cass of this animal weighs, exclusive of the offal, about 300 pounds. The wool is remarkably fine. This species inhabits a great extent of barren land to the northward of the sixtieth parallel. They visit Melville Island (north lat. 75°) in the month of May, but they do not, like the reindeer, extend to Greenland and Spitzbergen.

These are the principal quadrupeds of the northern regions of the New World.*

* With a view to avoid repetition, we here omit the history of the seals and cetaceous tribes, as those departments have been pretty fully illustrated in a former volume of our series. See No. I. of the Edinburgh Cabinet Library, entitled "Narrative of Discovery and Adventure in the Polar Seas and Regions," by Sir John Leslie, Professor Jameson, and Hugh Murray, Esq.

CHAPTER VII.

The Birds of the Northern Regions of America.

Turkey Buzzard - Golden-eagle-Bald-eagle-Hawks-OwlsButcher-birds-King-bird-Northern Tyrant-American Waterouzel-Red-breasted Thrush-Blue-bird-Arctic Blue-birdCedar-bird, or American Chatterer-Snow-bunting - Painted Bunting-Pine-grosbeak-Evening-grosbeak-Scarlet Tanager -Cuckoo-bunting-Crows-Woodpeckers—Humming-birdsSwallows-Belted Kingfisher Grouse -Passenger-pigeonGrallatores Natatores-Gulls-Rocky Mountain Golden-eye -Bewick's Swan - Trumpeter-swan -White Pelican-Great Northern Diver-Black-throated Diver-Guillemots.

THE difficulties attending the completion of an ornithological history were complained of by Buffon, and the chief of these was stated by that illustrious observer as consisting in the fact that naturalists were already acquainted with 800 species of the class; and he farther expressed his opinion that there might actually exist 1500 or even 2000 different kinds of birds. Now, as nearly 6000 species of the feathered race have been ascertained up to the present period, and many new species are in the course of being discovered and described during every successive year, our readers may form some opinion of the laborious toil attending the researches of these "degenerate days," in which people of such inferior capacity to the French Pliny have to grapple with a subject so infinitely more encumbered. No doubt the division of labour has been more attended to since the greater extension of the field of exercise, and Buffon's brilliant genius was too often satisfied with vague generalities, unsupportable in proportion to the increase of that more definite knowledge which has been recently acquired. With an intellect so excitable and full of thought, and a flow of language so powerful and persuasive, it was no marvel that such a naturalist should have outstripped for a season

all his competitors in the career of fame; but the fable of the helix and the hare is not altogether inapplicable to the two classes of observers, of one of which Buffon was the head and front,—for there was not only an occasional pause in his onward progress, but those who now follow his footsteps in the search of truth are too often obliged either to retrograde or trace out a labyrinth with many windings. It is well, however, that such a master-spirit should in any way have embraced the subject of natural history; for it has too frequently happened that men of very steril genius, of whose mental constitution enthusiasm formed no portion, have imagined themselves devoted to the study. Now, even the obscurity and mistiness of Buffon, though perhaps not always equal to other people's sunshine, are yet composed of "clouds of glory," and hence the hold possessed by his writings, and by those of all belonging to the intellectual class of observers, to whom truth is as dear as it was to Aristotle, but to whom nevertheless the common sights of earth

"do sometimes seem

Apparell'd in celestial light,

The glory and the freshness of a dream."

The extension which we have given to the history of North American quadrupeds in the preceding chapter, and which we bestowed in consequence of the greater importance usually attached to the mammiferous class, renders necessary a more restricted selection in the other branches. We regret this the less in relation to the feathered tribes, as an admirable history of American birds has been lately brought within reach of every class of readers.* * We shall, however, endeavour to exhibit a view of some of the more remarkable features of that department.

Among birds of prey, the eagle tribe naturally claim our first attention; but as it seems to be the practice of naturalists to give the vultures the precedence, we shall adhere to the usual course.

* American Ornithology, or the Natural History of the Birds of the United States. By Alexander Wilson and Charles Lucian Bonaparte; edited by Robert Jameson, Esq., F.R.S.E. & L., &C., four volumes. Edinburgh, 1831. In this edition (which forms volumes 78-81 of Constable's Miscellany) the subjects are syste matically arranged for the first time, and many interesting additions have been inserted by the distinguished editor.

The Turkey vulture, or Turkey buzzard, as it is called in America (Cathartes aura), so common in the United States, occurs in the central districts of the fur-countries as far north as the fifty-fourth degree. It is partially migratory even in the middle states, and retires southwards on the approach of winter. During their summer migration, a certain number of individuals reach the banks of the Saskatchawan, where they usually make their appearance when the month of June is far advanced, and after all the other summer-birds have arrived and settled in their leafy arbours. Though gregarious in the more southern parts of North America, where they roost together, and also both fly and feed in flocks, seldom more than a pair are seen in company towards their northern limits. They feed on carrion, which they discover at a great distance by the sense of sight alone; for it appears by recent observation that their sense of smell is extremely defective. They usually breed on the stump of a decayed tree, and have been observed to return to the same spot for a series of successive years. They are not only foul feeders, but sometimes gorge themselves so immoderately as to be incapable for some time afterwards of taking wing. Mr Ord has recorded that a man of Delaware, observing a group of Turkey buzzards regaling themselves upon the putrid carcass of a horse, and having a mind to capture one of them, he cautiously approached the flock, and suddenly seized one of the fattest in his arms. The indignant vulture, however, immediately disgorged such a torrent of filth in his face, as to produce the effect of a powerful emetic, and cured him for ever after of all desire to catch any more Turkey buzzards.

The golden-eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), of which the ring-tail (F. fulvus) is regarded as the young, breeds among the sub-alpine recesses of the Rocky Mountains. The tail-feathers are highly valued by many tribes of American Indians for adorning their calumets or pipes of peace. The solitary habits of these birds, and the usually inaccessible nature of the vast precipices where they hang their "procreant cradles," prevent our acquiring much knowledge of the distinctive habits of the species, and hence our difficulty in discriminating between the American and European kinds. Wilson observed the ringtail sailing along the Alpine declivities of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and over the Highlands

of Hudson's River, and the adult bird, in the plumage of the golden-eagle, has also been observed in the United States. The vision of this bird is said to be so acute and long-sighted, that it can discover its prey from a height at which it is itself scarcely visible, notwithstanding the breadth of its wide-expanded wings. "A story is current," says Dr Richardson, "on the plains of the Saskatchawan, of a half-breed Indian who was vaunting his prowess before a band of his countrymen, and wishing to impress them with a belief of his supernatural powers. In the midst of his harangue an eagle was observed suspended, as it were, in the air directly over his head, upon which, pointing aloft with his dagger, which glistened brightly in the sun, he called upon the royal bird to come down. To his own amazement, no less than to the consternation of the surrounding Indians, the eagle seemed to obey the charm, for instantly shooting down with the velocity of an arrow, it impaled itself on the point of his weapon!"*

A large and powerful species, more generally known in America, though not peculiar to the New World, is the bald-eagle (Aquila leucocephala). It resides all the year in the United States, but is a bird of passage in those more northern countries which lie between Great Slave Lake and Lake Superior. Fish form the favourite food of the bald-eagle, and there seems something more tyrannical in his mode of obtaining it than altogether accords with the equality of republican legislation. "Elevated," says Wilson, on the high dead limb of some gigantic tree, that commands a wide view of the neighbouring shore and ocean, he seems calmly to contemplate the motions of the various feathered tribes that pursue their busy avocations below. The snow-white gulls, slowly winnowing the air; the busy tringa, coursing along the sands; trains of ducks, streaming over the surface; silent and watchful cranes,

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* Fauna Boreali-Americana, vol. ii., the Birds. By William Swainson, Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S., &c., and John Richardson, M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S., Surgeon and Naturalist to the Expeditions. London, 1831. This skilful and beautifully-illustrated work is one of the most valuable volumes which has recently appeared on the subject of ornithology, and, viewed in connexion with the preceding publications of Wilson, C. L. Bonaparte, and Audubon, it goes far to complete our knowledge of the feathered tribes of the northera regions of the New World.