the back and other parts of the body have transverse spots of brown and white so disposed as to have some resemblance to a string of English beads; whence probably it takes its name. It is quite harmless, and is a native of Virginia and Carolina. 3. C. aspis, with 146 scuta and forty-six scutellæ, is a native of France. It is poisonous, and is of a reddish color, with dusky spots on the back. 4. C. berus, or the common British viper, is found in many countries of Europe. It abounds in the Hebrides, and in many parts of Britain; particularly in the dry, stony, and chalky counties. According to Pennant, and other naturalists, they are viviparous, but proceed from an internal egg. This viper seldom grows longer than two feet; though Pennant tells us he once saw a female, which is nearly a third larger than the male, nearly three feet long. The ground color of the male is a dirty yellow, that of the female deeper. Its back is marked the whole length with a series of rhomboidal black spots, touching each other at the points; the sides with triangular ones; the belly entirely black. It has 146 scuta and thirtynine scutellæ. There is a variety wholly black; but the rhomboid marks are very conspicuous, even in this, being of a deeper and more glossy hue than the rest. The head of the viper is inflated, which distinguishes it from the common snake. Catesby says, 'that the difference between the vipers and snakes or other serpents is, that the former have long hollow fangs or tusks, with an opening near the point; the neck is small, the head broad, the cheeks extending wide, scales rough, the body for the most part flat and thick; they are slow of motion; swell the head and neck when irritated, and have a terrible and ugly aspect.' The tongue is forked, the teeth small; the four canine teeth are. placed two on each side the upper jaw: these instruments of poison are long, crooked, and movable; capable of being raised or depressed at the pleasure of the animal, and they instil their poison in the same manner. The vipers are said not to arrive at their full growth till they are six or seven years old; but they are capable of engendering at two or three. They copulate in May, and go about three months with their young. Mr. White informs us, in his History of Selborue, that a viper, which he opened, had in it fifteen young ones of the size of earth worms, about seven inches long. They twisted and wriggled about with great alertness; and, when touched, they erected themselves, and gaped very wide, showing immediate tokens of menace and defiance, though no fangs could be perceived, even with the help of glasses: which the author remarks, as an instance among others of that wonderful instinct which impresses young animals with a notion of the situation and use of their natural weapons, even before these weapons are formed. Mr. Pennant tells us that he has been assured of a fact mentioned by Sir Thomas Brown, though denied by the viper-catchers, that the young of the viper, when terrified, will run down the throat of the parent, and seek for shelter in its belly, in the same manner as the young of the opossum retire into the ventral pouch of the old one; whence VOL. VI. some have imagined that the viper is so unnatural as to devour its own young: but the food of these serpents is frogs, toads, lizards, and mice. It is also said that vipers prey on young birds: but whether on such as nestle on the ground, or whether they climb up trees for them, is quite uncertain; the fact, however, is very far from being recent; as Horace mentions it, Epod I. The viper is capable of supporting very long abstinence; some having been kept in a box six months without food, and yet not abating of their vivacity. They feed only a small part of the year, but never during their confinement; for if mice, their favorite diet, should at that time be thrown into their box, though they will kill, yet they never will eat them. When at liberty, they remain torpid throughout the winter; but, when confined, have never been observed to take their annual repose. The method of catching them is by putting a cleft stick on or near their head; after which they are seized by the tail, and instantly put into a bag. The viper-catchers are very frequently bitten by them in the pursuit of their business, yet we very rarely hear of their bite being fatal. Sallad oil, applied in time, is said to be a certain remedy. The flesh of the British viper has been celebrated as a restorative, as well as that of the foreign kind. 5. C. chersea is a native of Sweden, where it is called asping. It is a small reddish serpent, whose bite is said to be mortal. 6. C. constrictor, the black snake, is a native of several parts of America. They are very long, sometimes measuring six feet, and all over of a shining black. This species is not only perfectly harmless, but extremely useful in clearing the houses of rats, which it pursues with wonderful agility. In the time of copulation it is extremely bold and fierce, and will attack mankind; but its bite has no dangerous effect. It is so swift that there is no escaping its pursuit. Many ridiculous frights have happened from this innocent reptile. As every one in America is full of the dread of the rattlesnake, men are apt to fly at the sight of any of the serpent kind. This pursues, soon overtakes, and, by twisting round the legs of the fugitive, soon brings him to the ground; but he happily receives no injury. 7. C. luridus of Forster, called by Mr. Catesby the brown viper, is a native of Virginia and the Carolinas. It is about two feet long and large in proportion; very slow in its motion, even when threatened with danger. When attacked it defends itself with much fierceness, and its bite is as venomous as any. It preys chiefly upon lizards. 8. C. naja, or cobradi capello, with 193 scuta and sixty scutellæ, is a native of the East Indies, and is reckoned the most poisonous of all serpents. The root of the lignum colubrinum (ophiorrhiza) is said to have been pointed out to the Indians as an antidote against the bite of this serpent by the viverra ichneumon, a creature which fights with this serpent, and cures itself, when wounded, by eating of this plant. The Indians, when bitten, instantly chew it, swallow the juice, and apply the masticated root to the puncture. It is killed by the ichneumon. In India it is everywhere exhibited publicly as P show, being previously deprived of its fangs; and is of course more universally known in that country than any other of the race of reptiles. It is carried about in a covered basket, and so managed by its proprietors as to assume, when exhibited, a kind of dancing motion; raising itself up on its lower part, and alternately moving its head and body from side to side for some minutes, to the sound of some musical instrument which is played during the time. 9. C. prester of Linnæus, the black viper of Catesby, is a native of Carolina and Virginia. It is short and thick, slow of motion, spreads its head surprisingly when irritated, very flat and thick, threatening with a horrid hiss. They are very poisonous; their bite being as deadly as that of the rattlesnake. They frequent the higher lands, and are of a rusty black color. 10. C. punctatus of Linnæus, called by Catesby the water viper, is a native of Carolina. According to Linnæus it is ash-colored, variegated with yellow spots. Catesby informs us that the head and back of this serpent are brown; the belly marked transversely with yellow, and also the sides of the neck. The neck is small, the head large, and the mouth armed with the destructive fangs of the viper or rattlesnake, next to which it is reckoned the largest serpent in this country. Contrary to what is observed in most other vipers, these are very nimble and active, and very dexterous in catching fish. In summer great numbers are seen lying on the branches of trees hanging over rivers; from which, on the approach of a boat, they drop into the water, and often into the boat on the men's heads. They lie in wait in this manner to surprise either birds or fish: after the latter they plunge with surprising swiftness, and catch some of a large size, which they bring ashore and swallow whole. The tail of this animal is small towards the end, and terminates in a blunt horny point about half an inch long. 11. C. vipera, the common viper of the shops, has 118 scuta, and only twenty-two scutellæ. The body is very short and of a pale color, with brownish spots; the head is gibbous and covered with small scales. It is a native of Egypt and other warm countries. It has always been remarkable for its poisonous nature; insomuch that vipers, when numerous, have often been thought the ministers of divine vengeance, like the plague, famine, and other national calamities. A notion also prevailed, among the ancients, that few or none of the parts of a viper were free from poison; for which reason they made no experiments or discoveries concerning the nature of these creatures. It is now, however, proved, by undoubted experiments, that the poison of vipers, as well as of all other serpents whose bite is hurtful, lies in a bag at the bottom of their great teeth or fangs. These teeth are perforated; and, when the creature bites, the compression of the bag forces out a little drop of the poison into the wound, where it produces its mischievous effects. The purpose answered by this poisonous liquor, to the creatures themselves, is probably the destruction of their prey; for, as serpents frequently upon animals of very considerable magnitude and strength, they would often undoubtedly make feed their escape, did not the poisonous juice instilled into the wounds made by the serpent's teeth almost instantly deprive them of life, or at least of all power to struggle with their enemy. For an account of the symptoms produced by the bites of vipers, and other venomous serpents, in the human body, together with the best methods of cure, see MEDICINE. After the viper is deprived of those bags which contain its poison, it is entirely harmless; nay the flesh of it is highly nutritive. CO'LUBRINE, adj. Lat. colubrinus. Relating to a serpent; cunning; crafty. COLUMBA, in ornithology, the pigeon, a genus belonging to the order of passeres. The characters of this genus are-the bill is straight, and descends towards the point; the nostrils are oblong, and half covered with a soft tumid membrane; and the tongue is not cloven. There are about eighty species, all natives of different countries. The following are the most remarkable: 1. C. coronata, or great crowned pigeon, a very large species, about the size of a turkey. The bill is black, and two inches long; the irides are red; the head, neck, breast, belly, sides, thighs, and under tail coverts, cinereous blue; the head is crested; the back, rump, scapulars, and upper tail coverts, are of a deep ash-color, with a mixture of purplish chestnut on the upper part of the back and scapulars; the wing-coverts are ash colored within, and purplish chestnut on the outside and tip; quills deep blackish ashcolor; tail the same, but of a light ash-color at the tip; the legs are blackish. This species inhabits the Molucca Isles and New Guinea. Its note is cooing and plaintive, like that of other pigeons, only louder in proportion. The mournful notes of these birds alarmed the crew of Bougainville much, when in the neighbourhood of them, thinking they were the cries of the human species. In France they were never observed to lay eggs, nor in Holland, though they were kept for some time; but Scopoli says, that the male approaches the female with the head bent into the breast, making a noise more like lowing than cooing; and that they not only made a nest on trees, in the menagerie where they were kept, but laid eggs. The nest was composed of hay and stalks. The female never sat, but stood upon the eggs; and he supposed it was from this cause alone, that there was no produce. They are said to be kept by some, in the East Indies, in their court-yards, as domestic poultry. The Dutch at the Moluccas call them crown-vogel, M. Sonnerat, as well as Dampier, found these in plenty at New Guinea; and it is probable that they were originally transported from that place into Banda, whence the Dutch chiefly now procure them. 2. C. Malaccensis, the Malacca pigeon described by Sonnerat is little bigger than the house sparrow. It is a most beautiful species, and the flesh is said to be extremely delicate. It has been transported into the Isle of France, where it has multiplied exceedingly. 3. C. migratoria, or pigeon of passage, is about the size of an English wood pigeon; the bill black; iris red; the head of a dusky blue; the breast and belly of a faint red; above the shoulder of the wing there is a patch of feathers shining like gold; the wing is covered like the head, having some few spots of black (except that the larger feathers are dark brown), with some white on the exterior vanes; the tail is very long, and covered with a black feather, under which the rest are white; the legs and feet are red. They come in prodigious numbers from the north, to winter in Virginia and Carolina. In these countries they roost upon one another's backs in such quantities, that they often break down the twigs of trees which support them, and leave their dung some inches thick below the trees. In Virginia Mr. Catesby has seen them fly in such continued trains, for three days successively, that they were not lost sight of for the least interval of time, but somewhere in the air they were seen continuing their flight southward. They breed in rocks by the sides of rivers and lakes far north of St. Lawrence. They fly to the south only in hard winters, and are never known to return. 4. C. oenas, or the domestic pigeon, and all its beautiful varieties, derive their origin from one species, the stock dove; the English name implying its being the stock or stem from whence the other domestic birds spring. These birds, as Varro observes, take their Latin name, columba, from their voice of cooing. They were, and still are, to be found in most parts of our island in a state of nature; but probably the Romans first taught the Britons how to construct pigeon houses, and make birds domestic. The characters of the domestic pigeon are these:-it is of a deep bluish ash-color; the breast dashed with a fine changeable green and purple; the sides of the neck with a shining copper color; its wings marked with two black bars, one on the coverts of the wings, the other on the quill feathers; the back white, and the tail barred near the end with black. It weighs fourteen ounces. In the wild state it breeds in holes of rocks and hollows of trees; for which reason, some style it columoa cavernalis, in opposition to the ring dove, which makes its nest on the boughs of trees. Nature always preserves some agreement in the manners, characters, and colors of birds reclaimed from the wild state. This species of pigeon soon takes to build in artificial cavities, and from the temptation of a ready provision becomes easily domesticated. Multitudes of these wild birds migrate into the south of England: and, while the beech woods were suffered to cover large tracts of ground, they used to haunt them in myriads, reaching a mile in length, as they went cut in the morning to feed. They visit Britain the latest of any bird of passage, not appearing till November, and retiring in the spring. Mr. Pennant imagines, that their summer haunts are in Sweden, as Mr. Eckmark makes their retreat thence coincide with their arrival in Britain. Numbers of them, however, breed in cliffs on the coast of Wales, and of the Hebrides. The varieties produced from the domestic breed are numerous, and extremely elegant; they are distinguished by names expressive of their several properties, as tumblers, carriers, jacobines, croppers, powters, runte, turbites, owls, nuns, &c. The most celebrated of these is the carrier pigeon. They are gregarious, lay only two eggs, and breed many times in the year. They bill during their courtship; the male and female sit, and also feed their young, by turns: they cast provision out of their craw into the young one's mouth; they drink, not by sipping, like other birds, but by continued draughts, like quadrupeds, and they have plaintive notes. 5. C. palumbus, the ring dove, is a native of Europe and Asia. It is the largest pigeon we have, and might be distinguished from all others by its size alone. Its weight is about twenty ounces; its length eighteen inches, and breadth thirty. The head, back, and covers of the wings are of a bluish ash color; the lower side of the neck and breast are of a purplish red, dashed with ash color: on the hind part of the neck is a semicircular line of white; above and beneath that, the feathers are glossy, and of changeable colors. This species forms its nest of a few dry sticks in the boughs of trees. Attempts have been made to domesticate them by hatching their eggs under the common pigeon in dove houses; but, as soon as they could fly, they always took to their native haunts. In the beginning of winter they assemble in great flocks, and leave off cooing, which they begin in March when they pair. 6. C. turtur, or turtle-dove, is a native of India. The length is twelve inches and a half, its breadth twenty-one; the weight four ounces. The irides are of a fine yellow, and the eye-lids encompassed with a beautiful crimson circle. The chin and forehead are whitish; the top of the head ashcolored mixed with olive. On each side of the neck is a spot of black feathers prettily tipt with white: the back ash-colored, bordered with olive brown; the scapulars and coverts of a reddish brown spotted with black; the breast of a light purplish red, having the verge of each feather yellow: the belly white. The tail is three inches and a half long; the two middle feathers of a dusky brown; the others black, with white tips; the end and exterior side of the outmost feathers wholly white. In the breeding season these birds are found in Buckinghamshire, Gloucestershire, Shropshire, and the west of England. They are very shy and retired, breeding in thick woods, generally of oak; in autumn they migrate into other countries. COLUMBA (St.), a celebrated saint, sometimes called the Apostle of Scotland, who flourished in the sixth century. He founded a cell of monks in Iona, and the first religious were canons regular, of whom Columba was the first abbot; and his monks, till A. D. 716, differed from those of the church of Rome, but in the observation of Easter, and in the clerical tonsure, Columba led here an examplary life, and was highly respected for the sanctity of his manners for many years. He is the first on record who had the faculty of the second sight, for he announced the victory of Aidan over the Picts and Saxons on the very instant it happened. He had the honor of burying in his island, Conval and Kinnatel, two kings of Scotland, and of crowning a third. At length, worn out with age, he died in Iona in the arms of his disciples; was interred there, but (as the Irish pretend) in after times P 2 COLUMBANUS, a saint and a poet, born in Ireland, and brought up to a religious life among the disciples of St. Columba. He made great progress in learning, and early in life composed a book of psalms, and a number of moral poems. He is said to have belonged originally to a monastery of the name of Benchor. Columbanus passed from Britain into France, A. D. 589, and founded the monastery of Luxéville, near Besançon. He had been kindly received and patronised by king Childebert; but he was afterwards expelled France by the tyrannical queen Brunichild, on which he retired to Lombardy, and founded the monastery of Bobio. The Regula Cœnobialis and Penitentialis, which he established in that monastery, have been published in the Codex Regularum compiled by the learned Holstenius. COLUMBARIA, in ancient geography, an island on the west coast of Sicily, opposite to Drepanum; said by Zonarias to have been taken from the Carthaginians by Numerius Fabius the consul; now called Columbara. COʻLUMBARY, n. s. Lat. columbarium. A dovecot; a pigeon-house. The earth of columbaries, or dove-houses, is much desired in the artice of saltpetre. Browne's Vulgar Errours. COLUMBIA, a county of New York, bounded on the north by Rensselaer, south by Duchess, east by the state of Massachusetts, and west by Hudson River, which divides it from Albany county. It is thirty-two miles in length, and twenty-two in b.adth, and is divided into eight towns, of which Hudson, Claverack, and Kinderhook are the chief. It is said to contain an area of 594 square miles, or 380,160 acres, which gives about fifty-four persons to a square mile, and is one of the most flourishing portions of the United States. Although no part can be called mountainous, the surface is considerably diversified. On the eastern border is a hilly track, and the intermediate country to the Hudson is gently undulated, ranges of small hillocks being interspersed with extensive plains and valleys, and with many tracts of rich alluvial soil. In the southward the soil is a deep warm gravel, diversified with hill and dale, and adapted either for grain or pasture. It contains 3742 senatorial electors. continent, and terminate in the St. Lawrence. Although the discovery of this river is claimed by the Spaniards, who call it Entrada de Ceta, it was first entered in modern times in 1791, by Mr. Gray, in the Columbia, and by this name it nas since been called. Lieutenant Broughton, under the orders of Captain Vancouver, afterwards explored it for about 100 miles; and on the land side it was navigated a considerable way from its source by Mackenzie, in his journey across the continent. He found numerous rapids and falls; but as the stream enlarged the navigation was less impeded. Messrs. Lewis and Clarke entered this river at the point where it is joined by Lewis's River, in lat 46° 15′ 13′′ N. and descended the stream to the ocean. COLUMBIA, a county of Georgia, bounded on the north and east by the savannah, which separates it from the state of South Carolina, northwest of Richmond county. Its shape is very irregular. COLUMBIA, an extensive territory, in the most centrical part of the United States, where the new city of Washington, the permanent seat of the general government, since 1800, is now building, in a situation equi-distant from the north and south extremities of the Federal Union, and nearly so from Pittsburgh and the Atlantic Ocean. Mr. Morse styles it a commercial territory, probably the richest, and commanding the most extensive internal resources of any in America.' COLUMBIA, a post town of Virginia, in Goochland county, on the North side of James River, at the mouth of the Rivanni. It lies fortyfive miles above Richmond, thirty-five from Charlottesville, and 328 south-west of Philadelphia. COLUMBIA, a post town of South Carolina, the capital of Kershaw county, and the seat of government in that state. It is situated in Camden district, on the east side of the Congaree, just below the confluence of Saluda and Broad Rivers. The streets are regular, and the town has doubled its population very rapidly. It lies 115 miles N. N.W. of Charleston, thirtyfive south-west of Camden, eighty-five from Augusta, in Georgia, and 678 south-west of Philadelphia. COLUMBIA, a town of Pennsylvania, in Lancaster county, on the north-east bank of the Susquehanna, at Wright's Ferry, ten miles west of Lancaster, and seventy-six west by north of Philadelphia. It was laid out in 1797. COLUMBIA, a town in the north-western territory, on the north bank of the Ohio, and on the west side of the mouth of Little Miami River, about six miles south-east by east of Fort Washington, eight east by south of Cincinnati, and eighty-seven north by west of Lexington, in Kentucky. Long. 83° 34′ W., lat. 49° 20′ N. COLUMBIA RIVER, a river of North America, which, according to Mackenzie, rises in the COLUMBIA, a township in Washington county, Rocky Mountains, in about 54° 23′ N. lat., and and district of Maine, on Pleasant River, ad121° W. long., and falls into the Pacific Ocean joining Machias on the north-east. It was inin 46° 10' N. lat., and 122° 45′ W. long. Its corporated in 1796. It is nine miles from source is not more than a few miles from that of Steuben. the Unijah or Peace River, whose waters communicate with that great line of rivers and lakes which stretch across this part of the American COLUMBIC ACID, in chemistry, a white colored substance, procured from columbium, a peculiar ore, deposited in the British Museum; |