4. The fourth order is entitled Glires. The principal cha racter of the animals of this order consists in a pair of very conspicuous, strong, and lengthened teeth, placed close together in the front of both jaws. They have no canine teeth, but are furnished with grinders on each side. This order comprehends Beavers, Mice, Squirrels, Hares, and other genera.

5. The fifth order, named Pecora, contains all the Cattle, commonly so called, as Oxen, Sheep, Goats, and others. It also comprises the Camelopardi, the Deer tribe, the Antelopes, the Musk, and a few others. The animals of this order have no fore-teeth in the upper jaw, but six or eight in the under jaw. They have four stomachs: they are hoofed, and the hoofs are divided in the middle; and excepting the camel, they have two false hoofs, which in walking do not touch the ground. Such as have horns, have no tusks; and such as have tusks, have no horns. Another characteristic belonging to most of this tribe of Mammalia, is the power of rumination, that is, of throwing up into the mouth at intervals, a portion of food which has been hastily swallowed during feeding, in order that it may undergo a more complete grinding by the teeth. The whole order Pecora, without a single exception, feeds en tirely on vegetable food.

6. The sixth order is denominated Bellua, and includes four genera only, viz. the Equus or Horse, the Hippopotamus, the Sus or Hog, and the Tahir. The animals of this order have obtuse fore-teeth in each jaw: they have the singular property of breathing through the nostrils, and not through the mouth.

7. The seventh order is called Cete, of which the animals have pectoral fins instead of feet; the tail is horizontal, and flattened. They have many peculiarities. Being warm-blooded animals, and breathing air like quadrupeds, and yet destined to live in the water, their nostrils are situated on the top of their heads; so that by rising to the surface of the water, they take in air, and expire, without raising their heads out of water.

The fat, or blubber, as it is called, of these animals, is entirely lodged on the surface of their bodies under the skin, serving as a warm covering, and preserving their heat, which the constant application of cold water would otherwise soon dissipate. The genera are the Monodon, Balæna, Physeter, and Delphinus.

II. The second class of animals is denominated AVES, or birds; and the branch of science which considers and describes these animals, their natures and kinds, their forms, external and internal, and which teaches their economy and uses, is called ORNITHOLOGY. Birds have been defined as two footed animals, covered with feathers, and furnished with wings. Like the mammalia they have warm blood, a heart with two ventricles and two auricles, and lungs for the purposes of respiration. They are however distinguished from them by their feet, feathers, wings, and horny bill, as well as by the circumstance of the females laying eggs.

The feathers with which birds are covered, are analogous in their nature to the hair of quadrupeds. Beneath the common feathers or general plumage, the skin in birds is immediately covered with a much finer or softer feathery substance, called down. The external or common feathers, are called by different names, on different parts of the animal. The longest of the wing feathers, which are generally ten in number in each wing, are called the first or great quills, or the remiges primores, as being the chief oars or guiders. The feathers, constituting the middle part of the wing, are called secondaries, or second quills, and are more numerous than the first: the feathers descending along each side of the back, are called scapula feathers: the small feathers covering the shoulders are called smaller wing coverts; the next series to these are denominated the larger wing coverts, and at the edge of the shoulder are a few rather strong and slightly lengthened feathers, constituting what is called the false or spurious wing. The tail, in most birds, consists of twelve feathers, in some there are only ten, and in others there are eighteen, twenty, and twenty-four.

Sometimes on each side the tail, or above it, at the lower part of the back, are placed several long feathers of a different structure from the rest.

The eyes of birds are more or less convex in the different tribes, and in general it may be observed that the sense of sight is more acute in birds than in most other animals; and they seem to possess a greater degree of power in accommodating the convexity of the eye to any particular distance, than other animals. They have no outward ear, but the internal one is formed on the same general plan as in quadrupeds.

The bill in all birds consists of two mandibles, the upper and lower, the former is uniformly fixed, except in the genus of parrots, which have the power of moving the upper mandible to assist them in climbing. No birds have teeth, but some have serrated mandibles, the serræ, however are not immersed in the sockets. There is a considerable difference in the form of their feet, according to their manner of life. Hence their feet have obtained various technical names, as they are fitted for perching, walking, running, swimming, or diving. For perching, those seem best adapted, which have three toes in the front part of the foot, and one backward; with the two outward toes partly connected by a membrane; among those that walk, this membrane is not to be found. Birds used to swimming, have their feet wholly palmated, or pinnated, or semi-palmated.

Birds are divided by Linnæus into six orders, viz. 1. Accipitres or predacious birds; such as Vultures, Eagles, Hawks, Owls, &c. The general appearance of these birds of prey, bespeaks their character, and their mode of procuring sustenance. Their beaks are hooked, strong, and notched at the point; and the neck is strong and muscular, to enable them to strike their prey with force. Their legs are short and strong, and their talons sharp and crooked, to force down, and keep their prey on the ground, or grasp it in their claws, and soar away with it. Their sight is so piercing, that when so high as

to be almost out of human sight, they can descry their prey upon the ground; and their flight is so rapid, that they can dart upon it with the celerity of a meteor.

2. Pica, or pies, containing all the birds of the Crow and Jay kind, the Parrots, the Wood-peckers, the King-fishers, and many others. This order includes birds of very different habits. Some of them feed on grass, worms, and insects: some on fruit and berries: some on fish; and some on insects. The humming-bird extracts its food from flowers, with its forked tongue, and rooks are remarkably fond of grubs and beetles, particularly of the cock-chafer.

3. The third order, Anseres, comprehends all kinds of water-fowl. The webbed feet of these birds are admirably adapted to assist them in swimming; and the greater quantity of oil secreted by the glands near the tail, and rubbed by means of their bills over all the feathers of their body, enables them to live on the water, without ever being very wet. The birds of this order live mostly on fish, and some have been trained to the catching of fish for the use of their masters. Most of the water-fowl are birds of passage with us, and leave the lakes of Sweden, Denmark and Lapland, where they breed in summer, to visit our warmer climate during the rigour of winter. They fly in large flocks, and always preserve a certain order during their flight.

4. The next order of birds is denominated Gralle or Waders, consisting of all the Heron tribe, the Curlews, the Plovers, and other numerous tribes which have long legs, and frequent watery situations. Their bills are very long, and in many their necks are likewise of a remarkable length, to enable them to search in moist, boggy, and marshy places for the food which is best adapted to their nature. The heron is a great devourer of fish: the wood-cock and snipe live wholly on insects, for the taking of which their bills are very nicely adapted: the plovers live on worms. The Bustard, and some few others, live chiefly on herbs and grain.

5. The next order is denominated Gallina, or such as

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are more or less allied to the common domestic fowl; and consequently contains the Pheasant and Partridge tribe, the Peacock, Turkey, and a variety of other birds. The common cock and hen are supposed to have been originally transported from India, where they are still occasionally found in a state of nature. Though not found in America, when that continent was first explored by Europeans, the common fowl has, by its fecundity, already become as plentiful there as in Europe. America, in return for these, has given us the turkey, which is now domesticated all over Europe. The peacock is a native of India: the guinea-fowl, of Africa; and the Pheasant, though not domesticated, but living wild in our woods, is not originally a British bird.

6. Passeres, or the sparrow tribe, includes a vast variety of birds, which are generally small; and among them are all the songsters and warblers of our groves and thickets. The food of this order of birds is either berries, fruit, and occasionally grain; or insects, and the eggs and larvæ of insects.

III. The animals of the third CLASS of the animal kingdom called Amphibia, are very remarkable both for their singular external appearance, and internal conformation. They are oviparous, and differ from the viviparous quadrupeds, and also from birds, in the structure of the heart and lungs: they have the singular property of being able to suspend the function of respiration, and can perform it in a more arbitrary manner than other animals.

The characteristic of this class being a peculiarity of internal organization, it is not at all surprizing that the animals which it comprehends, should agree more in certain propensities and habits, than in external appearance: accordingly it contains some that resemble fishes, as the shark and skate; and others that more nearly resemble quadrupeds, as the tortoise and crocodile; and others that in general appearance resemble no class of animals, as snakes and serpents; some of which can move with equal ease on land or in water, though they have neither feet nor fins. The points of agreement in the