AND OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 



159 



on all points, as are the fundamental laws of their organizations and constitutions, so, 

 on the other, we find a corresponding alteration and conformity of action in them, to 

 suit our intrusions on their territories, our planting, our tillage, our building, and all our 

 various operations on and perversions of Nature. In civilized and cultivated territo- 

 ries scarce an animal moves but it encounters alterations of our making; and, though 

 the lower tribes can experience but slight impediments, and can have to adapt them- 

 selves thereto only in a very minor degree, yet the higher tribes must certainly em- 

 ploy some portion of thought at times to overcome these hinderances ; and, as before 

 said, if instinct were so confined and constrained a power, as usually conceived, these 

 alterations in Nature would infallibly disarrange all their proceedings. Judging by, the 

 analogy of a vast number of instances of departure from accustomed actions, and by 

 the anomalies of individual cases, as contrasted with the proceedings of species taken 

 in the aggregate, we conclude that the instances of the Grey Wagtail's breeding in 

 Devon are determined purely by choice, and are not dependent on any human causes 

 or interferences, and that these are a^so cases showing that instinct is not so very con- 

 strained a faculty, but involves a certain portion of thought and volition. If the instincts 

 implanted in the Grey Wagtail were of a definite, precise, constrained, and unalterable 

 nature, they would necessarily pervade every member of the species ; and so far from 

 any pair of birds choosing to stay the summer with us, while all their fellows were 

 preparing to migrate, no inducements of food ever so great, nor even any accidents or 

 ailments impairing their bodily power, would prevent their essaying a flight ever so 

 short and feeble ; in fact, they would be compelled to exert themselves to the very 

 atmost, and to sacrifice every feeling to this one object. 



The Yellow Wagtail, Motacilla flava of Ray and other English writers, offers 

 an illustration of the same diversity of operations among individuals of one species. This 

 summer Wagtail arrives here about the very time the Grey Wagtail leaves us, and it 

 also quits us about the period the winter species comes. Still stragglers are seen on 

 to November, according to some remarks I made in 1831, frequenting both the coast 

 and inland stations; and in October 1833, and other years, they have been noticed 

 haunting the beaches near Plymouth, so that, without contending for their stay 

 through the whole winter, I have reason to infer that, like the Grey sort, they are 

 occasionally induced to act difi^erently from the aggregate of their kind. Facts of the 

 same nature as those I have above recorded, relative to these two birds, are also 

 named by I\lr IMarkwich in Linnsan Transactions, [. VIQ. The Yellow Wagtails 

 congregate in August and September, and abide for several days on the beaches and 

 shores, feeding among the sea-weed. They likewise affect open fields. The number 

 collected at these times is dis]iroportioned to our summer stock, so that probably this 

 species approaches the southern parts of the kingdom previously to departure. 



The Pied Wagtail, Motacilla alba of most English writers, appears to be a 

 biid of more enduring constitution than the other kinds, because it suffers the alter- 

 nations of our seasons without removing to other situations. It is resident with us 

 all the year. Its actions, however, clearly indicate the possession of powers of accom- 

 modating itself to circumstances of necessity ; not that the species acts in concert, or 

 that the movements and operations of the individuals are simultaneous and uniformly 

 similar ; on the contrary, each bird seems intent on its own peculiar interests, and its 

 having been ordained that the appetite of this species of bird should not be restricted 

 or very limited in capacity, some individuals are found to diet on the sea-shore, where- 

 by greater space is allowed to other individuals to procure food. In summer, how- 

 ever, when the supply of food is so ample for the generality of creatures, the number 

 of Wagtails haunting the beaches is very small, whereas, toward winter, they augment 

 greatly. Although I have said that the individuals appear to have separate and ex- 

 clusive interests, yet it seems that some portion of the kind congregate and depart, 

 we know not whither, some thinking they remove to other countries, and some con- 

 tending that they merely take up fresh quarters in this same kingdom. However, 

 this removal in August must act beneficially towards the remainder, both of that 

 species and also towards the Grey sort. During summer they may be found distributed 

 by the sides of rivers and ponds, on ro-ids and in gardens, besides being also on the 

 shores and inlets, as before said. In June I have seen them both in that situation, 

 and in my own garden, and before the house on the road, searching for insects. 

 About September, they are more particularly noticed arriving in the vicinity of 

 bouses and stable-yards. From that time, on through the winter, they obtrude 

 themselves greatly in gardens, where they pick up the insects disturbed by the 

 spade of the gardener, which had secreted themselves, and been wrapt in their win- 

 ter's sleep, or in temporary torpor. 



British Shrews The Reverend Leonard Jenyns, in a paper published in the 



hist number of the Annals of Natural History, presents the following synopsis of 

 "British Shrews: — 



SoREi, Linn. — ^wo middle incisors much produced ; the upper ones curved, with 

 a spur behind more or less prolonged ; the lower ones almost horizontal ; lateral 

 incisors or false grinders small, from 3 to 5 above, 2 below, on each side ; true 

 grinders 4 above, 3 below, on each side ; fur short and soft ; snout attenu:ited ; tail 

 loTig. 



Sect. I. — Amphisorex, Duvernoy. — Middle incisors in the lower jaw with the edge 

 denticulated; the upper ones forked, the spur behind being prolonged to a level with 

 the point in front; the lateral incisors which follow in the upper jaw five in number, 

 and diminishing gradually in size from the first to the last ; all the teeth more or less 

 coloured at their tips. 



1. S. rustic7ts, Jen., Common Shrew. — Snout and feet slender ; tail moderately 

 stout, nearly cylindrical, not attenuated at the tip, well clothed with hairs, which are 

 very divergent in the young state, and never closely appressed. Appears principally 

 to frequent dry situations, gardens, hedgebanks, &o. 



2. S. tctragpnurus, Herm.,_ Square-tailed Shrew.— ^noMi broader than in the last 

 species ; feet, fore especially, much larger ; tail slender, more quadrangular at all 

 ages, and slightly attenuated at the tip; clothed with closely appressed hairs in the 

 young state, in age nearly naked. More attached to marshy districts than the last 

 species, though not confined to them. 



Sect. II. Hydrosorex, Duv. — Middle incisors in the lower jaw with an entire edge ; 

 the upp«r ones notched, or with the spur appearing as a point behind; the lateral 



incisors which follow in the upper jaw foui in number; the first two equal, the third 

 somewhat smaller, the fourth rudimentary; the tips of all the teeth a little coloured, 



3. S. fodiens, Gmel., Water Shrew. — Deep bro\^nish-black above; nearly white 

 beneath ; the two colours distinctly separated on the sides ; feet and tail ciliated with 

 white hairs. Marshes and banks of ditches ; but it is occasionally met with at a dis- 

 tance from water. 



4. 5. ciliatus, Sowerby, Ciliated Shrew. — Black above; greyish-black beneath; 

 throat yellowish-ash ; feet and tail strongly ciliated with greyish hairs. Found in the 

 same situations as the preceding. 



Horns of the Arnee — A skull with the horn? of an old bull of this species, which 

 inhabits the plains and jungles of the upper parts of India, has lately been presented 

 to the Edinburgh College of Surgeons by Dr James Smith. The length of the skull is 

 2 feet, and the forehead, which is slightly convex, measures 10^ inches across, op- 

 posite to the middle of the horns. In young animals, the horns rise obliquely, but in 

 very old ones, as in this individual, they spread out nearly horizontally, curve upwards 

 and backwards, and have the points slightly incurvate. They are compressed and 

 somewhat triangular, flattened in front, with numerous transverse broad rugte, except- 

 ing towards the point, which is more rounded. The length of each horn, measured 

 on the outer edge, is 4 feet 2 inches, its breadth at the base 7 inches, its circumfer- 

 ence there 18 inches, and the space between the tips of the horns is 6 feet. 



The GoATsrcKER. — Of the birds which abound in the Maremme of Patria, savs 

 Colonel Maceroni, in his Memoirs, in which I frequently used to pass weeks to^-ether, 

 many varieties of the Bittern and of the Goatsucker abound. Of the Bitterns, one 

 very small variety is remarkable for its Alephistopheles-like appearance, and accounts 

 for the frequent appearance of its representation upon Egyptian obelisks and mo- 

 numents; its body is nut so large as a Pigeon, but the beak is a foot long, and the 

 usual atti ude of the bird mounted on its equally long legs, is with the sharp sword- 

 like beak pointed vertically upwards. Of Caprimulgi, 1 have shot a very great va- 

 riety ; the most remarkable of which is one that has the exact representation of a 

 white moth depicted on each side of the expanded tail of the bird, so that when flyinf^ 

 about in the night, the moths, which constitute its principal food, seeing the moths 

 upon the tail, come fluttering round their devourer. instead of avoiding him. 1 for^^et 

 whether it is in this same specimen of ihe Goatsucker or in another, that I have re- 

 marked a very curious arrangement for the purpose of enabling the bird to see into 

 its own mouth when extended wide open ; and their mouths are enormous, so that 

 they cannot easily miss their flying prey. Upon opening the mouth of this kind of 

 Goatsucker, which thoy can do so as to place each half of their beaks at a straight 

 line with the other, a large portion of the skin beneath the eyes becomes stretched 

 and quite free of feathers ; is as transparent as glass, so as to allow the eyes to see 

 directly througli it into the mouth, or farther on in that direction. The operations 

 of the Caprimulgi being carried on during the darkness of the night, have not been so 

 much noticed by naturalists as they deserve. — This extract affords a good example of 

 the ridiculous fancies which authors indulge in when they choose to imagine them- 

 selves physiologist'5. 



Malay Albiso On landing at Gressik I was struck by the singular appearance 



of a Blalay lad, an albino, standing under the shade of a tree on the river-bank. His 

 skin was of a reddish-white, with blotches here and there, and thinly covered with 

 short white hairs. The ears were small and contracted; the iris of a very light 

 vascular blue ; the lids red, and fringed with short white lashes ; the eyebrows scanty, 

 and of the same colour ; the pupil much contracted from the light. On calling him 

 to come near he appeared to be ashamed. He evinced an extreme sensibility to the 

 stimulus of light, from which he almost constantly kept his eyes guarded by shading 

 them with his hands. He told me he could see better than his neighbours in imper- 

 fect darkness and best by moonlight, like the " moon-eyed" albinoes of the Isthmus 

 of Darien. He is morbidly sensitive to heat; for this reason, and on account of the 

 superstitious respect with which the Malays regard him, he is seldom employed by his 

 friends in out-door labour, although by no means deficient in physical strength. The 

 credulous Malays imagine that the Genii have some furtive share in the production of 

 such curiosities, though this they tell as a great secret. To this day the tomb of his 

 grandfather, who was also an albino, is held sacred by the natives, and vows are made 

 at it. Both his parents were of the usual colour. His sister is an albino like him- 

 self. Albinos I believe are not common on the Peninsula, nor are there any tribes 

 of them, as according to Voltaire, existing in the midst of Africa. In the only two 

 instances I recollect observing, the eyes were of a very light blue; the cuticla 



