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THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



strictly chemical nature, since many of them are imitable in the lahoratory 

 of the philosopher. There may he recognised in them, more or less dis- 

 tinctly, the action of physical laws operating under those peculiar condi- 

 tions which the living organism alone can perfectly supply ; and, in so far 

 as the skill of the chemist can imitate those conditions, he may hope to 

 produce similar combinations, as to a small extent has already been ef- 

 fected. But no one can ever hope to effect the organization of such pro- 

 ducts, or their conversion into living structures ; since it is unquestionably 

 an action of a strictly vital character, and, as far as we at present know, 

 is dependent upon the previous existence of some other organised body." 

 The author has commenced his public career under verv flattering cir- 

 cumstances. The work before us embraces the substance of an Essay on 

 the " Laws regulating Vital and Physical Phenomena," to which, in the 

 year 1837, was adjudged the Annual Student's Prize, by the Medical 

 Faculty of the University of Edinburgh ; and also, of an Essay on some 

 Departments of Vegetable Physiology, which received the First Prize 

 given by the Professor of Botany in the year 1836. Dr Carpenter is 

 now, we observe, connected as a Teacher with the Medical School of 

 Bristol. This city is honoured by the residence of Dr Prichard, one of 

 the chief ornaments of science of whom Britain can now boast; and we 

 cannot indulge a more appropriate wish than that our author, proceeding 

 as he has commenced, may follow the footsteps, and imitate the career, 

 of his illustrious fellow- citizen. 



A History of British Birds, Indigenous and Migratory, including their Or- 

 ganization, Habits, and Relations, fyc., illustrated by numerous Engrav~ 

 ings. By William MacGillivray, A.M., F.R.S.E., &c. &c. Vol. II. 



It would be an act not only of fastidiousness on our part, hut of in- 

 justice to our Readers, were we not to intimate the appearance of the 

 second volume of our excellent associate's History of British Birds. It 

 contains descriptions of the British species of birds constituting the or- 

 dinal group which the author has named Cantatores or Songsters, dis- 

 posed into the Seven Families of the Myrmotherince, Antcatchers and 

 allied species, — the Turdina, Thrushes and allied species, — Alaudinm, 

 the Larks, — the Moiacillince, Wagtails, — the Saxicolince, Stonechats, 

 — the Sylviana, Warbleis, and the Parince, Tits and allied species; 

 in all twenty-one genera and fifty species, together with two " Lessons," 

 as they are called, of Practical Ornithology; the former chiefly upon the 

 Organs of Kespiration, and Voice of Birds, and the latter being an ac- 

 count of an Ornithological Excursion in the Environs of Edinburgh, in 

 which Mr Audubon was one of the party. The volume is illustrated with 

 four plate?, containing about fifty figures, and ninety wood-cuts, mostly, 

 if not all, from preparations and sketches made by the author. 



To this simple intimation we shall subjoin the few extracts our limits 

 will allow. From the fiist lesson we copy the following sentences : 

 '* We have thus traced eleven pairs of muscles belonging to the trachea : 

 five pairs being appropriated to the larynx, two pairs to the tube of the 

 trachea, and four pairs to the syrinx, as I have called it, or inferior la- 

 rynx. You will find the number stated in books to be much less ; but 

 we take our lessons from Nature, and regard no other authority. It is by 

 these muscles that the different parts of the air-tube are stretched and 

 relaxed, opened and closed, so as to produce modulated sounds ; and all 

 this complex apparatus is necessary to enable a Rook to emit its va- 

 rious cries, which, however, are much more numerous than is generally 

 supposed, and fully as diversified as those of the Blackbird, although it 

 has not the faculty of emitting them in continuance, so as to form what 

 is called song. * * * The modifications of these organs, presented by the 

 different species of this order, are slight, and, in all those which I have 

 examined, I have found the same parts, and the same number of muscles. 

 The peculiar songs of different species must depend upon circumstances 

 beyond our cognition, for surely no one could imagine that the Raven, 

 the Hooded Crow, and the Rook, require as complex an apparatus to 

 produce their unmusical cries, as that which the Blackbird, the Song 

 Thrush, the Nightingale, and the Linnet, employ in modulating their 

 voice, so as to give rise to those melodies which are so delightful to us ; 

 and yet the knife, the needle, and the lens, do not enable us to detect any 

 inferiority in the Warbler over the Crow." 



The following we extract from the account of the Pied Wagtail 



" The places usually frequented by this beautiful bird are the margins of 

 streams, ditches, pools, and lakes. Towards the end of July, when the 

 cares of rearing their young are over, they betake themselves in great 

 numbers to the mouths of rivers, especially such as have marshy meadows 

 along their sides, or muddy expanses to which the tides have access. 

 Often one may see them wading in shallow places in quest of insects and 

 worms, carefully holding up their tail, to prevent its being draggled. If 

 you watch the motions of an individual just coming up to join the party, 

 you see it alight abruptly, twittering its shrill notes, and perching on a 

 small stone, incessantly vibrate its body, and jerk out its tail. It now 

 perhaps walks out into the water, and searches for food, or, finding none, 

 flies to the shore, and runs along with great rapidity, stopping and stoop- 



ing now and then to pick up a tiny wormlet, and momentarily spreading 

 out its ever vibrating tail. * * * Now it runs into a meadow in pursuit of 

 a fly, which it has no sooner caught than it spies another. The lazy 

 geese, which have nibbled the grass bare, allow it to pass in the midst of 

 them without molestation, or, if some malicious Gander or foolish Goslin" 

 attempts to seize it, they find they have given themselves too much cre- 

 dit for dexterity. There the Cows are grazing, in the midst of a swarm 

 of Gnats and other insects, and the Wagtail has arrived in the vicinity. 

 Running forward, it catches a small fly, bends to one side to seize an- 

 other, darts to the right after a third, and springs some feet into the air 

 before it secures a fourth. While in pursuit, it encounters another of 

 its own species ; but they quarrel not, no doubt aware that there is room 

 enough for them in the world, or even in the meadow, which we now 

 see to be covered with Wagtails, all busily occupied, some walking, others 

 running, a few flying off, and many arriving. You may walk in among 

 them ; they are not very shy, for they will allow you to come within fif- 

 teen yards, or sometimes less ; and you may shoot as many as you please, 

 for although some will fly off, others will remain." 



MISCELLANIES. 



_ Galvanic Telegraph This Telegraph, quick as Light, we are glad 



to learn, is in actual operation, and succeeding to a wish. It is in daily 

 use on the Great Western Railway from Paddington, as far as West 

 Drayton, a distance of about fourteen miles, between which places an 

 answer can be asked and answered in about two minutes ; and it is the 

 intention of the Company to carry it forward as far as Bristol. The wires 

 communicating with each end pass through a hollow iron tube not more 

 than an inch and a half in diameter, which is fixed about six inches above 

 the ground, running parallel with the railway, and about two or three 

 feet distant from it. The space occupied by the machinery, which stands 

 upon a table, and can be removed to any part of the room, is little more 

 than that required for a hat-box. The Telegraph is worked by pressing 

 small brass keys, (like those of a keyed bugle,) by means of galvanic 

 power, upon various hands placed upon a dial plate at the other end of 

 the telegraphic line. These point to every letter of the alphabet, to the 

 numerals, and all the various points used in writing or printing. There 

 is also a sign for a mistake having been made — when an erasure must be 

 made. The numerous benefits which may result from this simple appar- 

 atus cannot easily be predicated. 



Antarctic Expedition The Council of the Royal Society have now 



finished the Report they were requested to draw up for the guidance of 

 the scientific expedition about to proceed to the antarctic regions under 

 the auspices of the British Government, and the command of Captain 

 James Clark Ross. Among the individuals of eminence who assisted in its 

 construction were the Marquis of Northampton, Sir J. F. Herschel, Dr Fa- 

 raday, Professors Grant, Lyell, &c. The expedition, which is abundantly 

 provided for, is to conduct its observations in concert, on the most exten- 

 sive scale ; and several of the leading members of the Royal, the Geo- 

 graphical, and the Zoological Societies, have signified their intention of 

 joining it. 



Shower of Butterflies. — Captain Fitzroy, in his late interesting 

 Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of the Adventure and the Beagle, re- 

 cords the following strange phenomenon as having occurred on the coast 

 of South America : — " The horizon was strangely distorted by refraction, 

 and I anticipated some violent change. Suddenly, myriads of white But- 

 terflies surrounded the ship, in such multitudes, that the men exclaimed, 

 ' It is snowing Butterflies.' They were driven before a gust from the 

 north-west, which soon increased to a double-reefed top-sail breeze, and 

 were as numerous as flakes of snow in the thickest shower. The space 

 they occupied could not have been less than 200 yards in height, a mile 

 in width, and several miles in length." 



We are sorry to observe that " The Naturalist" of this month con- 

 tains the intelligence, that the existence of this respectable and amusing 

 periodical has come to a close. The editor, Mr Neville Wood, well 

 known as a zealous Zoologist, and especially for his acquirements in Orni- 

 thology, ascribes its want of success to its having been printed in the coun- 

 try; and, unquestionably, a metropolis affords many advantages for the con- 

 duct of a periodical. We lament the event for our own sakes, having 

 often received gratification from its pages ; but trust the cause will not 

 long suffer from its suspension. The late editor well merited the appro- 

 bation of the Naturalist for his services, and we shall hail the day, when 

 the opportunity offers for his executing his present purpose, of still further 

 promoting the interests of Natural History. 



Edinburgh : Published for the Proprietor, at the Office, No. 13, Hill Street. 

 London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 65, Cornhill. Glasgow, and the West of 

 Scotland : John Smith and Son ; and John Macleod. Dublin : George: 

 Young. Paris : J. B. Balliere, Rue de l'Ecole de Medecine, No. 13, bis. , 



THE EDINBURGH PRINTING COMPANY. 



