780 
O R N 
francolin of Italy, and the red-legged partridge of Spain, 
might all eafily be introduced into Britain, to the great 
increafe of our game. The laft of thefe is domefticated 
at Cadiz, and is found in its wild (late in plenty through¬ 
out Spain and France. It might be tranfported to Britain 
in either date, perhaps with equal or greater fuccefs than 
the golden and China pheafants, which fome gentlemen 
have fo earneAly endeavoured to propagate upon their 
elfates. The creAed turkey abounds in its wild date in 
the inland parts of New England. The great quantities 
of food which the inhabitants obtain by killing this bird, 
clearly point out the advantages to be derived from its 
domeftication, and the propriety of importing it into this 
country. But the greated delideratum in the importa¬ 
tion of birds, feems to be that of the capercaillie. This 
bird is indigenous in Scotland, and was formerly fpread 
over the whole country ; but, from the facility with which 
it is killed, it became an eafy prey to the fportfman, and 
is now fo nearly extirpated from the idand, that, 
except in fome remote diflridts of the Highlands, it is no 
where to be found. The black-cock, or heath-fowl, too, 
is fad diminifhing in number; its extermination ap¬ 
pears to be at no very remote period, unlel's it is im¬ 
ported and preferved on thofe eftates where it formerly 
abounded. 
Upon the art of preferring birds for cabinets, we do not 
find that we can add any thing material to what has been 
laid under thearticle Natural History, vol.xvi. p. 6 oi. 
ORNITHOM'ANCY, [from the Gr. a bird, and 
puvTsia., magic.] A kind of divination, or method of ar¬ 
riving at the knowledge of futurity, by means of birds. 
—- Ornithomancy amongd the Greeks was the fame with au¬ 
gury among the Romans. Chambers. 
ORNITHOPAR'CHUS (Andreas), was born at Mei- 
nungen ; he was a mader of arts, and author of the mod 
general and extenfive treatife on pradlical mufic that was 
produced in Germany after the writings of Gaffurio had 
appeared. His treatife was called Micrologus, in imita¬ 
tion of Guido, and publidied at Cologne in 1535, though 
Walther thinks that was not the fird edition. The au¬ 
thor chiefly cites John Tihftor, Franchinus, and the 
trail: written by our countryman John Cotton, whom he 
calls pope John XXII. His treatife, though the bed of 
the time, feems too meagre and fuccinit to have been 
of great ufe to the ftudents of fuch mufic as was then 
praitifed. It was however translated into Englifli in 
1609, feverity years after its fird publication, by our 
countryman John Douland, the celebrated lutenid; a la¬ 
bour which he might have well fpared himfelf, as Morley’s 
Introduction, which was fo much more full and fatisfac- 
tory, precluded all want of fuch a work at that of Orni- 
thoparchus. Burney. 
ORNITHOPO'DIO AFFI'NIS, in botany. See As¬ 
tragalus, Hippocrepis, and Ornithopus. 
ORNITHOPO'DIUM, J'. SeeHEDvsARUM and Orni¬ 
thopus. 
ORNITH'OPUS, f. [from the Gr. o^n?, a bird, and «■«;, 
a foot, the legumes having a driking refemblance to the 
toes of many fmall birds.] Bird’s-foot; in botany a 
genus of the clafs diadelphia, order decandria, natural 
order of papilionacese or ieguminofae. Generic charac¬ 
ters—Calyx : umbel Ample. Perianthium one-leafed, tubu¬ 
lar: mouth five-toothed, almod equal, permanent. Co¬ 
rolla : papilionaceous ; flandard obcordate, entire ; wings 
ovate, draight. fcarcely the fize of the flandard ; keel 
comprefled, very fmall. Stamina : filaments diadelphous 
(Ample and nine-cleft). Antherae fimple. Piflillum : 
germ linear; flyle bridle-fliaped, afcending. Stigma a 
terminating dot. Pericarpium : legume awl-lhaped, round, 
bowed, jointed, intercepted by iflhmufes, feparating by 
joints. Seeds folitary, roundilh.— Effeutial Character. 
Legume jointed, round, bowed. There are fix lpecies. 
1. Ornithopus perpulillus, or common bird’s-foot : 
leaves pinnate; legumes bowed inwards. Common 
bird’s-foot has an annual (lender root, nearly as long as 
O R N 
the Aem, with few long whitilh lateral fibres. Stems fe- 
veral, trailing, from one to fix inches in length, fimple, 
round, pubefcent. Root-leaves numerous, proflrate, 
fometimeson fliort petioles : thofe on the flem alternate, 
fertile. Leaflets ovate or elliptic, oppofite or alternate, 
fomewhat keeled, appearing hairy when magnified, fome- 
times blotched with purple; from three to fourteen pairs, 
ufually from fix to nine, generally terminated by an odd 
one, which is fmaller. Flowers fmall, one to five In a 
bunch, commonly twm or three, terminating, oppofite to 
a leaf; on peduncles nearly of the fame length with 
the leaf. Corolla variegated with white, red, and yellow; 
flandard reddifh-white,marked with crimfon lines, flightly 
notched at the end, the claw yellowifli-brown : wings 
white with a reddifh tinge; keel pale draw-colour: fome- 
times it is entirely yellow. Calyx hairy. Legume with 
crofs divifions, feparating at the joints. Seeds about fix, 
one in each joint. It is an elegant little plant, with 
pretty flowers, and fingular feed-veffels refembling the 
claws of a bird, whence its name. It is not uncommon 
on dry heaths, commons, and downs, on banks, and by 
road-iides, elpecially in a gravelly or fandy foil ; and 
flowers from May to September. It varies much in fize, 
and has fometimes little knobs adhering to the roots; but 
this is common in leguminous plants. Hence authors 
have diflinguiflied it into three, and Mr. Miller into two, 
fpecies. 
2. Ornithopus lasvigatus, or fmooth bird’s-foot: leaves 
pinnate; flowers fomewhat capitate, naked ; legumes in¬ 
curved, cylindrical,withobfoletejoints. NativeofEurope: 
gathered by the abbe Durand at Gibraltar. We have 
it from Jacquin’s Herbarium for the preceding, with 
which many botanids feem to have confounded it, yet 
the plants are totally didinft. The prefent is much larger, 
with narrower more-diflant leaflets, and only one or 
two flowers on a Aalk, without any floral leaf; corolla 
yellow. Legume much incurved, flender, nearly cylin¬ 
drical, fo even that the joints are hardly difcernible; its 
furface minutely reticulated, without hairs or downinefs 
It feems wonderful that authors fhould have over¬ 
looked this fpecies, which was certainly unknown to Lin- 
meus. 
3. Ornithopus compreffus, or hairy bird’s-foot : leaves 
pinnate, legumes bowed back, comprefled, wrinkled; 
bradle pinnate. The root of this runs deep into the 
ground, fending out a few fmall fibres on the fide ; the 
dalks are about fix inches long, and do not lie flat on the 
ground like the preceding; the leaves are compofed ot 
ten or twelve pairs of narrow hairy leaflets, with an odd 
one at the end. The flowers grow in fmall bunches at 
the ends of the branches ; they are yellow, and are gene¬ 
rally fucceeded by two flat pods, not much more than an 
inch long, turned inwards like a bird’s claws. It is an 
annual plant, native of the fouth of Europe ; flowers in 
June and July, and was cultivated by Mr. Miller in 1731. 
4. Ornithopus durus, or fpiral bird’s-foot: (tern fuffru- 
ticofe ; leaves pinnate, glaucous, fomewhat flefhy, fliorter 
than the peduncle. Root whitilh, round, gradually 
fharper, fibrous, an inch and half in length. Stems 
branching, fuffruticofe, eredt, very fmooth, three or four 
inches high. Native of Spain, on hills; flowering and 
fruiting in June. 
5. Ornithopus fcorpoides, or purflane-leaved bird’s- 
foot : leaves ternate, fubfeflile ; the end leaflet very large. 
This has many fmooth branching dalks, which rife near 
two feet high, and towards the top have trifoliate oval 
leaves fitting dole, with two fmall appendages. The 
lower leaves are often Angle, and of agreyifh colour, the 
middle leaflet being twice the fize of the two fide ones. 
The flowers ftand upon flender peduncles, are yellow, 
and fucceeded by taper pods two inches long. Native ot 
the fouth of Europe, among corn, and on the borders of 
fields. Cultivated in 1656 by Mr. John Tradefcant, jun. 
It flowers in June or July. 
6. Ornithopus tetraphyllus, or four-leaved bird’s-foot: 
leaves 
