last-mentioned Birds afford the greatest assistance in springing into the air.

10. The vent feathers and under-tail coverts, that extend from the anus or vent to the tail underneath. These feathers are much longer in some tribes of Birds than others. Those that have a constant habit of flirting up their tails-like, for example, the Rallus Carolinus, and several species of small shore Birds— have the vent feathers unusually well developed.

The tail feathers are various in size and numbers, and are generally the most ornamental part of a Bird. The tail performs the most necessary office in the navigation of the Bird through the air; in fact, it is the rudder by which the course of the Bird is determined, and acts in concert with the will of the Bird as freely as a ship obeys her helm.

11. Loral space. The space between the bill and eye.

12. Frons.-The forehead.

13. Corona.-Crown of the head.

14. Occiput.--The hind part of the head.

15. Flexure.-Bend of the wing.

16. Tarsi.-Shanks of the legs.

17. Tibia.-Thigh.

The upper and lower bills are called the superior and inferior maxilla, or upper and lower mandibles.

Iris-irides.-The colored circle surrounding the pupil of the

eye.

Mentum.-The chin.

Guttur.-The throat.

Collum.-The neck.

Pectus.-The breast.

In measurement, the total length means from point of bill to the end of middle tail feathers. Length of the wings means from the bend of the wing to the end of the longest quill feather.

THE keenest sense of feeling through the medium of the plumage is indispensably necessary to the well-being of all the feathered race.

The feathers, it is true, in themselves, like several other portions of the body, such for example as the nails, claws, beak, and hoofs, have no real sensation or actual appreciation of the sense of touch; still, they are enabled by the nicest possible organization to convey the most delicate impressions to those functions of the animal economy that do feel.

If such a wise provision of Nature did not exist, what, we might ask, would become of all the numerous Nocturnal Birds that seek their food only during the dark hours of night? The whole tribe most indubitably would soon be killed off by striking themselves against the various obstacles that they necessarily encounter in their midnight rambles. This acute sensibility on the part of feathers to outward impressions, is not, perhaps, as essential for those Birds that fly only in the broad daylight, as it is to the numerous variety of Owls, Bats,

&c., that seek their prey solely during the lonely hours of darkness.

Nevertheless, a certain degree of this delicacy of perception is absolutely requisite even for them to secure their safety whilst performing rapid flights through the thickets and forests that they most generally inhabit or take shelter in. This, then, being the case, is it not reasonable to infer that the feathers should at all times be in the highest state of perfection? This, however, would not be attained, if they were not shed or renewed from time to time, as they necessarily must become soiled, dried, broken, and ultimately totally unfit for this nice. service by the constant exposure they are subjected to, as well as the many accidents they must encounter.

To remedy these evils, or rather to make provision for such casualties, Nature, ever provident in all her works, very wisely ordains that the feathered race shall moult, or, in other words, shed their plumage entire once or twice a year. The simple shedding of the feathers is not the only precaution that a beneficent Providence has established for the preservation of these, the most extensive and beautiful portion of his creations. For we may here also notice the remarkable changes that take place in the tints of the plumage, more especially in those Birds that remain in the northern latitudes during the long and bleak winters. Many of them, from the most sombre hues of spring and summer, become pied, or even pure white; thus cunningly adapting themselves to the pervading color of the objects by which they are surrounded, they are the better able to conceal themselves from the attacks of their many prowling enemies that are now driven to great extremes for food. The protec tion afforded Birds as well as many of the smaller quadrupeds in this alteration of the color of their plumage and pelage from the aggressions of their more powerful foes is not the only benefit that results from this wise providence; as the chilling effects of constant exposure to the excessive cold of those hibernal regions are somewhat abated by the transition to white, from the well-established fact that a surface purely white reflects heat far more copiously than a dark one; and consequently it is not difficult for us to infer that, in like manner, it prevents any undue waste of the animal heat by radiation.

The moulting of Birds is very gradual, and few of them are ever so bare of feathers as to prevent them from taking wing, and even flying long distances.

The time of shedding the feathers varies in the different species, and in different climes; some moult late in the summer, some in the early autumn, and some in the early spring.

The summer or autumnal moult is always the most complete, the perennial is generally only a change of color of some portions of the plumage, and not a thorough shedding of the feathers.

Those Birds, as well as water-fowl, that extend their migrations far to the North, for the purposes of procreation, receive their fresh plumage after the period of incubation has entirely passed by, so that they come out fresh and entirely freed from all the filth and vermin that their previous sedentary occupations may have entailed on them.

THE Technical terms adopted by writers on Sporting should be perfectly familiar to every Sportsman, and ought to be made use of on all occasions, when the Sports of the field are the subject of conversation. Many of our Sporting acquaintances are most wofully deficient in a knowledge of these terms, and consequently are eternally making the most egregious blunders in their vain efforts to appear au fait in all that pertains to the Dog and Gun. A few minutes of reflection and study, my patient friends, will make you all proficients in these scientific terms; therefore remain no longer in ignorance, even if it be bliss.

A brace of Pointers or Setters.

A leash of แ

A couple of Spaniels.

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A couple and a half of Spaniels.