We shall conclude our account of the quadrupeds of North America with the description of the musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus of De Blainville). We stand indebted for our systematic knowledge of this curious animal to Pennant, who received a specimen of the skin from the traveller Hearne ;* but it had been previously mentioned, after a vague fashion, by several of the early English voyagers, and M. Jeremie had imported a portion of the wool to France, from which stockings more beautiful than those of silk were manufactured. When full grown, this animal is about the size of the small Highland cattle. The horns are remarkably broad at their bases, and cover the brow and crown of the head, touching each other for their entire breadth from before backwards. The nose is blunt, and the head large and broad. The general colour of the coat is brown, and on the back there is a saddle-like mark of a brownishwhite colour. The hair is very long. The horns of the cow are smaller than those of the male, and do not touch each other at their bases, and the hair on the throat and chest is shorter.

The flesh of the musk-ox, in good condition, is well flavoured. It resembles that of the rein-deer, but is coarser grained, and smells strongly of musk. The carcass 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 rein-deer, extend to Greenland and Spitzbergen.

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

* Arctic Zoology, vol. i. p. 11.

Voyage au Nord. Charlevoix, Histoire de la Nouvelle France.

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 this series. See No. XIV. of the Family 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-Owls-Butcherbirds King-bird-Northern Tyrant-American Water-ouzel-Redbreasted Thrush-Blue-bird-Arctic Blue-bird-Cedar-bird, or American Chatterer-Snow-bunting-Painted Bunting― Pine-grosbeakCuckoo-bunting Evening-grosbeak-Scarlet Tanager Crows Woodpeckers-Humming-birds- Swallows - Belted Kingfisher Grouse Passenger-pigeon-Grallatores - 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 further 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.

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

*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.SE & L., &c., four volumes. Edinburgh, 1831. In this edition (which forms volumes 78-81 of Constable's Miscellany) the subjects are systematically arranged for the first time, and many interesting additions have been inserted by the distinguished editor.

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 summerbirds 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 afterward 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.

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The golden-eagle (Aquila chrysalos), of which the ringtail (F. fulvus) is regarded as the young, breeds among the sub-alpine recesses of the Rocky Mountains. The tailfeathers 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 ring-tail 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 goldeneagle, 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 halfbreed 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! 199*

A large and powerful species, more generally known in America, though not peculiar to the New World, is the baldeagle (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, intent and wading; clamorous crows, and all the winged multitudes that subsist by the bounty of this vast liquid magazine of nature: high over all these hovers one whose action instantly arrests

* 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 northern regions of the New World. A a