NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 137 



friend to man, whom it follows, caresses, and even seems to protect, with the attachment 

 of a dog ; it is reared for domestic uses, and fed among other poultry. 



The jabiru, or crane of Surinam, is larger than a stork ; its head and primary feathers of 

 the wing and tail, are black ; it lives entirely on fish, and is domesticated in poultry 



yards. 



I have thus enumerated between thirty and forty species of birds, most of which may 

 be kept as domestic poultry, and all of them may be made ornamental or useful. Indeed, 

 we have the authority of scripture to a much greater extent. St. James says, " Every 

 kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and things in the sea, is tamed and hath 

 been tamed of mankind." 



It is hoped that these hints may have a tendency to attract the public attention to this 

 useful branch of domestic economy. 



NOTE Y. 



The Fish-Market of New- York may be considered as the general deposite of every 

 eatable, and every curious inhabitant, of the waters. Every thing that gratifies the appe- 

 tite for food or for novelty, centres here. 



Notwithstanding this, it is an extraordinary fact, that until Dr. Mitchill commenced 

 his investigations, there was not a good catalogue of our fishes ; and it is well known, 

 that New- York is very seldom mentioned in the books of ichthyology. 



That distinguished gentleman commenced his labours in November, 1813 ; and he be- 

 gan at the very elements. Every sort of fish was procured, examined, and described. 

 The specimen and the description were next compared with those in the best books ; he 

 frequently dissected the individuals which he had described, in order to make himself 

 acquainted with the internal marks and characters, and sometimes he satisfied himself ex- 

 perimentally on their qualities as food. 



He also availed himself of various ichthyological assistance, and more especially of the 

 General Zoology of Shaw, the General History of Fishes by Bloch, and the Museum 

 Ichthyologicum of Gronovius. 



The classification has been attended, in several respects, with difficulty. He has adopt- 

 ed the five orders of apodal, jugular, thoracic, abdominal, and cartilaginous ; but in 

 gome cases ihere were doubts about the genus, and in some instances about the species. 



There is reason to suppose, that many of the species are non-descripts. The whole which 



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