WINGED QUADRUPEDS. Bat. This fingular animal is distinguished from every other quadruped by being furnished with wings, and seems to poffefs a middle nature between four-footed animals and birds: it is allied to the one by the faculty of flying only, to the other both by its external and internal structure: in each respect it has the appearance of an imperfect animal. In walking, its feet feem to be entangled with its wings, and it drags its body on the ground with extreme aukwardness. Its motions in the air do not seem to be performed with ease: it raises itself from the ground with difficulty, and its flight is laboured and ill directed; from whence it has very fignificantly been called the Flitter Moufe. There are several varieties of the bat kind, several of which are found in different parts of the continent of America. See Birds. HISTORY OF THE BIRDS OF AMERICA. IN N the following account of the birds of America, nothing more is attempted than an enumeration of the species of the different genera found on that continent; the division and order of Mr. Pennant is followed, and descriptive characters of each genus, in general attended to. As it was impoffible in a work of this kind to enter into a description of the different fpecies of each genus, we hope the method adopted will prove more acceptable and advantageous than a mere catalogue of either popular or systematic names. DIV. I. LAND-FOWL. ORDER I. RAPACIOUS. Bill, straight, hooked only at the end; edges cultrated, base covered with a thin skin. - Noftrils, differing in different species. Tongue, large and fleshy. - Head, cheeks, chin, and often neck, either naked or covered only with down or short hairs; the neck retractile.-Claw, often hanging over the breast.Legs and feet, covered with great scales; the first joint of the middle toe connected to that of the outmost by a strong membrane. Claws, large, little hooked, and very blunt. Infides of the wings covered with down. GEN. 1. VULTURE. Characters. Bill, straight, blunt at the tip. --Head, featherless, covered behind with naked skin or soft down. -Neck, retractile. Legs, covered with scales. The first joint of the middle toe connected to the outermost by a strong membrane. Of this genus there are five species in America, three of which are found in the United States, and the other two in South-America. : i GEN. 2. FALCO. Character.-Bill, hooked, furnished at its base with a strong membrane or cere. - Head and neck covered with feathers, Legs and feet covered with scales. Middle toe connected with the outmost by a strong membrane.-Claws, long, much hooked, that of the outmost toe the leaft.-Female larger than the male. This genus admits of four divifions, of which there are in America as follows : eagles, ten species; hawks, fifteen; falcons, thirteen; kites, two; of these some are peculiar to South-America, others to the North, and some common in both. GEN. 3. STRIX. Character.-Bill, hooked, without a cere.-Noftrils, oblong. -Eyes, very large and protuberant, furrounded by a circle of feathers.-Head, large, round, and full of feathers.-Ears, large and open. Outmost toe versatile. This genus contains the owls, which are ranged in two di. visions, the eared and the earless; of the former there are three species, and of the latter fourteen species known in America, ORDER II. PIES. GEN. 1. LANIUS. This genus includes a class of birds that form the connecting link between the rapacious birds of the preceding order and the pies; they are called Shrieks, or Butcher birds; their bills are straight, hooked only at the ends.---Tongue jagged at the point.---Toes divided at the origin.---And tail cuneiform. Of this genus there are fourteen species known in America and the West-Indies, This genus contains the whole race of parrots, parroquets, &c. Bill, hooked from the base: upper mandible moveable.--Noftrils, round, and placed in the base of the bill.---Tongue, broad and blunt at the end.---Head, large; crown flat.---Legs, short.---Toes, two backward and two forward. Of this there are nearly fifty species known in South-America, and we believe only one or two in North-America. The character of this genus is--- Bill, exceeding large, hollow, convex, ferrated outwards; both mandibles curved at the tip.---Noftrils, fmall and round, placed close to the head. |