37 



ORDER II. INSESSORES. PERCHING BIRDS. 



The present Order is one with certain members of which 

 our readers are all more or less familiar. Few have seen 

 the Eagle, or the Vulture, or the larger Owls, in their native 

 haunts, or in their unreclaimed state, but all have often 

 seen the Blackbird or the Skylark, the Eedbreast or the 

 Magpie; and those who v live beyond our towns, and are 

 observers of nature, may have been astonished, as we have 

 been, to remark how numerous the species of this Order 

 which come beneath their observation within their gardens 

 or in their daily walks ; so that the present department of 

 our subject, if it engages our attention and affords us plea- 

 sure, will do so not so much perhaps by bringing rare and 

 unnoticed species before us, as by adding to our knowledge 

 of the habits of those with the forms of which we are already 

 acquainted. 



The Irisessorial Order is the most numerous and varied 

 of the entire class, and is exceedingly important, whether 

 viewed in a scientific light or in relation to its economy in 

 the great plan of nature. In extent it nearly equals the 

 aggregate number of all the other Orders, while for powers 



