is 

 generally of a pale green colour, with the lower part 

 whitish, mottled with brown and black spots on the 

 throat ; the wings and tail blackish ; the bill horn 

 colour ; and the feet black. 



O. xanthonotus. This is a much smaller species 

 than any of the rest, and has been observed in Java. 

 It is only between six and seven inches in the total 

 length. The male has the back and scapulars of a 

 bright yellow colour, and the under side of the tail 

 and the inner webs of its lateral feathers the same. 

 The other parts are black, with the exception of the 

 belly, which is white, excepting a few minute black 

 spots. 



Such are the principal species of the orioles. Two 

 or three African ones have been mentioned, but they 

 do not appear to differ materially from the one which 

 migrates between Europe and Africa. * Orioles are 

 not only very handsome birds, but they are highly 

 useful in those countries which they visit in numbers. 

 They eat a good deal themselves, and they collect 

 diligently for their young, so that they destroy a vast 

 number of the caterpillars of those insects which are 

 most destructive to trees. They all belong to tropi- 

 cal countries, or at least resort seasonally there ; and 

 though they consume a good deal of small fruits on 

 their return to the south, they more than repay the 

 injury by their labours in the early part of the season. 



ORNITHOGLOSSUM (Salisbury). A small 



genus of bulbous plants, from the Cape of Good 

 Hope. They belong to the sixth class of sexual 

 botany, and to the natural order Melanthacece. They 

 are treated like other Cape bulbs. 



ORNITHOLOGY. That department of natural 

 science which treats of birds. On many accounts it is 

 the most interesting portion of the science of animated 

 nature. Birds are the most elegant of animals ; they 

 have the most numerous and varied motions, and 

 they have more command of the earth than any other 

 class, in consequence of being able to range from 

 country to country with great rapidity, and compa- 

 ratively little fatigue. They are therefore better 

 indexes to the seasons, and to the state of nature in 

 countries remote from each other than any other 

 animals. A pretty full account of their structure 

 and principal actions and habits, together with the 

 structural arrangement of them will be found in the 

 article BIRD in this work. 



ORNITHOPUS (Limueus). A genus of Euro- 

 pean annuals, belonging to Leguminosce. One of 

 them, the O. sativus, is cultivated in Portugal. It is 

 the bird's-foot of English botany. 



ORNITHORHYNCHUS. A most singular genus 

 of Australian mammalia, of which neither the physi- 

 ology, nor the proper place in the systematic arrange- 

 ment of animals, can yet be said to be determined in 

 a satisfactory manner. That it belongs to the mam- 

 malia, and not to any other class, is established by 

 the fact of milk glands, and milk itself being found in 

 the female, though differing both in their structure and 

 their external appearance from those of every other 

 animal which is known to give suck. 



The habits of the animal are, however, so obscure, 

 it is so timid, and has been so nearly extirpated from 

 all those places of Australia which are near the chief 

 settlements, that no opportunity has hitherto been 

 afforded of ascertaining in what state the young are 

 produced. That there is a greater advance in substance, 

 or accumulation of matter, in the young of these ani- 

 mals, before there is any specific development of 

 structure, than there is in the young of typical mam- 

 malia which are placental, is unquestionably true. 

 This fact, which, as we shall see afterwards, might 

 have been inferred from analogy, was ascertained 

 from actual observation by the Hon. Lieut. Maule, 

 whose leisure and opportunities gave him every facility 

 for acquiring a knowledge of the animal ; and the 

 short passage which contains the statement of this 

 fact, contains also so many traits of the habits of the 

 creature, that we shall give it in his own words. 

 " The Platypus" (another name for the Ornithorhyn- 

 chus,} says he, " burrows in the banks of rivers, 

 choosing generally a spot where the water is deep 

 and sluggish, and the bank precipitous and covered 

 with reeds, or overhung with trees. Considerably 

 below the stream's surface is the main entrance to a 

 narrow passage, which leads directly into the bank, 

 bearing away from the river (at a right angle to it), 

 and gradually rising above its highest water-mark. At 

 the distance of some few yards from the river's edge 

 this passage branches into two others, which, describing 

 each a circular course to the right and left, unite 

 again in the nest itself, which is a roomy excavation, 

 lined with leaves and moss, and situated seldom more 

 than twelve yards from the water, or less than two 

 feet beneath the surface of the earth. Several of 

 their nests were, with considerable labour and diffi- 

 culty, discovered. No eggs were found in a perfect 



