ORNITHOLOGY. 
tning-bird, of the fize of an humble-bee, and fucking, like 
it, the ne&aria of flowers, feems to be degraded nearly to 
the rank of an infedl. 
A parallel between birds and fifties, their qualities and 
properties, has been drawn at the head of the article Ich¬ 
thyology, vol. x. p. 733. See alio. Anatomy (Com¬ 
parative), vol. i. p. 661-6. 
Of the Food, Diseases, Nesting, Incubation, and 
Song, of Birds. 
Birds, like quadrupeds, maybe divided into two kinds, 
or clafles, viz. the carnivorous and granivorous ; and there 
arefome that hold a middle nature, and partake of both. 
Carnivorous birds are diftinguiflied by the powers with 
which they are furnifhed by nature for the purpofe of 
procuring their food. They are provided with wings of 
great length, the mufcles which move them being pro- 
portionably large and ftrong, whereby they are enabled 
to keep long upon the wing in fearch of prey : they are 
armed with ftrong hooked bills, and (harp and formidable 
claws : their fight is fo piercing and acute, as to enable 
them to view their prey from the greateft heights in the 
air, upon which they dart with inconceivable fwiftnefs 
and undeviating aim : their ftomachs are fmaller than 
thofe of the granivorous kinds, and their inteftines are 
much Ihorter. The analogy between the ftrudhire of 
rapacious birds and carnivorous quadrupeds is very ob¬ 
vious : both of them are provided with weapons which 
indicate deftrudftion and rapine ; their manners are fierce 
and unfocial, and they feldom live together in flocks, like 
the granivorous tribes. When not on the wing, rapa¬ 
cious bi.ds retire to the tops of fequeftered rocks, or to 
the depths of extenfive forefts, where they conceal them- 
felves in folitude. Thofe which feed on carrion are en¬ 
dowed with a fenfe of duelling fo exquifite, as to enable 
them to fcent putrid carcafl'es at aftonifliing diftances. 
The ferocity of the rapacious birds not only renders 
them deftruclive to their own fpecies, and almoft untarne- 
able by man, but even extends to their young, and de¬ 
prives them, in a great meafure, of parental affeftion. 
Many of them unnaturally expel their offspring from the 
neft, at a time when they are ftill dependent on their af- 
fiftance, and incapable of procuring their own food. 
This cruelty to their young arifes from the neceflity of 
providing for their own fubfiftence. All birds that are 
obliged by the conformation of their ftomach and intef¬ 
tines to feed upon flefh, and fupport themfelves by prey, 
mull neceflarily acquire habits of cruelty, from the con- 
ftant ufe of thofe arms which nature has conferred upon 
them, even although they had been originally mild. As 
it is only by deftroying others that they can fupply them¬ 
felves, their continual combats muft inure them to that 
fiercenefs and irafcibility which diftinguifli their man¬ 
ners, and overpower every milder inftinCi, and even their 
affeftion for their young. It is with little pity or atten¬ 
tion, that the bird of prey liftens to the cries of her 
brood, which are more famifhed in proportion as they in- 
creafe in fize. Should flie fail of fuccefs in the chace, or 
fliould her prey become fcarce, fhe beats them, expels 
them from her neft, and fometimes deftroys them in thofe 
tranfports of fury, of which her own prefling want, and 
her mifery, is the caufe. 
The effedls of fomuch fiercenefs, natural and acquired, 
would prove fatal to all the fmaller birds, had not nature 
provided that the rapacious kind fliould generally purfue 
fuch as approach neareft to their own fize. The eagle does 
not indulge in indifcriminate rapine in the grove, but 
Angles out the groufe or pheafant from the inferior birds, 
which he regards as unequal to his fupport, or below the 
dignity of his refentment. The fmaller birds of this or¬ 
der direft their attacks againft the linnet, the thrufli, or 
the fparrow, who, by the fuddennefs of their evolutions, 
and agility of flight, feem pofl'efl'ed of adequate means of 
efcape. Did the eagle to its own fwiftnefs add the ver- 
fatility of the fparrow, all the inferior tribes muft una- 
1 
771 
voidably have been deftroyed, and difappear from the face 
of the earth. 
The tyranny of the rapacious birds is ftill farther re- 
ftrained by their infecundity; the greater part of them 
laying from four to five eggs, and fome only two. The 
fmalleft of them are generally moft produftive; but the 
fertility even of thefe is far inferior to that of the nume¬ 
rous tribes of which they are the deftroyers. The pi¬ 
geon, which lays the feweft eggs of all the granivorous 
birds, by the frequency of its breeding far exceeds the 
fertility of any of the rapacious kinds. Wherever cou¬ 
rage or ftrength is wanting in any animal, and life on that 
account is eafily deftroyed, nature kindly compenfates 
for thefe defeats, and provides for the prefervation of the 
fpecies, by increafing its power of reproduction. 
In all birds, except the rapacious, the males are fupe- 
rior in ftrength and fize to the females; among them, 
however, the male is generally one-third lefs in bulk: a 
circumltance from which falconers have termed him the 
tiercel. The female no lefs excels her mate in beauty of 
plumage, courage, and generofity, than in point of fize. 
Naturalifts have in vain attempted to account for this 
difparity. The fame appearance among the infedts and 
fifties they have imputed to the immenfe quantities of 
larvae and fpawn which the females in thefe clafles pro¬ 
duce, and which muft require a proportionably larger 
bulk to contain them. No fuch reafoning will apply to 
the rapacious birds, who, as we have already obferved, 
are the leaft fruitful of all feathered tribes. Some have 
fuppofed, that, as the female has chiefly the charge of 
maintaining the young, her fuperior fize and courage 
were the endowments by which nature had enabled her 
to difcharge that laborious and difficult talk. 
The flefh of all birds of the rapacious nature is reck¬ 
oned impure ; it is lean, tough, and ill-tafted ; its fla¬ 
vour commonly refembles that of the animals which they 
devour. That of the vultures has a fetid and abomi¬ 
nable fmell, which all the endeavours of the wretched fa- 
vages, who fomerimes are forced to eat them, are unable 
to remove. The ftench is unconquerable, and feems to 
defy all the efforts of their invention : in vain the entrails 
are taken away, wafliing is attempted, or fpices applied j 
the naufeous effluvia ftill continue to repel their avidity. 
Granivorous birds are furnifhed with larger and longer 
inteftines than thofe of the carnivorous kind. Their 
food, which confifts of grain of various forts, is conveyed 
entire into the firft ftomach, or craw, where it undergoes 
a partial dilution by a liquor fecreted from the glands, 
and fpread over its furface. It is then received into an¬ 
other fpecies of ftomach, where it is farther diluted, af¬ 
ter which it is tranfmitted into the gizzard, or true fto¬ 
mach, confining of two very ftrong mufcles, externally 
covered with a tendinous fubftance, and lined with a thick 
membrane of prodigious power and ftrength, in which 
organ the food is completely triturated, and prepared for 
the operation of the gaftric juices. In order to afcertain 
the ftrength of thefe ftomachs, Spallanzani had recourfe 
to a great variety of ingenious experiments. Tin tubes 
full of grain were forced into the ftomachs of turkeys, 
and, after remaining twenty hours, were found to be 
broken, compreffed, and diftorted in the moll irregular 
manner. In the fpace of twenty-four hours, the ftomach 
of a cock broke off the angles of a piece of rough jagged 
glafs, though, on examining the gizzard, no wound or 
laceration appeared. In a ball of lead were fixed twelve 
ftrong needles, with the points projecting about a quarter 
of an inch from the furface. Thus armed, the ball was 
covered with a cafe of paper, and forced down the throat 
of a turkey. The bird retained it a day and a half with¬ 
out manifelting any fymptoms of uneafinefs; and the 
points of all the needles w'ere broken oft’ clofe to the fur¬ 
face of the ball, except two or three, of which the ftumps 
projedted a little. The fame interefting obferver relates, 
that he fixed twelve fmall and very fliarp lancets in a fimi- 
lar ball of lead, which was given in the lame manner to 
a turkey- 
