ZOOLOGY. 



125 



forming a link in that great chain. From the beauty and 

 interest of various classes of Birds, the study of Ornithology 

 has had more followers than either of its sister sciences, but 

 still we have much to learn ; as almost every country has 

 either some species, or whole families, peculiar to itself ; 

 we have in enumerating the genera, occasionally remarked 

 where any of the species were migratory, and we must not 

 omit to notice the locality of others, as it forms an equally 

 curious character. Many kinds never quit the frozen shores 

 of Iceland, Greenland, Hudson's Bay, and other stations, 

 where the cold is equally severe ; some species are as it 

 were riveted to the burning deserts of Arabia, and the 

 scorching sands of Africa ; whilst others cease to exist out of 

 the temperate climates of Europe and Asia. In Great Bri- 

 tain we possess one kind of Bird which has not been disco- 

 vered in any other part of the globe ; and though it has 

 often been transported, with a view to naturalize the species 

 in other countries, the experiment has never been attended 

 with success, the species we allude to is the Red Grous, 

 (Tetrao Scoticus). Another kind of locality is observable 

 in many of the small birds, which greatly contributes to pre- 

 serve the kinds, that is they only frequent such places, where 

 the ground assimilates with the colours of the various kinds ; 

 thus the Norfolk Plover, or as it is usually (but improperly) 

 called, thick-knee'd Bustard; is never found but in stony 

 districts, in arable lands, and where the ground approxi- 

 mates so nearly to it in colour, that the bird is secure 

 from observation at the distance of a few yards, provided it 

 is not in motion ; but lest this security should occasion too 

 great an increase, the instant it runs or walks, its black 

 coloured tail immediately discovers it ; and Us loud shrill 



