ORNITHOLOGY. 



557 



■ volves the annual revolution of the earth round the sun, 

 ''and let us divide it into the usual departments which we 

 call seasons. Every man can picture to his own mind the 

 decided characters by which these divisions of the year are 

 parted from each other ; he can mark out by definite dis- 

 tinctions those striking periods where the year bursts forth 

 into bud, where it opens into flower, where it ripens into 

 fruit, and where it lapses into decay. He can ascertain 

 the nature of the impressions which each season forces 

 upon his own feelings, he can communicate such sensa- 

 tions to others, and he can embody those natural periods, 

 of whose separate existence he feels conscious, into sepa- 

 rate and well-characterised divisions, to which he can re- 

 fer, without fear of being misunderstood, under the distinct 

 appellations of spring or summer, of autumn or of winter. 

 But can he at the same time point out the actual limits of 

 these natural departments of the year ? Can he fix, for 

 instance, in that intervening interchange of season, where 

 the rigour of winter silently and imperceptibly relaxes into 

 the mildness of spring, — can he fix, I say, upon the exact 

 period when the former terminates, and the latter begins ? 

 Can he assert at one moment that he is within the pre- 

 cincts of one season, and that, even while he speaks, he 

 has passed into the confines of the other. He may, it is 

 true, assign artificial limits to each department, and may 

 calculate with mathematical precision the months, the 

 days, the hours, of which it consists. He may even as- 

 sign reasons for his arbitrary divisions, and prove their pro- 

 bable approximation to the regular interchange of nature. 

 And this is precisely as far as the Zoologist can go. But 

 this is all that is in his power. He never can feel or assert 

 that the character of one season is lost at one particular 

 moment, and gives place to the character of that which 

 succeeds. Here, then, we have four decided divisions, per- 

 fectly distinct in themselves, yet to which we are unable 

 to affix the limits. So it is with the groups of Zoology. 

 They exhibit separate divisions, distinguished by separate 

 characters, but running into each other without any as- 

 signable limits ; and any man may draw his imaginary 

 line across that ' border country,' that ' land debateable,' 

 which stretches between the conterminous regions, accord- 

 ing as it suits his fancy or his peculiar views, or as it may 

 accord with the greater or less preponderance of those 

 minor landmarks which serve as an inferior mode of de- 

 marcation in the absence of all natural boundaries." 1 



We shall now proceed with our proposed exposition of 

 the various orders. 



Order I.— RAPTORES, OR BIRDS OF PREY." 



Raptorial birds, under which term we include the tribes 

 usually known by the general names of vultures, eagles, 

 hawks, buzzards, kites, and owls, are distinguished by a 

 strong, sharp-edged, acutely-pointed bill, more or less 

 curved, but always hooked at the extremity of the upper 

 mandible, which is covered at the base by the membrane 

 called the cere. The nostrils are usually open. The legs, 

 with few exceptions, are plumed as far as the top of the 

 tarsus ; the latter part itself is usually bare, but is entirely 

 covered with feathers in most of the nocturnal kinds, and 

 partially so in several of the diurnal. The toes are always 

 four in number, very free in their movements, the outer 

 sometimes versatile ; and the whole, with rare exceptions, 

 are furnished with strong, sharp, curved, prehensile claws. 



All raptorial birds feed on animal substances, — the ma- 

 jority on living prey. Representing in their own class the 



ferine species among quadrupeds, they subdue their weak- Raptores. 

 er brethren by force more frequently than guile; and if^"" ~v—— ' 

 not more tyrannical than tigers, they at least exercise a 

 more extended sway, for the fields, the woods, and waters, 

 the barren mountains, and resounding shore, are all alike 

 subjected to their fierce control. Their power of flight is 

 remarkable for its surpassing strength and long endurance. 

 They occur in some form or other under every clime, and 

 their external aspect varies greatly, both in size and shape, 

 from the ponderous eagle and condor of long extended 

 wing, to the finch-falcon of Bengal, which is scarcely 

 larger than a sparrow. But, generally speaking, raptorial 

 birds are of considerable bulk, as might be anticipated 

 from the necessity under which they lie of subduing an 

 active and not always unresisting prey. Their forms, how- 

 ever, are often graceful, their actions energetic, their eyes 

 bold and bright, and their plumage beautifully varied ; — 

 but they are more remarkable for chaste and subdued co- 

 louring, for sober shades of intermingled black and brown, 

 than for those brilliant or gorgeous hues which characterise 

 so many of the feathered tribes. 



Their dispositions naturally fierce or unaccommodating, 

 if not contentious, their ravening appetites, and dangerous 

 weapons, induce them but seldom to associate with each 

 other. We shall not here describe them, after the manner 

 of many authors, as gloomy and mistrustful, — for what 

 cause has an eagle, rejoicing in his strength, and winging 

 his way from distant isles o'er waters glittering with re- 

 dundant life, or hovering on the side of some majestic 

 mountain, of which the purple heath is one wide store- 

 house of the best of game, — what cause has he for gloom ? 

 Or why should he mistrust, whose sail-broad vans might 

 almost carry him across the vast Atlantic, or assuredly in 

 a few brief hours transport him from his bold but barren 

 eyrie, to richer pastures, reverberating with the varied 

 voices of defenceless flocks ? We believe there is nothing 

 mournful or disconsolate in beings which pursue the un- 

 fettered exercise of natural instinct. Such fearful attri- 

 butes are but reflections from the melancholy mind of man 

 (whose morbid reason often casts a gloom across the bright- 

 est sun), but cloud not in reality the face of nature. Birds 

 of prey, however, are not gregarious, — although, " where 

 the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together." 

 For eagles we presume to read vultures, the scavengers of 

 the raptorial order, which in sultry regions are highly use- 

 ful in clearing all decaying offal from the earth. With 

 these exceptions, the others may be said to dwell in single 

 pairs, — at times in solitude. They build their rude but 

 sufficing nests amid precipitous rocks, on ancient ruins, 

 and occasionally among forest trees, while a few take up 

 their station on the ground. They seldom lay more than 

 four eggs, and many only rear a pair of young. These are 

 at first extremely helpless, and covered for a time with 

 down. The females, in the generality of species, are con- 

 siderably larger than the males. The plumage of the 

 sexes often differs greatly, and in such cases the offspring 

 for one or more seasons resembles the mother. 



The voice in the raptorial order is almost always harsh and 

 unmusical, sometimes more plaintive in the hooting kinds, 

 complaining by night from ivy-mantled tower or ancient 

 tree ; and only one species, a hawk from Africa, has 

 been ever said to sing. The uses to the human race of 

 birds of prey are not remarkable. The scavengers above 

 alluded to are beneficial in their way, but the same can 

 scarcely be alleged of such as carry off our lambs or poul- 

 try ; and we are not aware that either their flesh or fea- 

 thers are of much avail. More might have been said of 

 certain members of the order, had not the practice of 



ZoologicalJout nal, No. ii. p. 196. 



* Accipithes, Linn. ; Rafaces, Teram. 



