140 
it with impunity. Of the latter genus, the coluber 
berus is the only poisonous British species. Olive 
oil rubbed early on the part bitten is said to effect a 
speedy cure. The cobra capello of India is the most 
venomous of serpents, but is devoured by the viverra 
ichneumon. | 
Frogs, lizards, and probably the serpent tribes, 
are subject to attacks from internal parasites, ascari- 
des and teenie. 
Birds are extensively serviceable to man. All will 
acknowledge the benefit derived from our domestic 
poultry. To how many does the mere rearing the 
broods afford a cheerful and hope-sustaining occu- 
pation? Yet, over and above those reared in Eng- 
land, the demand occasions a vast importation from 
Ireland and from France both of poultry and of 
egos. One man told me that he sold in Bath during 
the winter of 1830, 1831, above 1000 Irish turkeys. 
Quills for pens, feathers for female ornament, as 
those of the ostrich and Argus pheasant, are im- 
portant objects of commerce, and yet to a much 
greater extent those which are dried for stuffing 
beds ; and the down of swans and eider ducks for 
pillows, muffs, and quilts. Sea-birds and their eggs 
afford their chief sustenance, perhaps, to millions of 
islanders, where agriculture is unknown, or scarcely 
practicable ; and to the inhabitants of cold regions, 
where grain cannot ripen. Wild pigeons and tur- 
keys to the Indians and wood-settlers of North 
America. The rapid advance of cultivation is said 
to have much reduced the numbers of the latter, 
