T RAV

PECULIARITIES OF B'IRD8. 207lüs mind the imagery of a vast tract of bog there, in an arid sun.. burntseason, and an intense summer's day, without a cloud in the horizon,with here and there remotely dispersed groups of about twenty stacksof piled turf placed irregularly together ;. or let them fancy themselN'esplacedin a circleround 'a central one, with a great herd of cattle not:Remote, and, hardIy a human being visible ;. and he. may thus conveythe g.eneral idea ofan Arab country1Yf.A gentleman of the party this clay shot a bird which· put the sRillin orn~thology o~ the whole to the blush. lt was considerably largerthan ared-legged partridge;. ofthe same plumage, had three cIawsandnoheel, and was, as observed, unknown to our sportsmen eitherofEngl'and,ofthe Highlands, or of Haly. This particuJarof destitution ofa heel is curious,as an ins'tance bf the regulations of Nature, butis.N'erygeneral througbout the feathered creaÜon of this continent. Thus arethey pre-doomed to waJk the eartb, and precluded from, climhing. Intracts bare of trees·thç heel would. be a use1ess annexation; and Natl1recioes nothing in vain.. Arewe then to iufer that foliage is,lorbidden tothe vastplàins ofthi8 continent? The disquisition lcads too far; butsnch arc the facts, and they present an ample opening. How can menlaunch into the immensities of metaphysics, when Nature presents· tothern so much matter of unexpected investigation, of closer interest2'l'he heat reftected.Jrom these sultry tracts drives the partridges,. horeeontrary to the.habits oftheir species, to perchduring the day.in. trees."Ve halted at evening hy a fine spring. T)le soilof the country hithertocontinues tenaciou's day, but of a le;s.metaUic tinge. lt is abundantly~:li< The Arab women bring to mind the expression of Athanasius Kircher of those of the Tartartribes-" tantas tunicas dicm"es." The extensivepracticeof tat,aowing seems to mark this peopM.Qf; Japhetian or EastScythie, derivation.