ORNITHOLOGY. 
772 
a turkey-cock, and left eight hours in the ftomach, at 
the expiration of which the organ was opened ; but no¬ 
thing appeared except the naked ball, the lancets having 
been broken to pieces, and the ftomach remaining found 
and entire. Hence we may infer, that the ftones fo often 
found in the ftovnachs of many of the feathered tribes 
may powerfully contribute to the comminution of grain, 
and other hard fubftances which conftitute their food. 
Granivorous birds partake much of the nature and dif- 
pofition of herbivorous quadrupeds, agreeing with them 
in the number of their ftomachs, the comparative length 
and capacity of their inteftines, the quality of their food, 
and the gentlenefs of their manners. Contented with 
the feeds of plants, with fruits, infedts, and worms, their 
principal attention is directed to prochring food, hatch¬ 
ing and rearing their offspring, and eluding the fnares of 
men, and the attacks of predaceous animals. As they are 
generally tradable and eafily domefticated, man has fe- 
leded for his own advantage thofe which are moft prolific 
and profitable. Of thefe, the hen, goofe, turkey, and 
duck, are the moft confiderable, and form a valuable ftore 
cf rich, wholefome, and nutritious, food. 
From the fmall fize and fiender conformation of birds, 
we might be led to fuppofe that the duration of their life 
w'ould prove but (hort; the fieverfe, however, of this is 
the cafe : their longevity far exceeds that of quadrupeds, 
and, in fome cafes, even of man himfelf; and it feems to 
obferve the fame proportions, and to be guided by the 
fame rules. In thefe animals, the duration of life bears 
a certain proportion to the period at which they arrive at 
their full growth and maturity; nor are they capable of 
procreation till their fize is nearly completed. In birds, 
however, the duration of life is in proportion to the time 
of incubation: for, here, the growth is more quick, and 
the period of procreation much earlier. Many birds run 
as foon as they are excluded from the ftiell, and fly at the 
end of four or five weeks: a cock is capable of procrea¬ 
tion at fix months, and arrives at maturity in a year; if 
then the duration of human life, and that of quadrupeds, 
is only fix or feven times longer than the period at which 
they arrive at maturity, a cock fliould live only fix or feven 
years; his longevity, however, is far greater, fome being 
known to live upwards of tvventy years. See the article 
Gestation, vol. viii. p. 537. 
The difeafes to which birds, in their natural ftate, are 
incident, are probably neither numerous nor formidable ; 
at leaft, we feldom meet with individuals of the feathered 
race which feem to labour under ficknefs or infirmity. In 
our northern latitudes they are indeed frequently fub- 
jedted to the preflu re ofK;old and hunger ; but the debi¬ 
lity, and other fymptoms attendant on thefe external ac¬ 
cidents, hardly deferv.e to be noticed in a nofological point 
of view. Seclufion from the open air, and a total change 
of habits, induced by confinement and domeftication, are 
ufually accompanied by appropriate diforders; fuch as the 
pip, or fwelling on the extremity of the tongue, a foften- 
ing of the bill, a gradual decay of the feet, convulfions, 
and general pining. The moulting procefs, from which 
none of the fpecies are exempted, may alfo be regarded, 
in fome meafure, as a difeafcd ftate of the animal. All 
birds moult, or call their feathers, once, and fome twice, 
in the courfe of a year. This change takes place in au¬ 
tumn, or in the feafon which correfpondS to it in different 
climates, and uniformly after the breeding-feafon. Thofe 
which moult twice a-year, alfo change their feathers in 
fpring. Moft of the young males, which bear originally 
the plumage of the mother, aflume, at their firft moulting, 
the colouring which'they afterwards retain; but fome 
fpecies do not put on their charafteriftic garb till the end 
of the fecond, or even of the third, year. Among thofe 
which moult twice a-year, both males and females change 
their plumage; but the latter retain the fame markings, 
while the former exhibit a more gaudy covering in the 
feafon which precedes their pairing, and a more fober one, 
often fimilar to that of the female, after the period of 
breeding. In moft cafes, the feathers fall off in gradual 
fucceftion ; but, in fome fpecies, nearly the whole plumage 
comes off at once, and is fpeedily replaced. 
The moulting of birds, even when left to the operation 
of nature, is a fevere malady; its fatal effefts, however, 
have been greatly increafed by the interference of man, 
in endeavouring to beftow artificial accompliftiments on 
thofe birds which he reduces to captivity, for the fake of 
the beauty of their colours, or the melody of their fong. 
The bird-catchers in the vicinity of London, whofe em¬ 
ployment confifts chiefly in gratifying the whimfical and 
capricious, have invented a method of accelerating the 
feafon of moulting, by which it is pretended that birds 
are improved both in their fong and beauty. To effedt 
this, they (hut them up in a dark cage, which is clofely 
wrapped up wfith woollen cloth ; allowing their dung to 
remain, and increafe the heat of the cage : in this ftate of 
confinement, which continues for a month, they are only 
now and then fupplied with water; the putrid air, and the 
fever which it occafions, depriving ttjem of all appetite 
for food. By this violent operation, which is termed 
J\topping , an artificial and premafure moultis produced,at 
the expenfe of the lives of many of the ill-fated creatures 
who are fubjedted to fo unnatural a regimen. The price 
of a (topped bird rifes in proportion to the danger attend¬ 
ing it; for it is pretended, that its note is not only louder 
and more piercing than that of a wild one, but that its 
plumage is alfo more vivid.and beautiful; in (hort, that 
there is as much difference between a wild and a Hopped 
bird, as between a horfe-keptin body-clothes and one at 
grafs. See Bird-catching, vol. iii. p. 50. 
The manner in which nature performs this operation, 
as it is flower in its progrefs, fo it is lefs frequently at¬ 
tended by fatal confeque.nces. When the feathers of 
birds have attained their full fize, the pen-part neareft the 
animal grows harder, and thicker in its fides, but (brinks 
in its diameter; in confequence of the firft of thefe pre¬ 
cedes, it draws gradually lefs nourifhment from the body 
of the animal; and, by its decreale in fize, it grows more 
loofe in the focket, till at length it falls. In the mean 
time, the rudiments of an incipient quill are forming 
below ; the (kin is formed 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 (kin is (till foft, and receives a conftant 
fupply of nourifhment, which is diifufed through the body 
of the quill by the artery and vein. When however the 
quill is come to its full growth, and requires no farther 
nourifhment, the vein and artery become gradually lefs, 
till at laft the fmall opening by which they communicated 
with the quill is flopped, and the circulation ceafes. The 
quill, after it is thus deprived of new fupplies, continues 
for fome months in the focket, till at laft it (brinks, and 
makes room for another repetition of the fame procefs of 
nature. The moulting-feafon, as we have faid, begins at 
the end of fummer, and the bird continues to druggie 
under the malady for a confiderable part of the-winter ; 
thus, by the wife appointment of nature, the appetite of 
the animal is leaft craving while its provifions continue 
to be moft fcanty. It is not till the return of fpring, 
when the feathers have attained their full growth, that 
the abundance of food, aided by the mildnefs of the fea¬ 
fon, reftore it to its full vigour. It is then, when every 
vegetable fprings afrefh, that infedts are awakened from 
their torpid ftate ; and that nature, teeming w'ith an in¬ 
creafe of life, fe^ms difpofed to continue and transfufe it, 
by the reprodudtion of every fpecies of her offspring. 
Among the feathered race, accordingly, the return of 
fpring is the beginning of love. Thofe vital fpirits, which 
feemed locked-up during winter, begin then to expand ; 
vegetables and infedfs fupply abundance of food ; and 
the bird, having more than fuffleient for its own nourilh- 
ment, is impelled to transfufe life, as well as maintain it. 
The return of the fexual paflion among birds is an¬ 
nounced 
