64 CONSERVATOR OF SURGEONS' MUSEUM [ch. iy. 
display of bones and muscles, blood - vessels and 
nerves. He will, however, X am persuaded, agree 
with me in thinking that if the bill be an. organ of 
much importance, the parts of which it is merely 
the commencement must be so too.. I have there¬ 
fore ventured to describe in a brief manner the 
oesophagus, stomach, and intestines of all the 
species ” (of the British Birds of Prey) “ of which I 
have within these eight months „ been able to 
procure specimens for that purpose.” 
And all the species of rapacious birds, the 
consideration of which forms the subject of this 
book, are so described by him. 
How beautifully picturesque and full of poetic 
inspiration are many passages in his works, 
describing the open-air life and natural sui round¬ 
ings of his feathered friends as he saw them in the 
course of his many wanderings in all seasons of the 
year, and at all hours of the day and night 
especially one passage in the Rapacious Birds 
titled “ The Merlin ”—the first in a selection of 
passages from his works which I give in a 
subsequent part of this volume. It is splendidly 
picturesque, most truthfully descriptive of all the 
birds, plants, and other objects which came under 
his observation on the occasion to which it refers; 
while it is aglow with the spirit of a true poet of 
Nature. I know of no other passage in any of his 
writings which illustrates so well what I have 
already said of him—that while he was eminently 
the man of science, he had also the heart 
and imagination of the poet and the painter, and 
