The hoco goes by different names: it is called curasso in Brazil, and in Surinam it is called the powesa, and peacock pheasant; it is about the size of a common turkey; is a beautiful bird; the flesh is excellent; it is the crax alector of Linnæus. Scudder has a beautiful specimen in his museum. It is sold at Paramariebo for more than a guinea a-piece, and it ought to be naturalized here. The Peruvian hen, or crax rubra, has been introduced into England. The flesh is white, and esteemed good. The climate of that country is supposed not to be warm enough for it, as the toes are apt to rot off. Beside these, there are in Guiana and Brazil, a new species of dunghill hens from the interior, the yacon of Cayenne, which is larger than a fowl, and breeds in a domestic state, the dindon, or meleagris cristata of Linnæus, which inhabits Brazil, where it is tamed, and the flesh is much liked; the parraka of Buffon, and hannaquam of Bancroft, the size of a small fowl, its flesh good, and it is in a domestic state; and also le marail of Buffon, and marrodee of Bancroft, about the dimensions of a fowl. I am not certain but that some of these are the same bird under a different name. If our climate is too cold for them, they may answer in the southern states. It may also be considered a general rule that all birds of the Columba genus may be domesticated. Our poultry may, in this respect, be greatly improved, not only in variety, but in size. The great crowned Indian pigeon (Columba coronata) has been brought to Europe alive from the East Indies, where it is kept as domestic poultry. It is as large as a turkey. In Java, Celebes, and Ceylon, there are eighteen or twenty species of wood pigeons, some of which are as large as a small hen. We have no pheasant in this country. Governor Wentworth, of New Hampshire, brought several pairs of pheasants from England, and let them fly in his woods at Wolfborough, but they have not since been seen. It is the phasianus Colchicus of Linnæus, is the size of a fowl, and produces cross breeds with hens; this production is supposed to be the origin of the game cock. It appears from Hartlib's Legacy that in 1650 these birds were kept tame in great numbers, and he mentions a lady who raised two hundred one spring. The China pheasant (phasianus pictus) is a hardy, beautiful bird, and might be easily. naturalized: it breeds with common pheasants. Scudder has a bird of this kind, and the golden pheasant of the same country, in his museum. The golden pheasant, and a pheasant called the ring pheasant, a variety of the common one, have been found at large in England. The Padua cock and hen weigh from eight to ten pound, and is a variety of the phasianus gallus, or dunghill cock. The phasianus gallus exists in a wild state on some of the moors in the northern counties of Scotland; the eggs are nearly double the size of ordinary eggs. A variety of the tame kind has two toes behind, instead of one; of a large breed one has weighed fourteen pounds. Another frizzled variety has the feathers curled up; the flesh is firm and delicate; it is a tender kind, brought originally from the East Indies. The Turkish cocks and hens are said to differ from ours in the variety and beauty of their colours. Clavigero says, that there are two kinds of pheasants in Mexico, of the size of a goose, with a crest on their heads, which they can raise and depress at pleasure, that they are distinguishable by their colour, and some particular qualities. The first is called the royal pheasant, or coxolitti, and has a tawny coloured plumage, and its flesh is more delicate than that of the other. The latter is named tipetotohl, and will sometimes pick from his master's hand, meet him with signs of joy, shut the door with his bill, and fight like a cock in poultry yards; his feathers are of a shining black, and his legs and feet ash-coloured. The tetrao francolinus of Linnæus is as large as the common partridge, it inhabits the warmer parts of Europe; it may be kept in aviaries where it breeds freely. The tetrao rufus gresk, or great red partridge, is larger than the common one. The red legged partridge, or tetrao rufus, has been let loose in its wild state in England; they are all over Europe, Asia, and Africa, and are so tame in the Isle of Scio, according to Tournefort, that they may be driven to seek their food in the fields like so many sheep. The tetrao perdrix, the common partridge of Europe, is not larger than our quail, (tetrao marilandus ;) with a little encouragement they have been made as tame as common poultry; they will not breed in a state of confinement; but if the eggs are placed under a hen, she will hatch them and rear the young as her own chickens. Willoughby says, that a certain Sussex man had, by his industry, made a covey of partridges so tame, that he drove them before him upon a wagon, upon a wager, out of that county to London, though they were absolutely free, and had their wings grown. The common quail (tetrao coturnix) is a migrating bird, spread all over the old world, is seen from the. Cape of Good Hope to Iceland; comes north in spring and departs south in autumn. It is about the size of our robin, and is not in this country. The gold-breasted trumpeter (psophia crepitans) inhabits various parts of South Amevica, is near the size of a turkey; its flesh is as good as that of a pheasant; it is called agame by the French, and cani-cami in Surinam; it is most easily tamed and a great friend to man, whom it follows, caresses, and even seems to protect, with the attachment of a dog; it is reared for domestic uses, and fed among other poultry. The jabiru, or crane of Surinam, is larger than a stork; its head and primary feathers of the wing and tail, are black; it lives entirely on fish, and is domesticated in poultry yards. I have thus enumerated between thirty and forty species of birds, most of which may be kept as domestic poultry, and all of them may be made ornamental or useful. Indeed, we have the authority of scripture to a much greater extent. St. James says, "Every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and things in the sea, is tamed and hath been tamed of mankind." It is hoped that these hints may have a tendency to attract the public attention to this useful branch of domestic economy. NOTE Y. THE Fish-Market of New-York may be considered as the general deposite of every eatable, and every curious inhabitant, of the waters. Every thing that gratifies the appetite for food or for novelty, centres here. Notwithstanding this, it is an extraordinary fact, that until Dr. Mitchill commenced his investigations, there was not a good catalogue of our fishes; and it is well known, that New-York is very seldom mentioned in the books of ichthyology. That distinguished gentleman commenced his labours in November, 1813; and he began at the very elements. Every sort of fish was procured, examined, and described. The specimen and the description were next compared with those in the best books; he frequently dissected the individuals which he had described, in order to make himself acquainted with the internal marks and characters, and sometimes he satisfied himself experimentally on their qualities as food. He also availed himself of various ichthyological assistance, and more especially of the General Zoology of Shaw, the General History of Fishes by Bloch, and the Museum Ichthyologicum of Gronovius. The classification has been attended, in several respects, with difficulty. He has adopted the five orders of apodal, jugular, thoracic, abdominal, and cartilaginous; but in some cases there were doubts about the genus, and in some instances about the species. There is reason to suppose, that many of the species are non-descripts. The whole which the Doctor has examined and described amount to more than one hundred and fifty species and varieties. And in addition to this, he has made great progress in describing the cete, or whales; the testacea, and crustacea, forming the shell fish; and the mollusca, constituting the soft, boneless, and gelatinous class of autimals. Dr. Mitchill's account of the codfishes of New-York may be seen in the Amer. Med. and Philos. Register, vol. 4. If the whole world contains one thousand species of fish, as is said, it is not unreasonable to suppose, that the United States and their dependencies contain between three and four hundred. Our western lakes furnish a great number; and as our waters are discharged into every ocean that surrounds America, there can be no hesitation in assenting to the reasonableness of this estimate. The work of the Doctor is now ready for publication. It ought to be accompanied by engravings, taken from correct drawings; and as the expense of such an undertaking is enormous, the munificent patrons of science and genius, and our enlightened public bodies, ought to come forward and promote the publication of a work so interesting, undertaken and executed by one who has done as much for the honour of American science and literature as any man living. As connected generally with this subject I am happy to have it in my power to furnish a literary curiosity. It is a poetical version, by Dr. Mitchill, of the third Piscatory Eclogue of Sannazarius, who is thus characterized by Dr. Blair: "Sannazarius, a famous Latin poet, in the age of Leo X. attempted a bold innovation. He composed piscatory eclogues, changing the scene from woods to the sea, and from the life of shepherds to that of fishermen. But the innovation was so unhappy that he has gained no followers. For the life of fishermen is, obviously, much more hard and toilsome than that of shepherds, and presents to the fancy much less agreeable images. Flocks, and trees, and flowers, are objects of greater beauty, and more generally relished by men, than fishes and marine productions." This may be true to a certain extent; but it does not follow that a description of the simplicity, activity, and variety of piscatory life, has not its charms and attractions, as well as a delineation of the tranquillity and composure of the pastoral state. It is well known that those who devote themselves to the sports of the waters, and the active pursuits of the fisherman and seaman, cannot be induced to change their destination; and surely poetical representations, calculated to recall to the memory scenes of such delight, and to awaken the mind to their contemplation, are worthy of the best efforts of genius, and deserving of the highest encomiums of taste and just criticism. Sannazarius wrote five eclogues. The third now published is called Mopsus, and has a considerable resemblance to Virgil's Palamon. It is a conversation in which four speakers take their part. Their names are Celadon, Mopsus, Chromis, and Iolas. The |