﻿NESTS. 



173 



more especially the parrots, are well-known to be sus- 

 ceptible of these sorts of acquirements ; the superiority 

 of the latter, in this respect, can be traced to the pre- 

 eminent docility which characterises the Rasorial type of 

 nature, whether seen in the parrot, the fowls, or the 

 ruminating quadrupeds. 



(148.) In reference to the peculiarly loud and dis- 

 cordant voices of the Rasorial types among birds, we 

 may draw the reader's attention to the singular fact, that 

 the very same principle is to be traced in the order 

 of quadrupeds which represent the Rasores ; namely the 

 Ungidata, which is typically represented by the rumin- 

 ating animals. The loud bellowing of all the different 

 species of oxen, buffaloes, and large antelopes, afford a 

 striking contrast to the comparative feebleness of voice 

 in most other quadrupeds. The lion is the greatest ex- 

 ception, and it has no more influence to invalidate this 

 argument, than the musical falcon has to overthrow that 

 which proves the Insessorial birds to be the musical 

 order. There is nothing gentle or harmonious in the 

 bellowing of oxen, although, from custom and the asso- 

 ciation of ideas, it is not at all disagreeable. The roar 

 of a bull we know is terrific, and that of a bison must 

 be equally so ; and if not superior, we should think 

 fully equal in strength to that of a lion. 



(149.) The nests of ^birds is the last subject which 

 strictly belongs to this part of our treatise ; and al- 

 though it is replete with much of scientific as well as of 

 popular interest, our space will not permit us to treat it 

 otherwise than in a general way. With the exception 

 of the beavers and a few of the mouse -like Glires, birds 

 are the only vertebrated animals which construct tem- 

 porary habitations. In this peculiarity we have an ad- 

 ditional point of analogy between them and the winged 

 class (Ptilota) of insects. This instinct seems to be a 

 necessary consequence of their oviparous nature ; for, as 

 warmth is essential to the hatching of the egg, it is 

 obvious, that, were all to be exposed to the heat of the 

 sun, like those of the ostrich, no eggs could be matured 



