chiefly in forms confined to islands; and this is a result in full accordance with that already attained in the foregoing treatise on EXTERMINATION. In Europe a not very remote glacial epoch has left its indubitable trace in the former southerly extension of some forms whose home is now in more northern districts. The comparatively-few known Pliocene Birds are mostly referable to existing genera, though the majority of the species are extinct; but in the Lower Miocene we meet with a considerable number of extinct genera; while, both here and in the Upper Eocene, the occurrence in Europe of genera either identical with or nearly allied to those which now inhabit only the tropics or lands lying even further to the southward is particularly instructive. Some of them are at present peculiar to the Ethiopian Region, and among these are especially to be noted Laurillardia, Psittacus (PARROT), and Serpentarius (SECRETARY-BIRD), with perhaps Cryptornis-a supposed HORNBILL, and Necrornis-referred to the PLANTAIN-EATER. Others have their modern representatives in Asia, as Gallus and Phasianus; while others again have now a still wider range, though no longer occurring anywhere in the temperate zones, as Collocalia (SWIFT), Leptoptilus (ADJUTANT), and, perhaps most suggestive of all, TROGON, for the Family to which it belongs, though inhabiting both the Ethiopian and Indian Regions, is now more largely developed in the Neotropical Regions than elsewhere. This last case is in some measure analogous to that of the Tapirida among Mammals, though no African Tapir is known. But in a general way all the lessons which Fossil Ornithology so far teaches seem to be in perfect harmony with what we learn from a study of Fossil Mammals; and, when palæontologists generally come to admit the fact, which some of their leaders have long since recognized, that their study, though one of infinitely great meaning to the geologist, is but a branch of Zoology, no one can doubt of the valuable results that will follow from their co-operation. But letting this pass, it is important to notice that already in the Lower Miocene, if not in the Upper Eocene periods, there is sufficient evidence to shew that many of the chief groups of Birds as we now know them had been already established, and

1 The views of the elder Agassiz on this point are notorious; those of Prof. Alphonse Milne-Edwards were declared prior to the publication of his great work, which itself is a perpetual witness of their truth. Prof. Huxley many years ago in a speech, which though never fully reported is well remembered by some of those who heard it, most rightly asserted that "Palæontology is simply the biology of the past; and a fossil animal differs only in this regard from a stuffed one, that the one has been dead longer than the other, for ages instead of for days" (Ibis, 1866, p. 413). The present petrified condition of some geologists requires a life-imparting impulse, and they-be it said with all due respect need bringing into touch with those who would gladly accept their assistance or even their guidance.-A. N.

perhaps it will eventually shew that nearly all were.1 It is also worth remembering that it was during these epochs that the Ratitæ (just as the Marsupials among Mammals) were represented in the European Fauna. In the Cretaceous period we come to Birds differing very widely from existing forms, and apparently indicating distinct Ordinal groups, while the two known Jurassic specimens clearly belong to a distinct Subclass-SAURURÆ.

RICHARD LYDEKKER. FOUR-O'CLOCK, one of several names given in Australia to Philemon corniculatus (FRIAR-BIRD).

FOWL (Danish Fugl, German Vogel), originally used in the sense that BIRD now is, but, except in composition-as Sea-Fowl, Wild-Fowl, and the like-practically almost confined 2 at present to designate the otherwise nameless species which struts on our dunghills, gathers round our barn-doors, and stocks our poultryyards the type of the genus Gallus of ornithologists, of which four well-marked species are known. The first of these is the Red Jungle-Fowl of the greater part of India, G. ferrugineus-called by many writers G. bankiva-which is almost undoubtedly the parent stock of all the domestic races (cf. Darwin, Animals and Plants under Domestication, i. pp. 233-246). It inhabits Northern India

from Sindh to Burma and Cochin China, as well as the Malay Peninsula and many of the islands as far as Timor, besides the Philippines. It occurs on the Himalayas up to the height of 4000 feet, and its southern limits in the west of India proper are, according to Jerdon, found on the Raj-peepla hills to the south of the Nerbudda, and in the east near the left bank of the Godavery, or perhaps even further, as he had heard of its being killed at Cummum. This species greatly resembles in plumage what is commonly known among poultry-fanciers as the "Black-breasted Game" breed, and this is said to be especially the case with examples from the Malay countries, between which and examples from India some differences are observable-the latter having the plumage less red, the ear-lappets almost invariably white, and slate-coloured legs, while in the former the ear-lappets are crimson, like the comb and wattles, and the legs yellowish. If the Malayan birds be considered distinct, it is to them that the name G. bankiva properly applies. This species is said to be found in lofty forests and in dense thickets, as well as in ordinary bamboo-jungles, and when cultivated land is near its haunts, it may be seen in the fields

1 The graphic representations given by Professor Fürbringer in his great work, Untersuchungen zur Morphologie und Systematik der Vögel (plates xxix. a and B, XXX.), make this very clear to the eye.-A. N.

2 Like Deer (Danish Dyr, German Thier). Beast, too, with some men has almost attained as much specialization.

after the crops are cut in straggling parties of from 10 to 20. The crow to which the cock gives utterance morning and evening is described as being just like that of a BANTAM, but never prolonged as in some domestic birds. The hen breeds from January to July, according to the locality; and lays from 8 to 12 creamy-white eggs, occasionally scraping together a few leaves or a little dry grass by way of a nest. The so-called G. giganteus, formerly taken by some ornithologists for a distinct species, is now regarded as a tame breed of G. ferrugineus or bankiva. The second good species is the Grey Jungle-Fowl, G. sonnerati, whose range begins a little to the northward of the limits of the preceding, and it occupies the southern part of the Indian peninsula, without being found elsewhere. The cock has the shaft of the neck-hackles dilated, forming a horny plate, the terminal portion of which is like a drop of yellow sealing-wax. His call is said to be very peculiar, being a broken and imperfect kind of crow, quite unlike that of G. ferrugineus, and impossible, says Jerdon, to describe. The two species, where their respective ranges overlap, occasionally interbreed in a wild state, and the present readily crosses in confinement with domestic poultry, but the hybrids are nearly always sterile. The third species is the Cingalese Jungle-Fowl, G. stanleyi (the G. lafay ettii of some authors), peculiar to Ceylon. This also greatly resembles in plumage some domestic birds, but the cock is red beneath, and has a yellow comb with a red edge, and purplish-red cheeks and wattles. He has also a singularly different voice, his crow being dissyllabic. This bird crosses readily with tame hens, but the hybrids are said to be infertile. The fourth species,

G. varius (the G. furcatus of some authors), inhabits Java and the islands eastwards as far as Flores. This differs remarkably from the others in not possessing hackles, and in having a large unserrated comb of red and blue, and only a single chinwattle. The predominance of green in its plumage is another easy mark of distinction. Hybrids between this species and domestic birds are often produced, but they are most commonly sterile. Some of them have been mistaken for distinct species, as those which have received the names of G. æneus and G. temmincki.

Several circumstances seem to render it likely that Fowls were first domesticated in Burma or the countries adjacent thereto, and it is the tradition of the Chinese that they received their poultry from the West about the year 1400 B.C. By the Institutes of Manu, the date of which is variously assigned from 1200 to 800 B.C., the tame Fowl is forbidden, though the wild is allowed

to be eaten-shewing that its domestication was accomplished when they were written. The bird is not mentioned in the Old Testament nor by Homer, though he has 'AXéкTop (Cock) as the name of a man, nor is it figured on ancient Egyptian monuments. Pindar mentions it, and Aristophanes calls it the Persian bird, thus indicating it to have been introduced to Greece through Persia, and it is figured on Babylonian cylinders between the 6th and 7th centuries B.C. It is sculptured on the Lycian marbles in the British Museum (circa 600 B.C.), and Blyth remarks (Ibis, 1867, p. 157) that it is there represented with the appearance of a true Jungle-Fowl, for none of the wild Galli have the upright bearing of the tame breeds, but carry their tail in a drooping position.

1

FRANCOLIN, from the French, and that, says Littré, from the Italian Francolino, which others think is cognate with the Portuguese Frango or Frangão, a cockerel; but according to Olina, in 1622 (Uccelliera, p. 33), whose opinion is confirmed by Count T. Salvadori in 1887 (Elenco Ucc. Ital. p. 198), signifying, as Willughby's translator indeed has it (Ornithol. ed. Angl. p. 174), a "Free Fowl", because princes granted it freedom of living, common people being forbidden to take it. This explanation, had not the accomplished Italian author last named given his adhesion to it, might be justly set aside; but he has suggested that the species was not improbably introduced in the time of the Crusades from Cyprus into Sicily, an opinion not shared by Prof. Giglioli (Avifaun. Ital. p. 515). However this may be matters little now, for by all accounts, as first shewn by Lord Lilford (Ibis, 1869, pp. 352-356), the species is, and has been for some time past, extinct in every part of Italy, though the cause of its extinction may be inexplicable. The word Francolin seems to have been first used as English in 1757 by Edwards (Glean. N. H. i. p. 75, pl. 246), who figured a male from Cyprus. The species is the Tetrao francolinus of Linnæus, and Francolinus vulgaris of Stephens. The evidence adduced by Lord Lilford shews that it was once numerous in Spain, and in Barbary, from Tangier to Tunis, as well as in Sardinia, Sicily, Italy, and Greece, but its most western limit must now be Cyprus, and even there, he thinks (Ibis, 1889, p. 335), it is probably "doomed to extinction." Mr. Danford also states (Dresser, B. Eur. vii. p. 124) that it seems "to be fast disappearing in Asia Minor." It, however, ranges thence through Armenia, Persia, and Beluchistan to Northern India, where it is well known to the English as the "Black Partridge," from the colour of the throat and breast of the cock. In Southern India it is replaced by an allied species,

1 His words are: "Credesi con l'allusione alla franchezza de viuer, che ha rispetto alle bandite, e rigorosi editti, che per conto di quello da Prencipi si fanno."

F. pictus. Specimens from Assam are said to be specifically identical with those from Cyprus. More than forty species of the genus (the several subdivisions of which may be questioned) have been described, a number probably far in excess of those that exist; but still there are undeniably a good many-most of them belonging to the Ethiopian Region, and no fewer than ten being found within the limits of the Cape Colony, F. levaillanti, the "Redwing" of English settlers, being especially numerous. are all attractive to sportsmen.

They

FRENCH PIE, given by Montagu in 1802 (Orn. Dict.) as a local name of Lanius excubitor (SHRIKE), but much more commonly applied to one or other of the Pied WOODPECKERS, Dendrocopus major especially.

FRIAR-BIRD, an Australian species, so called from early colonial days, and not inaptly, considering its bare head, the semblance of a hood about its shoulders, formed by a ruff of soft recurved feathers, and the sad hue of its plumage. According to Latham (Synops. B. Suppl. ii. p. 151) it was first brought to England by Banks, who returned with Cook in 1771, but it was not described until 1790, when it received the name of Merops corniculatus from Latham (Ind. Orn. i. p. 276), and "Knob-fronted BeeEater" from John White (Voy. N. South Wales, p. 190), who also figured it. That it was no BEE-EATER, but one of the Meliphagida (HONEY-EATER), became in time apparent, and Vigors and Horsfield (Trans. Linn. Soc. xv. p. 323) founded for it a new genus, Tropidorhynchus, not knowing that Vieillot had anticipated them in 1816 (Nouv. Anal. p. 47) by the establishment of Philemon with a species strictly congeneric as its type. This is the "Polochion" of Montbeillard (Hist. Nat. Ois. vi. p. 477) found by Commerson1 in Bouru, one of the Moluccas, and hence named by Gmelin Merops moluccensis. It was subsequently redescribed by Mr. Wallace (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1863, p. 31, and Malay Archipelago, ii. p. 151) as a new species, Tropidorhynchus bourouensis, and mention of it must be elsewhere made (MIMICRY). Dr. Gadow in 1884 (Cat. B. Br. Mus. ix. pp. 269-281) recognized 16 species, with two subspecies, of the genus Philemon, to which another has since been added by Mr. E. P. Ramsay, making, according to the latter's views, six2 which inhabit

1 Commerson had said that the word Polochion, which expressed the cry and was the name of the bird, signified "baisons-nous," and hence proposed to call it Philemon or Philedon. Vieillot, as above stated, adopted the one, Cuvier, a year later, the other.

2 In this number is not included the Merops monachus of Latham (Ind. Orn. Suppl. p. 34), for that is the young of Philemon corniculatus; but it is in connexion with this supposed species that the name “Friar" first appears (Synops. B. Suppl. ii. p. 155).