The Book Of Curiosities Part 20

We shall conclude this chapter with an account of a singular curiosity that was found in a colliery. It is A LIVING LIZARD, IMBEDDED IN COAL.--This animal, preserved in spirits, is now in the possession of Mr.

James Scholes, engineer to Mr. Fenton's colliery, near Wakefield. It is about five inches long; its back of a dark brown colour, and it appears rough and scaly; its sides are of a lighter colour, and spotted with yellow; the belly yellow, streaked with bands of the same colour as the back. Mr. S. related to me the following circ.u.mstances of its being found.

In August last, they were sinking a new pit or shaft, and after pa.s.sing through measures of stone, gray-bind, and blue stone, and some thin beds of coal, to the depth of one hundred and fifty yards, they came upon that intended to be worked, which is about four feet thick. When they had excavated about three inches of it, one of the miners (as he supposed) struck his pick, or mattock, into a crevice, and shattered the coal around into small pieces; he then discovered the animal in question, and immediately carried it to Mr. S.: it continued very brisk and lively for about ten minutes, then drooped and died. About four inches above the coal in which the animal was found, numbers of muscle-sh.e.l.ls, in a fossil state, lay scattered in a loose gray earth.

CHAP. XIX.

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BIRDS.

_The Common Peac.o.c.k--The Egyptian Vulture--The Secretary Vulture--The Stork--The Great Pelican--The Bird of Paradise--The Ostrich--The Mocking-Bird of America--The Social Grosbeak--The Bengal Grosbeak--The Humming-Bird--The Golden Eagle._

THE PEAc.o.c.k.

How rich the peac.o.c.k! what bright glories run From plume to plume, and vary in the sun!

He proudly spreads them to the golden ray, And gives his colours to adorn the day; With conscious state the s.p.a.cious round displays, And slowly moves amid the waving blaze.

_Young._

This very beautiful and interesting bird has a compressed crest and solitary spurs. It is about the size of a turkey; the length from the top of the bill to the end of the tail being three feet eight inches. The bill is nearly two inches long, and is of a brown colour. The irides are yellow. On the crown there is a sort of crest, composed of twenty-four feathers, not webbed, except at the ends, which are gilded green. The shafts are of a whitish colour; and the head, neck, and breast, are of a green gold colour. Over the eye there is a streak of white, and beneath there is the same. The back and rump are of a green gold colour, glossed over with copper; the feathers are distinct, and lie over each other like sh.e.l.ls. Above the tail springs an inimitable set of long beautiful feathers, adorned with a variegated eye at the end of each; these reach considerably beyond the tail, and the longest of them in many birds are four feet and a half long. This beautiful train, or tail, as it is improperly called, may be expanded in the manner of a fan, at the will of the bird. The true tail is hid beneath this group of feathers, and consists of eighteen gray-brown feathers, one foot and a half long, marked on the sides with rufous gray; the scapulars, and lesser wing coverts, are reddish cream colour, variegated with black; the middle coverts deep blue, glossed with green gold; the greatest and b.a.s.t.a.r.d wing, rufous; the quills are also rufous, some of them variegated with rufous, blackish, and green; the belly and vent are greenish black, the thighs yellowish, the legs stout, those of the male furnished with a strong spur, three-quarters of an inch in length, the colour of which is gray-brown.

These birds, now so common in Europe, are of Eastern origin. They are found wild in the islands of Ceylon and Java, in the East Indies; and at St. Helena, Barbuda, and other West India islands. They are not natural to China; but they are found in many places in Asia and Africa. They are, however, no where so large or so fine as in India, in the neighbourhood of the Ganges, whence they have spread into all parts, increasing in a wild state in the warmer climates, but requiring care in the colder regions. In ours, this species does not come to its full plumage till the third year.

The female lays five or six grayish white eggs; in hot climates twenty, the size of those of a turkey. These, if let alone, she lays in some secret place, at distance from the usual resort, to prevent their being broken by the male, which he is apt to do if he find them. The time of sitting is from twenty-seven to thirty days. The young may be fed with curds, chopped leeks, barley-meal, &c. moistened; and they are fond of gra.s.shoppers, and some other insects. In five or six months they will feed as the old ones, on wheat and barley, with what else they can pick up in the circuit of their confinement. They seem to prefer the most elevated places to roost on during the night; such as high trees, tops of houses, and the like. Their cry is loud and inharmonious,--a perfect contrast to their external beauty. They are caught in India, by carrying lights to the trees where they roost, and having painted representations of the bird presented to them at the same time; when they put out the neck to look at the figure, the sportsman slips a noose over the head, and secures his game. In most ages they have been esteemed a salutary food. Hortensius gave the example at Rome, where it was counted the highest luxury, and sold dear, and a young peac.o.c.k is thought a dainty, even in the present times. The life of these birds is reckoned by some at about twenty-five years; by others a hundred.

So beautiful a species of birds as the peac.o.c.k could not long remain unknown: so early as the days of Solomon, we find, among the articles imported in his Tars.h.i.+sh navies, apes and peac.o.c.ks. aelian relates, that they were brought into Greece from some barbarous country; and that they were held in such high esteem, that a male and female were valued at Athens at 1000 drachmae, or 32. 5s. 10d. At Samos they were preserved about the temple of Juno, being sacred to that G.o.ddess; and Gellius, in his _Noctes Atticae_, c. xvi. commends the excellency of the Samian peac.o.c.ks. When Alexander was in India, he found vast numbers of wild ones on the banks of the Hyarotis; and was so struck with their beauty, as to appoint a severe punishment on any person that killed them. Peac.o.c.ks'

crests, in ancient times, were among the ornaments of the kings of England. Ernald de Aclent was fined to king John in one hundred and forty palfreys, with sackbuts, lorams, gilt spurs, and peac.o.c.ks' crests, such as would be for his credit.

We shall now introduce THE EGYPTIAN VULTURE.--The appearance of this bird is as horrid as can well be imagined. The face is naked and wrinkled; the eyes are large and black; the beak black and hooked; the talons large, and extended, ready for prey; and the whole body polluted with filth: these are qualities enough to make the beholder shudder with horror.

Notwithstanding this, the inhabitants of Egypt cannot be thankful enough to Providence for this bird. All the places round Cairo are filled with the dead bodies of a.s.ses and camels, and thousands of these birds fly about and devour the carcases before they putrefy, and fill the air with noxious exhalations. The inhabitants of Egypt say, (and after them Maillet, in his description of Egypt,) that they yearly follow the caravan to Mecca, and devour the filth of the slaughtered beasts, and the carcases of the camels which die on the journey. They do not fly high, nor are they afraid of men. If one of them is killed, all the rest surround it in the same manner as do the Royston crows; they do not quit the places they frequent, though frightened by the explosion of a gun, but immediately return.

THE SECRETARY VULTURE.--This is a most singular species, being particularly remarkable from the great length of its legs, which at first sight would induce us to think it belonged to waders: but the characters of the vulture are so strongly marked throughout, as to leave no doubt to which cla.s.s it belongs. This bird, when standing erect, is full three feet from the top of the head to the ground. The bill is black, sharp, and crooked, like that of an eagle; the head, neck, breast, and upper parts of the body, are of a bluish ash-colour; the legs are very long, stouter than those of a heron, and of a brown colour; claws shortish, but crooked, not very sharp, and of a black colour. From behind the head spring a number of long feathers, which hang loose behind, like a pendent crest; these feathers rise by pairs, and are longer as they are lower down on the neck; this crest, the bird can erect or depress at pleasure; it is of a dark colour, almost black; the webs are equal on both sides, and rather curled, and the feathers, when erected, somewhat incline towards the neck; the two middle feathers of the tail are twice as long as any of the rest. This singular species inhabits the internal parts of Africa, and is frequently seen at the Cape of Good Hope. It is also met with in the Philippine islands. As to the manners of this bird, it is on all hands allowed that it princ.i.p.ally feeds on rats, lizards, snakes, and the like; and that it will become familiar; whence Sonnerat is of opinion, that it might be made useful in some of our colonies, if encouraged, towards the destruction of those pests. They call it at the Cape of Good Hope, _flang-eater_, i. e. snake-eater. A great peculiarity belongs to it, perhaps observed in no other, which is, the faculty of striking forwards with its legs, never backwards. Dr. Solander saw one of these birds take up a snake, small tortoise, or such like, in its claws; when, das.h.i.+ng it against the ground with great violence, if the victim were not killed at first, it repeated the operation till that end was answered; after which it ate it up quietly. Dr. J. R. Forster mentioned a further circ.u.mstance, which he says was supposed to be peculiar to this bird,--that should it by any accident break the leg, the bone would never unite again.

The curious reader will be interested by the following singular particulars respecting THE STORK.--The veneration shewn by the Germans for storks, is a very remarkable superst.i.tion. The houses which these birds light upon, are considered as under the special favour of Heaven. It is usual to contrive a small flat square spot on the top of the roof, for them to rest upon, and build their nests. Catholic curates, as well as Protestant ministers, endeavour to allure them to their churches. "I observed (says a French traveller) four or five steeples dignified by such visitors. There are people so lucky as to attract some of them into their poultry-yard, where they stalk about with the hens, but without yielding up any particle of their freedom. Were any one to kill a stork, he would be pursued like an Egyptian of old for killing an ibis, or for fricaseeing a cat."

In a fire, by which the town of Delft in Holland was burnt to ashes, a stork, which had built her nest upon a chimney, strove all she could to save her little ones: she was seen spreading her wings around them, to keep off the sparks and burning embers. Already the flame began to seize upon her, but, unmindful of herself, she cared only for her offspring, bemoaning their loss, and at length fell a prey to the fire, under the eyes of a sympathizing crowd; prefering death with the pledges of her love, to life without them. This interesting anecdote was celebrated by a Flemish poet, who lived in 1503, in an effusion bearing the t.i.tle of the "Stork of Delft; or, the Model of Maternal Love."

THE GREAT PELICAN.--This bird is sometimes of the weight of twenty-five pounds, and of the width, between the extreme points of the wings, of fifteen feet; the skin, between the sides of the upper mandible, is extremely dilatable, reaching more than half a foot down the neck, and capable of containing many quarts of water. The skin is often used by sailors for tobacco-pouches, and has been occasionally converted into ladies' elegant work bags. About the Caspian and Black seas, these birds are very numerous; and they are chiefly to be found in the warmer regions, inhabiting almost every country of Africa. They build in the small isles of lakes, far from the habitations of man. The nest is a foot and a half in diameter; and the female, if molested, will remove her eggs into the water till the cause of annoyance is removed, and then return them to her nest of reeds and gra.s.s. These birds, though living princ.i.p.ally upon fish, often build in the midst of deserts, where that element is rarely to be found. They are extremely dexterous in diving for their prey, and, after having filled their pouch, will retire to some rock, and swallow what they have taken at their leisure. They are said to unite with other birds in the pursuit of fish. The pelicans dive, and drive the fish into the shallows; the cormorants a.s.sist by flapping their wings on the surface, and, forming a crescent, perpetually contracting, they at length accomplish their object, and compel vast numbers into creeks and shallows, where they gratify their voracity with perfect ease, and to the most astonis.h.i.+ng excess.

Another curiosity is, THE BIRD OF PARADISE.--In natural history, a genus of birds of the order Picae. Generic character: bill covered at the base with downy feathers; nostrils covered by the feathers; tail of ten feathers, two of them, in some species, very long; legs and feet very large and strong. These birds chiefly inhabit North Guinea, whence they emigrate in the dry season to the neighbouring islands. Their feathers are used in these countries as ornaments for the head-dress; and the j.a.panese, Chinese, and Persians, import them for the same purpose. The rich and great among the latter attach these brilliant collections of plumage, not only to their own turbans, but to the housings and harnesses of their horses. They are found only within a few degrees of the equator. Gmelin enumerates twelve species, and Latham eight. _P. apoda_, or the greater Paradise bird, is about as large as a thrush. They pa.s.s in companies of thirty or forty together, headed by one whose flight is higher than that of the rest. They are often distressed by means of their long feathers, in sudden s.h.i.+ftings of the wind, and unable to proceed in their flight; are easily taken by the natives, who catch them with bird-lime, and shoot them with blunted arrows. They are sold at Aroo for an iron nail each, and at Banda for half a rix-dollar. Their food is not ascertained, and they cannot be kept alive in confinement. The smaller bird of Paradise is supposed, by Latham, to be a mere variety of the above. It is found only in the Papuan islands, where it is caught by the natives often by the hand, and exenterated and seared with a hot iron in the inside, and then put into the hollow of a bamboo, to secure its plumage from injury.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE GREAT BUSTARD.--Page 243.

Found in Europe, Asia, and Africa, but in no part of the New World.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: OSTRICHES OF SOUTH AFRICA--Page 231.

They are so fleet as easily to distance the swiftest horse.]

The following account of the curiosities of THE OSTRICH, is taken from Lichtenstein's Travels in South Africa, vol. II.--"The habits of the ostrich are so remarkable, and have been so imperfectly described by travellers in general, that I cannot forbear bringing together here all the knowledge I acquired upon the subject, both in this and subsequent journeys. I have noticed, on a former occasion, a large flock of ostriches, which we met in the neighbourhood of Komberg. In that country, the drought and heat sometimes compel these gigantic birds to leave the plains, and then they pursue their course together in large flocks to the heights, where they find themselves more commodiously lodged. At the time of sitting, there are seldom more than four or five seen together, of which only one is a c.o.c.k, the rest are hens. These hens lay their eggs all together in the same nest, which is nothing more than a round cavity made in the clay, of such a size as to be covered by one of the birds, when sitting upon it. A sort of wall is sc.r.a.ped up round with their feet, against which the eggs in the outermost circle rest. Every egg stands upon its point in the nest, that the greatest possible number may be stowed within the s.p.a.ce. When ten or twelve eggs are laid, they begin to sit, the hens taking their turns, and relieving each other during the day; at night the c.o.c.k alone sits, to guard the eggs against the jackals and wild cats, who will run almost any risk to procure them. Great numbers of these smaller beasts of prey have often been found crushed to death about the nests; a proof that the ostrich does not fight with them, but knows very well how to conquer them at once by her own resistless power; for it is certain, that a stroke of her large foot trampling upon them, is enough to crush any such animal.

"The hens continue to lay during the time they are sitting, and that, not only till the nest is full, which happens when about thirty eggs are laid, but for some time after. The eggs laid after the nest is filled are deposited round about it, and seem designed by nature to satisfy the cravings of the above-mentioned enemies, since they very much prefer the new-laid eggs to those which have been brooded. But they seem also to have a more important designation, that is, to a.s.sist in the nourishment of the young birds. These, when first hatched, are as large as a common pullet, and since their tender stomachs cannot digest the hard food eaten by the old ones, the spare eggs serve as their first nourishment. The increase of the ostrich race would be incalculable, had they not so many enemies, by which great numbers of the young are destroyed after they quit the nest.

"The ostrich is a very prudent, wary creature, which is not easily ensnared in the open field, since it sees to a very great distance, and takes to flight upon the least idea of danger. For this reason the quaggas generally attach themselves, as it were instinctively, to a troop of ostriches, and fly with them, without the least idea that they are followed. Xenophon relates, that the army of Cyrus met ostriches and wild a.s.ses together, in the plains of Syria.

"The ostriches are particularly careful to conceal, if possible, the places where their nests are made. They never go directly to them, but run round in a circle at a considerable distance before they attempt to approach the spot. On the contrary, they always run directly up to the springs where they drink, and the impressions they make on the ground, in the desolate places they inhabit, are often mistaken for the footsteps of men. The females, in sitting, when they are to relieve each other, either both remove awhile to a distance from the nest, or change so hastily, that any one who might by chance be spying about, could never see both at once.

In the day-time, they occasionally quit the nest entirely, and leave the care of warming the eggs to the sun alone. If at any time they find that the place of their nest is discovered, that either a man or a beast of prey has been at it, and has disturbed the arrangement of the eggs, or taken any away, they immediately destroy the nest themselves, break all the eggs to pieces, and seek out some other spot to make a new one. When the colonist therefore finds a nest, he contents himself with taking one or two of the spare eggs that are lying near, observing carefully to smooth over any footsteps which may have been made, so that they may not be perceived by the birds. Thus visits to the nest may be often repeated, and it may be converted into a storehouse of very pleasant food, where, every two or three days, as many eggs may be procured as are wanted to regale the whole household.

"An ostrich's egg weighs commonly near three pounds, and is considered as equal in its square contents to twenty-four hen's eggs. The yolk has a very pleasant flavour, yet, it must be owned, not the delicacy of a hen's egg. It is so nouris.h.i.+ng and so soon satisfies, that no one can eat a great deal at once. Four very hungry persons would be requisite to eat a whole ostrich's egg; and eight Africans, who are used to so much harder living, might make a meal of it. These eggs will keep for a very long time: they are often brought to the Cape Town, where they are sold at the price of half a dollar each.

"In the summer months of July, August, and September, the greatest number of ostriches' nests are to be found; but the feathers, which are always scattered about the nest at the time of sitting, are of very little value.

I have, however, at all times of the year, found nests with eggs that have been brooded: the contrasts of the seasons being much less forcible in this part of the world than in Europe, the habits of animals are consequently much less fixed and regular. The ostrich sits from thirty-six to forty days before the young are hatched.

"It is well known that the male alone furnishes the beautiful white feathers which have for so long a time been a favourite ornament in the head-dress of our European ladies. They are purchased from the people who collect them, for as high as three or four s.h.i.+llings each; they are, however, given at a lower price, in exchange for European wares and clothing. Almost all the colonists upon the borders have a little magazine of these feathers laid by, and when they would make a friendly present to a guest, it is generally an ostrich's feather. Few of them are, however, prepared in such a manner as to be wholly fit for the use of the European dealers. The female ostriches are entirely black, or rather, in their youth, of a very dark gray, but have no white feathers in the tail. In every other respect, the colour excepted, their feathers are as good as those of the males. It is very true, as Mr. Barrow says, that small stones are sometimes found in the ostrich's eggs; it is not, however, very common; and, among all that I ever saw opened, I never met with one."

We must not omit to give some account of THE MOCKING-BIRD OF AMERICA.--Those who have not heard the mocking-bird, can have no conception of his great superiority of song: he seems the merryandrew among birds, and the most serious and laboured efforts of the best performers appear to him only sport: he performs an antic dance to the sound of his own music; like jack-pudding, too, he seems to make game of his audience, for often, when he has secured the attention by the most delightful warblings, he will stop suddenly, and surprise them by the quack of a duck, the hiss of a goose, the monstrous note of the whip-poor-will, or any other unexpected sound: he possesses also the power of a ventriloquist, in being able to deceive his hearers as to the direction of the sound. When he is not seen, and while his listeners are looking for the enchanter on the roof of their own houses, he is perhaps playing his antic tricks on the chimney-top of some house at a considerable distance. When, however, there are no spectators during the stillness of night, he lays aside his frolic, and pours his "love-laboured songs;" and surely, if there is fascination in sweet sounds, it must be in the song of this delightful bird, perched on the chimney-top, or on some tree near to the dwelling of man. He seems never to tire.

The next subject of curiosity is THE SOCIAL GROSBEAK.--This bird inhabits the interior country of the Cape of Good Hope, where it was discovered by Mr. Paterson. These birds live together in large societies, and their mode of nidification is extremely uncommon. They build in a species of mimosa, which grows to an uncommon size, and which they seem to select for that purpose, as well on account of its ample head, and the great strength of its branches, calculated to admit and to support the extensive buildings which they have to erect, as for the tallness and smoothness of its trunk, which their great enemies, the serpent tribe, are unable to climb.

The method in which the nests themselves are fabricated, is highly curious. In the one described by Mr. Paterson, there could be no less a number (he says) than from eight hundred to a thousand, residing under the same roof. He calls it a roof, because it perfectly resembles that of a thatched house; and the ridge forms an angle so acute and so smooth, projecting over the entrance of the nest below, that it is impossible for any reptile to approach them. The industry of these birds is almost equal, in his opinion, to that of the bee: throughout the day they appear to be busily employed in carrying a fine species of gra.s.s, which is the princ.i.p.al material they employ for the purpose of erecting this extraordinary work, as well as for additions and repairs.--"Though my short stay in the country was not sufficient to satisfy me, by ocular proof, that they added to their nest as they annually increased in numbers, still, from the many trees which I have seen borne down with the weight, and others which I have observed with their boughs completely covered over, it would appear, that this is really the case; when the tree, which is the support of this aerial city, is obliged to give way to the increase of weight, it is obvious they are no longer protected, and are under the necessity of building in other trees.

"One of these deserted nests I had the curiosity to break down, so as to inform myself of the internal structure of it, and found it equally ingenious with that of the external. There many entrances, each of which forms a regular street, with nests on both sides, at about two inches distant from each other. The gra.s.s with which they build, is called, the Boshman's gra.s.s; and I believe the seed of it to be their princ.i.p.al food; though, on examining their nests, I found the wings and legs of different insects. From every appearance, the nest which I dissected had been inhabited for many years; and some parts of it were much more complete than others: this therefore I conceive nearly to amount to a proof, that the animals added to it at different times, as they found necessary from the increase of the family, or rather of the nation or community."

THE BENGAL GROSBEAK.--This is an Indian bird, and is thus described by Mr.

Latham. "This little bird (called _baya_, in Hindu; _berbera_, in Sanscrit; _babui_, in the dialect of Bengal; _cibu_, in Persian; and _tenauwit_, in Arabic, from its remarkably pendent nest) is rather larger than a sparrow, with yellow brown plumage, a yellowish head and feet, a light coloured breast, and a conic beak, very thick in proportion to his body. This bird is exceedingly common in Hindostan; he is astonis.h.i.+ngly sensible, faithful, and docile, never voluntarily deserting the place where his young were hatched, but not averse, like most other birds, to the society of mankind, and easily taught to perch on the hand of his master. In a state of nature, he generally builds his nest on the highest tree that he can find, especially on the palmyra, or on the Indian fig-tree, and he prefers that which happens to overhang a well or rivulet: he makes it of gra.s.s, which he weaves like cloth, and shapes like a large bottle, suspending it firmly on the branches, but so as to rock with the wind, and placing it with its entrance downwards, to secure it from birds of prey. His nest usually consists of two or three chambers; and it is the popular belief that he lights them with fire-flies, which he catches alive at night, and confines with moist clay or cow-dung. That such flies are often found in his nest, where pieces of cow-dung are also stuck, is indubitable: but as their light could be of little use to him, it seems probable that he only feeds on them. He may be taught with ease to fetch any small thing that his master points out to him: it is an attested fact, that if a ring be dropped into a deep well, and a signal be given to him, he will fly down with amazing celerity, catch the ring before it touches the water, and bring it up with apparent exultation; and it is a.s.serted, that if a house or any other place be shewn to him once or twice, he will carry a note thither immediately on a proper signal.

"One instance of his docility, I can myself mention with confidence, having often been an eye-witness of it. The young Hindoo women at Benares, and in other places, wear very thin plates of gold, called _ticas_, slightly fixed by way of ornament between their eye-brows; and when they pa.s.s through the streets, it is not uncommon for the youthful libertines, who amuse themselves with training bayas, to give them a signal, which they understand, and send them to pluck the pieces of gold from the foreheads of their mistresses, which they bring in triumph to the lovers.

The baya feeds naturally on gra.s.shoppers and other insects, but will subsist, when tame, on pulse macerated in water: his flesh is warm and drying, and easy of digestion. The female lays many beautiful eggs, resembling large pearls; the white of them, when boiled, is transparent, and the flavour is exquisitely delicate. When many bayas are a.s.sembled on a high tree, they make a lively din, but it is rather chirping than singing; their want of musical talents is, however, amply supplied by their wonderful sagacity, in which they are not excelled by any feathered inhabitant of the forest."

Another subject of acknowledged curiosity is, THE HUMMING BIRD.--There are sixty species enumerated by Latham, and Gmelin has sixty-five. The birds of this genus are the smallest of all birds. These diminutive creatures subsist on the juices of flowers, which they extract, like bees, while on the wing, fluttering over their delicate repast, and making a considerable humming sound, from which they derive their designation. They are gregarious, and build their nests with great neatness and elegance, lining them with the softest materials they can possibly procure.

The red-throated humming-bird is rather more than three inches long, and is frequent in various parts of North America. Its plumage is highly splendid and varying; it extracts the nectar of flowers, particularly those of a long tube, like the convolvulus or tulip. They will suffer themselves to be approached very near, but on observing an effort to seize them, dart off with the rapidity of an arrow. A flower is frequently the subject of bitter conflict between two of these birds; they will often enter an open window, and, after a short contest, retire. They sometimes soar perpendicularly to a considerable height, with a violent scream. If a flower which they enter furnishes them with no supply, they pluck it, as it were in punishment and revenge, from its stalk. They have been kept alive in cages for several weeks, but soon perish for want of the usual food, for which no adequate subst.i.tute has yet been found. Latham, however, mentions a curious circ.u.mstance of their being preserved alive by Captain Davies for four months, by the expedient of imitating tubular flowers with paper appropriately painted, and filling the bottom of the tubes with sugar and water as often as they were emptied. They then took their nourishment in the same manner as when unconfined, and soon appeared familiarized and happy. They build on the middle of the branch of a tree, and lay two eggs in an extremely small and admirably constructed nest.

The smallest of all the species is said, when just killed, to weigh no more than twenty grains. Its total length is an inch and a quarter. It is found in the West Indies and South America, and is exceeded both in weight and magnitude by several species of bees.

We shall close this chapter with an account of THE GOLDEN EAGLE.--This bird weighs above twelve pounds, and is about three feet long, the wings, when extended, measuring seven feet four inches. The sight and sense of smelling are very acute; the head and neck are clothed with narrow, sharp-pointed feathers, of a deep brown colour, bordered with tawny; the hind part of the head is of bright rust colour. These birds are very destructive to fawns, lambs, kids, and all kinds of game, particularly in the breeding season, when they bring a vast quant.i.ty of prey to their young. Smith, in his History of Kerry, relates, that a poor man in that country got a comfortable subsistence for his family, during a summer of famine, out of an eagle's nest, by robbing the eaglets of the food the old ones brought, whose attendance he protracted beyond the natural time, by clipping the wings and r.e.t.a.r.ding the flight of the former. It is very unsafe to leave infants in places where eagles frequent; there having been instances in Scotland of two being carried off by them; but, fortunately, the thefts were discovered in time, and the children were restored unhurt out of the eagles' nests. In order to extirpate these pernicious birds, there is a law in the Orkney isles, which ent.i.tles every person that kills an eagle to a hen out of every house in the parish where it was killed.

Eagles seem to give the preference to the carcases of dogs and cats.

People who make it their business to kill those birds, lay one of these carcases by way of bait; and then conceal themselves within gun-shot. They fire the instant the eagle alights; for she that moment looks about before she begins to prey. Yet, quick as her sight may be, her sense of hearing seems still more exquisite. If hooded crows or ravens happen to be nearer the carrion, and resort to it first, and give a single croak, the eagle instantly repairs to the spot. These eagles are remarkable for their longevity, and for sustaining a long abstinence from food. Mr. Keysler relates, that an eagle died at Vienna after a confinement of 104 years.