FABA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order Leguminosa. It has a tubular 5-cleft or 5-toothed calyx, with the two superior teeth shortest. The style is villous at the apex. The legume is large and coriaceous, lined with short hairs, and containing several large flat seeds. The leaves are almost without tendrils, and the stem is erect. The flowers are white or red. F. vulgaris, the Common Bean, has thick leaves with 2-5 broad oval mucronate leaflets. It has semi-sagittate oval stipules, and the teeth of the calyx are almost linear. This plant is much cultivated, and subject to considerable variety. Its seeds differ, being sometimes round and comparatively small, at other times large and flat. The flowers are mostly white, with a blackish-blue silky spot in the middle of the two lateral petals called wings. The Common Bean is said to be found wild in Persia, not far from the Caspian Sea, but it is one of those plants, which, having from time immemorial been cultivated by man, may have anywhere been introduced by his agency. It does not occur wild in the countries of Europe, where it grows most luxuriously under the care of man. For an account of the culture and properties of this plant and its uses, see BEANS, in ARTS AND SC. Div. FABACEE, Leguminous Plants, a name proposed by Lindley in Lis 'Vegetable Kingdom' for the natural order Leguminosa. [LEGU MINOSE. FABOI'DEA, Mr. Bowerbank's generic title for Seed-Vessels found in the London Clay of Sheppey. (Fossil Fruits of the London Clay.') FECULA. [STARCH.] F The turners on account of their hardness. At the Great Exhibition of 1851 a chair was exhibited composed entirely of these knobs. leaves are shining and thin, changing to a brown or russet colour in the autumn, and often remaining on the tree throughout the winter. Its branches are numerous, and its foliage so dense that other plants do not thrive under it; so that there is seldom any vegetation seen on the ground in a beech forest. The Monotropa Hypopithys, Bird'sNest Orchis as it is called, is often found parasitical upon its roots. The fruits contain a nut or seed, which when ripe frequently drops out, leaving the husk upon the tree. The seeds are not disagreeable to the taste. Squirrels are fond of them, and are often found seeking them on these trees. The beech-trees in the forests of Germany generally attain the age of about 200 years. There is one in Windsor Forest which is supposed to have been in existence before the Norman Conquest. The wood of the Beech-Tree when green is harder than that of any of our forest-trees. It is very generally used in the arts for all purposes where strength is required, and where the action of water is to be resisted. On the Continent, and especially in France, one of the most important uses of this wood is for making wooden shoes called sabots. They have the property of not absorbing water, and surpass the sabots of all other wood, except those made of walnut, which are much dearer. As fuel the wood of the Beech is superior to that of most other trees. It is consumed for this purpose to a great extent in France and Germany. It burns rather rapidly, but throws out a great deal of heat, and makes a clear bright flame. FAGOPYRUM, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order Polygonacea. It has a 5-parted perianth, 8 stamens, 3 styles, a 1-seeded trigonous nut, a central embryo, and large foliaceous contorto-plicate cotyledons. There is but one British species of this plant, the F. esculentum. This is the Polygonum Fagopyrum of Smith, and known as the common Buck-Wheat. It has an erect stem without prickles, the flowers in cymose panicles, 8 stamens, leaves cordate, sagittate, acute, a triquetrous acute nut, with entire angles. This is a valuable plant, as it grows on the worst and poorest soils, and is often sown as food for game. Though now admitted into the British Flora, there can be no doubt that it was originally a native of Persia and other Asiatic countries. It was introduced into Europe by the Crusaders; and hence in many parts of France, where it is commonly grown, is called Saracen Corn; and so much is it esteemed in Belgium, that M. Bory St.-Vincent says he was shown the tomb of the person who is reported to have first brought it into that country. [BUCK-are-Geoglossum viride, Helvella esculenta, and Morchella esculenta, the WHEAT, in ARTS AND SC. Div.] (Babington, Manual of British Botany; Burnett, Outlines of Botany.) FAGUS (from payw, to eat), a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order Corylacea. This order is characterised by its male flowers being arranged in catkins, and the female flowers being solitary or on spikes, and the fruit surrounded by a coriaceous involucre. The genus Fagus has its stamens in a globose catkin; the perianth 5-6-fid; the stamens 8 to 15 in number; the pistilliferous flowers are 2 together, and contained within a 4-leaved prickly involucre; the stigmas 3; the ovaries 3-cornered and 3-celled; the fruit is a nut, which by the suppression of the ovules and cells is only 1- or 2-seeded. The species are large handsome deciduous trees, natives of Europe, North and South America, and Australia. The best known species is the Common Beech, which is a native of Great Britain. F. sylvatica, the Wood-Beech or Common Beech. It has ovate glabrous obsoletely-dentate leaves, ciliated on their margins. It is a tree varying from 60 to 100 feet in height. It is a native of various parts of Europe besides Great Britain, and a variety is found in North America. Loudon, in his 'Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum,' gives the following varieties : F. 8. purpurea, the Purple-Beech, which has the buds and young shoots of a rose-colour. F. 8. cuprea, the Copper-Coloured Beech, in which the young shoots and leaves are of a paler colour than in the last. F. s. foliis variegatis, the Variegated Beech, in which the leaves are white and red, interspersed with streaks of red and purple. F. s. heterophylla, the Cut-Leaved Beech, in which the leaves are separated in various ways. F. s. cristata, the Curled-Leaved Beech. The leaves are curled up in this variety. F. 8. pendula, the Weeping Beech, in which the branches are pendulous. F. 8. Americana, the White Beech. This is the American form of the Common Beech. The Beech is remarkable for its smooth thin bark, which becomes white when fully exposed to the air. In the midst of it those knobs called embryo-buds, or abortive branches, are more often found than in any other tree. They are sometimes used by cabinet-makers and NAT. HIST. DIV. VOL. II. The fruit, the nut of which is called Beech-Mast in England, and la Faine in France, has a taste somewhat approaching to that of the hazel-nut. It forms an excellent food for swine, but the flesh of those which are fattened upon it does not keep so well as that of those fed on acorns. Beech-mast is sought after by wild animals, such as badgers, dormice, &c. Beech-oil, expressed from the nuts, is used in cooking, also for burning in lamps. For useful plantations the Beech is not highly prized; it is chiefly valuable as an ornamental tree for the park and the lawn. It is subject to the attacks of comparatively few insects; those which do infest it belong chiefly to the Lepidoptera, and are in the caterpillar state. The fungi which grow on the Beech in Great Britain are rather numerous various species of Agaricus, Boletus, Polyporus, Peziza, Stromatosphæria, and Stilbum are mentioned. The most remarkable fungi growing beneath the Beech-Tree common Morel. The last two species are celebrated luxuries for the table. Morchella esculenta grows in great abundance in the woods of Germany and France, particularly after any of the trees have been burned down. This having been observed, led in Germany to the practice of burning the trees in order to produce Morels, and conse quently great numbers of them were destroyed till it was forbidden by law. F. ferruginea, the American Ferruginous-Wooded Beech, is a North American timber-tree, so much resembling the common European Beech as to be considered by some to be only a variety of it. It has ovate acuminate thickly-toothed leaves, downy beneath, ciliate on the margin. The American Beech is easily known from the European one by its much shorter obtusely-pointed buds, with short roundish convex scales, which terminate almost abruptly, and are inclosed in numerous short loose scales. There are two varieties of this species-F. Caroliniana and F. latifolia. F. obliqua, the Oblique-Leaved Beech, is a native of Chili. It has ovate-oblong oblique leaves, somewhat rhomboid, blunt, doubly ser rated, entire at the base, attenuated into the petiole, somewhat downy. F. betuloides, the Birchlike or Evergreen Beech, grows at Port Famine, Straits of Magalhaens, in the greatest abundance. It attains a very large size, trees of three feet in diameter being common, and there being many with trunks four feet in diameter. This Beech is also a native of Van Diemen's Land, where it is called the Myrtle Tree by the colonists. It has ovate-elliptic leaves, obtuse, crenulate, leathery, shining, glabrous, round at the base, on short footstalks. The branches are divaricate, tortuous, brownish, the young ones pubescent, the leaves ciliate, alternate, from 4 to 10 lines long, and from 3 to 8 lines broad. The flowers are axillary. It is an evergreen tree, and forms vast forests in Tierra del Fuego, where it is a native. F. antarctica, the Antarctic Beech, is a native of Tierra del Fuego. F. Dombeyii, Dombey's or the Myrtle-Leaved Beech, is a tall tree, a native of Chili, where it is known by the name of Coigué, and furnishes excellent wood for the purposes of construction. F. dubia, the Dubious Beech, is thought only to be a variety of F. betuloides. By some botanists, however, it is considered a distinct species, and is described as such. FAHLORE, Fahlerz, Gray Copper Ore. Of this there are two varie ties, the arsenical and the antimonial: the former occurs crystallised 2 Y Silver, and a trace of Manganese. Zinc Loss 22.00 37.75 3.25 28.00 .25 5:00 3.75 -100 FAHLUNITE, Tricklasite, a Mineral consisting of silicate of alumina and other substances. It occurs crystallised and massive. The primary form of the crystal is a right rhomboid prism, but it usually occurs in imbedded, regular, hexagonal prisms. Colour yellowish, greenish, and blackish-brown. Nearly or quite opaque. Lustre resinous. Specific gravity 2.66. Hardness 50 to 55. Streak grayish-white. Cleavage perpendicular to the axis of the prism. It is found at Fahlun in Sweden. Before the blow-pipe alone it becomes gray, aud fuses on its thinnest edges; with borax it melts slowly into a coloured glass. According to Hisinger it consists of Silica. Foot of the Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus). The power of flight, as Mr. Yarrell observes in his memoir 'On the Anatomy of Birds of Prey' ('Zool. Journ.,' vol. iii.), is one of the decided marks of the distinct organisation of birds; and, as one division of the first genus, Falco, appears to possess this power in the highest degree of perfection, he proceeds to consider the conditions necessary to produce such a degree. These, he observes, are large and powerful pectoral muscles; great extent of surface, as well as peculiarity of form in the wing; and feathers of firm texture, strong in the shaft, with the filaments of the plume arranged and connected to resist pressure from below. "A certain degree of specific gravity," continues Mr. Yarrell, "is necessarily imparted by large pectoral muscles, and the power of these muscles may be estimated by the breadth of the sternum and the depth of its keel, as affording extent of surface for the attachment of the large muscle by which the wing is depressed. As an illustration of this form the breast-bone of the Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) is represented, which exhibits the 46.74 26.73 2.97 5.11 0.43 13.50 -95.48 FALCIFERI. [AMMONITES.] FALCO. [FALCONIDE.] FALCON. [FALCONIDE.] FALCONIDE, Leach's name for a family of Raptorial Birds, or birds of prey (Raptores of Illiger). In this family the destructive power is considered by all zoologists to be most perfectly developed; and we find in the birds composing it natural instruments for striking, trussing, and dissecting their prey, combined with a power of flight and strength of limbs equivalent to the necessities of the case, whether the prey be aerial, that is, whether it be the habit of the raptorial bird in question to strike down its quarry while the latter is in the act of flight, or whether the prey be terrestrial, or, in other words, captured on the ground. Of these natural weapons some idea may be formed from the cuts here given; and they are rendered still more Bill of the Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus). formidable by the organisation of the whole animal, which is calculated to give them the greatest possible effect. The nails or claws, to be available, must be sharp; and in order that they may be kept in this state and fit for duty, there is a provision to enable the bird to prevent them from coming in contact with the ground or other foreign hard bodies; for the claws are retractile, not indeed in the same Breast-bone of the Peregrine Falcon reduced. a, the sternum; b, the keel; c, the furcula, or os furcatorius; dd, the clavicles; e, the scapula broken off. breadth of the sternum, the depth of the keel, as well as the strength of the clavicles; and the power of flight peculiar to all the species of true falcons is still further illustrated by the form and substance of the os furcatorius, which is circular, broad, and strong, affording a permanent support to the shoulders. That the long and acuminated form of the wing in the true falcons, with each feather narrow, firm in consistence, the second the longest, and all gradually tapering to a point, is also best adapted for rapidity of motion, may be inferred from the example in the various species of the genera Hirundo, Scolopax, Tringa, Charadrius, Procellaria, Sterna, &c.; but that extent of surface and this peculiarity of form in the wing are not in themselves sufficient alone to afford rapid flight, is proved in the genus Larus, the species of which, though capable of exercising their immense pinions with graceful ease for hours in succession, without any apparent lassitude, are still incapable of rapid flight, for want of strong pectoral muscles. The numerous examples also furnished by the Gallinaceous tribe sufficiently evince that immense pectoral muscles are insufficient when coupled with a small round wing, and afford but a short flight, sustained with great labour, rapid in a small proportion only to the strength and repetition of the impulse, and accompanied by a vibration too well known to need further remark. So material also is the perfection of the feather in the genus Falco, that when any of those of the wing or tail are broken, the flight of the bird is so injured that falconers find it necessary to repair them. For this purpose they are always provided with pinion and tail feathers accurately numbered, and the mode of uniting the more perfect feather to the injured stump is described in Sir John Sebright's excellent observations on hawking. The reader who is disposed to go farther back, will find in the 'Booke of Falconrie or Hawking,' &c. heretofore published by George Turbervile, Gentleman,' (London, small 4to, 1611), the following chapters:-" Of Accidents that happen and light uppon a hawkes feathers, and first how to use the matter when a feather cannot be ymped." "The way and manner how to ympe a hawks feather, howsoever it be broken or bruised;" and four methods of operating, according to the circumstances, are detailed. "How to ympe the traine of a hawke beeing all broken, and never a feather whole or sound." Mr. Yarrell proceeds to observe that it is difficult to estimate the comparative rapidity of flight in different birds, and that our pigeons may appear to possess this advantage in a degree little inferior to the true falcons; but, he adds, the fact is that these birds are deficient in natural courage, and are unable, under circumstances, to avail themselves of those powers with which they are gifted. "The bodies of all the species of true falcons when denuded of their feathers are triangular in form, broad at the shoulders and tapering gradually to the tail, the muscles of the thighs and legs of great size; but these characters are less prominent in the hawks, the bodies of which are more lengthened, the legs long and slender, the pectoral muscles smaller, the wing rounded in form, the fourth feather the longest, the wing primaries broad in the middle, the inner webs overlapping the feather next in succession, and emarginated towards the end. These two divisions of the genus Falco, although the latter are unequal to the former in powers, are remarkable for their bold character and rapid flight, their invariable mode of striking their prey on the wing, as well as the instinctive knowledge by which they are directed to destroy life, attacking the most vital part, and penetrating the brain with their sharp hooked beak either by one of the orbits where the bone is very thin or at the junction of the cervical vertebræ with the occiput. "On comparing the bones of our two British eagles, the greater power of flight appears to belong to the Albicilla, that of prehension to the golden eagle, but both exhibit various indications of great strength. "By an extended examination of the different species of buzzards and harriers it will be found that the characters described as necessary to produce rapid motion decline gradually. The sternum decreases in size, the keel loses part of its depth, the clavicles and furcula become more slight, while the form of the cranium, the loose ruffled feathers of the neck, as well as the general downy texture of the plumage, indicate the approach to the genus next in succession. Of the bones of the different species of the genus Falco generally it may be added that they are remarkable for their strength, such as are cylindrical being furnished with numerous transverse bony processes within the tubes, and the distribution of air throughout their internal cavities. The humerus is supplied with air through several orifices upon its inner and upper surface, and some difference will be found in the angle at which this bone is articulated with the clavicle to accomplish the ascending flight of the sky-lark, in contradistinction to the precipitous horizontal direction of the falcons. The thigh bone is also supplied with air by an orifice at the situation which answers to the front of the great trochanter; the large bones forming the pelvis, the vertebræ, sternum, furcula, clavicles, scapula, and even the ribs, are all furnished with apertures for the admission of air supplied from the various cells of the abdomen, sides, and thorax. This distribution of air to the bones does not seem however to be absolutely necessary for flight, since the young birds of our summer visiters appear to perform their first autumnal migration with perfect ease and celerity, at an age when the cavities of their bones are filled with marrow. "The various characters of the feet are too obvious to require particular notice." (Yarrell.) In the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London the reader will find a preparation (Gallery, 522 A) of the stomach of the Golden Eagle. It is laid open so as to show the orifices of the numerous gastric glands of the proventriculus, the smooth lining membrane of the gizzard, and the valvular structure of the pylorus. The œsophagus is very wide, so that externally it appears to form one continued cavity with the proventriculus and stomach. John Hunter, in his 'Observations on Digestion' ('Animal Economy'), says, "There are few animals that do not eat flesh in some form or other, while there are many who do not eat vegetables at all; and therefore the difficulty to make the herbivorous eat meat is not so great as to make the carnivorous eat vegetables. Where there is an instinctive principle in an animal, directing it either to the one species of food or the other, the animal will certainly die rather than break through of its own accord that natural law; but it may be made to violate every natural principle by artificial means. That the hawk tribe can be made to feed upon bread I have known these thirty years; for to a tame kite I first gave fat, which it ate very readily, then tallow and butter, and afterwards small balls of bread rolled in fat or butter, and by decreasing the fat gradually it at last ate bread alone, and seemed to thrive as well as when fed with meat. This however produced a difference in the consistence of the excrements; for when it ate meat they were thin, and it had the power of throwing them to some distance; but when it ate bread they became firmer in texture, and dropped like the excrement of a common fowl. Spallanzani attempted in vain to make an eagle eat bread by itself; but by inclosing the bread in meat, so as to deceive the eagle, the bread was swallowed and digested in the stomach." Mr. Yarrell observes that the oesophagus offers nothing peculiar beyond that of other birds not possessing the power of minutely dividing their food. It is plicated lengthways, allowing great extension, and its separation from the stomach is marked by a zone of gastric rings. The same author notices an opportunity which occurred to him of observing the castings or pellets of some eagles, which had been occasionally fed with dead pigeons. These castings showed that the vegetable food, such as peas, wheat, and barley, which had been swallowed by the eagles in the crops of the pigeons, remained entire, but somewhat enlarged and softened by heat and moisture. In these cases no part of the bones remained. The intestines of the Falconida are in general short and large, but Mr. Yarrell remarks that the Osprey is an exception to this rule, and that to the thin membranous stomach of this bird there is attached an intestinal canal measuring 10 feet 8 inches in length, and in some parts scarcely exceeding a crow-quill in size. The canal in most of the species he adds, is in length, compared with that of the bird itself, as three to one; but in the Osprey it is as eight to one; and he observes that in the otter the intestinal canal is very long, equal in size, and without cæcal appendage; the seal too has long intestines with a small cæcum. Mr. Yarrell inquires therefore if it may not be concluded that the small quantity of nutriment which fish, as an article of food, is known to afford renders this e tent of canal necessary in order that every portion may be extracted. The cæca of the Falconidae amount to no more than minute rudiments. In the organs of respiration there is nothing very remarkable among the Falconida. The trachea is composed of two membranes inclosing between them numerous bony rings, forming a more or less perfect tube. The rings are strong and compressed. The point of divarication, the cross-bone, and bronchiæ constituting together the inferior larynx, are of the most common form, having but one pair of muscles attached; and the voice though powerful possesses, as might be expected, but little variation. (Yarrell.) Falco musicus seems however to be an exception, and it would be desirable to examine its trachea for the purpose of ascertaining whether it is not organised more after the fashion of that of the singing birds. It might be expected that in the Falconidae the soles of the feet and lower surfaces of the toes which come so closely into contact with the living prey would be endowed somewhat more largely with the sense of touch than those of birds which have no such habits; accordingly we find in the Museum of the College of Surgeons (Physiological Series) a preparation (No. 1400) of one of the feet of an eagle, with the cuticle removed, showing the papillæ and cushions of the cutis on the under surface of the foot. In the same museum (No. 1482) will be found the tongue, larynx, and lower jaw of the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). The tongue is fleshy and large, divided into two lateral portions by a deep longitudinal furrow; at its base is a series of small retroverted spines arranged in the form of a chevron, between which and the larynx the surface is studded with the orifices of numerous glandular follicles: two rows of retroverted spines again occur behind the larynx. There is a row of glandular follicles on either side of the frænum linguæ, and a large cluster of similar orifices immediately anterior to it. The preparations Nos. 1483 and 1484 exhibit respectively the tongue and fauces of an Erne (Haliaeetus albicilla) and the tongue and larynx of an Osprey (Pandion haliaetus). A longitudinal section of the anterior part of the head of the Golden Eagle will be found in the same museum and series (No. 1538). The preparation shows the turbinated cartilages and cavity of the nose, together with part of the orbit and the air-cell continued from it anteriorly and situated below the nose. The parts are minutely injected, and the vascularity of the pituitary membrane covering the middle turbinated cartilage is well displayed. No. 1539 is a transverse section of the head of an Erne (Halicetus albicilla), showing the convolutions of the middle turbinated cartilages, and the disposition of the pituitary membrane, which is thickest on the convex or mesial side of the convolutions. The air-cells in the superior maxillary bones, and their communications with those which are situated in front of the eyeball, are well seen in this preparation. Bristles have been inserted into the lachrymal ducts, and into the common termination of the Eustachian tubes, the respective conduits of the eye and ear for conducting their superfluous moisture to the nasal passages. An anterior transverse section of the head of the same eagle is shown in No. 1540, which exhibits the external nostrils, the anterior terminations of the middle turbinated cartilages, and of the lachrymal ducts, in which bristles are placed; together with the communications of the maxillary air-cells with the cancellous structure of the upper mandible. (Cat. Gallery,' vol. iii.) "The extraordinary powers of vision," says Mr. Yarrell, "which birds are known to exercise beyond any other class of animals are in no genus more conspicuous that in that of Falco. Their destination, elevating themselves as they occasionally do into the highest regions. and the power required of perceiving objects at very different distances and in various directions, as well as the rapidity of their flight, seem to render such a provision necessary. The eyes of birds are much larger in proportion than those of quadrupeds, and exhibit also two other peculiarities. The one is the marsupium, a delicate membrane arising at the bottom of the eye, and terminating at or near the edge of the crystalline lens: the other is a ring of thin bony plates enveloped by the sclerotic coat. Comparative anatomists do not seem to be agreed as to the means by which birds obtain their power of vision, whether by an alteration in the form or situation of the crystalline lens, or by both, either or both of which, the greater quantity of aqueous humour which birds are known to possess would seem to facilitate. The existence of muscle attached to the inner surface of the bony hoop of the sclerotica, and inserted by a tendinous ring into the internal surface of the cornea, as shown by Mr. Crampton (Annals of Philosophy,' 1813), by which the convexity of the cornea may be altered, gives a still greater scope of action, since with two, or at the utmost three, varieties of powers the sphere of distinct vision may be indefinitely extended. Whether the five species called the True Falcons possess, with their exclusive rapidity of flight, any power of vision beyond their generic companions would be difficult to ascertain; but it may, while on this subject, be worthy of remark that the irides of the gyrfalcon, peregrine, hobby, merlin, and kestrel are hazel-brown, or still darker, while those of all the hawks, buzzards, harriers, and kites are of various shades of yellow. I refer only to adult birds, and do not remember a single exception." a 2 1, bony ring of a Golden Eagle; 2, crystalline lens of the same bird; a, the anterior surface, somewhat less convex than the posterior one. (Yarrell.) Mr. Yarrell observes, that the number of bony plates forming this circle in the Golden Eagle is fifteen; in the White-Tailed Eagle there are but fourteen: and he adds, that the external convex form of the bony ring in the Golden Eagle will be found to extend through all the species of every genus of British birds, except the owls, in all of which it is concave. : In the Museum of the College of Surgeons are the following preparations illustrative of this part of the subject. No. 1741. The head of an eagle, with the eyes in situ. In the left eye the anterior part of the tunics and the humours have been removed to show the retina expanding from the oblique line by which the optic nerve terminates, and the vascular processes of the marsupium extending forwards from the centre of the optic fissure. In the right eye a lateral section of the coats has been removed, together with the humours and a great part of the retina, showing the uniformly darkcoloured choroid, the thin but dense texture of the sclerotica, and the zone of osseous plates which supports the projecting cornea. The marsupium is preserved in situ. It is of an unequal quadrilateral figure, broadest below, and extending upwards and inclined a little backwards, with a slight convexity towards the nasal side of the eyeball. The large size of the eyes is worthy of notice. No. 1742 exhibits a longitudinal section of the eye of an eagle, showing the oblique manner in which the optic nerve perforates the sclerotica and its extended termination, from which the retina expands in a plicated manner: only the folds at its origin are here preserved. The parts being minutely injected, the vascularity of the choroid is shown also the breadth of the ciliary zone, the breadth and thickness of the bony imbricated hoop surrounding the base of the cornea, the thickness of the cornea itself, and the large size of the anterior chamber of the eye. No. 1743 is the eye of an eagle, with a portion of the coats removed from one side, showing the folds of the marsupial membrane, from which the colouring matter has been removed. In No. 1538, above alluded to, portions of the eye and eyelids with the nictitating membrane are preserved, showing the situation of the two puncta lachrymalia, through which bristles are passed along the ducts to the nose; and in No. 1539, at the back part of the preparation, the left eyeball is laid open, showing the marsupial membrane. The right eyeball is entire, and the abductor, attollens and deprimens oculi, together with the quadratus and pyramidalis muscles of the membrana nictitans, are well displayed. See also No. 1540, as referrible to the organs of vision. No. 1796 exhibits the eyeball, with portions of the horizontal eyelids, the vertical eyelid, or membrana nictitans, of an eagle. The quadratus nictitantis may be observed to have a more extensive origin than in the ostrich, and both muscles of the third eyelid are relatively larger. The cornea is cut away, and the nictitating membrane raised, to show the termination of the duct of the Harderian gland, in which a bristle is placed. Bristles are also placed through the two puncta lachrymalia. The round and slightly concave tarsal cartilage of the lower eyelid may be observed, the upper lid has no tarsal cartilage. In No. 1797 the three eyelids of an eagle are exhibited, and the tarsal cartilage, which is raised as in the act of closing the eyes, is shown. Aristotle divided the Falconidae into 'Aeroí, or Aleroi (Eagles), Ipakes (Hawks), and 'IKTIVOL (Kites), with many subdivisions. Mr. Vigors is of opinion that the division 'Iépa (Hierax) of Aristotle comprises all the Falconida of Vigors which belong to the stirpes or sub-families of Hawks, Falcons, and Buzzards. Pliny separates the group into Aquila (Eagles) and Accipitres, a general term comprising, as used by him, the rest of the Falconida. The subdivisions of both Aristotle and Pliny do not differ much from the subdivisions of some of the modern zoologists. Belon, beginning with the Vultures, proceeds from them to the Eagles; thence to the Gerfault, which he gives as the Morphnos, Morphna, Nittophonos, Plangos, Plancus, Plangus, and Clangus, of the Greeks, and Anataria of the Latins; next he places the Orfraye, which he makes the Haliæetus of the Greeks, the Aguista Piombina of the modern Italians, and gives Aquila marina as the Latin name. He then treats of the Ossifragus as the Phinis of the Greeks, Aquila barbata in Latin, recording it provisionally as a species of Vulture (Petit Vautour) and next describes the Buzzard (Buse ou Busard) as a kind of Bastard Eagle, and as the Gypaëtos, Percnopterus, or Oripelargus, of the Greeks. Then comes the Goiran, or Boudree, which he describes as living upon rats, mice, frogs, lizzards, &c., caterpillars, and sometimes slugs and serpents, asserting that it becomes very fat, and that it is taken frequently in winter for the sake of its flesh, which is good for food. This he supposes to be the Hierax, called Phrynolochos by the Greeks, and gives Rubetarius Accipiter as the Latin name. Jean le Blanc, or Oyseau Saint Martin, which he considers to be the Pygargus of the Greeks, follows, and is succeeded by another Oyseau Saint Martin, or Blanche-Queue. Belon then gives an account of the Birds of Prey employed in falconry. The Sacre and her Sacret, the Autour and her Tiercelet, the Fau-Perdrieux (Circus ?), and the Falcons generally, with their Tiercelets. He then describes the Hobreau (Hobby?), the Esmerillon (Merlin ?), the Espervier (Sparrowhawk?), the Lanier and Laneret, and the Cresserelle (Kestrel ?). Next follow the Butcher-Birds, then come the Kites (Milan Royal, Milan Noir-Milvus), and (the Cuckoo intervening from a supposed similitude to the Birds of Prey) the Owls. Passing by Gesner, Aldrovandus, and Jonston, we pause to notice Willughby's arrangement. He separates the carnivorous and rapacious birds, called Birds of Prey, into the Diurnal (those that prey in the day-time) and the Nocturnal (those that fly and prey by night). The following is his table of the Diurnal section : Ray, in his 'Synopsis,' follows Willughby, and both Ray and Willughby place the Cuckoo after their Diurnal Birds of Prey and immediately before the Nocturnal. Brisson's third order consists of birds with a short and crooked beak, and the first section contains the genera Epervier (Hawk), Aigle (Eagle), and Vautour (Vulture). Linnæus makes his first order, Accipitres, consist of the genera Vultur, Falco, Strix, and Lanius. The genus Falco contains the elements of the different branches of the family of Falconida. Without entering into the methods of Buffon, Schoeffer, and Scopoli, we proceed to that of Latham, who made the Accipitres his first order of Terrestrial Birds, containing the genera Vulture, Falcon, and Owl. Pennant makes the Rapacious Birds (his first section) consist of two genera only, namely, Falcon and Owl. M. de Lacépède placed the Birds of Prey (his seventh order) at the head of his second division of birds. His genera are Vultur, Gypactos (Griffon), Aquila, Astur, Nisus, Buteo, Circus, Milvus, Falco, and Strix (Ow!). M. Duméril divided his first order, Rapaces, into three families: the first Nudicolles, or Ptilodères, consisting of the genera Sarcoramphus and Vultur; the second Plumicolles, or Cruphodères, containing the genera Griffon, Messager, Aigle, Buse, Autour, and Faucon; and the third the Nocturnes or Nycterins (Owls). Blumenbach's first order, Accipitres (Birds of Prey, with strong hooked bills and large curved talons, a membranous stomach, and short cæca) consists of the genera Vultur, Falco, Strix, and Lanius. Meyer's first order, Rapaces, is divided into two sub-orders: first, the Scleroptera, or Diurnal Birds of Prey; second, the Malacopteræ, or Nocturnal Birds of Prey. The third order of Illiger, Raptatores, is composed of the Nocturni (Strix), the Accipitrini (Falco, Gypogeranus, Gypaëtus), and the Vulturini (Vultur, Cathartes). Cuvier divides his first order (the Birds of Prey) into Diurnal and Temminck's first order, Rapaces, comprises the genera Vautour, Hawks. Sub-Family, Falconina. | states that much diversity of opinion still exists; not indeed as regards the leading divisions, for here likewise the ancients had long ago anticipated our distinctions between the Eagles, Kites, and Buzzards. It is not therefore to these groups, taken per se, that any doubts can attach on their respective peculiarities, but rather as to their relative rank with those that are considered typical. These doubts, in Mr. Swainson's opinion, can only be solved by analysis; and from an attentive consideration of the difficulties arising from the want of materials in our museums, and other causes, he has been induced to dissent from several modern writers upon this family. He admits that it has been sufficiently proved that the various forms of which it is composed exhibit, as a whole, a circular succession of affinities; but the true series of the secondary groups among themselves has not, he asserts, yet been made out: he adds however that the inability to state in what way the falcons or hawks form their own respective circles cannot militate against the belief that such is their true distri bution. "It remains therefore," continues Mr. Swainson, "to be considered whether there is presumptive evidence to believe that the three remaining divisions, namely, the Buzzards, Kites, and Eagles, form one circular group independent of their affinity to the two former. The true Buzzards, of which the Vulgaris and the Lagopus may probably be types, are slender long-winged birds; the bill is small, short, and considerably curved: in this structure they agree with the true falcons, yet they are well known to be distinguished from them by wanting the toothed-bill, and by the shortness and graduated abbreviation of the exterior quill-feathers. Now, if nature had proceeded in a simple course from the buzzards to the falcons, we should have had birds uniting the distinctions of both variously modified. Both these groups being composed in their typical examples of slender long-winged birds with short bills, any species exhibiting the reverse of such characters, and intervening between the two forms, would certainly appear anomalous, on the supposition of a simple series of affinities being aimed at. Yet that such birds are to be found even among the few that we are subsequently to notice is unquestionable. Let us then take the Buteo borealis, which as being more allied to the falcons than to the kites may be considered an intervening form between the Buteo vulgaris and Falco. We here see a largesized heavy bird with shortened wings not reaching to more than half Sub-Family, Accipitrina. the length of the tail, while the elongated bill, unlike either that of Buteo or Falco, obviously assimilates to that lengthened form which belongs to the eagles. Now upon the supposition that a bird so constructed is intended to fill up the interval between Buteo and Falco, and at the same time to unite the former with the eagles, the singularity of its structure is no longer surprising; but if we consider it with a simple reference to the passage between Buteo and Falco, we are almost tempted to suspect that in this instance a real saltus has been made." While upon this subject we may cite an acute observation made by Prince C. L. Bonaparte, that "the Borealis is almost as much an Astur of the first section as a Buteo;" a proof at least that its affinities to Astur and to the aberrant eagles adjoining that group have not escaped observation. Our idea that the buzzards are truly united to the eagles is still further strengthened by the Buteo pterocles, Temm. ***. In this species the wings, as in Buteo, are remarkably long; but the bill is so considerably lengthened, that were we to judge alone from this member we should have no scruple in placing the bird among the Aquila. On the other hand, it must be remembered that as every group, from the highest to the lowest denomination, when perfect, contains a representation of the other four, united to a form peculiar to itself, so we might naturally expect that one division of the buzzards would represent the true eagles. To ascertain therefore whether the resemblances above stated are those of analogy or of real affinity, recourse must be had to strict analysis. Now this in our present state of knowledge cannot be done, at least from the resources to be found in this country. We have thought it advisable to cite the above facts, drawn from the structure of the birds themselves, as likely to awaken the attention of ornithologists to a further investigation of the subject; they will at least show that our opinion on the unity of the three aberrant groups is not entirely without foundation. Mr. Swainson considers the relative value of the whole group equivalent to that of Vultur or Strix in its own order, and to the families composing the Rasores, Grallatores, and Natatores, and he contemplates the five principal divisions as genera, arranging the subordinate forms as sub-genera; but in considering the five forms of the Falconida as genera rather than subfamilies, he guards himself against the supposition that he may mean to insinuate that the minor distinctions which have been dwelt upon by several able ornithologists who have investigated this family are either trivial or that they deserve not to be brought immediately before us. On the contrary, he recommends to others the plan adopted by himself, namely, the minute examination of every change of structure, and the assembling together in minor groups such species as agree in certain peculiarities. Further, he would proceed in certain cases even to impose a name upon such groups, but in a family already so crowded by generic names he considers it essential to preserve a distinction between groups of unequal value; and not to elevate sub-genera, or forms of transition, to a rank they do not hold. Milvago, Polyborus, Daptrius, and Ibycter are unquestionably, in his opinion, of the latter description, each confined but to one species; Sub-Family, Buteonina. Sub-Family, Aquilina. De Blainville divides the Raptatores into the Diurnal and the Nocturnal. The former he divides into the Anomalous (the Secretary, Serpentarius); and the Normal (Falco, Linn.). M. Latreille separates his first order of terrestrial birds (Rapaces) into two tribes the Diurnal and the Nocturnal. The first contains two families:-1st, the Vautourins (Vultures); 2nd, the Accipitrins. The latter consists of the genera Aigle, Pygargue, Balbuzard, Harpie, Aigle-Autour, Asturine, Messager, Autour, Epervier, Elane, Milan, Bondrée, Busard, Faucon, Gerfault. Prince C. L. Bonaparte, in his 'Tabella Analitica,' divides his 'Ordine Accipitres into the 'Famiglia Vulturini,' and the 'Famiglia Rapaces. These last he separates into the Diurni, with eyes on the sides of the head, "Occhi nei Lati;" and the Nocturni, with eyes in the face, "Occhi sulla Faccia." His Diurnal rapacious birds consist of two genera, namely, Gypaëtos and Falco. The latter comprises the following sub-genera:-Aquila, Haliaëtos, Pandion, Falco, Astur, Milvus, Elanus, Buteo, Circus. M. Lesson, in common with other zoologists, separates his first order, the Birds of Prey, Accipitres or Rapaces, into the Diurnal and Nocturnal. The first embraces three families:-1st, the Vultures; 2nd, the Falcons, or Falconida, which he subdivides into the Noble Birds of Prey, namely the genera Falco, Hiero-Falco, Physeta, and Gampsonyx; and the Ignoble Birds of Prey, namely the genera Aquila, Haliaetus, Pandion, Circaetus, Caracara, Harpya, Morphnus, Cymindis, Astur, Nisus, Milvus, Ictinia, Elanus, Nauclerus, Pernis, Buteo, Circus. 3rd, the Messagers, or Serpentarii, consisting of one genus only, Serpentarius, the Secretary Falcon. Mr. Swainson ('Fauna Boreali-Americana') remarks that in contemplating the Diurnal Birds of Prey, arranged by Linnæus under the genus Falco, we can be at no loss to discover the two typical forms in the Toothed-Billed Falcons and the Sparrowhawks. Their peculiarities, he adds, did not escape the notice even of the earliest systematic writers; and the moderns, he observes, have only confirmed the justness of the distinction. But with regard to the remaining groups he |