and then drops it to erect the other, and holds it, for a while, in the same strange position. Such is their velocity, that the savages are obliged to lay snares in order to catch them; for they are in vain chaced by the swiftest dogs.

The rhea shews the same indiscriminate voracity as the ostrich. Like it, it devours stones, iron, and hard substances; and, as this is a quality peculiar to all the granivorous tribes, it is probable that fruit, grain, and vegetable substances are the natural food of this bird. The fable told of the male compelling a number of females to lay in the same nest, and then charging himself with the task of incubation, deserves no credit; nor is the circumstance less romantic of his separating from the nest two eggs, upon which he does not sit, but allows to addle, that, by breaking them in that state, he may collect insects to feed the young. It is proba ble that the eggs of the rhea, like those of the ostrich, are hatched partly by the heat of the sun, and partly by incubation. The young, says Wafer, when first excluded from the shell, are so familiar, that they follow the first person they meet; but, on grow. ing older, they acquire experience, and become more shy and suspicious. The flesh of the young rhea is reckoned good eating; and it might, perhaps, be improved, and rendered more abundant by domestication, as has been that of the turkey or common hen, which, like the rhea, are indigenous to the burning regions of the torrid zone. The former, in particular, originally inhabited the same tracts of the American continent. The bird defends itself with its feet, and calls its young by a kind of hiss.

3. Emen or Cassowary.

Struthio-casuarius.-LINN,

FEET three-toed; helmets and dew-laps naked. This bird inhabits the torrid zone, and especially the island of Java, whence it was first brought into Europe in 1597. Its habitation begins in those temperate climes, which are contiguous to the precincts of the ostrich; and, as it occupies a region more favourable to the multiplication of the human race, its members are continually decreasing in proportion to the increase of the number of its destroyers.

Next to the ostrich and rhea, the cassowaries are the largest birds of the feathered race. They are of various sizes. The one described by the Academy of Sciences in Paris was five feet and a

half from the bill to the claw. The Dutch compare the bulk of these birds to that of a sheep. From the shortness of the legs and neck, they are not so tall as the ostrich; but the body has a more heavy and clumsy appearance to the eye. The most remarkable trait in the appearance of these birds, is a sort of helmet upon the head, which reaches from the base of the bill to the crown: it is nearly three inches in height, and, at the root, is three in thickness. The middle of the upper eyelid is furnished with a row of black hairs, which gives the animal a kind of wild aspect, that the large aperture of the beak renders still more fierce and menacing. The head and upper part of the neck are almost naked, being only here and there interspersed with blackish hairs, that partially cover a blue wrinkled skin. The feathers that cover the body of the cassowary, as well as those for flight, are all of one kind, and of the same blackish colour. They are generally double, having two shafts that grow from one short trunk, which is fixed in the skin. The small fibres of which the vanes are composed have so little adhesion to each other, that the bird, when viewed at a distance, seems clothed with hair rather than with feathers. The wings of the cassowary are still shorter than those of the ostrich, and, by consequence, still more unfit for fly. ing. They are furnished each with four hard-pointed feathers, resembling darts, of which the longest, which is eleven inches, is a quarter of an inch thick in the root. Its feet are also armed with large black claws, which give the being formed for hostility. But, though supplied with weapons that might render it very formidable to the rest of the animal world, the cassowary leads a peaceable and inoffensive life. It never attacks others; and nothing short of necessity will make it even defend itself. When it does defend itself, it kicks like a horse, and pushes down its assailant by running against him, and grunting like a swine.

animal an appearance of

The movements of the cassowary, when travelling, are awk. ward, and apparently heavy. It seems to give a kind of kick backward for every hop it makes forward; but, so much is swiftness the prerogative of birds, that the cassowary, which is among the dullest of the tribe, will outrun the fleetest steed. It is dis. tinguished by the same voracity which characterises the rhea and ostrich. It swallows every substance that is offered to it, that is not too large for the circumference of its throat; and possesses the

faculty of rejecting its food, when disagreeable, with the same dispatch with which it swallowed it.

The female lays a number of ash-coloured spotted eggs, about thirteen inches in circumference one way, and six the other, of a greenish colour, with still deeper green spots.

4: New Holland Cassowary.

Struthio Novæ Hollandiæ.

FEET three-toed; crown flat; shanks serrate behind. This species inhabits New Holland, and is nearly as tall as the black ostrich, being not less than seven feet two inches in height. Like the rest of the genus, it runs with prodigious speed, and escapes the pursuit of the greyhound. Bill black; head, neck, and body covered with bristly feathers, varied with brown and grey; throat nakedish, blueish; feathers of the body a little incurved at the tip; wings hardly visible; legs brown.

[Pantologia.

SECTION VII.

Thrush kind.

Turdus. LINN.

THE genus turdus is one of the most voluminous in ornithology, including not fewer than one hundred and and thirty-six species scattered over the globe; of which some are inhabitants of our country.

To this numerous division belong more especially the missel, common thrush, field. fare, black-bird, and mocking-bird; each of which we shall proceed to describe.

The French term the birds of this genus, that have speckled and variegated plumage, grives; and those of a more uniform hue, merles. In the thrush tribes, the male and female are pretty nearly of the same size: they are generally subject to a variation of colour, in different seasons of the year. The outer toe is connected with the middle by a membrane, as far as the first joint: their bill is denticulated towards the point, and none of them feed upon grain, which is probably too hard for their stomachs to digest. They are properly baccivorous; but to this food they add insects and worms; hence they are frequently seen scratching the ground, especially after rain, when these animals come to the surface.

Among the Romans some species of the thrush were deemed exquisite food; whence Martial :

"Inter aves turdus, inter quadrupes, gloria prima, lepus ;"

and, to procure a supply of it, no labour or expence was spared by that sensual and luxurious people. They constructed large aviaries, fit for the reception of many thousands of these devoted creatures, along with equal numbers of quails, ortalaus, and other birds reckoned delicate eating. Such vast numbers of these avia. ries were erected in the vicinity of Rome, that their dung was employed as a manure for the fields, like that of the dove-houses with us.

In these aviaries, however, the Roman birds enjoyed not the same liberty with our dove-house pigeons; for they were never allowed to escape, and, by consequence, they seldom laid, or produced young. As, however, they were provided with abun dance of well-chosen food, they readily fattened, to the great profit of the proprietor. Their ordinary price was about two shillings a-piece; but, about the time of a public triumph, or any grand festival, they far exceeded that sum. These aviaries were large vaulted buildings, supplied with a number of joists, upon which the birds might perch. They were but obscurely lighted, so that the prisoners might never see the fields, the woods, or the wild birds fluttering at their liberty; images which could not fail to excite a regret for their lost freedom, and to prevent them from fattening. Slaves, says Buffon, should never see too clearly; and they took care that these should only be able to distinguish the different objects that were to supply their wants. They were fed with millet, and a sort of paste made up of bruised figs and meal; to these were added ivy and myrtle berries, and every thing that could give a relish and succulency to their flesh. from a small stream that ran across the aviary. days before they were killed for eating, their quantity of food was increased, and care taken that it should be of a more nutritive quality. So far was the attention to this business carried, that the owners made those that were fat, and ready for being taken, pass gently into a small chamber adjoining the aviary, where they cut off all communication between them and those that were left, that the latter might not be disturbed by catching the former. With the latter they tried every method to keep up the illusion of

They got water For about twenty

liberty. From time to time they lined the walls of the aviary with green branches and leaves, that the birds might still fancy themselves in the midst of the grove. Thus they were accustomed, by degrees, to captivity; they were slaves kindly treated by their master, because he understood his own interest. This account of Roman epicurism is attested both by Columella and Varro; and, from their relations, Buffon has compiled a very curious history of the ancient aviaries of the Romans,

An improvement upon this practice of the Romans is said to be invented in modern times, and applied to practice in some pro vinces of France, where the inhabitants fasten earthen pots among the branches of trees, which the thrushes frequent. In these the birds find a convenient shelter from the weather without losing their liberty; and hence they seldom fail to prefer them to nests of their own construction. Partly from the security afforded to the young in these pots, and partly from the great saving of labour to the parent birds, who are thus enabled to bring up two families every year, thrushes have been found to multiply greatly under this mode of treatment. When the birds are not thus aided by the art of man, their nests are finished with great difficulty and labour. Outwardly they are constructed of moss, straw, and dried leaves; and in the inside they are overlaid with a thick plaister of baked clay and hair. Some kinds are not even satisfied with this, but garnish the inside still farther with feathers of va. rious kinds.

Thrushes are in general grave and melancholy. Their innate love of liberty is not easily overcome by domestication. Seldom are they seen to fight, sport, or play with each other, in their natural state, and far less in a state of captivity, which they never relish. Some of these birds, however, become excellent songsters by education; and the throstle has, in several instances, added to the talent of music that of speech. Such, at least, is the account given by Pliny of a thrush tamed by the empress Agrippina.

1. Missel, or Missel-bird.

Turdus viscivorus.-LINN.

BACK brown; neck spotted with white; bill yellowish. Eleven inches long; builds in bushes or on the side of some trees; and lays four or five eggs. Sings finely in the spring, sitting on the