the raging blast, now stooping to the angry waves, and now shooting upward toward the clouds, as if enjoying a frolic. At night, they usually repose by sitting on the water. They breed on the rocky coasts, especially of the islands of Europe and America; the eggs are two, of a soiled white. When engaged in incubation, they may be taken off their nests with the hand. The appearance of these birds at sea has been supposed to portend stormy weather, and they are therefore not welcome visitors to sailors, who call them Devil's Birds, Witches, and Mother Carey's Chickens. The last title is said to have been originally bestowed upon them by Captain Carteret's sailors, probably from some celebrated ideal hag of that name. Their habit of paddling along the surface of the water obtained for them the name of Petrel, from the Apostle Peter, who walked upon the water. Other species are the FORK-TAILED PETREL, T. Leachii, found on our coast from Massachusetts to Baffin's Bay: WILSON'S STORMY PETREL, T. Wilsonii, found along the Atlantic coast of North America: HORNBY'S PETREL, T. Hornbyi, and the BLACK STORMY PETREL, T. melania, both found on the northwest coast of North America. The BLACK-AND-WHITE STORMY PETREL, Fregetta Lawrence, is found on the coast of Florida. The habits of all are similar to those of the Stormy Petrel we have described. It is probably to the birds of this species-the fearless riders of the storm and the tempest that the poet Brainard refers in the following powerful lines: THE SEA-BIRD'S SONG. "On the deep is the mariner's danger, On the deep is the mariner's death; The sea-bird, sea-bird, sea-bird, "Who watches their course, who so mildly "Who hovers on high o'er the lover, And her who has clung to his neck? "My eye in the light of the billow, My wing in the wake of the wave; I shall take to my breast for a pillow 'My foot on the iceberg has lighted When hoarse the wild winds veer about; My eye, when the bark is benighted, Sees the lamp of the light-house go out! The sea-bird, sea-bird, sea-bird, FOSSIL BIRDS. In a former part of our work we have spoken of the remains of the gigantic Moa or Diornis, found in New Zealand, which, with other facts, has led to the opinion that this great island, together with Norfolk Island, Chatham Island, and others in that quarter, are but the mountain tops of a continent, now sunk beneath the ocean, but formerly peopled with birds of strange forms, of which we now only find the bones, or a few scattered and nearly extinct species. Probably there were also other animals there as peculiar as these birds. We have noticed the remains of the gigantic Epiornis of Madagascar, as well as those of other species of birds found on the island of Rodriguez. But all these are supposed to be of comparatively recent origin. The bones of birds of high geological antiquity have not been found in great numbers, probably because they are hollow and easily destroyed, and because, also, by their means of flight, birds have generally been able to escape those great convulsions of nature, such as floods, landslides, &c., which have ingulfed the larger animals, whose bones are so abundant in the ancient deposits of soils and rocks. Their forms are also so light, that, aided by their feathers, they would naturally float on the surface of the waters, and thus decay and disappear. Nevertheless, in the tertiary deposits of India, France, and England, the bones of several genera of birds have been discovered. In the basin of Paris they have been met with in connection with the bones of the Palæothereum, &c.; in the chalkcliffs near Maidstone, England, the remains of a gigantic species of Albatross have been found, to which Mr. Owen has given the name of Cimoliornis Diomedeus. But although the bones of birds are thus deficient in the more ancient strata, their tracks have been discovered in various places in different countries, and under circumstances which prove that they must have been made thousands, perhaps millions of years ago. The most remarkable of these, or those which have been most thoroughly explored, are in the valley of Connecticut River. Professor Hitchcock, of Amherst College, Massachusetts, first drew attention to these curious relics, and he has, in various publications, given the result of his researches in this rich geological field. In 1858, in obedience to a public act, he made an elaborate report on the subject to the legislature of Massachusetts, which he entitles "Ichniology of New England." He here gives a great variety of details, and abundant plates, illustrative of the remains of which he treats, a copy FOOT-PRINT OF BRONTOZOUM GIGANTEUM-THE ORIGINAL of one of which we here insert. The general re EIGHTEEN INCHES LONG. sult of these researches he states as follows: "Let us now take a synoptical view of the species of animals that once lived in the Connecticut valley, as made known by their tracks. As already stated again and again in describing them, I expect that future discoveries will strike out some of these species; but my prediction is that they will bring a still larger number of new ones to light. What an amazing revelation is this! Animals totally unlike any that now exist in these localities, and whose likeness is only found in living species amid the eccentricities of Australia, once lived and flourished here! They were not only of strange forms-strange to these regions -but some of them strange to the world, and in some instances of enormous size. One of the VOL. II.-45. birds, called Brontozoum giganteum, of the cassowary kind, had a foot eighteen inches long, and must have weighed from four hundred to eight hundred pounds-four times the weight of the ostrich! And all these things are written on the ancient sandstone rocks, beneath the surface of the soil; and so certain, so minute is the record, that even the rain-drops that pattered on the sands while these creatures were living here, are imperishably preserved. And these things were written by the finger of God-who can doubt it? And who can doubt that Man-the being competent to read the record, and after the lapse of ages, actually present here to read it—is the object of care, of sympathy, to Him who alike made and preserved these inscriptions, and made and preserved and taught generations to interpret them? The poet has said, in respect to common objects which strike the mind on the surface of the earth "And this our life, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Shall not man, in view of these and other revelations of geology, rise to a higher life, which shall find something more than mere sermons in this Book of Rocks, with the imprint of the Almighty on its title-page? We have seen but the beginning; we know that mankind have but just entered upon this study, which ages on ages cannot exhaust. Yet how wonderful the record-and every page of it speaking of God, and tracing his footsteps while laying the foundations of the world, long, long before he walked with man in the Garden of Eden. Do we not, must we not derive this great good from such a view-the manifest truth that God made man to interpret his works; and does not the firm conviction follow, that a being thus endowed, is not limited to a transient existence, but is bound to immortality? How inevitable is the hope, how confident the anticipation of a future life-which shall unfold man's capacities, and give scope to man's destiny-springing up in the soul from such contemplations! And will not God fulfill the hopes thus inspired, and perform the promises thus implied? AY The Reptilia comprise four orders very distinct in some respects, though united in others: the CHELONIA, or Tortoises; the LORICATA, or Crocodiles; the SAURIA, or Lizards; and the OPHIDIA, or Serpents. These are generally regarded with little favor by mankind, but their natural history is nevertheless full of interest. With the exception of a few tortoises they are all carnivorous animals. They have all a slow circulation; their blood is cold, that is, but little above the temperature of the surrounding medium; the amount of their aggregate muscular energy is less than in the mammalia; their movements are generally crawling and swimming; and though some of them leap and run with celerity on certain occasions, their habits are generally sluggish, their digestion slow, their sensations obtuse, and in cold or temperate climates they pass nearly the whole winter in a state of lethargy; they continue to live and to execute voluntary movements for a considerable time after having been deprived of the brain, and even when the head is severed from the body. Their heart pulsates, in some cases, for many hours after it has been detached, and its loss does not deprive the body of mobility for a still longer period. Their blood not being warm, they do not require teguments capable of retaining heat; they are accordingly covered with shells, scales, or naked skin. No reptile incubates its eggs. In certain genera of batrachians there are some not fecundated until after they have been excluded; but it is otherwise with the animals of this class; in some of them, as the snakes, for instance, the young are already considerably advanced within the egg at the time the mother deposits it, and there are some species which may be rendered viviparous by retarding the laying of the eggs. Reptiles not only present extremely varied forms, but great diversity of character and modes of gait; Cuvier remarks that in their formation nature seems to have tried to imagine grotesque forms, and to have modified in every possible way the general plan adopted for vertebrated animals. ORDER 1. CHELONIA. The distinguishing characteristic of the Chelonian reptiles, and the one which in fact enables us to recognize them at the first glance, consists in their possession of a complete bony case, within which the head and limbs can generally be more or less completely retracted. This case consists of two large bony plates, the upper one, which is more or less convex, being called the Carapace, while the lower one, which is flat, is denominated the Plastron. These two plates are united at their lateral margins, leaving an anterior and posterior aperture for the protrusion of the head, tail, and limbs. At first view it would seem impossible to refer these singular animals to the ordinary vertebrate type, but a little examination of their anatomy, as represented by the annexed engraving, shows that their different parts are only modifications of the same general structure that we have seen to prevail throughout the preceding groups. In their general internal structure the Chelonia agree pretty closely with the other reptiles. The heart is composed of three cavities, the partition between the ventricles being very incomplete, so that the venous and arterial blood can mix freely in that cavity. The lungs are of very large size, and extend far into the cavity of the body; but as the ribs are immovable, respiration is effected by a process very analogous to swallowing. The tongue is short, fleshy, and completely movable; the ears are distinctly visible, and the eyes well formed, and furnished with movable lids. SKELETON OF A TURTLE. The Chelonian Reptiles are usually sluggish and inactive animals, the slowness of the terrestrial species being even proverbial. They are, however, exceedingly tenacious of life; they will live for a long period without any nourishment, and will even continue to give signs of life for some time after they have been deprived of their heads. They are found principally in the warmer regions of the earth, where they generally subsist upon vegetable substances, although many of the aquatic species also devour small animals. They are oviparous, and the eggs are covered with a hard shell. 1 This order, called Testudinata by many naturalists, is divided into five families: the CHELO |