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700 European birds the British Isles could claim 371 species, 

 and Ireland 290 species. Some of these had only visited our 

 land, it might be, a few times, while others were common and 

 widely distributed. Of the 371 British species 370 inhabited 

 other parts of the world, the one species limited to the British 

 Isles being the common red grouse. Everyone was more or 

 less familiar with the different types of birds. In the Tropics 

 they found the most brilliant colours; the birds of paradise 

 in the Old World and the humming-birds in the New World 

 showed the most strikingly beautiful hues to be found in 

 nature. But, although conspicuous for dazzling coats, the 

 tropical birds did not excel in song, almost all the good song- 

 sters being confined to the temperate zone, and included 

 amongst the birds of comparatively small size, such as the 

 lark, thrush, blackbird, robin, &c. If they examined a bird 

 they found that in outward form and expression it differed from 

 all other creatures, though in structure it resembled in some 

 measure all vertebrate animals, but most nearly approached 

 the reptiles in its anatomy, though, unlike them, warm- 

 blooded and very active and graceful in its movements. In 

 examining a bird's structure, one of the most striking points 

 was the very deeply-keeled sternum, or breastbone, possessed 

 by the great majority of species. This deep keel was to carry 

 the enormously-developed breast muscles, which enabled a 

 bird to fly and to remain on the wing, it might be, for fifteen 

 hours at a stretch, and to cover many hundreds of miles in 

 one sustained flight. Another very interesting point in the 

 bird's structure was the ingenious arrangement of the tendons 

 of the leg, by which the bird was able to retain its hold upon 

 a branch while asleep, so that the more profoundly the bird 

 slumbered the more secure was its hold. Taking the bird's 

 outward aspect, the most fascinating feature was the eye. it 

 was usually beautifully bright, and was often piercingly keen. 

 In many of the small singing-birds it had a liquid softness, 

 which he did not think was found in the eyes of any other 

 animal. Birds alone of all animal beings might be truly said 

 to fall asleep in death. When man or any mammal expired 



