B I R 
BIR 
f oultr}^ kind, have the longeft of all. There is 
ftill another appendage, refembling a fmall worm, 
obiervable in the inteftines of Birds; but which is 
nothing naore than the remainder of that paffage by 
which the yolk was conveyed into the guts of the 
5'oung chicken, while yet in the egg, and under 
incubation. The outlet of that duft which con- 
veys the bile into the inteftines, is in moft Birds 
a great way difcant from the flomach; which cir- 
cum.ftance may probably arife from the danger 
there woiild be of the bile's rea;urc iLating; into the 
flomach during theii* various rapid motions. 
Though Birds are deftitute of urinary bladders, 
they have large kidneys and ureters by which this 
fecretion is made, and carried av/ay by one com- 
mon canal. ' Birds,' fays a celebrated anatomift, 
* as well as ferpents, which have fpongy lungs, 
void but little water, becaufe they drink but little: 
they therefore have no need of bladdersj but their 
iirine diftils down into the common canals de- 
figned for the reception of the other excrements of 
their bodies.' Fiom this funple conformation of 
thefe animals, i: fiiould feem that they were ob- 
noxious to few difeafes ; and, in fa6l, it is fo: there 
is one, however, to which they are fubjeft, and from 
which quadrupeds are in a great meafureexem.pted, 
namely, theirmokingifor ail Birds annually change 
their old coverings for new ones. During the 
m.olting feafon, they always appear difordered : 
thofe miod remarkable for their fiercenefs, at that 
timelofe all their fpirit; and fuch as are of weakly 
conftitutions often expire under this natural dif- 
temper. No feeding can then maintain their wonted 
ftrength: they ceaie to breed ; and that nourifh- 
ment which at other times would go to the pro- 
dud'ion of their young, is then wholly abforbed by 
the growing plumage. Thofe perfons, however, 
who have the management of finging Birds, adopt 
the following method of accelerating this molting- 
time: they mclofe the Birds in dark cages, where 
they keep the/a exceffively warm, and thereby 
throv/ the poor little animals into an artificial fe- 
ver; this praftice haftens the molt; their old fea-^ 
thers experience a premature death, and new ones 
flioot forth more brilliant and beautiful than the 
former. This method is fuppofed to improve the 
finging of the Birds, as well as to increafe their 
vivacity; but fcarcely one Bird in three furvives 
the dangerous experiment. Nature, unaflifted by 
art, performs the operation of molting in the fol- 
lowing manner: the quill or feather, when firfi: pro- 
truded from the flcin of the Bird, and arrived at 
it's full fize, increafes in hardnefs as it does in age, 
and receives a kind of periofteum, or fl<in, round 
the lhaft, by which it feems attached,- to the ani- 
mal. By degrees it's fides, or quill part, thickens, 
but it's whole diameter flirinks and decreafes. 
Thus, by the thickening of it's fides, all nourifh- 
ment from the body becomes more fparing; and, 
'by the decreafe of it's diameter, it becomes more 
loofely fixed in it's focket, till at length it drops 
out. In the mean time, the rudiments of an inci- 
pient quill are beginning below, and the fkin 
forms itfelf into a little bag, which is fed from the 
body by a fmall vein and artery, and which every 
day increafes in fize till it is protruded. While 
the one end vegetates into the beard or vane of the 
feather, that part attached to the flcin ftill remains 
foft, and receives a conftant fupply of nourifli- 
menf, which is diffufed through the body of the 
quill by that extremely light fubftance which we 
fi.nd in it's bofs or hollow : this fubftance, which 
as yet feems deftitute of a name, lupplies the grow- 
ing quill with it'a proper nourilhment in the fame 
manner as the umbilical artery does an infant in 
the womb. When, however, the quill is come to 
it's RiU growth, the vein and artery become lefs 
and lefs, till the little opening by which they com- 
miunicate with the quill becomes wholly obliterated; 
and the quill, thus deprived of nourilliment, con- 
tinues in it's focket for fome months, till at laft it 
fhrinks, and leaves room for a repetition of the 
fame procefs of nature. 
The molting feafon, with refpeft to the genera- 
lity of Birds, begins about the end of fummer, and 
lafts till the middle of autumn; and many of the 
animals ftruggle with this malady throughout the 
winter alfo. Nature, however, has kindly or- 
dained that, at a time when the feweft provifions 
are to be found, the appetites of Birds lliould be 
the leaft craving. At the beginning of fpring, 
when their food becomes plentiful, the (ftiength 
and vigour of thefe animals return ; and the boun- 
ty of Providence, together with the mildnefs of 
the feafon, incites them to mutual affe6lion : their 
vital fpirits alfo, v/hich were in a great degree 
locked up during the winter, now begin to ex- 
pand. Thofe warblings v/hich had long been 
huflied, begin to gladden the fields ; anci every 
grove and every bulli refounds with the m.elodious 
concert. But this delightful harmony of the grove, 
fo much admired by mian, is by no means intended 
folely for his amufement: it is ufually the call of 
the male to the female; his efforts to foothe her 
during the times of incubation; or a controverly 
between two males for the affeflion of fome com-' 
mon favourite. 
At the approach of fpring. Birds begin to pair, 
and to provide for the fupport of their future pro- 
geny; andtheloudeft notes, on fuch occafions, gene- 
rally proceed from the tuneful throats of the males, 
while the females exprefs their confent in fhort in- 
terrupted twitterings. The compafts then entered 
into between the two fexes, are, for the feafon at 
leaft, faitlifuUy obferved: but many Birds live toge- 
ther for years, with inviolable fidelity; and when 
one of them pays the debt of nature, the other does 
not long furvive the lofs. We muft not, how- 
ever, expedl to find this ftedfaft attachment very 
prevalent among the poultry in our yards, where 
their freedom is abridged, and their manners are 
contaminated by flavery: rather let us look for it 
in the fields and the forefts, where nature retains 
her unadulterated fimplicity; v/here the number 
of males is generally equal to that of the fe- 
males; and where every little r^nimai feems no lefs 
pleafed v/ith it's progeny, than wedded to it's 
mate. Were it poffiblc, indeed, to compare the 
fenfations of irrational animals, the male of all wild 
Birds feems to ftiare an equal pleafure v/ith the fe- 
male in their young brood; and all his foothing 
melodies feem only directed to that important pe- 
riod when they are both to become parents, and to 
nourifh their common progeny : and, on the ar- 
rival of that feafon, they both feem tranfported 
with ioy ; every little a6tion witneftlng their pride, 
their importance, and their parental folicitude. 
The bufinefs of fecundation being performed, 
the female begins to lay her eggs. Such cf them 
only as have been impregnated by the male be- 
come prolific; while thofe which havp been other- 
wife produced continue fterile, and foon becomic 
addled through incubation. Previous, hov/ever, 
to laying, a neft is prepared; the building of which 
is 
