common cars; and often the females of the night: its hair when rubbed in the dark emits Jatter will quit their domeftic mates, and re-fire: it is even proverbially tenacious of life = turn home pregnant by the former. always lights on its feet: is fond of perfumes, marum, cat-mint, valerian, &c. They are taken either in traps, or by fhooting in the latter cafe it is very dangerous only to wound them, for they will attack the perfon who injured them, and have ftrength enough to be no defpicable enemy. Wild cats were formerly reckoned among the beafts of chace; as appears by the charter of Richard the Second, to the abbot of Peterborough, giving him leave to hunt the hare, fox, and wild cat. The ufe of the fur was in lining of robes; but it was eftcemed not of the moft luxurious kind; for it was ordained that no abbefs or nuo fhould ufe more coftly apparel than fuch as is made of lambs or cats fkins.' In much earlier times it was alfo the object of the fportfman's diverfion. Felemque minacem Arboris in trunco longis præfigere telis. Nemefiani Cynegeticon, L 55. 6. The DOMESTIC Cat. This animal is fo well known as to make a defcription of it unneceffary. It is an ufeful, but deceitful domeftic; active, neat, fedate, intent on its prey. When pleafed purrs and moves its tail: when angry fpits, hiffes, and Arikes with its foot. When walking, it draws in its claws: it drinks little: is fond of fh: it washes its face with its fore-foot, (Linnæus fays at the approach of a ftorm :) the female is remarkably falacious; a pircous, fqualling, jarring lover. Its eyes thine in the Our ancestors feem to have had a high fenfe of the utility of this animal. That excellent prince Hoel Dda, or Howel the Good, did not think it beneath him (among his laws relating to the prices, &c. of animals) to include that of the cat; and to defcribe the qualities it ought to have. The price of a kitling before it could fee, was to be a penny; till it caught a mouse two-pence; when it commenced moufer four-pence. It was required befides, that it should be perfect in its fenfes of hearing and feeing, be a good moufer, have the claws whole, and be a good nurfe: but if it failed in any of these qualities, the feller was to forfeit to the buyer the third part of its value. If any one ftole or killed the cat that guarded the prince's granary, he was to forfeit a milch ewe,its fleece and lamb; or as much wheat as when poured on the cat fufpended by its tail (the head touching the floor) would form a heap high enough to cover the tip of the former. This laft quotation is not only curious, as being an evidence of the fimplicity of ancient manners, but it almoft proves to a demonstration that cats are not aborigines of these island's; or known to the earlieft inhabitants. The large prices fee on them, (if we confider the high value of fpecie at that time) and the great care taken of the improvement and breed of an animal that multiplies fo faft, are almost certain proofs of their being little known at that period. 7. EXPLA Fig. § 7. EXPLANATION of fome TECHNICAL TERMS in ORNITHOLOGY. 1. Cere. Cera. 13. Vent-feathers. The naked skin that covers the base of the bill in the Hawk kind. A word ufed by Linnæus to express the short feathers on the forehead just above the bill. In Crows thefe fall forwards over the noftrils. The space between the bill and the eye, generally covered with feathers, but in fome birds naked, as in the black and white Grebe. The skin that surrounds the eye, which is generally bare, particularly in the Heron and Parrot, A bill is called roftrum emarginatum when there is a small notch near the end: this is confpicuous in that of Butcher-birds and Tbrufbes. Vibrija peltinata, ftiff hairs that grow on each fide the mouth, formed like a double comb, to be feen in the Goatfucker, Flycateber, &c. A fmall joint rifing at the end of the middle part of the wing, or the cubitus; on which are three or five feathers. The fmall feathers that lie in foveral rows on the bones of the wings. The under coverts are those that line the infide of the wings. The feathers that he immediately over the quill-feathers and fecondary feathers. The largeft feathers of the wings, or those that rise from the first bone. Those that rife from the fecond. Those that cover the base of the tail. Those that lie from the vent to the tail. Criffum Linnæi. That rife from the fhoulders, and cover the fides of the back. The hind part of the head. A term Linnæus uses for a straight and slender bill. $ 3 19 P The foot of the Woodpecker formed for climbing. feet. Climbing Such as those of the Grebes, &c. Such as are indented are called fcalloped; fuch are thofe of Coots and fcallop-teed Sandpipers. Such as want the back toe. When the webs only reach half way of the toes. When the hind claw adheres to the leg without any toe, as in the Petrels. All the four toes connected by webs, as in the Corverants. Roftrum cultratum. Unguiculatum. Lingua ciliata. Integra: Lumbriciformis. Pedes compedes. Nares Lineares. EXPLANATION of other LINNEAN TERMS. When the edges of the hill are very fharp, fuch as in that of the Crozu. A bill with a nail at the end, as in thofe of the Goofanders and When the tongue is edged with fine bristles, as in Ducks. When the tongue is long, round, and flender, like a worm, as that of the Woodpecker. When the legs are placed fo far behind as to make the bird walk with difficulty, or as if in fetters; as is the cafe with the Auks, Grebes, and Divers. When the noftrils are very narrow, as in Sea Gulls. $8. The PIGEON. The tame pigeon, and all its beautiful varieties, derive their origin from one fpecies, the Stock Dove: the English name implying its being the flock or fem from whence the other domeftic kinds sprung These birds, as Varro obferves, take their (Latin) name, Columba, from their voice or cooing; and had he known it, he might have added the British, &c. for K'lommer, Kylobman, Kulm, and Kolm fignify the fame bird. They were, and quill-feathers. The back white, and the tail f The most celebrated of thefe is the Carrier, barred near the end with black. The weight fourteen ounces. which, from the fuperior attachment that a pigeon fhews to its native place, is employed. in many countries as the most expeditious courier: the letters are tied under its wing, it is let loofe, and in a very fhort space returns to the home it was brought from, with its advices. This practice was much in vogue in the Eaft; and at Scanderoon, till of late years, chants at Aleppo a more expeditious notice than could be done by any other means. In our own country, thefe aerial meffengers have been employed for a very fingular purpose, being let loofe at Tyburn at the moment the fatal cart is drawn away, to notify to diftant friends the departure of the unhappy criminal. In the wild ftate it breeds in holes of rocks, and hollows of trees, for which reafon fome writers ftyle it columba carsernalis, in oppofition to the Ring Dove, which makes its neft on the boughs of trees Nature ever preferves fome agreement in the manners, characters, and colours of birds reclaimed from their wildufed on the arrival of a fhip, to give the merftate. This fpecies of pigeon foon takes to build in artificial cavities, and from the temptation of a ready provifion becomes cafily domefticated. The drakes of the tame duck, however they may vary in colour, ever retain the mark of their origin from our English mallard, by the curled feathers of the tail: and the tame goose betrays its defcent from the wild kind, by the invariable whiteness of its rump, which they alwavs retain in both ftates. Multitudes of thefe birds are obferved to migrate into the fouth of England; and while the beech woods were fuffered to cover large tracts of ground, they used to haunt them in myriads, reaching in ftrings of a mile in length, as they went out in the morning to feed. They visit us the latest of any bird of pallage, not appearing till November; and retire in the fpring. I imagine that the fummer haunts; of these are in Sweden, for Mr. Eckmark makes their retreat thence coincide with their arrival here. But many breed here, as I have obferved, on the cliffs of the coaft of Wales, and of the Hebrides. The varieties produced from the domeftic pigeon are very numerous, and extremely clegant; thefe are diftinguished by names expreflive of their feveral properties, fuch as Tumblers, Carriers, Jacobines, Croppers, Pawters, Runts, Turbits, Owls, Nuns, &c. In the Eaft, the ufe of thefe birds feems to have been improved greatly, by having, if we may ufe the expreffion, relays of them ready to fpread intelligence to all parts of the country. Thus the governor of Damiata circulated the news of the death of Orrillo: Tofto che'l Caftellan di Damiata Quelle andò al Cairo, ed indi fu lafciata As foon as the commandant of Damiata heard that Orrilo was dead, he let loofe a pigeon, under whofe wing he had tied a letter; this fled to Cairo, from whence a fecond was dispatched to another place, as is usual; so that in a very few hours all Egypt was acquainted with the death of Orrilo.' ARIOSTO, canto 15. $ 4 But But the fimple ufe of them was known in very early times Anacreon tells us, he conveyed his billet-doux to his beautiful Bathyllus by a dove. Ἐγὼ δ' Ανακρέοντι Διακονῶ τοσαῦτα I am now Anacreon's flave, Each foft line, with nimble wing, Taurofthenes also, by means of a pigeon he had deeked with purple, fent advice to his father, who lived in the ifle of Ægina, of his victory in the Olympic games, on the very day he had obtained it. And, at the ficge of Modena, Hirtius without, and Brutus within the walls, kept, by the help of pigeons, a conftant correfpondence; baffling every ftratagem of the befieger Anthony to intercept their couriers. In the times of the crufades there are many more inftances of these birds of peace being employed in the fervice of war: Joinville relates one during the crufade of Saint Louis; and Taffo another, during the fiege of Jerufalem. The nature of pigeons is to be gregarious; to lay only two eggs; to breed many times in the year; to bill in their courtship; for the male and female to fit by turns, and alfo to feed their young; to caft the provifion out of their craw into the young one's mouths; to drink, not like other birds by fipping, but by continual draughts like quadrupeds; and to have notes mournful or plaintive. * Anacreon, ode 9. Εἰς Περισεράνο § 9. The BLACKBIRD. This bird is of a very retired and folitary nature; frequents hedges and thickets, in which it builds earlier than any other bird; the neft is formed of mofs, dead grafs, fibres, &c. lined or plaiftered with clay, and that again covered with hay or fmall ftraw. It lays four or five eggs of a bluish green_colour, marked with irregular dufky fpots. The note of the male is extremely fine, but too loud for any place except the woods; it begins to fing early in the spring, continues its mufic part of the fummer, defifts in the moulting seafon; but refumes it for fome time in September and the first winter months. The colour of the male, when it has attained its full age, is of a fine deep black, and the bill of a bright yellow; the edges of the eyelids yellow. When young the bill is dusky, and the plumage of a rufty black, fo that they are not to be diftinguished from the females; but at the age of one year they attain their proper colour. $10. The BULLpinch. leaft mufical; but when tamed it becomes remarkably docile, and may be taught any tune after a pipe, or to whistle any notes in the learned; and will become fo tame as to come jufteft manner: it feldom forgets what it has at call, perch on his master's fhoulders, and (at command) go through a difficult musical leffon. They may be taught to fpeak, and fome thus inftructed are annually brought to London from Germany The wild note of this bird is not in the The male is diftinguished from the female by the fuperior blacknefs of its crown, and by the rich crimson that adorns the checks, breafi, |