326 



CLASS AVES. 



pursued, they hover, and sail off, like our grey partridge ; 

 and as soon as they reach the ground, they squat themselves 

 down at the foot of a bush, or in a high tuft of grass, always 

 on the opposite side to the object which affrights them ; they 

 move the tail up and down, if undisturbed, and horizontally, 

 if surprized. They remain in families during the winter, 

 and go in pairs in the spring. Each couple appropriates a 

 district, where they do not suffer others to enter. The male 

 is much attached to the female, and both to the young. 

 Their song is not disagreeable, and both male and female 

 utter a sort of sharp whistle when annoyed. They place 

 their nest on the ground, in the midst of brambles, or tufted 

 plants, and construct it with dry grass, &c. They have but 

 one brood annually, composed of five or seven eggs ; the 

 young do not separate from the parent until spring. Their 

 food is worms, insects, and various grains. 



The Magellanic Stare (Siurmis Militaris), of which we 

 give a figure, is found in the Malouine Islands, on the coast 

 of the strait of Magellan, and it advances into America as far 

 as Monte Video, or beyond. It forms flocks, more or less 

 numerous, which seek their food on the ground, descending 

 on the corn-fields, and eating up the grain. 



The two last birds, Avith another, called loyca, are formed 

 by M. Vieillot into a separate genus, which he names stur- 

 nella. 



A general analogy between the Ckows, properly so called, 

 the pies, the jays, the nutcracker, the temia, and the glau co- 

 pis, leads us naturally to consider these birds as constituting a 

 group ; and whether we view them as forming so many 

 genera of that group, or treat the crows as a typical genus, 

 and the rest as subgenera, is perhaps indifferent. The advo- 

 cates for simplicity will adopt the one, while the stricter 

 systematists will probably prefer the other. Cuvier, as we 



