rent color on the outward part. The feathers on the belly, thighs, and under the wings, are most of them white as snow; and the under part on the outside of the wings white, but black lower. The back is of a dark green, glossed with blue shades. The head and crest are black, and the latter, which is composed of unwebbed feathers, is almost four inches in length. It has a great liver, divided into two parts, and, as some authors affirm, no gall.

Lapwings are found in most parts of Europe, as far northward as Iceland. In the winter they are met with in Persia and Egypt. Their chief food is worms; and sometimes they may be seen in flocks nearly covering the low marshy grounds in search of these, which they draw with great dexterity from their holes. When the bird meets with one of those little clusters of pellets, or rolls of earth that are thrown out by the worm's perforations, it first gently removes the mould from the mouth of the hole, then strikes the ground at the side with its foot, and attentively waits the issue; alarmed by the shock, the reptile emerges from its retreat, and is instantly seized. In the evening they adopt another mode. They then run along the grass, and feel with their feet the worms which the dampness of the atmosphere has brought forth.

These birds make a great noise with their wings in flying, and are called peewits, or tewits, in the north of England, from their particular cry. They remain there the whole year. The female lays two eggs on the dry ground, near some marsh, upon a little bed which she prepares of dry grass. These are olive-colored, and spotted with black. She sits about three weeks; and the young, who are covered with a thick down, are able to run within two or three days after they are hatched. The parent displays the fondest attachment to them, and employs innumerable interesting stratagems to avert approaching danger from them. "She does not wait the arrival of her enemies to the nest, but boldly pushes out to meet them. When she has approached as near as she dare venture, she rises from the ground with a loud screaming voice, as if just flushed from hatching, though probably she is not at the time within a hundred yards of her nest. She now flies with great clamor and apparent anxiety; winding and screaming round the invaders, striking at them with her wings, and sometimes fluttering as if she was wounded. To complete the deception, she becomes still more clamo

rous as she retires from the nest. If very near, she appears altogether unconcerned; and her cries cease in proportion as her fears are augmented. When approached by dogs, she flies heavily, at a little distance before them, as if maimed; still vociferous, and still bold, but never offering to move towards the quarter where her young ones are stationed. The dogs pursue, in expectation every moment of seizing the parent, and by this means actually lose the offspring; for the cunning bird, having thus drawn them off to a proper distance, exerts her powers, and leaves her astonished pursuers to gaze at the rapidity of her flight." The lapwing may be domesticated, and it then becomes uncommonly familiar and confiding.

Is a tall, slender bird, with a long neck and long legs. The top of the head is covered with black bristles, and the back of it is bald and red, which sufficiently distinguishes this bird from the stork, to which it is very nearly allied in size and figure. The plumage, in general, is ash colored; and there are two large tufts of feathers that spring from the pinion of each wing.

1 Grus cinerea, BECHST. The genus Grus has the bill as long as, or longer than the head, strong, straight, compressed, obtuse towards the tip; lateral base of the mandible deeply sulcated; ridge elevated; nostrils in the middle of the bill closed behind by a membrane; region of the eyes and base of the bill naked and papillous, or covered with feathers; legs long, with a large naked space above the knees; the middle fore toe united to the outer by a rudimentary membrane, the inner divided; hind toe articulated higher on the tarsus.

These, which bear a resemblance to hair, and are finely curled at the ends, the bird has a power of erecting and depressing at pleasure. Gesner says, that these feathers, in his time, used to be set in gold, and worn as ornaments in caps.

The crane is a very social bird, and they are seldom seen alone. Their usual mode of flying or sitting is in flocks of fifty or sixty together; and while a part feed, the rest stand like sentinels upon duty. It for the most part subsists upon vegetables, and is known in every country of Europe, except England. As they are birds of passage, they are seen to depart and return regularly at those seasons when their provision invites or repels them. They generally leave Europe about the latter end of autumn, and return in the beginning of summer. In the inland parts of the continent, they are seen crossing the country, in flocks of fifty or a hundred, making from the northern regions towards the south. In these migrations, however, they are not so resolutely bent upon going forward, but that, if a field of corn offers in their way, they will stop a while to regale upon it; on such occasions they do incredible damage, chiefly in the night; and the husbandman, who lies down in joyful expectation, rises in the morning to see his fields laid entirely waste, by an enemy whose march is too swift for his vengeance to overtake.

The cold arctic region seems to be this bird's favorite abode. They come down into the more southern parts of Europe, rather as visitants than inhabitants.

In their journeys, it is amazing to conceive the heights to which they ascend when they fly. Their note is the loudest of all birds; and is often heard in the clouds, when the bird itself is entirely unseen. As it is light for its size, and spreads a large expanse of wing, it is capable of floating, at the greatest heights, where the air is lightest; and as it secures its safety, and is entirely out of the reach of man, it flies in tracks which would be too fatiguing for any other birds to move forward in.

In these aerial journeys, though unseen themselves, they have the distinctest vision of every object below. They govern and direct their flight by their cries; and exhort each other to proceed or descend, when a fit opportunity offers for depredation. As they rise but heavily, they are very shy birds, and seldom let the fowler approach them. Corn is their favorite food; but there is scarcely any other that comes amiss to them. Redi, who opened several, found the stomach of one full of the herb called dandelion; that of another was filled with beans; a third had a great quantity of clover in its stomach; while those of two others were filled with earth-worms and beetles; in some he found lizards and sea-fish; in others, snails, grass, and pebbles, swallowed perhaps for medicinal purposes.

In general, it is a peaceful bird, both in its own society, and with respect to those of the forest. It is an animal easily tamed.

FOR a long time continued unknown, till we became acquainted with the birds of tropical climates, when one of the crane kind with a topping was brought into Europe, and described by Aldrovandus as Pliny's balearic crane. It is remarkable for the lightness and elegance of its proportions, and the gracefulness and variety of its attitudes. Its forehead is covered by a thick tuft of short velvety feathers of a soft and brilliant black. The bill and legs are of the same hue. The long, slender feathers, descending on the neck, and the broader ones with which the upper and under surface of its body are clothed, are black, with a slight tinge of lead color; the primary wing feathers are black; the secondary, reddish brown; the wing-coverts white. The naked cheeks and temples are of a delicate rose color; and the yellow filaments of its crest terminate in blackish pencils. This bird comes from the coast of Africa and the Cape de Verd Islands. It grows to the height of four feet. As it runs, it stretches out its wings, and goes very swiftly, otherwise its usual motion is very slow. In their domestic state, they walk very deliberately among other poultry, and suffer themselves to be approached by every spectator. They never roost in houses; but about night, when they are disposed to go to rest, they search out some high wall, on which they perch in the manner of a peacock. Indeed, they so much resemble that bird in manners and disposition, that some have described them by the name of the sea peacock. But though their voice and roosting be similar, their food, which is entirely greens, vegetables, and barley, seems to make some difference.

1 Grus pavonina, TEMM.

THE common heron is remarkably light in proportion to its bulk, scarcely weighing three pounds and a half, yet it expands a breadth of wing which is five feet from tip to tip. Its bill is very long, being five inches from the point to the base; its claws are long, sharp, and the middlemost toothed like a saw. Yet, thus armed as it appears for war, it is indolent and cowardly, and flies even at the approach of a sparrow-hawk. When driven to extremity, however, it shakes off its timidity, and displays both courage and skill. When its antagonist succeeds in rising above it, which is not easily done, the heron doubles his neck backward under his wing, and turns his bill upward, like a bayonet. In this manner, he sometimes contrives to transfix even the powerful sea eagle.

Of all birds, this commits the greatest devastation in fresh water; and there is scarcely a fish, though ever so large, that he will not strike at and wound, though unable to carry it away. But the smaller fry are his chief subsistence; these, pursued by their larger fellows of the deep, are obliged to take refuge in shallow waters, where they find the heron a still more formidable enemy. His method is to wade as far as he can go into the water, and there patiently wait the approach of his prey, which, when it comes

1 Ardea cinerea, LATH. The genus Ardea has the bill as long as, or longer, than the head, strong, straight, compressed, pointed upper mandible slightly sulcated, ridge rounded; nostrils lateral, placed almost at the base of the bill, longitudinally cleft in a groove, and half closed by a membrane; orbits and lores naked; legs long and slender, with a naked space above the knee; the middle toe connected with the outer by a short membrane; claws long, compressed, that of the middle toe dentated interiorly."