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and we foresee the glory of their end in the heroic tranquillity with which they all contemplate it, and at last are satisfied with the sweeping destruction of the final catastrophe, which leaves not one freeman in a land of slaves.

But we are transgressing our limits, and have really left ourselves no room for pointing out the faults of this poem, and of Mr Moore's poetry in general. We must delay this ungracious task to our next Number, or some other opportunity. Indeed we almost think this task would be idle as well as ungracious, and feel as if we would shove it off entirely upon the shoulders of more fastidious critics.

For ourselves we have but small liking for such things, and consider it less a proof of versatility than inconsistency, that a poet, capable of simple, manly, elevated, noble, and heroic sentiments, and familiar with the grandest regions of the human soul, should condescend to trifle away his time with such sickly affectations, however graceful, and to pursue diseased and effeminate feelings through all the flowery alleys of an artificial fancy. But we are determined to part with Mr Moore with pleasure and complacency, and therefore take leave of him and our readers with a quota tion from this very poem which has thus excited our spleen; and, truly, if it contained many such passages, it would have admirers enough in spite of our criticism.

"Alas! how light a cause may move
Hearts that the world in vain has tried,
And sorrow but more closely tied ;
That stood the storm when waves were
rough,

Dissension between hearts that love!

Yet in a sunny hour fall off,
Like ships that have gone down at sea,
When heav'n was all tranquillity!

something, light as air a look,

Oh! love, that tempests never shook,
A word unkind or wrongly taken-

A breath, a touch like this has shaken.
And ruder words will soon rush in
To spread the breach that words begin;
And eyes forget the gentle ray
They wore in courtship's smiling day;
And voices lose the tone that shed
A tenderness round all they said;
Till fast declining, one by one,
And hearts, so lately mingled, seem
The sweetnesses of love are gone,
Like broken clouds, or like the stresin,
That smiling left the mountain's brow,

We have not left ourselves room for an account of the remaining poem, "The Light of the Haram." It does not seem to require any. It is a graceful and elegant trifle, that ought to be perused in a drawing-room, richly furnished with all the ornaments and luxuries of fashionable life. There doubtless is nature in it, and therefore it must give pleasure to all kinds and classes of readers; but it is nature wholly under the influence of art and artificial feelings, and the Poet has A taken the same pains, and perhaps exhibited the same power, in describing whim, caprice, folly, and extravagance, that he has exerted on the legitimate subjects of his art. We think he might have been better employed, though we know nobody who could have wrought such a piece of fanciful embroidery but himself. But the tinkling of a guitar cannot be endured immediately after the music of the harp; and we dislike to see an accomplished performer wasting his powers on an insignificant instrument. But they who love to read of lovers' quarrels, may here find them gracefully narrated-may learn how the Son of Acbar became displeased with the Sultana Nourmahal,-how the Feast of Roses at Cashmere lost all its delights in consequence of this coolness,-how Nourmahal got from an enchantress a wreath of flowers, which bestowed on her an irresistible and subduing spirit of song,-how she assumed the disguise of a lutanist from Cashmere, and sung to the Emperor so bewitching a strain, that

"Selim to his heart has caught, In blushes more than ever bright, His Nourmahal, his Haram's light."

As though its waters ne'er could sever, Yet, ere it reach the plain below,

Breaks into floods, that part for ever!"

Elements of the Natural History of the Animal Kingdom. By CHARLES STEWART, Fellow of the Linnaan and Wernerian Societies. 2 vols Svo. Second edition. Edinburgh, Bell and Bradfute. London, Longman and Co., 1817.

A PROPER elementary work on Zoology has long been one of our principal desiderata in natural history ; and the want of such a work in English has no doubt contributed material

ly to thwart the progress of science in this country. The Handbuch der Naturgeschichte of Blumenbach is an excellent book; but a knowledge of the German language is in Britain confined to a very few, and no translation of that, or of any of the other German manuals of natural history, has hitherto been executed.

In 1801, a work appeared, entitled, "Elements of Natural History," being a translation in part of the generic and specific characters in Gmelin's edition of the Systema Naturæ. To these characters were added short and judicious notices of the habits and manners of the different species, and such as are natives of Britain were particularly enumerated and described; by which means, the work, besides being an introduction to systematic zoology, served, at the same time, in a great measure, as a Fauna Britannica. In 1802, a second volume made its appearance, comprising Entomology, Helininthology, and Testaceology, which, in conjunction with the former volume, containing the mammiferous animals and birds, and the Linnæan amphibia and fishes, completed the zoological depart

ment.

This production was executed with skill and accuracy, and the introductory chapters contained a short and useful exposition of the anatomy and physiology of the different classes.

The great attention, however, which the study of natural history has of late years excited in every country of Europe, has of course effected considerable changes in the science. Certain opinions, which at one period were deemed incontrovertible, have been proved by the sure tests of observation and experience to be unfounded,-and others, which at the same period were looked upon as the wildest chimeras of the imagination, have been shewn to have their foundation in nature and in truth.

It results, as a consequence of this progressive state of the science, that a systematic work, however meritorious at the time of its publication, must, after the lapse of a certain number of years, contain much that is obsolete and inconsistent with what is known to be really true.

The improvements in the principles of arrangement, and the additions which have been made to zoology in recent times, rendered a corrected edi

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tion of the "Elements of Natural History," as a general work, exceeding ly desirable, while the many interesting papers which had been published in the transactions of the Linnæan and Wernerian Societies, admitted of many important alterations and improvements in that work as a Fauna Britannica.

It was with no small degree of pleasure, therefore, that we observed a second edition announced by the author, (Mr Charles Stewart of this city) under the more appropriate title of "Elements of the Natural History of the Animal Kingdom;" auguring, from the zeal and diligence which he had manifested in the compilation of the former one, that he would have introduced into this, such of the recent discoveries as clearly illustrated the progress of zoological science,-or at least, that he would have removed the objection which had been made to the original work, as containing many species, which the most incontestible evidence had since been adduced to prove were not really distinct from some others from which they had been separated.

On a careful perusal, however, of the second edition, we are sorry to find that this has not always been done. With regard to the general principles of arrangement, Mr Stewart has judiciously adopted the leading features in the classification of Blumenbach; the generic characters are also correct, and he has wisely avoided the injurious and infinite divisions of the French writers; but many species are again given as distinct, which it is now generally admitted should be referred as synonyms to other species; and several important discoveries in the zoology of Great Britain, particularly in the ornithological department, have been entirely overlooked and omitted. This is the greater pity, as Mr Stewart's book is still the only one of the kind in this country to which the young student can refer; and from the author's well known talents and acquirements, much confidence is placed in it. We are moreover informed, that it is used as a text-book by the students who attend the lectures of the Professor of Natural History in this university; and although the attainments in every branch of natural history, of the accomplished Mineralogist who now fills the chair, enable him to

correct the inaccuracies referred to, they are still highly detrimental as existing in a book to which reference is necessarily so frequently made by his disciples in their hours of private study.

None are more highly sensible than ourselves, of the value of Mr Stewart's volumes, and it is indeed that knowledge which renders us the more anxious to point out their faults,-as the danger resulting from these is rather increased than diminished by the general excellence of the work itself.

For the present, however, we must confine our remarks to a single department; and as ornithology is one of the most interesting and popular branches of British zoology, we shall rest satisfied with pointing out a few of the discoveries which have either been effected, or rendered more clear and determinate in that science, since the publication of the first edition of Mr Stewart's work in 1801 and 1802. In doing this, we shall follow the order of arrangement adopted by Mr Stewart himself, and shall chiefly particularize those species, concerning which any confusion exists in the work under review, which are at the same time native to Britain.

Genus Vultur.-It was alleged by the early voyagers, that the condor measured 18 feet from tip to tip of the wings, and this extreme extent is given by Mr Stewart. Its size, however, has no doubt been much exaggerated. The first specimen ever brought to Europe, was the female bird deposited in the Leverian Museum by Captain Middleton; and within a short period, a male bird was procured and placed in the same collection. The latter was very large, and when recently killed, the wings are said to have extended 12 feet from tip to tip. It was indeed alleged by some to have measured 14 feet in extent, but this was generally considered as a mistake. In the 18th volume of the Philosophical Transactions, mention is made of a bird, probably of the same species, native of Chili, which is said to have measured 16 feet from tip to tip of the wings. Naturalists, however, cannot be too guarded in admitting the accounts of mariners, which experience has shewn are frequently much exaggerated. Unaccustomed objects beheld under all the fascina

tions of a tropical climate, and procured, in the course of some wild and rapid excursion through the most sublime region of the world, even where there is no intention to deceive, produce an effect upon the mind of the beholder very different from that which would result from a calm and unimpassioned contemplation. We have conversed with men who had seen alligators 60 feet long, and to whom the narratives of Marco Paulo, concerning the famous birds in the island of Madagascar, which were in the habit of flying into the air with elephants in their claws, that they might dash them to pieces on the rocks below, did not appear by any means so improbable as to be deemed entirely fabulous.

With regard to the bird in question, however, we have pretty positive proof in the writings of Humboldt, that its earlier histories by D'Acosta, Garcilasso, and others, were much exaggerated. That naturalist admits that they may occasionally attain the great size of 11 or 12 feet from tip to tip of the extended wings; but such as he himself had an opportunity of examining never exceeded 3 feet 3 inches in length, with a breadth, from tip to tip of the wings, of 8 feet 9 inches.

Prior to the time of Humboldt, one of the largest condors, of which the measurements were taken from the bird in a recent state, was that shot by Feuillée, in the valley of Ilo in Peru. The wings, when expanded, measured exactly 11 feet 4 inches, from tip to tip, and the French foot being equal to 13 of our inches, the breadth of this bird must have been about 12 feet 3 inches. This is probably the largest bird of which the measurements are recorded, as taken by a person accustomed to scientific accuracy; and as the proportions of the specimen formerly in the Leverian Museum, but now unfortunately removed to the Cabinet of Vienna, in consequence of the dispersion of that ill-fated collection, seem to have been doubted by Dr Shaw, it may be considered as the largest individual on the description of which we can rely, and probably approaches the utmost limits which can reasonably be assigned to the growth of this formidable species.

Various opinions have been formed regarding the geographical distribution

of this bird. It has generally been considered as characteristic of the wild and mountainous districts of South America. Humboldt says it inhabits the lofty rocks of the Andes, immediately below the boundaries of perpetual snow.

Buffon, whose ideas were frequently more fanciful than correct, deemed it scarcely possible that a bird, claiming the highest rank among the feathered creation, should be confined to a single region of the earth. In the "Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux," he enters into a long detail upon the subject, the object of which is to prove, that the birds of prey mentioned by Gesner as inhabiting the neighbourhood of Tarnassar in the East Indies, of the bills of which, the hilts of swords were fabricated-the vultures of Senegal which carry off children,-and the Lammer-geyer of Switzerland, are all referable to a species synonimous with the condor of Peru. To that species he also refers the great bird mentioned in the South Sea voyages-the famous Roc of the eastern writers, and the large bird of prey found in Russian Lapland, as described both by Regnard and La Martiniere, and of the nest of which a drawing is given by Olaus Magnus.

In this view, therefore, the condor, so far from being confined to the still regions of the Andes, has a geographical distribution more general and extensive than any other known species, being found in almost every region of the old world, from the most northern parts of Scandinavia, across the burning sands of Africa, to the Island of Madagascar; and from the glaciers of the Rhone and the Arveron, to the glowing banks of the Indus; and from thence, to the mountains of Chili and Peru. We need scarcely add, that the opinion of the eloquent Frenchman is without any foundation in truth. The condor of America is the same as the Vultur gryphus of Linnæus,-the Lammer-geyer of the German writers is the V. barbatus of the Swedish naturalist, and the Senegal vulture is a species perfectly distinct from either. As these three are the only species out of those he has enumerated, of the existence of which we have any rational proof, it is unnecessary to say any thing of the others, as that would only be combating the phantoms of an enthusiastic imagination.

The opinion of Buffon, originally adopted under some false impression, that the Lammer-geyer of the Alps should be considered synonimous with the condor of Peru, was no doubt powerfully strengthened by the sentiments of M. M. Valmont de Bomare and De Salerne. As this point is of some importance in determining the specific relations of one of the most singular birds of the old world, our readers will pardon us for entering into a very brief examination of the mat

ter.

M. V. de Bomare's chief reason for considering these birds as synonimous is, that they have both a breadth of 14 feet. We have already shewn, that the claims of the Peruvian bird to such a measurement are at the best of a doubtful kind. In regard to the Lammer-geyer, however, we are fortunately enabled to speak with greater certainty. It has, assuredly, sadly degenerated from the time of M. de Bomare, as its usual breadth is now only from 74 feet to 8 feet. It no doubt still makes " une guerre cruelle aux chèvres, aux brebis, aux chamois, aux lievres, et aux marmottes;" but these unamiable traits of character are likewise daily exhibited in equal perfection by the ravenous eagle.

But M. de Salerne relates a fact (using the word in its ordinary acceptation) which is considered as sufficiently decisive on the subject. It appears, that in the year 1719, M. Deradin, who was father-in-law to M. du Lac, shot, at his Chateau of Mylourdin, a strange bird, which measured 18 feet (French feet) from tip to tip of the wings. This bird, it seems, was-What? carefully described upon the spot, and a coloured drawing sent to the Royal Academy? No-This bird was eaten by the family at Mylourdin aforesaid, as well as by the natives of the Chateau Neufsur-loire; it was found to be somewhat tough, and its flesh had rather a marshy smell. But, adds M. de Salerne, I saw and examined one of the smallest feathers of the wing, and it was larger than the largest feather of a swan; and, therefore, 66 cet oiseau singulier sembleroit etre le contur ou condor." This may be a most legitimate conclusion, but we are still of opinion, that though an entire feather, after having been both seen and ex

amined, should be found to exceed the largest feather of the largest swan in the country, that circumstance was not sufficient to convert a Lammergeyer into a condor 18 feet in breadth. It is indeed surprising, that Buffon should have placed confidence in such a vague and contradictory story. Is it probable, that a bird of such extraordinary dimensions, would have excited no other feeling than the culinary interest recorded by M. de Salerne ? or that out of its 18 feet of plumage, no vestige should remain to be " seen and examined," except one of the least of its quill feathers. We scarcely remember a finer example of reasoning ex pede Herculem than this affords, and we doubt whether Cuvier himself, in the very spring-tide of generalization, would not have been somewhat puzzled by it. The thing carries contradiction in its very front, but it was a fact which chimed harmoniously with the wild theory of the Count, and as such it was recorded.

Of this genus there is no British species. The Falco albicilla, or whitetailed eagle, was placed by Linnæus with the vultures, owing to a fancied agreement in the form of the bill; but that arrangement was injudicious, and has not been adopted.

The genus which next demands our attention, is that termed Falco, which includes the tribes of eagles, falcons, hawks, buzzards, and kites.

Since the publication of Mr Stewart's work, the "Regne Animal" of Cuvier has reached this country. It appears from the observations of that naturalist, that the F. albicilla, and F. ossifragus are specifically the same, the latter being in the plumage of immaturity. He likewise observes, that the F. albicaudus, or lesser white-tailed eagle, is the male of the F. albicilla; so that these three species should henceforth be considered as synonimous. These facts are said to have been ascertained more than once in the Menagerie of the Parisian Museum.

The F. gentilis still finds a place in Mr Stewart's Elements. There is no doubt, however, that that species, as generally described, is merely the young of the goshawk. We were sur prised to find that Mr S. has continued the F. cyaneus and F. pygargus as distinct species, notwithstanding the positive proof which Montagu had afforded to the contrary. That excel

lent ornithologist, by rearing the young birds taken from the same nest, ascer tained that the F. cyaneus, or henharrier, and the F. pygargus, or ringtail, were male and female of the same species. Both sexes, in a state of immaturity, bear the plumage of the female.

The merlin, Mr S. remarks, does not breed in England, but migrates, and returns again in October. We are able to state, however, that its nest has been frequently taken in the north of England. They usually build on the ground, or in a low furze bush. We have observed the merlin in Scotland during the summer season, and presume it breeds in this country also.

In the genus Strix, among other species, Mr S. enumerates the S ulula, S. stridula, and S. aluco. The early synonyms of these species are very obscure, and great uncertainty prevails regarding their history in all ornithological works. We are of opinion, that the two former should be considered as the Brown and Tawny Owls of English naturalists, and as we have taken these from the same nest, no doubt can be entertained of their being the same species. Indeed, a similar fact was recorded by Montagu many years ago. The plumage in the English species is brown, but in the former there is a gray, and in the latter a ferruginous tinge. They are not, however, as Shaw and others have supposed, to be considered as male and female, as the one is merely an accidental variety of the other; and the ferruginous or tawny owl being the more common, should be looked upon as the standard species. Now, as the Linnæan species agree with those just mentioned, and bear a similar relation to each other, it is probable that they should be considered as also synonimous.

We are likewise of opinion, that the S. aluco has no just claim to specifie distinction. In common with the preceding species, it is referable to the S. stridula, or tawny owl. There are many contradictory references concerning it, which seem chiefly to result from the general supposition, that the Clast mentioned species is distinct from the brown owl of Pennant. The Aluco owl, as originally described, seems to bear a great resemblance to the gray-coloured variety of the common species; and when we observe that it is also found ̈*

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