applied to almost any small bird that is yellow, and not unfrequently to some that are not. Thus in the Antilles the name is given to certain species of Dendroca (WARBLER), in the Cape Colony to Serinus canicollis, the "Cape Canary," and some of the Ploceida (WEAVER-BIRD),1 in New Zealand to the Clitonyx ochrocephala, while in some districts of Australia the BUDJERIGAR is known as the "Canary-Parrot."

CANVAS-BACK, generally with the addition of "Duck," the Anas vallisneria of Wilson, Fuligula or Ethyia vallisneriana of modern ornithology, the North-American bird so famous for its delicate flavour-nearly allied to the POCHARD.

CAPERCALLY or CAPERCAILLIE, a word commonly derived from the Gaelic Capull, a horse (or, more properly, a mare), and Coille, the genitive of coll, a wood; but with greater likelihood, according to the opinion with which I was favoured by Dr. M'Lauchlan, from Cabher, an old man (and, by metaphor, an old bird), and Coille-the name of the largest species of Tetraonidæ (GROUSE), Tetrao urogallus, which was formerly indigenous to the north of England, to Scotland, and to Ireland. The word is frequently spelt otherwise, as Capercalze and Capercailzie (the z, a letter unknown in Gaelic, being pronounced like y), and the English name of Wood-Grouse or Cock-of-the-wood has been often applied to the same bird. The earliest notice of it as an inhabitant of North Britain seems to be by Hector Boethius, whose works were published in 1526, and it can then be traced through various Scottish writers, though to them it was evidently but little known, for about 200 years, or may be more. However, Bishop Lesly, in 1578, assigned a definite habitat to it:-"In Rossia quoque Louquhabria [Lochaber], atque aliis montanis locis" (De Origine Moribus et rebus gestis Scotorum. Romæ : ed. 1675, p. 24). Taylor, the water-poet, in his Visit to the Brea of Marr (Works, London: 1630, p. 135) mentions, "caperkellies" among the meats provided for the guests of Lord Erskine in 1618; and The Black Book of Taymouth tells (pp. 433, 434) of one that was sent in 1651 by the laird of Glenorchy to King Charles II, who, being then at Perth, "accepted it weel as a raretie, for he had never seen any of them." Pennant, during his first tour in Scotland, found that it was then (1769) still to be met with in Glen Moriston and in the Chisholm's country, whence he saw a cock-bird. We may infer that it became extinct about that time, since Robert Gray (Birds of the West of Scotland, p. 229) quotes the Rev. John Grant

1 A species of Laniarius, one of the SHRIKES, credited with preying upon some of these little birds, is known as Canariebyter (Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 164).

2 For particulars the reader is referred to Mr. Harvie-Brown's careful volume The Capercaillie in Scotland (Edinburgh: 1879).

as writing in 1794 :- "The last seen in Scotland was in the woods of Strathglass about thirty-two years ago.' Of its existence in Ireland we have scarcely more details. If we may credit the Pavones sylvestres of Giraldus Cambrensis with being of this species, it was once abundant there, and Willughby (1678) was told that it was known in that kingdom as the "Cock-of-the-wood." A few other writers mention it by the same name, and Rutty, in 1772, says (Nat. Hist. Dublin, i. p. 302) that “ one was seen in the county of Leitrim about the year 1710, but they have entirely disappeared of late, by reason of the destruction of our woods." Pennant also states that about 1760 a few were to be found about Thomastown in Tipperary, but no later evidence is forthcoming, and thus it would seem that the species was exterminated at nearly the same period both in Ireland and Scotland.

That the Cock-of-the-wood once inhabited England is a discovery of recent date. It is stated in The Zoologist for 1879 (p. 468) that its bones had been found among Roman remains at Settle in Yorkshire, though the authority for their determination is not given; but the present writer had the pleasure of receiving from Mr. James Backhouse a considerable number of its bones, some of them unmistakable, found by him in caves that he was investigating in Teesdale, and of confirming the conclusion at which he had already arrived. The remains were those of both sexes, and were sufficiently numerous to shew that the species had been common in the neighbourhood, and had contributed not a little to the food of the people who in a prehistoric age used the caves as dwellings.

When the practice of planting was introduced, the restoration of this fine bird to both countries was attempted. In Ireland the trial, of which some particulars are given by Thompson (B. Ireland, ii. p. 32), was made at Glengariff, but it seems to have utterly failed, whereas in Scotland, where it was begun in earnest at Taymouth in 1838, it finally succeeded, and the species is now not only firmly established, but has vastly increased in numbers and range. Lloyd, the well-known author of several excellent works on the wild sports and natural history of Scandinavia, supplied the stock from Sweden, but it must be always borne in mind that the original British race was wholly extinct, and no recent remains of it are known to exist in any museum.

This species is widely, though intermittently, distributed on the continent of Europe, from Lapland to the northern parts of Spain, Italy, and Greece, but is always restricted to pine-forests, which

1 Yet Stephens in his continuation of Shaw's General Zoology (ix. p. 268), writing in 1819, says that Montagu was present "when one was killed near the upper end of Loch Lomond about thirty-five years since." This would mean that the species survived until about 1784, but the incident is not mentioned by Montagu in his own work, and the assertion may be doubted.

alone afford it food in winter. Its bones have been found in the kitchen-middens of Denmark, proving that country to have once been clothed with woods of that kind. More lately its remains have been recognized from the caves of Aquitaine. Its eastern or southern limits in Asia cannot be precisely given, but it certainly inhabits the forests of a great part of Siberia. On the Stannovoi Mountains, however, it is replaced by a distinct though nearly allied species, the T. urogalloides of Dr. von Middendorff1 which is smaller with a slenderer bill but longer tail.

The Cock-of-the-wood is remarkable for his large size and glossy-black plumage. He is polygamous, and in spring mounts to the topmost bough of a tall tree, whence he challenges all comers by extraordinary sounds and gestures; while the hens, which are much smaller and mottled in colour, timidly abide below the result of the frequent duels, patiently submitting themselves to the victor. While this is going on it is the practice in many countries, though generally in defiance of the law, for the so-called sportsman stealthily to draw nigh, and with well-aimed rifle to murder the principal performer in the scene. The hen makes an artless nest on the ground, and lays therein from seven to nine or even more eggs. The young are able to fly soon after they are hatched, and towards the end of summer and beginning of autumn, from feeding on the fruit and leaves of the bilberries and other similar plants, which form the undercovert of the forests, get into excellent condition and become good eating. With the first heavy falls of snow they betake themselves to the trees, and then, feeding on the pine-leaves, their flesh speedily acquires so strong a flavour of turpentine as to be distasteful to most palates. The usual method of pursuing this species on the Continent is by encouraging a trained dog to range the forest and spring the birds, which then perch on the trees; while he is baying at the foot their attention is so much attracted by him that they permit the near approach of his master, who thus obtains a more or less easy shot. A considerable number, however, are also snared. Hybrids are very frequently produced between the Capercally and the Black GROUSE, T. tetrix, and the offspring has been described by some authors under the name of T. medius, as though a distinct species.

CAPE-SHEEP, a name absurdly given by sailors to the ALBATROS (Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 363).

CARACARA, a South-American bird, so called by the natives of Brazil, first described and figured by Marcgrave (Hist. Nat. Brazil, p. 211). In 1782 it became the Falco tharus of Molina (Sagg. Stor. Nat. Chili, p. 264), and is the Polyborus tharus of

1 Not to be confounded with the bird so named previously by Nilsson, which is an hybrid.

modern ornithology,-the representative of a small group of birds, which from their Falconine structure and Vulturine habit, to say nothing of certain peculiarities, might be not unfitly regarded as forming a distinct Family. Three genera, Ibycter which is arboreal, Milvago which is not, and Polyborus proper are usually admitted; but Mr. Sharpe (Cat. B. Br. Mus. i. p. 34) unites the first two, though as the figures here given shew, their bills are very differently formed, while he places as of equal rank in the same sub

family Cariama (SERIEMA) and Serpentarius (SECRETARY-BIRD). Mr. Ridgway in a careful monograph of the group (Bull. Geol. Geogr. Surv. Territ. No. 6, pp. 451-473, pls. 22-26) regards a fourth genus, Phalcobanus, as necessary, and Gurney (List. Diurn. B. of Prey, pp. 11-14) would have six genera. These birds, with some others, are the "Carrion-hawks" so frequently mentioned in Darwin's Voyage; but the fullest description of the habits of those frequenting the southern part of South America is by Mr. W. H. Hudson (Argent. Ornithology, ii. pp. 74-88) under the names of "Chimango" and "Carancho "-the former belonging to Milvago and the latter being the species which more to the northward is called "Caracara," namely Polyborus tharus. Still further northward, extending throughout Guiana and thence to Ecuador, as well as to Central America, California, and the Gulf States of North America, besides Cuba, a form is found now recognized by many as a distinct species under the name of P. cheriway or P. auduboni-the last being applied especially to examples from the northern side of the Gulf of Mexico; while the Guadelupe Islands on the coast of Lower California possess what is deemed by Mr. Ridgway (ut suprà) to be a third species, P. lutosus. All the members of this group are said to walk or run on the grounda peculiarity not possessed in perfection by any of the other Falconine birds with which they are generally associated. It is worthy of remark that, according to Mr. Hudson (ut suprà), since the introduction of large herds of cattle to the plains of South America the abundance of food supplied by their carcases has produced a great increase in the numbers of these birds.

CARDINAL, the name given in different parts of the world to various birds from their scarlet plumage, but perhaps originally to the North-American Loxia cardinalis of Linnæus, the Cardinalis virginianus of modern authors, a beautiful and favourite cage-bird, which, according to Parker, is one of the Emberizida (BUNTING). It is also known as the "Virginian Nightingale" and "Red Bird." In the United States it does not usually occur to the northward of lat. 40°; but it is common in and one of the most characteristic birds of Bermuda. Other birds on which the name "Cardinal" has been bestowed belong to the FINCHES, TANAGERS, and WEAVER

BIRDS.

CARIAMA, see SERIEMA.

CARINATÆ, that division of the Class AVES possessing a "keel" (carina) to the sternum, and accordingly so named by Merrem in 1812 (Abhandl. Akad. Wissensch. Berlin, 1812-13, Physik. Kl. p. 238); but generally overlooked by systematists until prominently brought forward by Prof. Huxley (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1867, p. 418) as one of the three "Orders" recognized by him, and in the present work regarded as forming a Subclass (see INTRODUCTION). It may here be observed, however, that among the Carinatæ are to be included a few forms such as Cnemiornis (CEREOPSIS), Didus (DODO), and Strigops (KAKAPO), in which the keel of the sternum is nearly or wholly wanting, presumably through disuse of their volant powers.

CAROTIDS (from kapoτis) are the principal arteries which, arising from the brachiocephalic arteries, ascend the neck and supply the head. They exhibit several modifications which have been investigated chiefly by Nitzsch and by Garrod; but their taxonomic value is limited. They shew the following seven arrange

ments:

1. The right and the left carotids converge towards the middle line and run side by side (or the left covering the right) in a furrow along the ventral surface of the cervical vertebræ. This is their normal and original condition, and is found in the majority of Birds.

2. The two carotids fuse into one, for the greater length of the neck; this "carotis conjuncta" is generally imbedded in a special median osseous canal formed by the vertebræ; the right and left root or basal portions are both functional, although one of them is sometimes weaker, as in Herodii, Phoenicopterus, and some OldWorld Parrots.

3. There is one carotis conjuncta, but the right root, i.e. the basal portion of the original right carotis, has been obliterated. The artery is a so-called "carotis primaria sinistra." Such "Aves lævocarotidine" (Garrod) are very frequent, e.g. Rhea and Apteryx among