UTILITY OP BIRDS. 206 



region, particular tj'pes of birds are easil_y recognised. Africa, 

 for instance, alone possesses the Great Ostrich, while only a 

 small species exists in America — - the Rhea ; the Emu repre- 

 sents the genus in Australia. Africa has species brilliant as 

 the most precious stones. To America belong exclusively the 

 Humming-birds, so remarkable for the brilliancy of their plumage. 

 Again, if Africa is the country of the Vulture, to America belongs 

 the Condor. 



Nevertheless, the acclimatisation of birds is by no means beyond 

 our power. Experience proves that by carrying a bird far from 

 its native countrj', and placing it in conditions approaching those 

 to which it has been accustomed, it will live and multiply — accli- 

 mate itself, in short, to its new home. 



Europe possesses no ornithological tj'jse peculiar to it. It is 

 only in Africa and America that we find those rich varieties of 

 form and colour which characterise the feathered race. The 

 Island of Madagascar is the land which possesses the greatest 

 number of ornithological types — simpljr, perhaps, because that 

 island abounds in species whose rudimentary wings do not permit 

 of their wandering away. Whatever the cause, however, the 

 species found there are not obtained elsewhere. Here we find 

 the unique Dodo, a form of animal which became extinct in 

 Europe in the last century. 



There is a wonderful charm of companionship in birds — they 

 give animation to the scene, skipping from bush to bush, or 

 skimming the surface of land and water. They please the eye 

 by their graceful shape and plumage, and they chaian our ears 

 by their ceaseless warblings. Even in this sense we lie under a 

 debt of gratitude to these graceful inhabitants of the air. But this 

 is far from being the limit of the benefits we derive from them. 

 The birds of the poultry- yards furnish our most delicate food; their 

 eggs form a considerable branch of trade, and are indispensable in 

 the kitchen ; and what would become of our country gentleman 

 .should our game birds ever become extinct ? — an event bj' no 

 means improbable, seeing that, in the year of grace 1868, the 

 head-dress of every votarj^ of fashion was decorated with the 

 wing of a bird — not confining the demand to Birds of Paradise, 

 Ostrich, Pheasant, and other feathers of brilliant plumage whose 



