extends through the umbiliciform pit along the ventral side of the rhachis to its tip, but the part within the calamus being expanded shrivels in the way before described. When the apex of the feather is finished, and its elements have become horny and firm, the outer follicular sheath bursts from the tip backward, so as to liberate the rami, but these continue to carry the Neossoptile until after a longer or shorter time it is rubbed off. Part of the withdrawn follicle, consisting of the pulp and the mantle of Malpighian cells, remains in a dormant condition until the time of MOULT awakens it to renewed action, when the old feather is pushed out and a new one produced in its place. These feathers from the second generation onward are not in direct continuity with their successors, for the base of the calamus or umbilicus inferior becomes more or less constricted and is closed by a plug formed by the lowest caps of the now retired pulp; though in Dromæus and Casuarius the tip of each new feather extends into the short calamus of its predecessor, which as it is being pushed out still adheres to its successor, so that these birds for a long time wear their old coat over their new one. The reproductive power of this follicle seems to be unlimited unless it be mechanically injured. It is hardly diminished by age, but is affected at once by want of food or wrong diet. It is well known that the action of the follicle is generally revived by the accidental loss of a feather, so that, regardless of its being in the season of Moult or not, the missing feather is speedily replaced—a matter of great importance to a bird when its life may depend upon its undiminished power of flight. On the other hand, it is not so generally known that the enormously-developed rectrices of the Cocks of some Japanese poultry are artificially produced by the Moult being checked, in some way at present unknown to Europeans, so that the feathers instead of being shed go on continuously growing and reach the length of ten or twelve feet.

FEDOA, the Latinized form of some English name of the GODWIT, now lost apparently beyond recovery, but so written by Turner in 1544. From him the word got into ornithology, where it has been several times misapplied, and misunderstood. The only suggestion as to its origin that presents itself is in connexion with the fact that Godwits used to be caught alive and fed to fatten them for the table.

FEMUR, the thigh-bone made up of the globular Head articulating with the acetabulum of the pelvis, and connected by the Neck with the Shaft, which terminates in an outer and inner Condyle for articulation with the TIBIA. Between these condyles, on the anterior side, and partly imbedded in the tendon of the great extensor muscle lies the Patella. On the median side of the proximal end

of the Shaft there is often a small pneumatic foramen for the entrance of an AIR-SAC into its then hollow and cancellated interior.

FERN-BIRD, the name in New Zealand of Sphenoacus punctatus. FERN-OWL, one of the many local names of the NIGHTJAR.

FIBULA, the bone on the outer side of the TIBIA, thick at its proximal end, but very slender and pointed towards the ankle-joint, which, however, is never normally reached, the distal portion of the Fibula being already deficient in the Embryo. The Fibula and Tibia are frequently more or less coalescent.

FIELDFARE, Anglo-Saxon Fealo-for (= Fallow-farer), a large species of THRUSH, the Turdus pilaris of Linnæus-well known as a regular and common autumnal visitor throughout the British Islands and a great part of Europe, besides Western Asia, and even reaching Northern Africa. It is the Veldjakker and Veld-lyster of the Dutch, the Wachholderdrossel and Kramtsvogel of Germans, the Litorne of the French, and the Cesena of Italians. This bird is of all Thrushes the most gregarious in habit, not only migrating in large bands and keeping in flocks during the winter, but even commonly breeding in society-200 nests or more having been seen within a very small space. The birch-forests of Norway, Sweden, and Russia are its chief resorts in summer, but it is known also to breed sparingly in some districts of Germany. Though its nest has been many times reported to have been found in Scotland, there is perhaps no record of such an incident that is not open to doubt; and unquestionably the Mistletoe-Thrush, T. viscivorus, has been often mistaken for the Fieldfare by indifferent observers. The head, neck, upper part of the back, and the rump are grey; the wings, wing-coverts, and middle of the back are rich hazelbrown; the throat is ochraceous, and the breast reddish-brownboth being streaked or spotted with black, while the belly and lower wing-coverts are white, and the legs and toes very dark brown. The nest and eggs resemble those of the BLACKBIRD, T. merula, but the former is usually built high up in a tree. Fieldfare's call-note is harsh and loud, sounding like t'chat-t'chat: its song is low, twittering, and poor. It usually arrives in Britain about the middle or end of October, but sometimes earlier, and often remains till the middle of May before departing for its northern breeding-places. In hard weather it throngs to the berrybearing bushes which then afford it sustenance, but in open winters the flocks spread over the fields in search of animal food-worms, mollusks, and the larvæ of insects. In very severe seasons it will altogether leave the country, and then return for a shorter or longer time as spring approaches. From the author of William of Palerne to the writers of our own day the Fieldfare has occasionally

The

been noticed by British poets with varying propriety. Thus Chaucer's association of its name with frost is as happy as true, while Scott was more than unlucky in his well-known reference to its "lowly nest" in the Highlands.

Structurally very like the Fieldfare, but differing greatly in many other respects, is the bird known in North America as the "ROBIN"-its ruddy breast and familiar habits reminding the early British settlers in the New World of the household favourite of their former homes. This bird, the Turdus migratorius of Linnæus, has a wide geographical range, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from Greenland to Guatemala, and, except at its extreme limits, is almost everywhere a very abundant species.1 As its scientific name imports, it is essentially a migrant, and gathers in flocks to pass the winter in the south, though a few remain in New England throughout the year. Yet its social instincts point rather in the direction of man than of its own kind, and it is not known to breed in companies, while it affects the homesteads, villages, and even the parks and gardens of the large cities, where its fine song, its attractive plumage, and its services as a destroyer of noxious insects, combine to make it justly popular.

FIG-EATER, Ray's rendering in 1678 of the Italian Beccafico, a name commonly and almost indiscriminately given to any of the little birds which towards autumn resort to gardens, whether to eat figs or not, and are themselves caught by various devices, to be eaten as delicacies. According to the best recent authorities the true Beccafico is our Garden-WARBLER, Sylvia salicaria or hortensis ; but the bird which Buffon calls by the corresponding French term, Bec-figue, is the female Pied FLYCATCHER, Muscicapa or Ficedula atricapilla-one that may be safely said never to eat a fig.

FINCH (German Fink, Latin Fringilla), a name applied (but almost always in composition-as BULLFINCH, CHAFFINCH, GOLDFINCH, HAWFINCH, and so forth) to a great many small birds of the Order Passeres, and now pretty generally accepted as that of a group or Family-the Fringillidæ of most ornithologists. Yet it is one the extent of which must be regarded as being uncertain. Many writers have included in it the BUNTINGS (Emberizida), though these seem to be quite distinct, and the grounds of their separation have been before assigned, as well as the LARKS (Alaudida), the TANAGERS (Tanagride), and the WEAVER-BIRDS (Ploceida)—the mode in which these last three differ having in due time to be shewn in these pages. Others have separated from it the CROSSBILLS, under the title of Loxiida, but without due cause,

1 It is recorded as having occurred a few times in Europe, and once even in England (Zool. 1877, p. 14); but whether in any case it has been a voluntary visitor is doubtful.

while again some systematists have placed among the Finches the MOUSE-BIRDS (Coliida)-an allocation which a very slight study of osteological characters would have proved to be unsound; and a group which has no English name, including probably the genera Panurus (the so-called Bearded TITMOUSE), Paradoxornis, and, perhaps, a few others, has also been occasionally referred to the Finches, but to all appearance erroneously. The difficulty which at this time presents itself in regard to the limits of the Fringillidæ arises from our ignorance of the anatomical features, especially those of the head, possessed by many exotic forms.

Taken as a whole, the Finches, concerning which no reasonable doubt can exist, are not only little birds with a hard bill, adapted in most cases for shelling and eating the various seeds that form the chief portion of their diet when adult, but they appear to be mainly forms which predominate in and are highly characteristic of the Palearctic Subregion; moreover, though some are found elsewhere on the globe, the existence of but very few in the Notogæan area can as yet be regarded as certain.

1

But even with this limitation, the separation of the undoubted Fringillida into groups is a difficult task. Were we merely to consider the superficial character of the form of the bill, the genus Loxia (in its modern sense) would be easily divided not only from the other Finches, but from all other birds. The birds of this genus-the Crossbills-when their other characters are taken into account, prove to be intimately allied on the one hand to the GROSBEAKS (Pinicola) and on the other through the REDPOLLS (Egiothus) to the LINNETS (Linota)-if indeed these two can be properly separated. The Linnets, through the genus Leucosticte, lead to the Mountain-Finches (Montifringilla), and the Redpolls through the SISKINS (Chrysomitris) to the Goldfinches (Carduelis); and these last again to the Hawfinches, one group of which (Coccothraustes) is apparently not far distant from the Chaffinches (Frin gilla proper), and the other (Hesperiphona) seems to be allied to the Greenfinches (Ligurinus). Then there is the group of SERINS (Serinus), to which the CANARY-BIRD belongs, that one is in doubt whether to refer to the vicinity of the Greenfinches or that of the Redpolls. The Mountain-Finches (before named) may be regarded as pointing first to the Rock-Sparrows (Petronia) and then to the true SPARROWS (Passer); while, returning to the Grosbeaks, we find them passing into many varied forms which regard to space forbids our here naming, and throwing out a very well marked form-the Bullfinches (Pyrrhula). But the reader must be prepared to take all this as problematical. Some of the modifications of the Family are very gradual, and therefore conclusions founded 1 About 200 species of these have been described, and perhaps 150 may really

on them are likely to be correct; others are further apart, and the links which connect them, if not altogether missing, can but be surmised.

FINFOOT, Latham's name in 1824 (Gen. Hist. B. x. p. 10) for two birds which he then rightly associated. One of them from America, the size of a small Teal, had been long known, and formerly referred by him to the genus Plotus (SNAKE-BIRD), while Pennant in 1776, in Peter Brown's Illustrations of Zoology (pl. 39, p. 98), had described it as the "Surinam Tern," and it was figured by Daubenton (Pl. enl. 893) and described in 1781 by Buffon as the Grèbe-Foulque. In 1790 the ill-fated Bonnaterre established the genus Heliornis1 for it. Its affinities remained uncertain until the publication in 1839 of Brandt's Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Naturgeschichte der Vögel, communicated to the Academy of St. Petersburg, wherein he shewed (pp. 117-122) that they were rather towards the RAILS; but people have been slow to admit the force of his osteological evidence, though it has since been confirmed in the case of another species of the group by Jerdon (B. Ind. iii. p. 721). In the meanwhile Prince Maximilian of Wied had in 1832 published his observations on the bird's habits (Beitr. zur Naturgesch. Brasilien, iv. pp. 827, 828), and very curious some of them are, for he says that he himself had shot a cock-bird, under the wings of which were two newly-hatched, naked young. The old birds swim and dive adroitly, but their flight is heavy, though they run swiftly on land, and they are addicted to perching on trees. The proper name of this species is Heliornis fulica, though it appears in some works as Podoa surinamensis. It has an extensive range in the Neotropical Region from Guatemala to Paraguay (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1868, p. 469); but it is not found in the Patagonian Subregion.

HELIORNIS. (After Swainson.)

The second species described, as above stated, by Latham, and as he thought for the first time, is a much larger bird from Western Africa, made known by Vieillot in 1817 (N. Dict. d'Hist. Nat. ed. 2, xiv. p. 277) as Heliornis senegalensis, but in 1831 Lesson put it in a genus by itself which he called Podica. The differences between them, though of no real importance, are yet sufficient to warrant the separation; and this P. senegalensis is said to be represented on the opposite side of the African continent by a yet bigger species, P. petersi or mosambicana, ranging from Natal north

1 This name seems to have arisen from a mistake of Latham's (Synops. B. iii. p. 626) who in 1785 supposed the "Oiseau de Soleil," so translated by Fermin in 1769 (Deser. Surinam, ii. p. 192) from the Dutch Sonne-vogel, to be the present bird, whereas it is obviously the Eurypyga (SUN-BITTERN).