ORDER ACCIPITRES. 143 



city and docility of hawks and falcons. In China, cormorants 

 are trained to fish for the advantage of their owners. 



There are many birds distinguished by very remarkable 

 habits. Thus the agami, which is a kind of ventriloquist, 

 utters a hoarse and deep sound, which one would suppose 

 proceeded from the anus. The crane, called in French De- 

 moiselle de Numidie, gesticulates and makes a motion like 

 dancing. Many of the nocturnal birds make singular and ri- 

 diculous gesticulations during the day. The cincle, or sea-lark, 

 buries itself under water and walks there. Many of the mag- 

 pie tribe spit the little birds and insects which they catch, upon 

 thorns, that they may eat them at their leisure. The vultures 

 are said to have an excellent scent ; and ancient writers have 

 informed us that, after the battle of Pharsalia, the vultures 

 of Asia and Africa passed over into Europe, to feast upon the 

 bloody carcasses of the slain. Ravens are also observed to 

 follow armies. 



In short, each species has its peculiar mode of life. 

 " Their habits and manners," says BufTon, " are not so free 

 as might be supposed : their conduct is not the result of 

 a freedom of will or choice, but a necessary effect derived 

 from the conformation, the organisation, and the exercise of 

 their physical faculties. Determined and fixed, each in the 

 manner of life which this necessity imposes, none attempt 

 to infringe it, and none can withdraw themselves from its 

 influence. It is by this necessity, as varied as is the structure 

 of animated bodies, that all the districts of Nature are peopled. 

 The eagle quits not the rock, nor the heron the shore ; the 

 one drops from his airy height to carry off or tear the lamb, 

 by no right but that of power, and by no means but those of 

 violence : the other, with his feet sunk in mire, awaits, at the 

 command of necessity, the passage of his fugitive prey. The 

 woodpecker never abandons the trunk of the trees, round which 

 he is ordained to creep. The snipe must remain in his 

 marshes ; the lark in his furrows ; the singing-birds in their 



