views; and be the walk ever so humble, yet inquiry opens to the contemplative mind stores of knowledge and instruction, which cannot, when properly viewed, do otherwise than interest and improve the mind and heart of man. The branch of science which it is my intention to touch upon, although not the highest in the range of Natural History, is one that offers that beautiful adaptation and fitness of the means to the end, that, whilst it can scarce fail to impress even the casual observer, sinks deep into the heart of the more reflective inquirer, and strikes upon a "Chord within, which, touched by Nature's hand, There are none of the lighter branches of Natural History the pursuit of which is attended with greater pleasure than that of Ornithology. In this study our admiration is excited, not only by the beautiful forms and plumage, the harmonious songs and elegant motions, of the feathered race, but the contemplation also of their interesting habits and wonderful instincts affords full scope to our speculations and astonishment. It has the advantage also of not being a solitary or isolated study, for it may be embraced in the active inquiries of the geologist and botanist. It is unfortunate that many ornithologists of the present day appear to prefer the duty of the cabinet to that of the field, and confine themselves to the arrangement or re-naming of species already well known, instead of giving their attention to the discovery of new species or the investigation of new habits. Doubtless a correct and scientific nomenclature is absolutely necessary, but the continual and unnecessary change of common names is the greatest obstacle to the pursuit, and the greatest drawback to the acquisition of knowledge, that can possibly be invented or imagined." The lecturer then divided birds into the five following heads :-Raptores, or Preyers, such as the Hawk; Insessores, or Perchers, such as the Sparrow; Rasores, or Scratchers, such as the Partridge; Grallatores, or Waders, such as the Heron; Natatores, or Swimmers, such as the Wigeon; and these he divided into numerous families and sections. He considered British birds (of course, including those which visit our shores) to amount to upwards of three hundred species, but believed it impossible to determine the precise number. He thence proceeded to take a view of the most general and striking characteristics of Ornithology, such as the forms, flight, migration, instincts and affections, age, food, and songs of birds. The construction of birds is very admirable. Independent of the external beauty and buoyancy of their shapes, their delicate plumage, at once an ornament and defence, and the combination of elasticity and strength so observable in their wings, their peculiar adaptation is displayed in a large portion of the skeleton being formed into receptacles for air, the interior of most bones of adult birds being hollow. The bones of young birds are filled with marrow, which becomes, however, gradually absorbed, to make room for the admission of air. The air passes into the lungs by a communication with the windpipe, and is conveyed into a number of membranous cells, which lie in various bones. Could a man move at the pace of the swiftest bird, as he is not furnished with internal reservoirs similar to those possessed by birds, the actual resistance of the air would soon suffocate him. The act of flying is performed by the bird leaping from the ground or dropping from a height, and raising its wings at the same time; and the velocity with which the bird ascends is proportioned to the velocity with which the strokes of the wings are repeated upon the air. When birds fly in a horizontal direction their motion is not in a straight line, but inclining upwards, and the body then comes down to a lower level before another stroke is made; so that they move in a succession of curves. With regard to migration, the lecturer observes, "About twentyfive kinds of birds regularly visit this country in the spring, and about seventeen in the autumn. The Wryneck and Lesser Willow Wren, or Chiffchaff, our earliest spring visitors, arrive here generally towards the end of March; the Flycatcher, which is the latest, about the middle of May. All our autumn visitors arrive much nearer together. The periods of migration are greatly influenced by the seasons. This spring, for instance, birds were generally very late in arriving: and yet we sometimes find anomalies in this as in other things; for I saw a Swallow on the 5th of April, nearly a fortnight earlier than they usually appear in this neighbourhood-a clear proof, too, that one Swallow does not make a summer. On the same day I saw a flight of Fieldfares, which had not yet left usan unusual assemblage of spring and autumn visitors." After noticing the doubts of some naturalists as to the migration of our shortwinged spring visitors, he continues, "But, notwithstanding all these difficulties, certain it is that many of the least of birds, and the most timid and inefficient of flyers, do migrate, many of them to Italy and the coast of the Mediterranean. They take advantage of a favourable breeze, and are doubtless lost by hundreds in the sea, should the wind become adverse. I will allow that a few instances have occurred of migrating birds being found in this country during winter in a torpid state, but these are only rare exceptions to the general rule. By some instinctive power, birds are enabled to select the narrowest channels of the sea, and also to traverse regions which, to our eyes, would present no mark or guide, and to arrive at the self-same spot which, each successive year, is the scene of their habitation. The eyes of birds are peculiarly quick and piercing, and it is supposed that they are guided by the appearance of the atmosphere, the clouds, and direction of the wind; these varying and uncertain causes, however, appear to me quite insufficient for the purpose. It is evident that practice is a great assistant to instinct; in the case of Carrier Pigeons, for instance, they are first taken a short distance from home-a quarter of a mile, perhaps which distance is gradually increased, till at last these extraordinary birds will accomplish hundreds of miles in safety. I have witnessed the flight of many Carrier Pigeons, and have only seen one unable to find his way. This bird, after taking a turn or two in the air, settled on a building, apparently quite bewildered. He was doubtless deficient in instinct or practice." After entering into various particulars with regard to migration, and mentioning Dr. Hunter's refutation of the absurd notion that Swallows had the power of existing under water, the lecturer remarks :-" The obvious motives of migration are to be found in food, climate, and convenience for incubation and rearing of young. * * The instincts and affections of birds," he observes, "6 are very wonderful and beautiful. It would be difficult, in the case of birds, as we can in the case of dogs and some other animals, to attribute a superiority of instinct to one species over another. Doubtless the instincts of all correspond with their necessities; but perhaps I may not be wrong in ascribing the greater acuteness of perception to those birds which most easily acquire the power of articulating words. Philosophers have defined instinct to be that secret influence by which every species is impelled to pursue at all times the same way or track without any teaching or example." This definition he proves to be deficient, by giving many instances in which birds deviate from their usual course, particularly when the affections are engaged. Amongst others, he gives the following from White of Selborne :-"The Flycatcher builds every year in the vine that grows on the walls of my house. A pair of these little birds, one year, inadvertently placed their nest on a naked bough, perhaps in a shady time, not being aware of the inconvenience that followed; but a hot sunny season coming on before the brood was half-fledged, the reflection of the wall became insupportable, and must have inevitably destroyed the tender young had not affection suggested an expedient and prompted the parent birds to hover over the nest all the hotter hours, while with wings expanded and mouths gaping for breath they screened the heat from their suffering offspring.' The age of birds does not appear to bear the same proportion to the time of acquiring their full growth as it does in quadrupeds. In proportion to the size of their bodies, birds live much longer than either man or quadrupeds. Geese and Swans sometimes attain the age of seventy, and an instance of a Goose ninety years old has been known: Ravens and Eagles are supposed sometimes to reach an hundred. Even Linnets and other small birds have been kept in cages from fifteen to twenty years. After giving some interesting particulars with regard to the food of birds, the lecturer proceeded to dwell upon their songs, which he did with much enthusiasm. We must, however, conclude our notice with the following reflections: "How impressive is the reflection which the history of birds, and, indeed, of other animals, is calculated to impart to the mind! All human affairs are transitory and unstable, and the fashion of them soon passes away. The ha VOL. VI.NO. XX. RR bits, we may almost say the nature, of man is changed by time; one race of men succeeds another, empires rise upon the ruins of former kingdoms, enlightenment and science progress, and again decline. Look, too, at languages: how various! how imperfect! how changeable! How many have been swallowed up in the gulph of years, or descended to us entombed in a few ancient works! Does not this speak plainly of the instability, the corruption, the fall, the confusion of man? On the contrary, the race of animals, all destined to perish, while man is born for immortality, remain uniform in their generations, unmoved by the convulsions of the world, untouched by time; and the song of a bird which now fills the air is the very same which, six thousand years ago, the first of his species poured forth in homage when he came perfect from the hand of his Creator." Thomas Thursfield, Esq., next read a very able paper on the Basaltic Dyke at Shatterford, and the vegetable remains in the adjacent coal measure. The paper displayed deep research and an intimate knowledge of the subject; and was illustrated by a drawing and many beautiful and valuable specimens. On the motion of Mr. Aston, seconded by Mr. Cookes, a vote of thanks was given to the Rev. J. Pearson and Mr. Thursfield for their scientific and highly interesting papers; and the meeting broke up, highly gratified with the proceedings which had been laid before them. SHROPSHIRE AND NORTH WALES NATURAL HISTORY AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. THE session of this Society terminated on the 2nd of May, during which the following interesting lectures and valuable scientific papers have been read: January.-Lecture on Pneumatics, by Henry Johnson, M.D.; on the Conversion of Cast-Iron into Plumbago, by Thomas Du Gard, M.D., F.G.S.; a Continuation of the Shropshire Fauna, comprising a portion of the class Aves, by T. C. Eyton, Esq., F.L. and Z.S. February.-Lecture on the Affinities of Vertebrate Animals, by T. C. Eyton, Esq., F.L. and Z.S. March-Lecture on Electricity, by Mr. Thomas Blunt; on the Utility of Antiquarian Research as connected with the Remains of Shrewsbury Abbey, and recent discoveries therein, by Mr. Henry Pidgeon. April.-Lecture on Optics, by Henry Bloxam, Esq.; on a Deposit of Mammalian Remains on the Coast of Kent, communicated by the Rev. B. H. Kennedy, D.D. May.-Lecture on the Metamorphoses of Plants, by W. A. Leighton, Esq., B.A.; on the Composition of Soils, by the Rev. C. A. A. Lloyd, M.A.; on the Roses of Britain, by Edwin Lees, F.L.S. Among the very numerous donations to the Museum and Library lately received, the following may be enumerated as the more valu able:Sixty-four Foreign Birds, from Mr. John Gould, F.Z.S.; Thirteen Silver Coins of Edward I., Edward II., and Alexander of Scotland, found in the bed of the river at Tutbury, Staffordshire, supposed to be part of the contents of the military chest of the Duke of Lancaster, when in retreat before Edward II., which was lost about that place, from C. C. Babington, Esq., F.L. and G.S.; a Collection of Fossils from the Chalk, &c., from C. C. Babington, Esq.; a large Collection of Roman and English Coins, from Sir A. V. Corbet, Bart.; African Pig, Doe and Fawn, numerous birds, crania, fresh-water shells, &c., from T. C. Eyton, Esq.; Historical Register, 14 vols. 8vo., from the Rev. Canon Newling; Collection of dried specimens of British Rosa and Rubi from Edwin Lees, F.L.S., M.E.S. CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. Reports on the Explosion of Steam Boilers, by a Committee of the Franklin Institute of Pennsylvania. Part I., containing the first Report of Experiments made by the Committee for the Treasury Department of the United States. Part II., containing the General Report of the Committee. The Reports now before us, from a committee of the Franklin Institute of Pennsylvania, are upon a subject of special interest to every community where steam is extensively used as a motive power. They emanate from an institution which has been very active in the promotion of the mechanic arts in the United States of North Ame rica, and come to us with the sanction of a committee of its members, and of its board of managers. The names of most of the gentlemen composing the Committee have been more or less familiar to the readers of the Journal published by the Franklin Institute.+ * While this article was going through the press, the lamentable occurrence of an explosion of the boiler of a steamer at Hull renders it but too appropriate. The ignorance displayed before the coroner's inquest by those who were concerned in the management of the engine and boiler, shows plainly that light has not yet reached those in whose care our lives are so often placed. + Our cotemporary, the anonymous editor of the Magazine of Popular Science, should at least have given himself the trouble to look into the facts of the case, before he insinuated a doubt of the qualifications of these gentlemen for the task imposed by the Franklin Institute. A reviewer should bring both candour and knowledge to his task, and our cotemporary really seems to have been wanting in both. We refer to the Journal of the Franklin Institute to show that seven of the members of the Committee, whose |