MACGILLIVRAY'S HISTORY OF BRITISH BIRDS. MR. MACGILLIVRAY claims for himself
the merit of being a natural naturalist. He has not confined his labours to the study, the parlour, or the museum ; taking his account of the structure and habits of birds from books, of their plumage from dried skins, and of their form and appearance from stuffed specimens stuck on perches. On the contrary, be has followed them to their haunts in the field, the wood, the moor, the mountain, the muddy em- bouchure of rivers, or the tempest-beaten rocks of the Northern coast and islands. He has observed them at all seasons—spring, summer, autumn, winter; at all hours and in all weathers—be- fore daybreak, at noontide, and evening; in the summer's heat, the winter's snow, and the autumn's mature beauty or pouring rains. He has seen them as lovers, as parents, and as single or gregarious creatures ; feasting in crop-time, starving amid the snow, and recklessly braving fate and the fowler, after a partial thaw, in search of food. Ho has rifled birds' nests of their eggs; ho has " robbed the poor bird of its young ;" he has shot them ; he has measured, he has dissected, and anatomized them ; and now, after a pleasing though toilsome and protracted labour of twenty years, he has given part of the results to the world in a first vo- lume, which contains four genera,— l . The Scrapers, or gall inaceous birds ; 2. The Gemitores, that is, the cooers, or pigeons; 3. Coni- rostral, or stout-billed birds ; 4. Wanderers, meaning crows, and their allied genera, as rooks, ravens, daws, magpies, and jays. Into the strict scientific propriety of Mr. MACGILLIVRAY'S arrangement, we shall not enter, nor accompany him through his remarks on classification and nomenclature, and his description of the structure of birds. Nor would the reader who is no ornitholo- gist feel much pleasure in travelling with us through his minute but important descriptions of the form, measurement, plumage, and anatomy of the different genera or species treated of in his volume. Let it suffice to say, that besides an elaborate view of the genus, the names assigned to each species by various authors are first enumerated; a general description of the plumage is then given ; a minutely detailed description of the male and female fol- lows, with an account of the character of their young, and the variations that may be met with in the family. " Remarks," when called for, are added ; and the subject is completed with a popular view of the habits of the bird,—done with the freshness, distinct- ness, and force which characterize the original observer, who do- scribes what he himself has seen, instead of faintly repeating the pictures or it may be the plagiarisms of others. The only t eca- stans PR which Mr. MACGILLIVRAY has recourse to books or preserved specimens, are those when ho has not had the opportu- nity of seeing the originals in nature. Intermingled with the chapters on natural history, are several papers on what the author calls Lessons in Practical Ornithology. And so far as mere amusement goes, these are the interesting parts of the book ; their variety being greater, and their views larger; and as they are mostly thrown into the form• of' dialogue, they have a dramatic terseness and spirit about them,. with a simplicity in themselves and a personification of the objects, which somewhat remind us of Issic WALTON, though engaged on a loftier theme. This is an example of pleasant digression. ORNITHOLOGISTS.
There is a freshness of heart manifest in every real lover of nature,—a de- lightful feeling, gratifying not to one's self only, but to his companions. When it is gone, and the frost of worldly wisdom has changed the affections, the
naturalist becomes a pompous, pedantic, ttiff•necked, cold blooded thing. from which you shrink back unwittingly. 1 have the pleasure of being familiar with an ornithologist who has spent thirty years in study ; who has ransacked the steaming swamps of Louisiana, traversed the tangled and trackless woods of the Missouri. ascended the flowery height.; of the Allegbanies, and clambered among the desolate crags of cold and misty Labrador ; who has observed, and shot, and drawn, and described the birds of half a continent. Well, what then ? Ilas this man the grave and solemn croak of that carrion-crow, or the pertness and impudence of that pilfering jackdaw ? No; I have seen him chasi g tom- tits with all the glee of a schoolboy, and have heard him communicate his knowledge with the fervour and feeling of a warm .hearted soul, as he is. Why, the matt of all men for a naturalist, is he who watches larks in the fields, pur- sues dippers by the brooks, wades into bogs after snipes, climbs trees to get at crows' eggs, thinks nothing of fording the lisle in the midst of a snow.storm, cs of scouring Guillon Sands in the dog days. After all, temperament, educe- tion, and rank, must modify the vivacity of the individual. Wilson, the Scotch ornithologist of America, was grave and distant and discontented ; yet he was a true lover of nature: Buffos, vain and affable, and self satisfied; and he, too, was a distinguished naturalist: Linmeus, hasty, vindictive, and egregiously conceited ; and yet his merits were such that all the outcries of his numerous detractors will never drown the clear bold notes of praise that have been raised to him by those who could best estimate his faculties.
As regards strength and truth of painting, we know of no ornithologist, except Munie perhaps, who equals our author in distinctive and spirited description ; and even there only on very superficial matters, such as the flight of birds,—fur as regards thorough scientific knowledge, no comparison, we apprehend, can be drawn between them. There are passages, however, where he exhibits as much true perception as MUDIE, and perhaps greater case and vivacity ; as in this transcript of the
LOVES OF THE ROCK-DOVES.
A love-scene among the rocks is really an interesting sight. Conceited La a crevice or behind a projecting cliff, you see a pigeon alight beside you, and stand quietly for some time, when the whistling of piltions is heatd, and the male lard shoots past like an arrow, and is already beside his mate. Scarcely has he made a rapid survey of the place, when, dittoing his attention to the only beautiful object which he sees, ha approachea her, erecting his heal, swel- ling out his breast by ihflating his crop, and spreading his tail, at the same time uttering the well-known CUO•700 1",..0, the soft and somewhat mournful Tounda of which, echo among the cliffs. The female, shy and timorous, sits e:tise to the rock, shifting her position a little as the male advances, and sometimes stretch- ing out her neck as if to repel hint by blows. The male continues his strutting and cooing, until the fentee, inadvertently coming upon the edge of the shelf, flies off to the dank recesses of the neighbouring cave, where she has scarcely alighted when her lover is again by her side.
Now is the time for fine weather ornithologists to walk abroad, and study nature in the lanes, the fields, and the woods. The winter- birds have arrived or are arriving ; the summer ones, such is the fineness of the season, are not all departed ; the permanent resi- dents have got rid of their families and nursery-cares, and are at leisure to show themselves; there are no crops on the ground— both the fields and the sky are open. Behold what can be seen on a fine autumn day, by an eye that looks about.
Let us stroll abroad on this fine autumnal day, when the sun shines brightly on the yellow fields, and the thistledown floats along on the gentle breeze, gliding like snow-flakes over the river. There, on that old pasture, is the source of the plumy eruption, a forest of tall weeds, which the husbandman ought to have pulled up and burnt before they had time to perfect their seeds. See what tufts of down are scattered about by thaw little birds that seem bent on demolishing all the heads, anthodia, or capitols, as the botanists term them. How curiously they hang on the prickly stems and leaves, with what adroit- ness do they thrust their bills into the heart of the involucres, and how little do they regard us as they ply their pleasant pursuit, unconscious of danger, and piping their mellow call.nutes. Now, some of them have perceived 119 j they fly off; chuckling, to a distant clump of thistles; and, as we approach, others shift their stations; but as yet the main body has no thoughts of retreating. Let us stand still to observe them. They flutter over the plants, cling to the stalks, bend in various attitudes, disperse the down, already dry and easily separable, pick out the pericarps one by one, and swallow them. There corms a stray cow pursued by the herd boy. The birds suddenly intermit their labour., pause fur a moment, and fly off in succession. You observe how lightly and buoyantly they cleave the air, each bird fluttering its little wings, descending in a curved line, mounting again, and speeding along. They wheel atound the field ; now descending almost to the ground, now springing up again. Some of them suddenly alight; when, the example thus set, all betake themselves to the tiny thicket of dried and withered weeds, and in settling display to the de- lighted eye the beautiful tints of their plumage, as with fluttering wiugs and expanded tail they hover for a moment to select a latoling.placearnitt the prickly points that seem to stand forth as if to prevent aggression. The Goldfinch doubtless would smile at the threat of the " Nemo me impune lacesset," which every Scot calls to mind when he thinks of a thistle; for to it the spears of the Cnicus lanceolatus are not more formidable thau the bayonets of the Cnicus palustris, or the daggers of the Cnicus atvensis. From all these species, as well as others, it obtains a portion of its foal; and when thistles are not plenti- ful, it attacks the heads of the Knapweed, Centaurea nigra, and other plants of the Syngeneaian tribe.
We will close with a scene which is better perhaps in &scrip; tion than reality.
BIRDS ArreR A THAW.
But now the snow, which has covered the face of the country for several days, is beginning to diseolve under the influence of the sun and a change of temperature. The sportsmen are abroad ; you see them scattered along these meadows, on which are several pools of water, and many patches of green grata, where you observe large flocks of Thrushes, which, half-famished, axe almost heedless of the dangers that surround them. Several shots are fired, and they fly off in a Lose burly to settle in another place. But while they are on the way, they are assailed by a volley ; some of their number fall to the ground; and the rest, wheeling about, betake themselves to a clump of tall trees; where they have scarcely had time to perch, when a person running up disperses them by a distant and random shot. No rest can the persecuted birds find ; yet hunger prevents them from leaving the tempting spot in which alcne they can hope to obtain the means of satisfying their wants. Fieldfares, Redwings, and Thrushes intermingled, are dispersed in parties over the plain; while along the hedges, keenly searching for snails and worms, are here and there seen the Blackbirds, which do not mingle with their brethren, nor trust themselves to the open fields. Among those turnips you observe a large flock of Wood Pigeons, greedily filling their crops with the blades that project through the snow ; and on the tree-tops ate multitudes of Linnets, Finches, and Sparrows, which, having been scared from the corn-yard by some truant schoolboys, are waiting impatiently until they may return with safety. High over bead stretches a long array of Plovers, silently flying towards the shores, whither we el le fol- low them.
In this wood are many birds, which in the mean time it may be well to note, as we may leisurely do, for they take no notice of us, as, incessantly uttering their shrill and feeble cheeps, they flit from twig to twig, ever anxious to spy the minute objects on which they feed. The bright blue tints and lively appearance of that tiny thing show it to he the Blue Tit ; its relative is readily distinguished by the deep black of its head, broken by a white spot on the occiput ; while the dark stripe down the yellow breast of that larger species marks it as the Greater Tit. Now they have shifted from tree to tree, and in their rear follows a scattered flock of still smaller birds; which, although too distant to he ilk. Cecily seen, are known to be Gold-crests, from their peculiar cry, fluttering motion, and varied attitudes.
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