little opening on its under surface, where it joins the shaft, by 

 which its cavity communicates with the exterior, the tube is 

 cylindrical but the shaft rather square on section. On each side 

 of the shaft are the barbs, and each barb has another series of 

 divisions on each side called barbules. In the chief feather for 

 flying, every barbule on the further side of ihe barb has a little 

 hook by which it more securely overlaps the barbules of the next 

 barb so as to increase the resistance to the air and make the 

 feather more rigid Other peculiarities in birds are the air sacs 

 which are developed in different parts of the body and communicate 

 with the lungs, and the air centres in many of the bones which 

 also communicate with the lungs. Then the use of the two fore 

 limbs for flying necessitates many modifications of beak, neck, and 

 claws for seizing and holding. The beak undergoes very re- 

 markable modifications in different birds, which I hope to be able 

 to dwell on, on some future occasion. The neck is usually made 

 of many more vertebra than in Mammals, and it is extremely 

 flexible, and always long enough for the beak to be able to reach 

 the base of the tail. The claws and toes are most serviceable for 

 holding, climbing, tearing, and fighting according to the needs of 

 the owners. 



I will now proceed to consider some of our common birds of the 

 Passerine Order, or Perching Birds. We all know the Thrush, 

 Turdus musicus, and a very welcome visitor of our gardens it is to 

 most of us. Who has not seen and heard it singing its sweet song 

 perched on the same branch of a tree for nearly an hour without 

 moving an inch ? I have .had a telescope directed at one whilst it 

 was singing about 30 yds. away, and it brought it apparently to 

 within about 6 or 8 feet, so that the bright eye and rapidly moving 

 beak and throat made a very pretty object adding to the beauty of 

 the song. It has what I should call a soft but bright liquid eye 

 which seems to look in all directions at once. The feeding habits 

 of the Thrush are very peculiar. If you are walking in the further 

 part of the Warren you may often pass by a heap of broken snail 

 shells on the top of a little mound with one or two large stones 

 projecting from the ground ; these fragments are made by the 

 Thrush. It takes the snail shell in its beak and gives it a vigorous 

 blow against the stone, repeating the action until the shell is so 

 broken that the snail can be extracted. So that as the Butcher 

 Bird has its larder, so the Thrush has its kitchen midden or shell 

 mound. Hear what Macgillivray says of the song of the Thrush 

 in the Hebrides : — " In other places the song of the Thrush may 

 be lively and cheering ; here in the ocean -girt solitude, it is gentle 

 and soothing. By its magic influence it smoothes the ruffled surface 

 of the sea of human feelings, as it floats over it at intervals with its 

 varied swells and cadences, like the perfumed wavelets of the 



