Son 



545 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



History. Ornithology, from ogws, bird, and Xo/os, discourse, is 

 ^— v—— •'that department of Zoology which treats of the history 

 and attributes of the feathered race. Birds form the se- 

 cond great division of the animal kingdom, being usually 

 placed immediately after the Mammalia, and antecedent 

 to the reptile class. They may be defined as vertebrated, 

 oviparous animals, covered with feathers, organized for 

 flight, and enjoying a double system of circulation and re- 

 spiration ; that is, their whole blood, like that of quadru- 

 peds, must visit the lungs and return to the heart before 

 it is propelled to the extremities, — and the entire system is 

 provided with reservoirs of air, in addition to the lungs 

 properly so called. 



The vast extent which the science of Ornithology has 

 acquired in recent times renders a full exposition impos- 

 sible within our necessarily prescribed limits ; but we shall 

 endeavour at least to indicate the majority of the more 

 important groups, to figure and describe in each some in- 

 teresting species, and by frequent reference to such au- 

 thors as have most successfully treated of the different 

 branches in detail, enable such of our readers as desire a 

 more elaborate view, to follow out the subject for them- 

 selves. We presume it matters not with which depart- 

 ment we commence. Let us begin, then, with the Bib- 

 liography, which, however, need not detain us long. 



Few if any important works have been transmitted to 

 us from antiquity. In the third book of Aristotle's His- 

 tory of Animals (LTej/ Zuuv 'Itfrogra, the period being about 

 350 years before the Christian era) we find recorded 

 sundry observations, but brief and superficial, on the fea- 

 thered race. 1 His division seems to be into such as have 

 hooked claws, such as have separated toes, and such as 

 are web-footed ; and he observes, that the first have the 

 breast the most robust. He describes the differences in 

 the structure of the feet, and notices, that although the 

 generality have three toes in front, and one behind, yet a 

 few have only two toes in front. The bill supplies the 

 place of lips and teeth, and passages in different parts of 

 the head supply the place of the external organs of the 

 senses of smell and sound. The eyes are furnished with 

 a membrane like that possessed by lizards, but want eye- 

 lashes. No bird with hooked claws has likewise spurs 

 upon its legs. These are a few examples of Aristotle's 

 style of observation on the class in question. 



Pliny was born about the twentieth year of the Chris- 

 tian era. The tenth book of his Historia Naturalis treats 

 in part of birds, but in a very meagre and immethodical 

 manner. He tells us of the raven and the phoenix, of the 

 owl, the ibis, and the nightingale, of capons, and the cock- 

 fights of Pergamus, and of the character and conduct of 

 various other birds. 



For 1500 years from the time of Pliny we have no re- 

 corded observations on Ornithology deserving of the read- 

 er's recollection. About the middle of the 16th century 

 Conrad Gesner, a native of Zurich, and a noted French- 

 man called Pierre Belon, each published works in part 

 devoted to Ornithology. The writings of Gesner {Histo- 

 ria Animalium, 3 vols, folio) exhibit a cumbrous erudition, 

 with a sprinkling of original observation, but are chiefly 

 extracted from ancient authors. - Baron Cuvier regarded 

 him as an excellent compiler. His arrangement is alpha- 

 betical. Belon's most successful efforts were in the ich- 



thyological department, but even in his Historia Avium, History, 

 1 vol. folio, 1551', we may trace an improved spirit of ob- s — — v~— ' 

 servation, although the basis of his classification would 

 scarcely suffice to support a system now-a-days. He di- 

 vides the class of birds into six primary divisions. 1st, 

 The birds of prey, among which, misled probably by some 

 false analogy of plumage, he includes the cuckoo. 2d, 

 The Palmipedes. 3d, The Grallae, including, however, the 

 king-fisher, bee-eater, and other anomalous species. Mi, 

 All the species which place their nests upon the ground, 

 — an extraordinary bond of union, which of course brings 

 together the pheasant, the lark, and the woodcock. Ne- 

 vertheless, our author does not confound them in his lesser 

 groups. 5th, The omnivorous and insectivorous birds, 

 among which are placed the pigeons. 6th, The insecti- 

 vorous and granivorous species, which habitually frequent 

 shrubs and hedges. 



Another noted writer of the sixteenth century was Ulys- 

 ses Aldrovandi of Bologna, whose works amount to thirteen 

 volumes folio ; — the majority of them, however, were not 

 published till after his death in 1606. The first three, 

 which treat of birds (as well as one on insects), made 

 their appearance in his lifetime, that is, from 1599 to 1603. 

 They contain some amusing information, amid a vast mass 

 of learned rubbish borrowed from his predecessors. Profes- 

 sor Savi, however, characterised the ornithological portion 

 as " un monumento glorioso del suo instancabile zelo, delle 

 sue estese cognizioni ornithologiche, e della sua universale 

 erudizione." It is at the same time entirely deficient in 

 scientific precision, and contains, amid much truth, a sad 

 intermixture of unmeaning fable. The edition with 

 which we are best acquainted is that of Bologna, 1634. 



About nearly the same period a treatise was published 

 by Gommer de Luzaney, with the title of De TAutour- 

 serie, which contains some good figures of the birds of prey 

 used in falconry. One of the earliest sketches of the 

 history of European birds is that given by Schwenkfeld, a 

 Prussian naturalist, in a volume entitled Theorio-Trophe- 

 wn Silesice, 1603. The arrangement is alphabetical. 

 Olina's Uccelliera, which contains tolerable figures of a 

 few species not previously published, appeared at Rome 

 in 1622. It is a small affair, restricted to the description 

 of very few species, but contains accurate and interesting 

 records of their history and mode of capture, as practised 

 by the Italians, with whom la caccia, very different from 

 that of Melton Moubray, is a noted passion. A swarthy, 

 fire-eyed hunter of sixty-five is as proud of a string of • 

 dead linnets as any young Scotchman of sixteen may be 

 of his first well-filled bag of grouse or black game. 



We have next a dissertation on storks, cranes, and 

 swallows, by J. G. Swalbacius (Spire, 1630) ; a natural 

 history of Nurenberg (Antwerp, 1633) ; a description of 

 the birds of the West Indies, by De Laet (Leyden, same 

 year) ; a history of the birds of Brazil, by Marcgraaff (in 

 his Hist. Rerum Nat. Brasilia, Amsterdam, 1648) ; and 

 of those of Mexico, by Hernandez (in his Nova Plant. 

 Animal, et Min. Mexicanorum Hist. Rome, 1651). A 

 Scoto- Pole of the name of Johnston published about this 

 period (some years elapsing during the completion of the 

 various parts) his Historia Animalium, of which the second 

 portion treats of birds. He is a follower, not so much 

 of nature, as of Belon, and other authors of the pre- 



1 As in some of our preceding treatises on Natural History in this work (see, for example, the article Mammalia, vol. xiv. p. 74) 

 we have entered at greater length into the general character of the most ancient writers, our present notices are therefore extremely 

 slight. 



