5350 Birds. 



uncommon about the cliffs on the coast where it breeds, and I have 

 noticed it fishing in the harbour of Sebastopol. An officer succeeded 

 in taking a couple of young ones from the nest on the 12th of April, in 

 the cliffs between Balaclava and the Monastery of St. George : he said 

 that the nest was quite free from dung, owing to the peculiar mode of 

 evacuation, which was observed when they were afterwards kept in 

 confinement. Dr. William Carte has a specimen of this species. 



The same officer who procured the young eagles agreed with me 

 that two large eagles which we observed for a few days, always 

 together, were the golden eagle, but, never having obtained a clear 

 view, this bird is only included among the doubtful, and does not form 

 one of the 129 species which we have made out for certain. I have 

 on more than one occasion observed a smaller species, one of which I 

 shot at, while quail-shooting one day, and, having wounded him, had 

 a great hunt about the cliffs, but failed in capturing him. 



There is one more species of which I must speak : the only specimen 

 I know of having been killed was by a friend of mine in the far-famed 

 Valley of Baidar, in May, who kindly brought me the specimen while 

 fresh, which I accordingly skinned, not knowing the species, however, 

 until my return to England, when, on walking through the British 

 Museum, I espied one that was to my mind the same, and so it turned 

 out to be, namely, the tawny eagle (Aquila nc&voides). I preserved the 

 sternum of this bird. 



Let us now pass on to others of this family ; and we find the hobby 

 (Falco subbuteo) to be in appearance and habits a true falcon, though 

 of no great size, being a peregrine in miniature : he stands, as it were, 

 on the crest of the hill of falcons, as typical of the whole family, the 

 slope on the one side being carried down by the eagles to the vultures, 

 and on the other by the hawks, buzzards and harriers to the next 

 family, owls, which, in like manner, rise to a culminating point, and 

 fall again, uniting in another valley with the insect-feeders ; and when 

 we look at this gradual development of some characters with the falling 

 off of others throughout the whole system of Nature, and at the filling 

 up of gaps by the discovery of new species, we are led to ask, Who 

 can define where one order, family or genus ends and another begins ? 

 and we find ourselves at a loss to ascertain that precise link in the 

 chain where the dividing line should be drawn, and are ready to say 

 that " species alone exist in Nature." Professor Rymer Jones has 

 well illustrated this difficulty, in speaking of the animal and vegetable 

 kingdoms. " Light and darkness are distinct from each other, and no 

 one possessed of eye-sight would be in danger of confounding night 



