A761.07    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 7: Aves (2).   Text

worms, naked caterpillars, ant's eggs, and those of other insects, which they distribute equally to the young. When the food is abundant near die nest, they content themselves with carrying it at the end of their beak, as they do when they bring up their young in aviaries. The little ones have the body covered with feathers in less than fifteen days, and quit the nest before they are able to fly. They then are observed to follow their parents, jumping from branch to branch. As soon as they can

A761.07    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 7: Aves (2).   Text

positions, and often have the feet upwards. The smallest insects constitute their ordinary nutriment; sometimes they take them on the wing, at others seek them in the clefts of the bark, or the heaps of dead leaves which remain at the end of the branches; they also eat larv and all kinds of small worms; it is said that they will eat the berries of evergreens; be that as it may, it is quite certain, that they are fonder of those trees than any others, probably because they find there a greater

A761.07    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 7: Aves (2).   Text

feed it, for three weeks or a month. This is a period in which they wage incessant war with the insect tribe, seizing and devouring them with the most extraordinary quickness, without appearing even to give themselves time to swallow them. They collect the little worms on the ground, gorge themselves with the eggs of ants, and often make turns in the air, to catch the flies and gnats. The wagtails are not distrustful, and are less fearful of man than of the birds of prey. They are not even much

A761.07    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 7: Aves (2).   Text

might be adduced to display the various means employed by Nature to attain one and the same end. How different, for instance, are the means by which the several classes of animals attain the common object of locomotion, and how various are the modifications of those means in the respective genera. The buntings, however, do not feed exclusively on vegetable matter; like most of their order, they subsist also partially on insects and worms. The Yellow Bunting (E. Citrinella). This common species

A761.07    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 7: Aves (2).   Text

males may be known, after eating of their own accord for about fifteen days, by their commencing to warble. It is pretended that by giving them a little bread, cheese, or milk, they may be made good singers: but the cheese must not be salted. Others give them meal-worms, and even locusts or grasshoppers. They may be fed also with different seeds; but hemp-seed, though they are very fond of it, is pernicious to them, as well as to many [page] 25

A761.07    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 7: Aves (2).   Text

had, moreover, many superstitious notions with regard to these birds; and even in the present day, and in very different parts, as in Siberia and the South Sea Islands, they are still looked upon with veneration and awe. It was till lately considered that fish was the general if not the sole food of all the birds of this genus, though at times they are obliged to satisfy themselves with worms and insects. This is certainly true as to such of the species as are inhabitants of the banks of rivers

A761.07    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 7: Aves (2).   Text

meat, which is not natural to them. They frequently refuse to eat it, but will greedily seize the caterpillars, or worms, which are offered to them. It is to be presumed that in a state of nature they make a more rapid progress in the use of their natural faculties, through necessity, from the enjoyment of liberty, and the choice and abundance of aliments. As soon as their wings are sufficiently strong, they employ them to follow their nurse over the neighbouring branches when she quits them

A761.08    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 8: Aves (3).   Text

without any effect. The pea-hen does not begin to lay until the third year. When the young are sick, they are cured as other poultry, especially by giving them insects, meal-worms, flies, the larv of ants, spiders, and grasshoppers, from which the feet must be removed. The peacock, properly speaking, has no crop; still the food receives its first maceration in the dilatation of the oesophagus. At a short distance from the stomach, a glandulous knot, or gangli, has been observed, filled with

A761.08    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 8: Aves (3).   Text

In the fields they eat grasshoppers, beetles, worms, and ants, and cut up and destroy the tender buds and flowers. They eat more than cocks and hens, probably in consequence of the less length of their intestines. Ten females may be given to a single male pintado. The female lays usually at the end of May, or in the early days of June, and the eggs are generally from sixteen to four-and-twenty in number. The shell is very hard, of a yellowish white, spotted with small brown points. The female

A761.08    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 8: Aves (3).   Text

places, where they find abundance of snails, of which they are very fond; the fruit of the wild mulberry is also a favourite food with them, and they eat it in great abundance. Their aliment consists besides, in all kinds of grain, small peas, lentils, juniper berries, elder berries, gooseberries, the seed of genista, medlars, beech-mast, pimpernel, worms, ants, and other insects. Pheasants usually perch for the purpose of passing the night, and when the young of the first year are pursued, they

A761.08    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 8: Aves (3).   Text

worms, which may serve as food for the young when they are excluded. This account of the exact division of the eggs, of one portion being used for immediate food, and the other left to rot, c., must of course be attributed to oriental prejudice, and ignorance of natural science. But the recital is sufficient to prove the knowledge of a fact since established, but which probably never takes place, except when a second set of eggs is laid. In further confirmation of this it may be noticed that the

A761.08    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 8: Aves (3).   Text

These plovers strike the earth with their feet to cause the worms, c., to issue from their retreat. In the morning, like the lapwings and the snipes, they visit the water side to wash their bills and feet. They are rarely seen longer than twenty-four hours in the same place, which doubtless proceeds from their numbers, which cause a rapid exhaustion of their means of subsistence in any given spot. They migrate from the districts which they inhabit when the snow falls and the frost begins to be

A761.08    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 8: Aves (3).   Text

display more grace and agility than this, in its various evolutions. The lapwings are called in some parts of England green plovers, and they remain here the whole year. In France, they arrive in large flocks, which settle in the meadows, at the commencement of March, or towards the end of February. Their aliment principally consists of terrestrial worms, c., which are plentiful at this season, and which they draw from the ground with great dexterity. When they have fed, they are observed to withdraw

A761.08    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 8: Aves (3).   Text

settlers in Senegal give them the name of criards. The Negroes call them net-net. The OYSTER CATCHERS frequent the sea-shore, rocks, naked strands, reefs, c. When the sea rises, they retire before the tide; when it ebbs, they follow the reflux, grope in the moist sand for marine-worms, oysters, and other shell animals, on which they feed. They also live on star-fish, crabs, and other crustacea. Their bill is sufficiently strong to break the fragments of calcareous stone, which the pholades

A761.08    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 8: Aves (3).   Text

tree. When the agamis are very young, they prefer small worms [page] 47

A761.08    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 8: Aves (3).   Text

thers capable of erection, and by the very thick down with which the back of the neck only is furnished. Fishes form the nutriment of this second division, more rarely than insects, worms, or spawn. The Common Heron (Ardea Major,) Linn, et Cinerea, Lath., has been often figured. The young, under the age of three years, has been taken for the female, and is either without a tuft, or has one with very short feathers. It has neither the black band upon the breast, nor the long narrow feathers of

A761.08    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 8: Aves (3).   Text

shores are their habitual sojourn, and fishes, reptiles, small mammifera, previously triturated and macerated, worms, and insects, constitute their ordinary food. Of all birds which frequent the sea-shore and the banks of rivers, the storks are the best known, and the White Stork (A. Ciconia) is more celebrated than any other, and merits this distinction by its moral qualities, and the services which it renders to mankind. Its manners and habits present a perfect contrast with those of the black

A761.08    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 8: Aves (3).   Text

will sufficiently appear by a reference to the characters given in the text. Australasia is the only part of the world in which the ibides are not found. These birds frequent the borders of rivers and lakes; they are not, as Herodotus and other ancient writers have asserted, the destroyers of serpents and venomous reptiles. Insects, worms, fluviatile, and univalve shell-mollusca, and sometimes small fish, constitute their only aliment. The majority of them nestle on large trees, and they rear

A761.08    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 8: Aves (3).   Text

, hedges, heaths, coppices, c. They prefer woods where there is a thick mould and fallen leaves, under which they seek for worms during the day-time. On the approach of night they sally forth to drink, and wash their bills in ponds and fountains. As soon as day begins to appear, they re-enter the woods. The woodcock walks badly enough, as do all birds with [page] 52

A761.08    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 8: Aves (3).   Text

without swimming, live on the sea-shore, on the banks of lakes and ponds, and in low and humid meadows, where they subsist on small worms, and, in default of them, on terrestrial insects, flies, c.; but rarely on the spawn of fish. They construct their nest on the ground, in the grass, c., and the young ones soon quit it. During the season of reproduction, they are found in pairs; but most generally form, in Autumn, small flocks, which migrate, and do not separate until Spring. Though subject to a

A761.09    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 9: Reptilia.   Text

the roots of plants, on fruits, on insects, and on worms. It breaks the shells of snails with facility, and swallows the animal. It does not touch fish, as it never goes into the water. Its character and habits are gentle, and it is easily domesticated. In gardens it is very useful, as it destroys a considerable quantity of insects and mollusca, which are pernicious, and never does any harm. If it experience hunger for many days, it may be given bran moistened with a little milk. There is no

A761.09    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 9: Reptilia.   Text

this saurian is to be found. According to Ray and Linn us, it also inhabits very northern countries, such as Sweden and Kamschatka. In the latter country it inspires terror, and is considered as an envoy of the infernal powers; a fact which Captain Cook ascertained during his residence in that remote and barbarous region. We are assured that this reptile feeds not only on insects, but that it also swallows frogs, mice, shrews, and other small vertebrated animals. It seeks out worms, will

A761.10    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 10: Pisces.   Text

genera, the rays, and sharks, among others, are considerably above common fish, by the complicated nature of their organs of sense, and of the organs of generation; which are more developed in some parts than those even of birds; yet other genera which are approximated by evident transitions, such as lampreys and ammocoetes, become so simplified, that they have been regarded as forming a passage to articulated worms; for the ammocoetes certainly possess not any skeleton, and their muscular apparatus

A761.10    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 10: Pisces.   Text

about a pound; and Rousseau the elder found only 69,216 in another of nearly the like weight. The perch is eminently predatory, devouring with avidity the young and the weak of most animals of its class, as well as water-lizards, frogs, small snakes, aquatic insects, worms, naked mollusca, c. They may be seen in summer springing from the surface of the water, in pursuit of gnats and flies; indeed, so voracious are they at times, that they will precipitate themselves on animals, whose means of

A761.10    Beagle Library:     Cuvier, Georges. 1827-35. The animal kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization. With additional descriptions of all the species hitherto named, and of many not before noticed, by Edward Griffith and others. 16 vols. London: Geo. B. Whittaker. vol. 10: Pisces.   Text

M. Rafinesque thinks that the silvery powder which covers this fish might be employed to colour false pearls, and tells us that he himself made from it an ink of the colour of silver. This lepidopus is tormented by many species of intestinal worms. Montagu found under the skin, along the dorsal region, some echinorhinchi, and on the rest of the body abundance of ascarides, rolled into a spiral form. M. Holten has represented a tetrarhyncus, which was also found in great quantities by M. Cuvier