Classificatiox.- 



-BIRDS.- 



-AcCIPITEES. 



235 



means of their bills; and the chips produced during this 

 operation serve as a soft layer for tlie reception of the 

 eggs. OOier birds which take up their abode in similar 

 situations, bring in soft materials to line the bottom of 

 their wooden nest. But most of the true nest-building 

 birds bring together a quantity of materials of various 

 kinds, sticks, twigs, straws, moss, wool, feathers, &c., 

 which they either lay together in a mass amongst the 

 branches of the trees, or on the surface of a rock, or 

 interweave in a most ingenious manner to form a more 

 or less cup-shaped nest; the finer and warmer materials, 

 such as wool and feathers, being always employed in 

 lining tlie interior. A few species, such as the swallows, 

 compose tlie exterior of their nests of mud, and line 

 them with softer materials. The beauty and ingenuity 

 of construction of many of these little edifices, to which 

 we shall have to advert hereafter, are such as must 

 e.xcite the highest admiration in every intelligent ob- 

 server. In this respect, they resemble the wonderful 

 architectural laboms of many insects, and thus furnish 

 an additional indication of the analogy already men- 

 tioned between these two classes in their respective 

 sections of the animal kingdom. In both we find the 

 highest development of the instinctive faculties in their 

 respective grades ; for it is to be observed tliat both 

 lire bird and the insect always build in one particular 

 fashion ; every edifice produced by individuals of a 

 given species, exactly resembling tliose foimed by its 

 brethren botli in structure and materials, except where 

 accidental circumstances, easily traced, may now and 

 then cause a slight deviation from the ordinary mode of 

 proceeding. 



The second phenomenon above alluded to is an 

 illustration of instinct perhaps almost more puzzling 

 than tlie nidification of birds ; it is their periodical 

 migration from one country to another. Every one is 

 aware that great nimibers of our common birds only 

 reside with us during a portion of each year : some 

 visit us in the autumn, and stay in Britain during tlie 

 winter ; others arrive in the spring, and leave our 

 shores in the autumn. The winter visitors come 

 from more northern, and the summer ones from more 

 soudiem regions. The latter are for tlie most part 

 insectivorous birds; and we can easily understand that, 

 although, during tlie summer, they may find an abun- 

 dant nourishment about our fields and woods, they 



w-ould be but ill oft' when the severe weather of winter 

 sets in. The winter visitors are principally granivorous 

 small birds, or aquatic species, whose nourishment 

 would be equally cut off by the intense frosts of the high 

 northern latitudes, where they have tlieir abode in the 

 summer. Thus we may easily luiderstand the reasons 

 for this great change of dwelling on the part of oui- 

 feathered visitors ; but we must not the less wonder at 

 the marvellous instincts which prompt whole species 

 to undertake a long and arduous journey over sea and 

 land at certain definite periods of the year, prompting 

 them even long before there is any apparent necessity 

 (to our observations) for theu- departure, to wing their 

 way to distant climes. 



It wUl be unnecessary to enter into any historical 

 account of the difterent classifications of birds, such as 

 we thought it desirable to give in connection with the 

 Mammalia. Naturalists are pretty generally agreed as 

 to the limits of the orders composuig the present class ; 

 and we shall therefore confine ouiselves here to the 

 following tabidar view of the classification that will be 

 adopted in the present work. The sectional names — 

 Autophagoe and Insessores — have been retained in this 

 table, rather as indicating the general habits of the 

 species included in the orders placed under them, than 

 as being strictly parts of the classification. 



Section I.— INSESSORES. 



Ordek 1. AcciPiTRES. — Bill much hooked, with .1 cere at 

 its base ;feet stron,^; claws strong, and much hooked. 



" 2. Passeres. — Bill variable in sfiape, without a cere; 

 toes three in front, one behind. 



" 3. ScANSORES. — Bill variable in shape; toes two in 

 front, two behind. 



" 4. C0LUMB.E. — Bill slightly arched, with a soft tumi.l 

 membrane at the base of the upper mandible, in which 

 the nostrils are pierced ; toes three before, one behind. 



Section II.— AUTOPHAG.^. 



Order 5. Gali.in.e. — Bill arched above, with the edges of 

 the upper mandible overlapping the lower ; toes three 

 before, one behind (or hind toe wanting) not united 

 by a membrane ; legs feathered to the heel. 



" 6. CURSORES. — Wings rudimentary; legs strong; 

 bind toe wanting. 



" 7. Grall.e. — Wings well developed; legs long; 

 tibisB not feathered to the heel: toes three in front, 

 one behind (or hind toe wanting) not united by .n 

 membrane. 



" 8. Natatores. — Feet webbed ; legs placed very fni 

 back. 



Okder I.— ACCIPITRES. 



The Accipitres or Rapacious Buds, the Raptores of 

 Cuvier, have been placed by almost all naturalists at 

 the head of their class ; and in this we shall follow 

 preceding authors, although, in point of intelligence, as 

 also of analogy with the mammalia, the parrots ought 

 perhaps to occupy this honourable position. This order 

 includes tliose birds which are more especially adapted 

 to a strictly predaceous mode of life, and which display 

 their fierce and destructive nature in their tremendous 

 muscular power, and the formidable weapons with which 

 they are furnished. 



It is, as aheady stated, in the structure of the bill and 

 feet, that we look for those characters which stand hi 

 the most intimate relation to the mode of life of the 

 bird. The biU is short, strong, and hooked ; that is to 

 say, the upper mandible is always much longer than 

 the lower one, and either more or less cmwed through- 

 out its whole length, but more especially at the tip, or 

 else nearly straight in its basal portion, and strongly 

 bent do\vn at the apex. The lateral margins of the 

 upper mandible are often anned with one or moie 

 teeth, not like those of the Mammalia, but simply acute 



