162 AYES. 



which we can have no idea, and from the most ancient times has caused to be attri- 

 buted to them, by superstitious persons, a power of announcing future events. It is 

 doubtless upon this faculty that the instinct depends which [periodically] agitates 

 migratory Birds, and impels them to direct their course towards the equator when 

 winter a])proaches, and pole-WLird at the return of spring.* They are not devoid of 

 memory, and even imagination — for they dream ; and every body knows with what 

 facility they may be tamed, taught [in numerous instances] to perform various services, 

 and to retain airs and words. 



DIVISION Of THE CLASS OF BIRDS INTO ORDERS. 



Of all classes of animals, that of Birds is the most strongly characterized, that in 

 which the species bear the greatest mutual resemblance, and which is separated from 

 all others by the widest interval. 



Their systematic ;irrangement is based, as in the Mammalia, on the organs of man- 

 ducation or the beak, and on those of prehension, which are again the beak, and more 

 particularly the feet. [The configuration of the sternal apparatus, also, (which we 

 have illustrated by numerous figures,) and the modifications of the digestive and some- 

 times vocal organs, sujiply highly important characters on which to ground the 

 subdivisions.] 



One is first struck by the character of icebbed feet, or those wherein the toes are 

 connected by membranes, that distinguish aU swtmmiiigJiuAs.\ The backward position 

 of their feet, the elongation of the sternum, the neck, often longer than the legs, to 

 enable them to reach below them, the close, shining plumage, impervious to water, — 

 rdtogether concur with the feet to make good navigators of the Palmipedes. 



In other Birds, which have also most frequently some small web to their feet, at 

 least between the two external toes, we observe elevated tarsi ; legs denuded of feathers 

 above the heel-joint; a slender shape; in fine, all the requisites for fording along 

 shallow water, in search of nourishment. Such, in fact, is the regimen of the greater 

 number ; and, although some of them resort exclusively to dry places, they are never- 

 theless termed Shore-birds or Waders. 



Amongst the true land- birds, the Gallinaeetz have — like our domestic Cock- — a heavy 

 carriage, a short flight, the beak moderate, its upper mandible vaulted, the nostrils 

 partly covered by a soft and tumid scale, and almost always the edges of the toes 

 indented, with short membranes between the bases of those in front. They subsist 

 chiefly on grain. 



Birds of prey have a crooked beak, with its jjoint shaqj and curving downward ; 

 and the nostrils pierced in a membrane that invests its base : their feet [save in the 

 Vulture group] are armed with stout talons. They live on flesh, and [the ^"ultures 



- a is certain, however, lh:ilttie nqiid ,-(,lurL;.ijir f ilu- ^esuril 



Ort^raiis is llie iiimietliale sliniuliiiit li. ,„ ii; rr.ti.ii. in t lu' sjiTl ii),' ; "lule 

 deeliiie of luiiipcrinure, most [,rcnLTi,lly. is tlie direcliv preiiispnsiji^t 

 Bgciil in the rkuLumn ; tills is ninnircst in the case of migratrtry Birds 

 kept ii< confinement. Tlie inslanets of ttie Swift, and 'idult Cuclioo, 

 retirini,' southward at tlie liottest season of tlie year, art nmre difficult 

 of explanation, and intlicatc some ulterior agency not hitlicrto divined j 

 tliougli tliey do noi alTeet tlje multitudinous obserx'ations, \ehicli con- 

 clusively prove the iiillueiice of ileeline of temperature. It is less easy 

 ai^ine physical agency that sliouid constantly inipe 



more the eMraonlinary fact [ramiliar to all practical observers) of 



both in summer and winter, to tlicir former place of abode, and tbii 

 even nheii reared in coiihnement, and released iinnicdiately previous 

 to their f.rst journey.— Ed. (See note to p. 31.) 



t It is most difficult thus to generalize in the class of Birds, for 

 instance, the Gallinulcs, or il/oor^iens,— habitual swimmers, — have no 

 connecting membrane to the toes ; while the Terns, which are never 

 seen to stviin, have tlieir toes conipletely webbed, &c. Even tlie Herons, 

 the Curlews, and numerous oiher lenders, will sometimes take the 



bnais to travel in tlie riglit directi u; and the marvel increases ! water of their own accord, ami swim across pools, though their strut 

 len we Ccoisidcr the length of mute ordiuanly traversed, .111'' still ' ture docs not indicaie sucli a haliit.— Ed. 



