xviii INTRODUCTION. 



stances partake in a degree of the nature and disposition of 

 herbivorous quadrupeds. In both, the food and the provision 

 for its digestion are very similar. Ahke distinguished for 

 sedentary habits and gentleness of manners, their lives are 

 harmlessly and usefully passed in collecting seeds and fruits, 

 and ridding the earth of noxious and destructive insects ; they 

 live wholly on the defensive with all the feathered race, and 

 are content to rear and defend their offspring from the attacks 

 of their enemies. It is from this tractable and gentle race, as 

 well as from the amphibious or aquatic tribes, that man has 

 long succeeded in obtaining useful and domestic species, 

 which, from their prolificacy and hardihood, afford a vast 

 supply of wholesome and nutritious food. Of these, the Hen, 

 originally from India ; the Goose, Duck, and Pigeon of 

 Europe ; the Turkey of America ; and the Pintado, or Guinea- 

 hen of Africa, are the principal : to which may also be ad- 

 ded, as less useful, or more recently naturalized, the Peacock 

 of India, the Pheasant of the same country, the Chinese 

 and Canada Goose, the Muscovy Duck, and the European 

 Swan. 



Carnivorous birds by many striking traits evince the destiny 

 for which they have been created ; they are provided with 

 wings of great length, supported by powerful muscles, which 

 enable them to fly with energy and soar with ease at the 

 loftiest elevations. They are armed with strong hooked bills 

 and with the sharp and formidable claws of the tiger ; they are 

 also further distinguished by their large heads, short necks, 

 strong muscular thighs in aid of their retractile talons, and 

 a sight so piercing as to enable them, while soaring at the 

 greatest height, to perceive their prey, upon which they some- 

 times descend, like an arrow, with undeviating aim. In these 

 birds the stomach is smaller than in the granivorous kinds, and 

 their intestines are shorter. Like beasts of prey, they are of a 

 fierce and unsociable nature ; and so far from herding together 

 like the inoffensive tribes, they drive even their offspring from 

 the eyry, and seek habitually the shelter of desert rocks, ne- 

 glected ruins, or the solitude of the darkest forest, from whence 



