probably extinct. The Antilles tell a similar tale. The great auk, once
common on the British coasts, those of Denmark, the east coast of North
America, then restricted to those of Newfoundland, Greenland and
Iceland, has been killed by man, and the same fate has overtaken the
Labrador duck, the Phillip Island parrot, _Nestor productus_, and the
large cormorant of Bering Island, _Phalacrocorax perspicillatus_; and
how long will the flightless cormorant, _Ph. harrisi_ of the Galapagos,
survive its quite recent discovery?

[Illustration: FIG. 2l.--Pied Duck (_Somateria labradora_), male and
female. (From specimens in the British Museum. Reduced.) ]

  AUTHORITIES.--A. Milne-Edwards, _Recherches anatomiques et
  paléontologiques pour servir à l'histoire des oiseaux fossiles de la
  France_ (Paris, 1867-1868); F.P. Moreno and A. Mercerat, _Catalogo de
  los Pajaros fosiles de la Republica Argentina. Anales Mus. La Plata_,
  1891, 21 pls.; O.C. Marsh, _Odontornithes: A monograph of the Extinct
  Toothed Birds of North America_ (New Haven, Conn., 1880); R. Lydekker,
  article "Fossil Birds," in A. Newton's _Dictionary of Birds_ (London,
  1893); Cat. Foss. Birds, Brit. Museum, 1891; K. v. Zittel, _Handbuch
  der Palaontologie_, i. 3 (1887-1890); C.W. Andrews, "On the Extinct
  Birds of Patagonia," _Tr. Zool. Soc_. xv., 1899, pp. 55-86, pls.
  14-17.

C. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION

The study of the extinct organisms of any country leads to a proper
appreciation of its existing flora and fauna; while, on the other hand,
a due consideration of the plants and animals which may predominate
within its bounds cannot fail to throw more or less light on the changes
it has in the course of ages undergone. That is to say, the distribution
of forms in time is a subject so much connected with the distribution of
forms in space, that the one can hardly be separated from the other.
Granting this is a general truth, it must yet be acknowledged as a
special fact, that in fossil birds we have as yet but scanty means of
arriving at any precise results which will justify bold generalization
in the matter of avine distribution. Remains of extinct birds are,
compared with those of other classes of vertebrates, exceedingly scarce,
and these have been found in very few, widely separated countries. The
great problems involved in the study of geographical distribution must
therefore be based mainly upon the other classes, both vertebrate and
invertebrate, which, moreover, enjoy less great facilities of locomotion
than the birds.

Yet it so happens that the great zoogeographical regions of the world,
now more or less generally accepted, have been based upon the
distribution of birds. The whole subject was properly introduced by
Treviranus,[1] who in his large philosophical work devotes considerable
space to the "geographical distribution of animals." Next we have to
mention F. Tiedemann,[2] the Heidelberg anatomist, who has been
generally ignored, although he surpassed many a recent zoogeographer by
the wide view he took of the problem; in fact he was the first to
connect distribution with environmental or bionomic factors; e.g. the
remark on p. 481 of his work that "the countries of the East Indian
flora have no kinds of birds in common with America which are vegetable
feeders." L.K. Schmarda[3] divided the land into twenty-one realms,
characterizing these mainly by their birds. P.L. Sclater[4] was the
first to divide the world into a few great "regions," the Palaearctic,
Ethiopian, Indian and Australian forming one group, the "Old World"
(_Palaeogaea_); and the Nearctic and Neotropical forming a second, the
New World (_Neogaea_). Birds being of all animals most particularly
adapted for extended and rapid locomotion, it became necessary for him
to eliminate from his consideration those groups, be they small or
large, which are of more or less universal occurrence, and to ground his
results on what was at that time commonly known as the order Insessores
or Passeres, comprehending the orders now differentiated as
Passeriformes, Coraciiformes and Cuculiformes, in other words the mass
of arboreal birds. His six main divisions--practically adopted by A.R.
Wallace[5] in his epoch-making work--are excellent, taken separately.
They express the main complexes of land with their dependencies in
well-chosen terms; for instance the "Neotropical region" stands short
for South and Central America with the Antilles.

But these six divisions of Sclater and Wallace are not all equivalent,
only some are of primary importance; they require co- and
sub-ordination. This most important advance was made by T.H. Huxley.[6]
Some of the "regions" have now to be called subregions, e.g. the
Nearctic and the Palaearctic. The reduction of the Oriental to a
subregion, with consequent "provincial" rank of its main subdivisions,
will probably be objected to, but these are matters of taste and
prejudice. Above all it should be borne in mind that nearly all the last
subdivisions or provinces are of very little real value and most of them
are inapplicable to other classes of animals.

  Besides some occasional references in the text, only a few more of the
  general works dealing with the distribution of birds can here be
  mentioned. Especial attention has to be drawn to the article
  "Geographical Distribution," in Newton's _Dictionary of Birds_. See
  also A. Heilprin, _The Geographical and Zoological Distribution of
  Animals_ (New York, 1887); W. Marshall and A. Reichenow, two maps with
  much detail, although badly arranged, in Berghaus' _Physikalischer
  Atlas_, pt. vi. (_Atlas d. Thierverbreitung_), (Gotha, 1887); A.
  Reichenow, "Die Begrenzung zoogeographischer Regionen vom
  ornithologischen Standpunkte," _Zoolog. Jahrb._ iii., 1888, pp.
  671-704, pl. xxvi.; E.L. Trouessart, _La Géographie zoologique_.
  (Paris, 1890).

  The scheme adopted in the following account stands as follows:--

    (A) AUSTROGAEA or I. Australian Region:
           New Zealand subregion.
           Australian      "
           Papuan          "

    (B) NEOGAEA or II. Neotropical Region
           Antillean   subregion
           Columbian       "
           Patagonian      "

    (C) ARCTOGAEA
       III. Holarctic Region
           Nearctic    Subregion
           Palaearctic     "

       IV. Palaeotropical Region
           Ethiopian   Subregion
           Oriental        "

In the following account the characterization of the various regions and
subregions has to a very great extent been adopted from Newton's article
in his _Dictionary of Birds_, and from the chapter on distribution in
the article on "Birds" in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 9th edition.
This applies especially ~~ to those instances in which the members of
families, genera and species are mentioned. The families are those which
are enumerated in Garow's classification. The numbers of genera and
species of birds are, of course, a matter of personal inclination. If we
take a moderate computation the number of recent species may be taken at
10,000-11,000.[7] Dr R.B. Sharpe increases their number to about 15,000
in the _New Hand-List of Birds_, published by the British Museum. In the
first two volumes fossil birds, occasionally based upon a fragmentary
bone only, are also included.

  (A) AUSTROGAEA, the Australian region in the wider sense, with the
  Papuan, Australian and New Zealand subregions, including also
  Polynesia. We may here quote Newton (_Encyclopaedia Britannica_, 9th
  ed., "Birds," p. 738) on the remarkable differences between this
  region and the rest of the Old World:--"The prevalent zoological
  features of any Region are of two kinds--negative and positive. It is
  therefore just as much the business of the zoogeographer, who wishes
  to arrive at the truth, to ascertain what groups of animals are
  wanting in any particular locality (altogether independently of its
  extent) as to determine those which are forthcoming there. Of course,
  in the former case it would be absurd to regard as a physical feature
  of any great value the absence from a district of groups which do not
  occur except in its immediate neighbourhood; but when we find that
  certain groups, though abounding in some part of the vicinity, either
  suddenly cease from appearing or appear only in very reduced numbers,
  and occasionally in abnormal forms, the fact obviously has an
  important bearing. Now, mere geographical considerations, taken from
  the situation and configuration of the islands of the so-called Indian
  or Malay Archipelago, would indicate that they extended in an unbroken
  series from the shores of the Strait of Malacca to the southern coast
  of New Guinea, which confronts that of north Australia in Torres
  Strait, or even farther to the eastward. Indeed, the very name
  Australasia, often applied to this part of the world, would induce the
  belief that all the countless islands, be they large or small--and
  some of them are among the largest on the globe--were but a southern
  prolongation of the mainland of Asia. But so far from this being the
  case a very definite barrier is interposed. A strait, some 15 m. or so
  in width, and separating the two fertile but otherwise insignificant
  islands of Bali and Lombok, makes such a frontier as can hardly be
  shown to exist elsewhere. The former of these two islands belongs to
  the Indian Region, the latter to the Australian, and between them
  there is absolutely no true transition--that is, no species are common
  to both which cannot be easily accounted for by the various accidents
  and migrations that in the course of time must have tended to mingle
  the productions of islands so close to one another. The faunas of the
  two are as absolutely distinct as those of South America and Africa,
  and it is only because they are separated by a narrow strait instead
  of the broad Atlantic that they have become so slightly connected by
  the interchange of a few species and genera.

  "Now, first, of the forms of birds which are prevalent throughout the
  Indian Region, but are entirely wanting in the Australian, we have at
  once the bulbuls (_Ixidae_), very characteristic of most parts of
  Africa and Asia, including the sub-group _Phyllornithinae_, which is
  peculiar to the Indian Region; the widely-spread families of barbets
  (_Megalaeminae_) and vultures (_Vulturidae_); and the pheasants
  (_Phasianidae_), which attain so great a development in various parts
  of the Asiatic continent and islands that there must their home be
  regarded as fixed. Some naturalists would add the finches
  (_Fringillidae_), rightly if we assume that the _Ploceidae_ or weavers
  constitute a separate family. Then, of forms which are but weakly
  represented, we have the otherwise abundant thrushes (_Turdidae_),
  and, above all, the woodpeckers (_Picidae_), of which only very few
  species, out of 400, just cross the boundary and occur in Lombok,
  Celebes or the Moluccas, but are unknown elsewhere in the region."

  But the Australian region is also remarkable for its ornithic
  singularity. All the existing Ratitae (with the exception of the
  ostriches of Africa and South America, belonging to the genera
  _Struthio_ and _Rhea_, and comprising at most but five species) are
  found in Austrogaea and nowhere else. Of the Passeres the
  honey-suckers (_Meliphagidae_) are most characteristic, and, abounding
  in genera and species, extend to almost every part of the region, yet
  only one species of _Ptilotis_ oversteps its limits, crossing the sea
  from Lombok to Bali. Other peculiar families are much more confined.
  But the positive characteristics of the region as a whole are not its
  peculiar forms alone; there are at least four families which, being
  feebly represented elsewhere, here attain the maximum of development.
  Such are the thick-headed shrikes (_Pachycephalidae_), the
  caterpillar-eaters (_Campephagidae_), the flower-peckers
  (_Dicaeidae_), and the swallow-flycatchers (_Artamidae_). Besides
  these, three or perhaps four groups, though widely distributed
  throughout the world, arrive in the Australian region at their
  culmination, presenting an abundance of most varied forms. These are
  the weaver-birds (_Ploceidae_), and the moreporks (_Podargidae_), but
  especially the kingfishers (_Alcedinidae_) and the pigeons
  (_Columbidae_), the species belonging to the two last obtaining in
  this region a degree of prominence and beauty which is elsewhere
  unequalled.

  The boundaries of the subregions are not well defined.

  [Illustration: FIG. 22.--Extinct Phillip-Island Parrot (_Nestor
  productus_). (From specimen in the British Museum. Reduced.)]

  The _New Zealand Subregion_, considered by Professors Newton and
  Huxley and various other zoogeographers as deserving the rank of a
  region, is, and to all appearance has long been, more isolated than
  any other portion of the globe. Besides the three larger islands
  numerous satellites belong to the subregion, as Lord Howe, Norfolk and
  Kermadec islands, with the Chatham, Auckland and Macquarie groups. The
  main affinities of the avifauna are, of course, Australian. The most
  extraordinary feature is unquestionably the former existence of the
  gigantic Dinornithes or moas (q.v.) and, another family of Ratitae,
  the weird-looking kiwis or Apteryges, which are totally unlike any
  other existing birds. Of other peculiar genera it will suffice to
  mention only the more remarkable. _Rallidae_ present the very
  noteworthy woodhens, _Ocydromus_, and the takahe, _Notornis_, which is
  almost extinct. The widely-spread plovers, _Charadriidae_, have two
  not less singular generic developments, _Thinornis_, and the
  extraordinary wrybill, _Anarhynchus_. There is an owl, type of the
  genus _Sceloglaux_. Of parrots, _Stringops_, the kakapo or owl-parrot,
  is certainly peculiar, while _Nestor_ constitutes a peculiar subfamily
  of the brush-tongued parrots or _Trichoglossidae_. _Xenicus_ and
  _Acanthositta_ form a little family of truly mesomyodean Passeres
  Clamatores. Of the _Meliphagidae_ the genera _Prosthemadera_,
  _Pogonornis_ and _Anthornis_ are peculiar. The starlings, _Sturnidae_,
  are represented by _Callaeas_, _Creadion_ and the very abnormal
  _Heterolocha_. The gallinaceous birds are represented by a quail,
  _Coturnix novae zealandiae_, now exterminated. A large flightless
  goose, _Cnemiornis_, allied to the Australian _Cereopsis_, and the
  gigantic rapacious _Harpagornis_, have died out recently, with the
  moas. In all, there is a wonderful amount of specialization, though
  perhaps in a very straight line from generalized forms; but the
  affinity to Australian or Polynesian types is in many cases clearly
  traceable, and it cannot be supposed but that these last are of
  cognate origin with those of New Zealand. A very long period of
  isolation must have been required to produce the differences so
  manifestly to be observed, but a few forms seem at rare intervals to
  have immigrated, and this immigration would appear to be kept up to
  our own day, as shown by the instance of _Zosterops lateralis_, which
  is said to have lately made its first appearance, and to have
  established itself in the country, as well as by the fact of two
  cuckoos, the widely-ranging _Eudynamis taitensis_ and _Chrysococcyx
  lucidus_, which are annual visitors.

  _Polynesia_ forms, of course, part of Austrogaea. Its extent is so
  vast that it necessarily contains some peculiar, outlying forms, so to
  say forgotten, which in their long-continued isolation have
  specialized themselves. For instance, the kagu (_Rhinochetus_) of New
  Caledonia, a queerly specialized form with Gruine affinities pointing
  only to South America. The toothbilled pigeon (_Didunculus_) is
  restricted to Samoa. Most interesting is the avifauna of the Sandwich
  islands; entirely devoid of Psittaci and of Coraciiformes, these
  islands show an extraordinary development of its peculiar family
  _Drepanidae_, which are probably of South or Central American descent.
  _Acrulocercus_ is a Meliphagine, and a peculiar genus. There are a
  raven (_Corvus_), a coot (_Fulica_), the well-known Sandwich island
  goose (_Bernicla sandvicensis_), now very commonly domesticated in
  Europe; and some flycatchers and thrushlike birds.

  The _Australian Subregion_ comprises Australia and Tasmania. In the
  north it is influenced, of course, by its proximity to Papuasia,
  whence there is a considerable admixture of genera which do not
  proceed beyond the tropics, and of these _Casuarius_ is a striking
  example. The Cape York peninsula practically belongs to Papuasia. As a
  whole, Australia is rich in parrots, of which it has several very
  peculiar forms, but Picarians in old-fashioned parlance, of all
  sorts--certain kingfishers excepted--are few in number, and the
  pigeons are also comparatively scarce, no doubt because of the many
  arboreal predaceous marsupials. The continent, however, possesses the
  two important genera of the _Pseudoscines_, namely the lyre-birds
  (_Menura_) and the scrub-birds (_Atrichia_). Among the more curious
  forms of other land-birds may be especially mentioned the
  _Megapodiidae_, _Lipoa_ and _Talegallus_, the rail _Tribonyx_ and
  _Pedionomus_, which represents the otherwise palaeotropical _Turnices_
  in Australia. The presence of bustards (_Eupodotis_) is a curious
  example of interrupted distribution, since none other of the
  _Otididae_ are found nearer than India. The Ratitae are represented by
  two species of emeu (_Dromaeus_), besides the cassowary of Cape York
  peninsula, and the extinct _Dromornis_ and _Genyornis_ with its
  enormous skull.

  The _Papuan Subregion_, chiefly New Guinea with its dependencies, the
  Timor group of islands, the Moluccas and Celebes. On the whole its
  avifauna presents some very remarkable features. Its most distinctive
  characteristic is the presence of the birds of paradise, which are
  almost peculiar to it; for, granting that the bower-birds,
  _Chlamydodera_ and others, of Australia, belong to the same family,
  they are far less highly specialized than the beautiful and
  extraordinary forms which are found, within very restricted limits, in
  the various islands of the subregion. Another chief feature is the
  extraordinary development of the cassowaries, the richness and
  specialization of the kingfishers, parrots, pigeons, honey-suckers and
  some remarkable flycatchers. It has several marked deficiencies
  compared with Australia, among which are the babblers (_Timeliidae_),
  weaver birds (_Ploceidae_), the _Platycercinae_ among parrots, diurnal
  birds of prey and the emeus. As a whole, the birds of Papua are
  remarkable for their brilliance of plumage, or their metallic
  colouring. The birds of paradise, the racquet-tailed kingfishers,
  _Tanysiptera_, the largest and smallest of parrots, _Calyptdrhynchiis_
  and _Nasiterna_, and the great crowned pigeons, _Goura_, are very
  characteristic; and so are the various Megapodes.

  (B) NEOGAEA, or the _Neotropical region._--Excepting towards the
  north, where, in Mexico, it meets, and inosculates with the Nearctic
  subregion, the boundaries of the Neotropical region are simple enough
  to trace, comprehending as it does the whole of South America and all
  Central America; besides including the Falkland islands to the
  south-east and the Galapagos under the equator to the west, as well as
  the Antilles or West India islands up to the Florida channel.

  Owing to the comparatively scanty number of harmful mammalian types,
  the birds play a considerable part in this large region, and some
  authorities consider its avifauna the richest in the world. The entire
  number of species amounts to about 3600. Of these 2000, or a good deal
  more than half, belong to the order Passeriformes. But the
  characteristic nature of the avifauna is more clearly brought out when
  we learn that of the 2000 species just mentioned only about 1070
  belong to the higher suborder of Oscines, that means to say, nearly
  one-half belong to the lower suborder Clamatores. This is a state of
  things which exists nowhere else; for except in Australia, where a few
  indigenous and peculiar low non-Oscines are found, and in the Nearctic
  country, whither one family of Clamatores, viz. the _Tyrannidae_, has
  evidently been led by the geographical continuity of its soil with
  that of the Neotropical region, such forms do not occur elsewhere.
  Accordingly their disproportionate prevalence in South America points
  unerringly to the lower rank of the avifauna of the region as a whole,
  and therefore to the propriety of putting it next in order to that of
  the Australian region, the general fauna of which is admittedly the
  lowest in the world. Huxley has urged with his wonted perspicuity the
  alliance of these two regions as _Notogaea_, basing his opinion,
  besides other weighty evidence, in great measure on the evidence
  afforded by the two main sections of the Galli, viz. the
  _Peristeropodes_ and the _Alectoropodes_, the former composed of the
  families _Megapodiidae_, almost wholly Australian, and the _Cracidae_,
  entirely Neotropical. (Cf. _P.Z.S._, 1868. pp. 294-319.)

  Leaving, however, this matter as in some degree hypothetical, we have
  as genera, families, or perhaps even larger groups, a great many very
  remarkable forms which are characteristic of, or peculiar to, the
  Neotropical region in part, if not as a whole. Of families we find
  twenty-three, or maybe more, absolutely restricted thereto, besides at
  least eight which, being peculiar to the New World, extend their range
  into the Nearctic region, but are there so feebly developed that their
  origin may be safely ascribed to the southern portion of America.
  First in point of importance comes the extraordinarily beautiful
  family of humming-birds (_Trochilidae_), with nearly 150 genera (of
  which only three occur in the Nearctic region) and more than 400
  species. Then the tyrants (_Tyrannidae_), with more than seventy
  genera (ten of which range into the northern region), and over 300
  species. To these follow the tanagers (_Tanagndae_), with upwards of
  forty genera (only one of which crosses the border), and about 300
  species; the piculules (_Dendrocolaptidae_), with as many genera, and
  over 200 species; the ant-thrushes, (_Formicariidae_), with more than
  thirty genera, and nearly 200 species; together with other groups
  which, if not so large as those just named, are yet just as well
  defined, and possibly more significant, namely, the tapaculos
  (_Pteroptochidae_), the toucans (_Rhamphastidae_), the jacamars
  (_Galbulidae_), the motmots (_Monotidae_), the todies (_Todidae_), the
  trumpeters (_Psophiidae_), and the screamers (_Palamedeidae_); besides
  such isolated forms as the seriema (_Cariama_), and the sun-bittern
  (_Eurypyga_).

  The nature of the South American avifauna will perhaps become still
  more evident if we arrange the characteristic members as follows:--

  1. Birds which are restricted to, probably indigenous of the region:
  _Rhea_; _Palamedea_ and _Chauna_, the screamers; _Tinami_; _Psophia,
  Dicholophus, Eurypyga, Heliornis_ of the Gruiform assembly;
  _Thinocorys_ and _Attagis; Cracidae; Opisthocomus_; of parrots _Ara_
  and _Conurus_ with their allies; _Monotidae_, incl. _Todus;
  Steatornis; Galbulinae_ and _Bucconinae; Rhamphastidae; Formicariidae,
  Pteroptochidae_, and of the _Tyrannidae_ the _Cotinginae_.

  2. Birds which are indigenous, but extend far into North America:
  _Cathartae, Trochilidae, Tyrannidae_.

  3. Birds which are originally immigrants from North America:
  _Podicipedidae_, with the flightless _Centropelma_ on Lake Titicaca;
  _Ceryle_, the only genus of kingfishers in the New World; all the
  _Oscines_.

  More or less cosmopolitan groups like herons, _Falconidae, Anseres,
  Columbae, &c._, and circumtropical families like _Parridae,
  Trogonidae, Capitonidae_, are to be excluded from these lists as
  indifferent. The differences between the Neotropical avifauna and that
  of North America are fundamental and prove the independence or
  superior value of the Neotropical region as one of the principal
  realms.

  It is difficult to subdivide the Neotropical region into subregions;
  the best suggestion is that of Newton: _Antillean_, with the exception
  of the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, as well as those which lie on
  the northern coast of South America; _Patagonian_, including Chile and
  part of Peru; _Columbian_, comprising the rest of the continent and
  also Central America.

  The _Antillean Subregion_ is in many respects one of the most
  suggestive and interesting, comparatively small though it be. For
  narrow as are the channels between Cuba and the opposite coast of
  Central America, between the Bahamas and Florida, and between Grenada
  and Tobago, the fauna of the Antillean chain, instead of being a
  mixture of that of the almost contiguous countries, differs much from
  all, and exhibits in some groups a degree of speciality which may be
  not unfitly compared with that of oceanic islands. Except such as are
  of coral formation, the Antilles are hilly, not to say mountainous,
  their summits rising in places to an elevation of 8000 ft., and nearly
  all, prior to their occupation by Europeans, were covered with
  luxuriant forest, which, assisting in the collection and condensation
  of the clouds brought by the trade winds, ensured its own vitality by
  precipitating frequent and long-continued rains upon the fertile soil.
  Under such conditions we might expect to find an extremely plentiful
  animal population, one as rich as that which inhabits the same
  latitudes in Central America, not many degrees farther to the west;
  but no instance perhaps can be cited which shows more strikingly the
  difference between a continental and an insular fauna, since, making
  every allowance for the ravages of cultivation by civilized man, the
  contrary is the case, and possibly no area of land so highly favoured
  by nature is so poorly furnished with the higher forms of animal life.
  Here, as over so large a portion of the Australian region, we find
  birds constituting the supreme class--the scarcity of mammals being
  accounted for in some measure as a normal effect of insularity.

  There is one peculiar subfamily, _Todinae_, represented by only four
  species of _Todus_. We note the absence of _Ratitae, Tinami, Cracidae,
  Rhamphastidae_, and any of those gruiform genera which are so
  characteristic of the continent. There is no family of birds common to
  the Nearctic area and the Antillean subregion without occurring also
  in other parts of the Neotropical region, a fact which proves its
  affinity to the latter.

  The _Patagonian Subregion_, most extratropical, is naturally devoid of
  a good many typically tropical birds, or these are but poorly
  represented, for instance _Caerebidae, Mniotiltidae, Tanagridae,
  Vireonidae_. On the other hand some of the most characteristic
  features of the whole region are here well represented, e.g. _Rhea,
  Tinami, Chauna, Dicholophus, Attagis, Pteroptochidae_, and indeed
  therein we find some of the best evidence of the antiquity of its
  population, both recent and extinct (cf. the numerous fossils of the
  Santa Cruz formation), and also the nearest resemblance to the fauna
  of Austrogaea.

  (C) ARCTOGAEA is Huxley's well-chosen term for all the rest of the
  world (including the Nearctic, Palaearctic, Indian and Ethiopian
  regions of P.L. Sclater) in opposition to Notogaea. Faunistically,
  although not geographically, the Nearctic and Palaearctic areas must
  form the two subdivisions of one great unit, for which the "Holarctic
  region" is now the generally accepted term.

  The HOLARCTIC REGION, comprising North America and the extratropical
  mass of land of the Old World, may from an ornithological point of
  view be characterized by the Colymbi, _Alcidae, Gallidae_ or
  Alectoropodous Galli, and the Oscines, which have here reached their
  highest development; while Ratitae, Tinami, Psittaci, and non-Oscine
  Passeres (with the exception of _Tyrannidae_ extending into North
  America and _Conurus carolinensis_) are absent.

  _Nearctic Subregion._--The close affinity of North America with the
  Palaearctic avifauna becomes at once apparent if we exclude those
  groups of birds which we have good reason to believe have their
  original home in the Neotropical region, notably numerous
  _Tyrannidae_, humming-birds and the turkey-buzzards.

  The following groups may be mentioned as characteristic and typically
  American, and, since we consider them as comparatively recent
  immigrants into the Neotropical region, as originally peculiar to the
  Nearctic area: _Mniotiltidae, Vireonidae, Icteridae, Meleagris_ and
  various _Tetraoninae_. Restricted to and peculiar to the sub-region is
  only the little Oscine family of _Chamaeidae_, restricted to the coast
  district of California. "More than one-third of the genera of Nearctic
  birds are common also to the Palaearctic subregion. If we take the
  number of Nearctic species at 700, which is perhaps an exaggeration,
  and that of the Palaearctic at 850, we find that, exclusive
  stragglers, there are about 120 common to the two areas. Nearly 20
  more are properly Palaearctic, but occasionally occur in America, and
  about 50 are Nearctic, which from time to time stray to Europe or
  Asia. This, however, is by no means the only point of resemblance. Of
  many genera, the so-called species found in the New World are
  represented in the Old by forms so like them that often none but an
  expert can distinguish them, and of such representative 'species'
  about 80 might be enumerated" (Newton, _Dict. Birds_, p. 335).

  Of the many attempts to subdivide the Nearctic subregion, the same
  authority favours that of Dr S.F. Baird, who distinguishes between
  _Canadian, Alleghanian, Middle_ or Missourian, _Californian_ and
  _Alaskan_ provinces. Dr Hart Merriam takes the broad point of view
  "that the whole of extratropical North America consists of but two
  primary life regions, a _Boreal_ region, which is circumpolar, and a
  _Sonoran_ or Mexican tableland region which is unique." The first of
  these supports Newton's contention of the essential unity of the
  Nearctic and Palaearctic areas. In any case the various Nearctic
  subdivisions completely merge into each other, just as is to be
  expected from the physical configuration and other bionomic conditions
  of the Nort American continent.

  The _Palaearctic Subregion_ is, broadly speaking, Europe and Asia,
  with the exception of India and China. The propriety of comprehending
  this enormous tract in one zoological "region" was first shown by Dr
  P.L. Sclater, and as regards the distribution of most classes of
  animals there have been few to doubt that it is an extremely natural
  one. Not indeed altogether so homogeneous as the Nearctic area, it
  presents, however, even at its extreme points, no very striking
  difference between the bulk of its birds. Though Japan is far removed
  from western Europe, and though a few generic forms and still fewer
  families inhabit the one without also frequenting the other, yet there
  is a most astonishing similarity in a large portion of their
  respective birds. In some cases the closest examination has failed to
  detect any distinction that may be called specific between the members
  of their avifauna; but in most it is possible to discover just
  sufficient difference to warrant a separation of the subjects.
  Nevertheless, it is clear that in Japan we have, as it were, a
  repetition of some of our most familiar species--the redbreast and the
  hedge-sparrow, for example--slightly modified in plumage or otherwise,
  so as to furnish instances of the most accurate representation, e.g.
  _Cyanopica cooki_ of Portugal and Spain, and _C. cyana_ of Amoorland
  and Japan.

  Like the Nearctic the Palaearctic subregion seems to possess but one
  single peculiar family of land birds, the _Panuridae_, represented by
  the beautiful species known to Englishmen as the bearded tit-mouse,
  _Panurus biarmicus_. The entire number of Palaearctic families are,
  according to Newton, 67, and of the genera 323. Of these 128 are
  common to the Nearctic subregion. Species of 51 more seem to occur as
  true natives within the Ethiopian and Indian regions, and besides
  these 18 appear to be common to the Ethiopian without being found in
  the Indian, and no fewer than 71 to the Indian without occurring in
  the Ethiopian. To compare the Palaearctic genera with those of the
  Australian and Neotropical regions would be simply a waste of time,
  for the points of resemblance are extremely few, and such as they are
  they lead to nothing. It will therefore be seen from the above that
  next to the Nearctic are the Palaearctic has a much greater affinity
  to any other, a fact which might be expected from geographical
  considerations.

  Having shown this much we have next to deal with the peculiarities of
  the vast Palaearctic subregion. At the lowest computation 37 genera
  seem to be peculiar to it, though it is certain that species of
  several are regularly wont to wander beyond its limits in winter
  seeking a southern climate. Of the peculiar genera only a few examples
  may be mentioned: _Eurynorhynchus_, the spoon-billed sandpiper of
  Siberia; _Syrrhaptes_, the sandgrouse of central Asia; _Musicicapa_ of
  Europe.

  We distinguish between a _Siberian, Mongolian, Mediterranean_ and
  _European province_, none of which can be well defined. The islands of
  the Canaries, Madeira and the Azores belong to the Mediterranean
  province, and offer some peculiarities of great interest. The Azores
  have been monographed by F.D. Godman (_Nat. Hist. of the Azores or
  Western Islands_, London, 1870). There is a general tendency among
  these insular birds to vary more or less from their continental
  representatives, and this is especially shown by the former having
  always darker plumage and stronger bills and legs. In one instance the
  variation is so excessive that it fully justifies the establishment of
  a specific distinction. This is the case of the bullfinch of the more
  western of these islands (_Pyrrhula murina_), the male of which,
  instead of the ruddy breast of its well-known congener (_P.
  vulgaris_), has that part of a sober mouse-colour. A similar sombre
  hue distinguishes the peculiar chaffinch of the Canary Islands
  (_Fringilla teydea_), but to these islands as well as the Azores and
  Madeiras there belongs in common another chaffinch (_F. tintillon_)
  which, though very nearly allied to that of Mauritania (_F.
  spodogenia_) is perfectly recognizable, and not found elsewhere.
  Madeira has also its peculiar golden-crested wren (_Regulus
  maderensis_), and its peculiar pigeon (_Columba trocaz_), while two
  allied forms of the latter (_C. laurivora_ and _C. bollii_) are found
  only in the Canaries. Further on this subject we must not go; we can
  only state that Godman has shown good reason for declaring that the
  avifauna of all these islands is the effect of colonization extending
  over a long period of years, and going on now.

  PALAEOTROPICAL REGION.--Much can be said in favour of combining the
  mostly tropical portion of the great mass of land of the Old World
  (excluding, of course, Austrogaea or the Australian region) into one
  region, for which Oscar Drude's well-chosen term "palaeotropical" has
  been adopted (cf. Bronn's _Thierreich, System Part._ p. 296, 1893).
  This region naturally comprises the African and Indian areas,
  conformably to be called subregions.

  Both subregions possess, besides others, the following characteristic
  birds: Ratitae, viz. _Struthio_ in Africa and Arabia, fossil also in
  the Sivalik Hills, and _Aepyornithidae_ in Madagascar; _Pittidae,
  Bucerotinae_ and _Upupinae_, of which _Upupa_ itself in India,
  Madagascar and Africa; _Coraciidae; Pycnonotidae_ or bulbuls;
  _Trogonidae_, of which the Asiatic genera are the less specialized in
  opposition to the Neotropical forms; _Vulturidae; Leptoptilus,
  Anastomus_ and _Ciconia_ among the storks; _Pteroclidae; Treroninae_
  among pigeons. Of other families which, however, extend their range
  more or less far into the Australian realm, may be mentioned
  _Otididae_, the bustards; _Meropidae_ or bee-eaters; _Muscicapidae_ or
  flycatchers; _Sturnidae_ or starlings.

  The _Ethiopian Subregion_ comprises the whole of Africa and
  Madagascar, except the Barbary States, but including Arabia; in the
  north-east the subregion melts into the Palaearctic between its limits
  still farther to the eastwards, through Beluchistan and even beyond
  the Indus.

  So large a portion of the Ethiopian subregion lies between the tropics
  that no surprise need be expressed at the richness of its fauna
  relatively to that of the last two subregions we have considered.
  Between fifty and sixty so-called families of land birds alone are
  found within its limits, and of them at least nine are peculiar; the
  typical genera of which are _Buphaga, Euryceros, Philepitta,
  Musophaga, Irrisor, Leptosoma, Colius, Serpentarius, Struthio,
  Aepyornis_. It is singular that only the first three of them belong to
  the order _Passeriformes_, a proportion which is not maintained in any
  other tropical region. The number of peculiar genera, besides those
  just mentioned, is too great for them to be named here; some of the
  most remarkable on the continent are: _Balaeniceps_, the whale-headed
  heron; _Balaearica_, the crowned crane; _Podica_, finfoot; _Numida_
  and allied genera of guinea fowls.

  The natural division of the subregion is that into an African and a
  Madagascar province. Subdivision of the continental portion is beset
  with great difficulties, and none of the numerous attempts have proved
  long-lived. The forest-clad basin of the Congo, with the coastal
  districts of the bay of Guinea, seem to form one domain in opposition
  to the rest.

  The Malagasy province comprises, besides Madagascar, the Mascarene,
  Comoro and Seyehelle islands. It may be safely deemed the most
  peculiar area of the earth's surface, while from the richness and
  multifariousness of its animal, and especially of its ornithic
  population, New Zealand cannot be compared with it. In A. Grandidier's
  magnificent _Histoire physique, naturelle et politique de Madagascar_,
  vol. xii. (Paris, 1875-1884), are enumerated 238 species as belonging
  to the island, of which 129 are peculiar to it, and among those are no
  fewer than 35 peculiar genera. _Euryceros_ of the Oscines, and
  _Philepitta_ of the Clamatores, are remarkable enough to form the
  types of Passeriform families, and _Mesites_ half-way between Galli
  and Gruiformes is of prime importance. The Passerine _Falculia_, with
  its recently extinguished allies _Fregilupus_ and _Necropsar_ of the
  Mascarenes; the Coraciine _Brachypteracias_, _Atelornis_ and
  _Geobiastes_, are very abundant, while _Heliodilus_ is an owl
  belonging to that subfamily which is otherwise represented only by the
  widely-spread barn owl, _Strix flammea_. Lastly must be noted the
  extinct tall Ratite species of _Aepyornis_ with its several fancy
  genera. But, as Newton charmingly puts it (_Dict Birds_, p. 353), the
  avifauna of Madagascar is not entirely composed of such singularities
  as these. We have homely genera, even among the true _Passeres_,
  occurring there--such as _Alauda, Acrocephalus, Motacilla_ and
  _Pratincola_, while the _Cisticola madagascariensis_ is only
  distinguishable from the well-known fan-tailed warbler, _C.
  schoenicola_ of Europe, Africa and India by its rather darker
  coloration. But there are also species, though not Passerine, which
  are absolutely identical with those of Britain, the barn owl, common
  quail, pigmy rail, and little grebe or dabchick, all of them common
  and apparently resident in the island. Mauritius had the dodo (q.v.),
  _Lophopsittacus_ and _Aphanapteryx_. Rodriguez had the solitaire,
  _Necropsittacus_ and _Necropsar_. Bourbon or Réunion had _Fregilupus_.

  [ILLUSTRATION: FIG. 23.--Extinct Starling of Reunion (_Fregilupus
  varius_), adapted from figures by Daubenton, Levaillant and others.
  Reduced.]

  Some of the Malagasy avifauna is certainly ancient, aboriginal, and
  even points to India; other forms indicate clearly their African
  origin; while, lastly, such strikingly characteristic Indo-African
  birds as hornbills are unaccountably absent.

  The _Oriental Subregion_ comprises all the countries and numerous
  islands between the Palaearctic and Australian areas; it possesses
  upwards of seventy families, of which, however, only one is peculiar,
  but this family, the _Eurylaemidae_ or broadbills, is of great
  importance since it represents all the _Subclamatores_. Of the many
  characteristic birds may be mentioned _Pycnonotidae_ or bulbuls, of
  which the _Phyllornithinae_ are peculiar, _Campephagidae_ or cuckoo
  shrikes, _Dicruridae_ or drongos, _Nectariniidae_ or sunbirds;
  pheasants, together with _Pavo_ and _Gallus_. Some of the similarities
  to the Ethiopian and the great differences from the Australian
  avifauna have already been pointed out. Naturally no line whatever can
  be drawn between the Oriental and the Palaearctic subregions, and many
  otherwise essentially Indo-Malayan families extend far into the
  Australian realm, far across Wallace's line, whilst the reverse takes
  place to a much more moderate extent. Certainly the Oriental area, in
  spite of its considerable size, cannot possibly claim the standing of
  a primary region. It is a continuation of the great Arctogaea into the
  tropics.

  Following H.J. Elwes we subdivide the whole subregion into a
  Himalo-Chinese, Indian and Malayan province. These divisions had the
  approval of W.T. Blanford, who proposed the terms Cis-and
  Trans-gangetic for the two first. The Himalo-Chinese or Trans-gangetic
  province shows the characteristics of its avifauna also far away to
  the eastward in Formosa, Hainan and Cochin China, and again in a
  lesser degree to the southward in the mountains of Malacca and
  Sumatra. Indo-China is especially rich in _Eurylaemidae_, China proper
  and the Himalayas in pheasants.

  The Indian or Cisgangetic province is the least rich of the three so
  far as peculiar genera are concerned.

  The Malayan province comprising the Malay islands, besides the Malay
  peninsula, and the very remarkable Philippines, possess an
  extraordinary number of peculiar and interesting genera.

  The influence of the Australian realm is indicated by a Megapode in
  Celebes, another in Borneo and Labuan, and a third in the Nicobar
  islands (which, however, like the Andamans, belong to the Indian
  province), but there are no cockatoos, these keeping strictly to the
  other side of Wallace's line, whence we started on this survey of the
  world's avifauna.

D. CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS

Fürbringer's great work, published in the year 1888 by the _Natura Artis
Magistra_ Society of Amsterdam, enabled Gadow not only to continue for
the next five years the same lines of morphological research, but also
further to investigate those questions which were still left in abeyance
or seemed to require renewed study. The resulting "classification is
based on the examination, mostly autoptic, of a far greater number of
characters than any that had preceded it; moreover, they were chosen in
a different way, discernment being exercised in sifting and weighing
them, so as to determine, so far as possible, the relative value of
each, according as that value may vary in different groups, and not to
produce a mere mechanical 'key' after the fashion become of late years
so common" (Newton's _Dictionary of Birds_, Introduction, p. 103). It is
not the quantity but the quality of the anatomical and bionomic
characters which determines their taxonomic value, and a few fundamental
characters are better indications of the affinities of given groups of
birds than a great number of agreements if these can be shown to be
cases of isomorphism or heterophyletic, convergent analogy. Nature
possesses three great educational or developmental schools--terrestrial,
aquatic and aerial life. Each of these affords animal, vegetable or
mixed diet. Animal diet implies the greatest variety with regard to
locality and the modes of procuring the food. Each of these schools
impresses its pupils, in the case of the birds, with its own stamp, but
there are many combinations, since in the course of phyletic development
many a group of birds has exchanged one school for another. Originally
terrestrial groups have taken to an entirely aquatic life, and _vice
versâ_; others, originally endowed with the power of flight, have
become, or are transforming themselves into, absolutely cursorial forms;
some members of one group live entirely on seeds, while others have
become fierce fishers, and so forth. Only by the most careful inquiry
into their history can their relationship or pedigree be unravelled. A
statement may now be given of Gadow's classification of birds, in which
the extinct forms have been intercalated so far as possible. The few
characters assigned to the various groups are sufficiently diagnostic
when taken together, although they are not always those upon which the
classification has been established:--

CLASS AVES

I. Sub-class ARCHAEORNITHES.--The three fingers and their metacarpals
remain separate, each with a claw. Well-developed remiges. Both jaws
with alveolar teeth. Amphicoelous. Caudal vertebrae more than thirteen,
without a pygostyle, but with about twelve pairs of rectrices.
_Archaeopteryx, A. lithographica, s. macroura_, two specimens from the
upper Oolite of Solenhofen, Bavaria.

II. Sub-class NEORNITHES.--Metacarpals fused. Second finger the longest.
Not more than thirteen caudal vertebrae.

I. Division RATITAE.--Terrestrial, flightless. Without sternal keel.
Quadrate bone with single proximal knob. Without pygostyle. Coracoid and
scapula fused. Compound rhamphotheca. Adult without apteria. With
copulatory organ. A collective polyphyletic or heterogeneous group,
originally cosmopolitan; with certainty existing since the Miocene.

  1. Order Struthiones.--With pubic symphysis. Two toes only, third and
  fourth. _Struthio_, ostrich, Pliocene of Samos and of north-west
  India, now Africa and Arabia.

  2. Order Rheae.--With long ischiadic symphysis. Three toes.
  _Mesembriornis_, Miocene or Pliocene of Argentina. Rhea, South
  America.

  3. Order Casuarii.--Three toes. Aftershaft as long as the other half.
  _Casuarius_ and _Dromaeus_, Australian. _Hypselornis_, Pliocene of
  Sivalik Hills.

  4. Order Apteryges.--Four toes. Bill long and slender. _Apteryx_, New
  Zealand.

  5. Order Dinornithes.--Three or four toes. Bill short. Anterior limbs
  extremely reduced. _Dinornis_, numerous species, recently extinct, New
  Zealand.

  6. Order Aepyornithes.--_Aepyornis_, recently extinct, Madagascar.

  To the Ratitae belong possibly also the imperfectly known _Diatryma_,
  Eocene of New Mexico, _Gastornis_ and _Dasornis_, Eocene of Europe,
  _Genyornis_, Pleistocene of Australia.

II. Division ODONTOLCAE.--Marine, flightless, without sternal keel.
Upper and lower jaws with teeth in furrows. Cretaceous epoch.
_Enaliornis_, England, vertebrae chiefly biconcave; _Hesperornis_, North
America, vertebrae heterocoelous.

III. Division CARINATAE.--With keeled sternum.

  1. Order Ichthyornithes.--Power of flight well developed. Vertebrae
  still amphicoelous. With small pygostyle. Incisura ischiadica. With
  alveolar teeth. Cretaceous of Kansas. _Ichthyornis, Apatornis_.

  2. Order Colymbiformes.--Plantigrade, nidifugous, aquatic. All toes
  webbed, fourth largest, hallux short; metatarsus laterally compressed;
  tibia with high, pyramidal crest. Bill straight, pointed, with simple
  sheath.

    Sub-order 1. COLYMBI, Divers. Front toes completely webbed.
    Holarctic. _Colymbus_.

    Sub-order 2. PODICIPEDES, Grebes. Toes lobated. Cosmopolitan.

  3. Order Sphenisciformes.--Nidicolous, marine. Flightless, wings
  transformed into rowing paddles. SPHENISCI, penguins. Antarctic and
  southern temperate coasts. Since the Eocene.

  4. Order Procellariiformes.--Well flying, pelagic, nidicolous. Hallux
  absent or vestigial. Rhamphotheca compound. Cosmopolitan. TUBINARES,
  petrels and albatrosses.

  5. Order Ciconiiformes.--Swimmers or waders. Desmognathous, without
  basipterygoid processes; with one pair of sterno-tracheal muscles.

    Sub-order 1. STEGANOPODES.--Well flying, aquatic, nidicolous; with
    all the four toes webbed together. Rhamphotheca compound;
    cosmopolitan. _Phaëthon_, tropic-bird; _Sula_, gannet;
    _Phalacrocorax_, cormorant and _Plotus_, snake-bird; _Fregata_,
    frigate-bird; Pelecanus. Here also _Pelagornis_, Miocene of France;
    _Argillornis_ and probably _Odontopteryx_ from the London Clay.

    Sub-order 2. ARDEAE.--Piscivorous, nidicolous, waders; with
    complicated hypotarsus and with long cervical apteria. _Ardeidae_,
    cosmopolitan; including _Cancroma_, Neotropical, _Balaeniceps,
    Scopidae_, Ethiopian. _Proherodius_, Eocene of England.

    Sub-order 3. CICONIAE.--Zoophagous, nidicolous, waders; with simple
    hypotarsus and without cervical apteria. Cosmopolitan. _Ciconiidae_,
    storks. _Ibidae_, ibises and spoonbills. _Propelargus_, Oligocene.

    Sub-order 4. PHOENICOPTERI.--Flamingos. Nidifugous, waders; with
    simple hypotarsus and without cervical apteria. Front toes
    completely webbed; hallux very short or absent; feed chiefly on
    small aquatic invertebrates. _Phoenicopterus_, cosmopolitan.
    Oligocene _Elornis_ and, allied, _Palaelodus_.

  6. Order Anseriformes.--Desmognathous, nidifugous; with two pairs of
  sterno-tracheal muscles, with complete basipterygoid processes and
  with a penis.

    Sub-order 1. PALAMEDEAE.--Screamers. Ribs without uncinate
    processes. Hypotarsus simple. Neotropical. _Chauna, Palamedea_.

    Sub-order 2. ANSERES.--Family _Anatidae_. Hypotarsus complex.
    _Anser, Anas, Cygnus_, since Miocene. _Cnemiornis_, Pleistocene, New
    Zealand, flightless.

  7. Order Falconiformes.--Birds of prey. Carnivorous, desmognathous,
  nidicolous, without functional caeca. Terrestrial, aerial.

    Sub-order 1. CATHARTAE.--American vultures. With nares perviae.
    _Cathartes_, turkey buzzards, _Sarcorhamphus gryphus_, condor
    _Gypagus papa_, king vulture.

    Sub-order 2. ACCIPITRES.--With nares imperviae. _Serpentariidae_,
    secretary-bird, Ethiopian; Miocene, France. _Vulturidae_, Old World
    vultures, excluding Australia. _Falconidae_, cosmopolitan, since the
    Eocene. _Harpagornis_, Pleistocene, New Zealand; _Lithornis_,
    Eocene, England. _Pandionidae_, ospreys or fish hawks, cosmopolitan.

  8. Order Tinamiformes.--Nidifugous, with incisura ischiadica, without
  pygostyle. Herbivorous, terrestrial, neotropical. _Crypturi_,
  tinamous.

  9. Order Galliformes.--Schizognathous, herbivorous, terrestrial. With
  ten functional remiges. With strong spinae sterni.

    Sub-order 1. MESITES.--Without basipterygoid processes, and with
    large spina interna. _Mesites_, Madagascar.

    Sub-order 2. TURNICES.--Hemipodes or button-quails. Nidifugous;
    vomer large; sternum without processus obliqui. Hallux absent or
    vestigial. Old World. _Turnix, Pedionomus_.

    Sub-order 3. GALLI.--With large spina communis, and with large
    processus obliqui. Hallux functional. _Megapodiidae_, Australian
    region. _Cracidae_, curassows and guans, neotropical. _Gallidae_,
    cosmopolitan.

    Sub-order 4. OPISTHOCOMI.--Arboreal, with long spina externa;
    without basipterygoid processes. _Opisthocomus_ hoatzin, Guiana,
    Venezuela and Amazon countries.

  10. Order Gruiformes. Legs of the wading type. Without basipterygoid
  processes. Without spina interna. Nidifugous. Essentially
  Schizognathous. _Rallidae_, cosmopolitan, since Oligocene. _Rallus,
  Fulica, Ocydromus, &c., Gallinula nesiotis_, Tristan d'Acunha,
  flightless. _Notornis_, New Zealand, flightless, nearly extinct.
  _Aptornis_, New Zealand, flightless, extinct. _Aphanapteryx_
  (Mauritius) = _Erythromachus_ (Rodriguez) = _Diaphorapteryx_ (Chatham
  Island), flightless and recently extinct. _Gypsornis_, upper Eocene,
  France. _Gruidae_, cranes, cosmopolitan, allied _Phororhacos_,
  Tertiary of Argentina. _Dicholophidae_, cariamas, neotropical.
  _Otididae_, bustards, Old World. _Rhinochetidae_, kagus, New
  Caledonia. _Eurypygidae_, sun-bittern, neotropical. _Heliornithidae_,
  finfoots, tropical.

  11. Order Charadriiformes.--Schizognathous. With eleven remiges, of
  which the terminal very short. Aquinto-cubital. Spinae sterni short,
  separate.

    Sub-order 1. LIMICOLAE.--Nidifugous, without spina interna sterni.
    Hypotarsus complicated. _Charadriidae_, plovers. _Chionididae_,
    sheath-bill. _Glareolidae_, wading swallows and coursers.
    _Thinocorythidae_, seed-snipes. _Oedicnemididae_, thick-knees.
    _Parridae_.

    Sub-order 2. LARI.--Aquatic, vomer complete. Without basipterygoid
    processes. Front toes webbed; hallux small or absent. Large
    supraorbital glands. Since Miocene. _Laridae_, gulls, cosmopolitan.
    _Alcidae_, auks, northern half of periarctic region.

    Sub-order 3. PTEROCLES.--Sand-grouse. Nidifugous. Vomer vestigial.
    With large crop and caeca. Hallux vestigial or absent since
    Oligocene. Africa to India, and Siberia. _Pterocles_ and
    _Syrrhaptes_.

    Sub-order 4. COLUMBAE.--Pigeons. Nidicolous. Vomer vestigial. With
    large crop, vestigial caeca. _Columbidae_, cosmopolitan, since
    Miocene. _Dididae_, flightless, recently extinct. _Didus_, dodo,
    Mauritius. _Pezophaps_, solitaire, Rodriguez.

  12. Order Cuculiformes.--Desmognathous, nidicolous; zygodactylous, or
  with the outer toe reversible.

    Sub-order 1. CUCULI.--Cuckoos. Quinto-cubital. _Cuculidae_,
    cosmopolitan. _Musophagidae_, plantain-eaters and touracos,
    Ethiopian since Miocene.

    Sub-order 2. PSITTACI.--Parrots. Zygodactylous; aquinto-cubital.
    Cosmopolitan, chiefly tropical. _Trichoglossidae_, lories,
    Austro-Malayan. _Nestor_, New Zealand. _Cyclopsittacus, Eos,
    Lorius_, &c. _Psittacidae_, tongue smooth, incl. _Stringops_.

  13. Order Coraciiformes.--Nidicolous. Nares imperviae, holorhinal.
  Downs restricted to the apteria or absent. Thirteen to fifteen
  cervical vertebrae. Mostly desmognathous. Deep plantar tendons
  connected with each other.

    Sub-order 1. CORACIAE.--Either (1) with long spina externa sterni,
    _Coraciidae_, rollers, Old World. _Momotidae_, neotropical, motmots
    and todies. _Alcedinidae_, kingfishers, cosmopolitan or (2) with
    long spina communis. _Meropidae_, bee-eaters, Old World. _Upupidae,
    Upupinae_, hoopoes: palaearctic and palaeotropical. _Bucerotinae_,
    hornbills, palaeotropical; _Irrisorinae_, woodhoopoes, Ethiopian.

    Sub-order 2. STRIGES.--Owls. Outer toe reversible. Schizognathous.
    Long caeca. Flexor tendons normal. Hypotarsus simple. Cosmopolitan.

    Sub-order. 3. CAPRIMULGI.--Nightjars. Nocturnal. With gaping mouth.
    Ten remiges and ten rectrices. Spinae sterni vestigial. Caeca
    functional. _Steatornithidae, Steatornis_, oil-bird or guacharo,
    South America. _Podargidae_, Australasian, _Caprimulgidae_,
    cosmopolitan.

    Sub-order 4. CYPSELI.--Tenth terminal remex the longest. With short
    spinae sterni. Without caeca. _Cypselidae_, swifts, cosmopolitan.
    _Trochilidae_, humming-birds, American.

    Sub-order 5. COLII.--Mouse-birds. First and fourth toes reversible.
    Ethiopian.

    Sub-order 6. TROGONES.--Trogons. Heterodactyle, first and second
    toes directed forwards, third and fourth backwards. Tropical.
    _Trogon gallicus_, Miocene of France.

    Sub-order 7. PICI.--Zygodactylous. Tendon of the flexor hallucis
    longus muscle sending a strong vinculum to that of the flexor
    profundus muscle, the tendon of which goes to the third toe only.
    _Galbulidae_, puff-birds and jacamars, neotropical. _Capitonidae_,
    barbets, tropical. _Rhamphastidae_, toucans, neotropical. _Picidae_,
    woodpeckers, cosmopolitan, excepting Madagascar and Australian
    region.

  14. Order Passeriformes.--Nidicolous. Aegithognathous, without
  basipterygoid processes. Spina externa sterni large, spina interna
  absent. Quinto-cubital, toes normal. Apparently since the upper
  Eocene.

    Sub-order 1. PASSERES ANISOMYODAE.--Syrinx muscles entirely lateral
    or attached to the dorsal or ventral corners of the bronchial
    semi-rings, (1) _Subclamatores_. Deep plantar tendons connected by a
    vinculum. _Eurylaemidae_, broadbills, Indian and Indo-Malayan. (2)
    _Clamatores_. Deep flexor tendons not connected. _Pittidae_,
    palaeotropical. _Xenicidae_, New Zealand. _Tyrannidae_, American,
    _Formicariidae_, _Pteroptochidae_, neotropical.

    Sub-order 2. PASSERES DIACROMYODAE.--Syrinx muscles of either side
    attached to the dorsal and ventral corners of the rings. Hallux
    strong, with a large claw, (1) _Suboscines_ with _Menura_,
    lyre-bird, and _Atrichia_, scrub-bird, in Australia. (2) _Oscines_,
    the true singing-birds, with more than 5000 recent species, are
    mostly divided into some thirty "families," few of which can be
    defined.

  The fourteen orders of the Carinatae are further congregated into four
  "Legions":--

  I. COLYMBOMORPHAE = Ichthyornithes + Colymbiformes + Sphenisciformes +
  Procellariiformes.

  II. PELARGOMORPHAE = Ciconiiformes + Anseriformes + Falconiformes.

  III. ALECTOROMORPHAE = Tinamiformes + Galliformes + Gruiformes +
  Charadriiformes.

  IV. CORACIOMORPHAE = Cuculiformes + Coraciiformes + Passeriformes.

  These four legions are again combined into two "Brigades," the first
  of which comprises the first and second legions, while the second
  brigade contains the third and fourth legions.

  Thus the whole classification becomes a rounded-off phylogenetic
  system, which, at least in its broad outlines, seems to approach the
  natural system, the ideal goal of the scientific ornithologist. The
  main branches of the resultant "tree" may be rendered as follows:--

                                    CORACIOMORPHAE
                                          +
  ODONTOLCAE..COLYMBO + PELARGO- ALECTOROMORPHAE..RATITAE
              MORPHAE   MORPHAE
                 \----+----/                /
                      \----------+---------/
                            NEORNITHES

  The Odontolcae seem to be an early specialized offshoot of the Colymbo
  Pelargomorphous brigade, while the Ratitae represent a number of side
  branches of early Alectoromorphae. The Ratitae branched off, probably
  during the Eocene period, from that still indifferent stock which gave
  rise to the Tinami + Galli + Gruiformes, when the members of this
  stock were still in possession of those archaic characters which
  distinguish Ratitae from Carinatae. It follows that new groups of
  Ratitae can no longer be developed since there are no Carinatae living
  which still retain so many low characters, e.g. configuration of the
  palate, precoracoid, pelvis, intestinal convolutions, copulatory
  organ, &c. Loss of the keel is co-ordinated with the power of using
  the forelimbs for locomotion; although a "Ratite" character, it is not
  sufficient to turn a _Notornis, Cnemiornis_ or _Stringops_, not even a
  _Phororhacos_ into a member of the Ratitae.

  Another branch of the Alectoromorphae, in particular of the
  Galliformes, when these were still scarcely separated from the
  Gruiformes, especially rail-like birds, leads through Opisthocomi to
  the Cuculiformes. These are, again in an ascending direction,
  connected with the Coraciiformes, out of which have arisen the
  Passeriformes, and these have blossomed into the Oscines, which, as
  the apotheosis of bird life, have conquered the whole inhabitable
  world.     (H. F. G.)

FOOTNOTES:

  [1] Treviranus, _Biologie oder Philosophie der lebenden Natur_, vol.
    ii. cap. 4, § 2 (Göttingen, 1803).

  [2] F. Tiedemann, _Anatomie und Naturgeschichte der Vögel_, vol. ii
    §§ 127-255 (Heidelberg, 1814).

  [3] L.K. Schmarda, _Die geographische Verbreitung der Thiere_ (Wien,
    1853).

  [4] P.L. Sclater on the general geographical distribution of the
    members of the class "Aves," 2. _Linn. Soc._ ii. pp. 130-145, 1858.

  [5] A.R. Wallace, _The Geographical Distribution of Animals, with a
    study of the Relations of Living and Extinct Faunas as elucidating
    the Past Changes of the Earth's Surface_, 2 vols. (London, 1876).

  [6] T.H. Huxley, "On the Classification and Distribution of the
    Alectoromorphae," _P.Z.S._, 1868, pp. 313-319.

  [7] The following old-fashioned rough computation may serve as an
    indication of the relative size of the orders and suborders of recent
    birds:--

      Ratitae             20    Charadriiformes       650 (incl. Columbae
      Colymbiformes       20                               350)
      Sphenisciformes     15    Cuculiformes          600 (incl. Psittaci
      Procellariiformes   90                               400)
      Ciconiiformes      150    Coraciiformes        1600 (incl. Trochili
      Anseriformes       150                               and Pici)
      Falconiformes      360    Passeres Clamatores  1000
      Tinamiformes        40    Passeres Oscines     5000
      Galliformes        370                       ------
      Gruiformes         250           Total about 10,300 species

BIRD-LOUSE, any small flat degenerate wingless neuropterous insect of
the group Mallophaga, parasitic upon birds and mammals and feeding upon
dermal excretions or upon the softer parts of hair and feathers. The
term "biting-lice" is sometimes given to these parasites, in allusion to
the mandibulate character of their mouth-parts, which serves to
distinguish them at once from the true lice of the order Rhynchota in
which the jaws are haustellate.

BIRD'S-EYE, a name applied to various small bright flowers, especially
those which have a small spot or "eye" in the centre. The primula is
thus spoken of, on account of its yellow centre, also the adonis, or
"pheasant's eye," and the blue veronica, or germander speedwell. The
word is also applied to a sort of tobacco, in which the stalks (of a
mottled colour) are cut up together with the leaves. From a similar
sense comes the phrase "bird's-eye maple," a speckled variety of
maple-wood, or the "bird's-eye handkerchief" mentioned in Thackeray's
novels.

BIRDSNESTING, a general term for the pursuit of collecting and
preserving birds' eggs, with or without the nests themselves. The nests
and eggs of wild birds are nowadays protected by local laws almost
everywhere in both Great Britain and the United States. By law they may
be taken for scientific purposes only, by special licence. In order not
to interfere seriously with breeding it is customary to take but one egg
from a nest, and, if the nest itself be taken, to wait until the young
birds have left it. Every egg, unless "hard-set," should be blown as
soon as removed from the nest. This is done by opening a small hole in
its side by means of a drill with a conical head, manufactured for the
purpose, a minute hole for the insertion of the drill-head having first
been made in the shell with a needle, which is then used to stir up the
contents, so that they shall flow easily. A blow-pipe with a curved
mouth is then inserted, the egg is held hole downwards, and the contents
blown out. The old-fashioned method of making two holes in the egg is
thus superseded. Should the egg be "hard-set" a somewhat larger hole is
made and its edges reinforced with layers of paper pasted round them.
Minute forceps are then introduced and the embryo cut into pieces small
enough to pass through the hole. The inside of the egg is then rinsed
out with clean water, and also before being placed in the cabinet, with
a solution of corrosive sublimate, which prevents decay and consequent
discoloration of the inner membrane. Finally the egg is placed with the
hole downwards upon a sheet of white blotting-paper to dry. The
authentication of the eggs is the most important duty of an
egg-collector, next to identifying the specimens. According to some the
best method is to mark with a fine pen on the egg itself the variety,
scientific name, locality of nest, date of taking and the initials of
the collector, as well as a reference to his note-book or catalogue.
Others advocate keeping the authentication separate with only a numbered
reference on the egg itself. Eggs should not be transported in bran or
sawdust, but in strong wool-lined boxes. The best cabinets are fitted
with drawers, pulled out to inspect the eggs, but at other times closed
to preserve them from the light, which is injurious to their delicate
colouring. When an entire nest is taken it should be disinfected with
hyposulphite of soda or insect-powder.

  See _Birdnesting and Bird-Skinning_, by E. Newman (London, 1888);
  _The Young Collector's Handbook of British Birds' Nests and Eggs_, by
  W.H. Bath (London, 1888); _Birds' Nests, Eggs and Egg-Collecting_, by
  R. Kearton (London, 1890); _British Birds' Eggs and Nests_, by J.C.
  Atkinson (London, 1898); _Nests and Eggs of North American Birds_, by
  Ernest Ingersoll (1880-1881).

BIRDS OF PARADISE, a group of passerine birds inhabiting New Guinea and
the adjacent islands, so named by the Dutch voyagers in allusion to the
brilliancy of their plumage, and to the current belief that, possessing
neither wings nor feet, they passed their lives in the air, sustained on
their ample plumes, resting only at long intervals suspended from the
branches of lofty trees by the wire-like feathers of the tail, and
drawing their food "from the dews of heaven and the nectar of flowers."
Such stories obtained credence from the fact that so late as the year
1760, when Linnaeus named the principal species _apoda_, or "footless,"
no perfect specimen had been seen in Europe, the natives who sold the
skins to coast traders invariably depriving them of feet and wings. The
birds now usually included under this name belong to the family
_Paradiseidae_, closely allied to the crows. The largest is the great
emerald bird (_Paradisea apoda_), about the size of the common jay. Its
head and neck are covered with short thick-set feathers, resembling
velvet pile, of a bright straw colour above, and a brilliant emerald
green beneath. From under the shoulders on each side springs a dense
tuft of golden-orange plumes, about 2 ft. in length, which the bird can
raise at pleasure, so as to enclose the greater part of its body. The
two centre tail feathers attain a length of 34 in., and, being
destitute of webs, have a thin wire-like appearance. This splendid
plumage, however, belongs only to the adult males, the females being
exceedingly plain birds of a nearly uniform dusky brown colour, and
possessing neither plumes nor lengthened tail feathers. The young males
at first resemble the females, and it is only after the fourth moulting,
according to A.R. Wallace, who has studied those birds in their native
haunts, that they assume the perfect plumage of their sex, which,
however, they retain permanently afterwards, and not during the breeding
season only as was formerly supposed. At that season the males assemble,
in numbers varying from twelve to twenty, on certain trees, and there
disport themselves, so as to display their magnificent plumes in
presence of the females. Wallace in his _Malay Archipelago_, vol. ii.,
thus describes the attitude of the male birds at one of those
"sacaleli," or dancing parties, as the natives call them; "their wings,"
he says, "are raised vertically over the back, the head is bent down and
stretched out, and the long plumes are raised up and expanded till they
form two magnificent golden fans striped with deep red at the base, and
fading off into the pale brown tint of the finely-divided and
softly-waving points; the whole bird is then overshadowed by them, the
crouching body, yellow head, and emerald green throat, forming but the
foundation and setting to the golden glory which waves above." It is at
this season that those birds are chiefly captured. The bird-catcher
having found a tree thus selected for a "dancing party," builds a hut
among the lower branches in which to conceal himself. As soon as the
male birds have begun their graceful antics, he shoots them, one after
the other, with blunt arrows, for the purpose of stunning and bringing
them to the ground without drawing blood, which would injure their
plumage; and so eager are those birds in their courtship that almost all
the males are thus brought down before the danger is perceived. The
natives in preparing the skins remove both feet and wings, so as to give
more prominence to the commercially valuable tuft of plumes. They also
remove the skull, and the skin is then dried in a smoky hut. The great
emerald bird, so far as yet known, is only found in the Aru Islands. The
lesser bird of paradise (_Paradisea minor_), though smaller in size and
somewhat less brilliant in plumage, in other respects closely resembles
the preceding species. It is also more common, and much more widely
distributed, being found throughout New Guinea and the neighbouring
islands. Its plumes are those most generally used as ornaments for
ladies' head-dresses. Both species are omnivorous, feeding voraciously
on fruits and insects. They are strong, active birds, and are believed
to be polygamous. The king bird of paradise (_Cicinnurus regius_) is one
of the smallest and most brilliant of the group, and is specially
distinguished by its two middle tail feathers, the ends of which alone
are webbed, and coiled into a beautiful spiral disk of a lovely emerald
green. In the red bird of paradise (_Paradisea rubra_) the same feathers
are greatly elongated and destitute of webs, but differ from those in
the other species, in being flattened out like ribbons. They are only
found in the small island of Waigiu off the coast of New Guinea. Of the
long-billed paradise birds the most remarkable is that known as the
"twelve-wired" (_Seleucides alba_), its delicate yellow plumes, twelve
of which are transformed into wire-like bristles nearly a foot long,
affording a striking contrast to the dark metallic tints of the rest of
its plumage.     (A. N.)

[Illustration: Standard Wing Bird of Paradise (_Semioptera wallacei_).]

BIRDWOOD, SIR GEORGE CHRISTOPHER MOLESWORTH (1832-   ), Anglo-Indian
official and writer, son of General Christopher Birdwood, was born at
Belgaum, in the Bombay presidency, on the 8th of December 1832. He was
educated at Plymouth grammar-school and Edinburgh University, where he
took his M.D. degree. Entering the Bombay Medical Service in 1854, he
served in the Persian War of 1856-57, and subsequently became professor
at the Grant Medical College, registrar of the university, curator of
the museum, and sheriff at Bombay, besides acting as secretary of the
Asiatic and Horticultural societies. His work on the _Economic Vegetable
Products of the Bombay Presidency_ reached its twelfth edition in 1868.
He interested himself prominently also in the municipal life of the
city, where he acquired great influence and popularity. He was obliged
by ill-health in 1868 to return to England, where he entered the revenue
and statistics department of the India Office (1871-1902). Whilst
engaged there he published important volumes on the industrial arts of
India, the ancient records of the India Office, and the first
letter-book of the East India Company. He devoted much time and energy
to the encouragement of Indian art, on various aspects of which he wrote
valuable monographs, and his name was identified with the representation
of India at all the principal international exhibitions from 1857 to
1901. (See _Journal of Indian Art_, vol. viii. "The Life and Work of Sir
George Birdwood.") His researches on the subject of incense (_Trans.
Linn. Soc._ xxvii., 1871; _Ency. Brit._ 9th ed., "Incense," 1881;
revised for the present edition by him), a good example of his mastery
of detail, have made his historical and botanical account of this
subject a classic. Nor can his lifelong association with journalism of
the best sort be overlooked. From boyhood he was a diligent contributor
of special information to magazines and newspapers; in India he helped
to convert the _Standard_ into the _Times of India_, and edited the
Bombay _Saturday Review_; and after his return to London he wrote for
the _Pall Mall, Athenaeum, Academy_, and _Times_; and with Chenery, the
editor of _The Times_, and others he took the initiative (1882) in
celebrating the anniversary of Lord Beaconsfield's death as "Primrose
Day" (April 19). He kept up his connexion with India by constant
contributions to the Indian press; and his long friendships with Indian
princes and the leading educated native Indians made his intimate
knowledge of the country of peculiar value in the handling of the
problems of the Indian empire. In 1887 he was created a K.C.I.E.; and,
besides being given his LL.D. degree by Cambridge, he was also made an
officer of the Legion of Honour and a laureate of the French Academy.

BIREJIK (Arab. _Bir_; classical, _Apamea-Zeugma_), a town of North-West
Mesopotamia, in the Aleppo vilayet, altitude 1170 ft., built on a
limestone cliff 400 ft. high on the left bank of the Euphrates. Pop.
about 10,000, three-quarters Moslem. It is situated at one of the most
important crossings of the Euphrates, where there was, in ancient times,
a bridge of boats, and is now a ferry on the road from Aleppo to Urfa,
Diarbekr and Mosul. Birejik corresponds actually to Apamea, which lay
opposite Zeugma, and commanded the bridge with its strong castle (Kala
Beda) now much ruined. The place seems to have had a pre-Seleucid
existence as _Birtha_, a name which revived under Roman rule (we hear of
the emperor Julian resting there on his march into Mesopotamia, A.D.
363), and is preserved to this day. The ferry over an unusually deep and
narrow part of the Euphrates has been used from time immemorial in the
passage from North Syria to Haran (Charrae), Edessa and North
Mesopotamia, and was second in importance only to that at Thapsacus, by
which crossed the route to Babylon and South Mesopotamia. Birejik was
the scene of an unusually cruel massacre and persecution of Armenians in
1895.

BIREN (or BÜHREN), ERNST JOHANN (1690-1772), duke of Courland, was the
grandson of a groom in the service of Duke Jacob III. of Courland, who
bestowed upon him a small estate, which Biren's father inherited and
where Biren himself was born. He received what little education he had
at the academy of Königsberg, from which he was expelled for riotous
conduct. In 1714 he set out to seek his fortune in Russia, and
unsuccessfully solicited a place at the shabby court of the princess
Sophia Charlotte, the consort of the tsarevich Alexius. Returning to
Mittau, he succeeded in gaining a footing at court there through one of
his sisters, who was the fancy of the ruling minister, Peter Bestuzhev,
whose established mistress was no less a person than the young duchess
Anne Ivanovna. During his patron's absence, Biren, a handsome,
insinuating fellow, succeeded in supplanting him in the favour of Anne,
and procuring the disgrace and banishment of Bestuzhev and his family.
From henceforth to the end of her life Biren's influence over the
duchess was paramount. On the elevation of Anne to the Russian throne in
1740, Biren, who had in the meantime married a Fräulein von Treiden,
came to Moscow, and honours and riches were heaped upon him. At the
coronation (19th May) he was made grand-chamberlain, a count of the
empire, on which occasion he is said to have adopted the arms of the
French ducal house of Biron, and was presented with an estate at Wenden
with 50,000 crowns a year. He soon made himself cordially detested by
Russians of every class. He was not indeed the monster of iniquity he is
popularly supposed to have been. His vices were rather of the sordid
than of the satanic order. He had insinuating manners and could make
himself very agreeable if he chose; but he was mean, treacherous,
rapacious, suspicious and horribly vindictive. During the latter years
of Anne's reign, Biren increased enormously in power and riches. His
apartments in the palace adjoined those of the empress, and his
liveries, furnitures and equipages were scarcely less costly than hers.
Half the bribes intended for the Russian court passed through his
coffers. He had landed estates everywhere. A special department of state
looked after his brood mares and stallions. The magnificence of his
plate astonished the French ambassador, and the diamonds of his duchess
were the envy of princes. The climax of this wondrous elevation was
reached when, on the extinction of the line of Kettler, the estates of
Courland, in June 1737, elected him their reigning duke. He was almost
as much loathed in Courland as in Russia; but the will of the empress
was the law of the land, and large sums of money, smuggled into Courland
in the shape of bills payable in Amsterdam to bearer, speedily convinced
the electors. On her death-bed Anne, very unwillingly and only at his
urgent entreaty, appointed him regent during the minority of the baby
emperor, Ivan VI. Her common-sense told her that the only way she could
save the man she loved from the vengeance of his enemies after her death
was to facilitate in time his descent from his untenable position.
Finally, on the 26th of October 1740, a so-called "positive declaration"
signed by 194 dignitaries, in the name of the Russian nation, conferred
the regency on Biren.

Biren's regency lasted exactly three weeks. At midnight of the 19th of
November 1740 he was seized in his bedroom by his ancient rival, Field
Marshal Münnich. The commission appointed to try his case condemned him
(11th of April 1741) to death by quartering, but this sentence was
commuted by the clemency of the new regent, Anna Leopoldovna, the mother
of Ivan VI., to banishment for life at Pelin in Siberia. All Biren's
vast property was confiscated, including his diamonds, worth £600,000.
For twenty-two years the ex-regent disappeared from the high places of
history. He re-emerges for a brief moment in 1762, when the philo-German
Peter III. summoned him to court. He was now too old to be in any one's
way, and that, no doubt, was the reason why Catherine II. re-established
him (1763) in his duchy, which he bequeathed to his son Peter.
Misfortune had chastened him, and the last years of his rule were just
and even benevolent, if somewhat autocratic. He died at Mittau, his
capital, on the 28th of December 1772.

  See Robert Nisbet Bain, _The Pupils of Peter the Great_ (London,
  1897); Christoph Hermann von Manstein, _Memoirs_ (Eng. ed., London,
  1856); Claudius Rondeau, _Diplomatic Dispatches from Russia_ (St
  Petersburg, 1889-1892).     (R. N. B.)

BIRETTA (Ital. _berretta_, Med. Lat. _biretum, birettum_, dim. of
_birrus_, "a hooded cloak"; from the Fr. form _barrette_ is derived the
Eng. "barret-cap"), a cap worn by the Catholic clergy. It is square and
stiff, being made of a framework of cardboard covered with cloth or
silk; on the top, along the sutures of the stuff, are three or four
raised, board-like, arched ridges, at the junction of which in the
centre is a knob or tassel (_floccus_). Its colour varies with the rank
of the wearer, that of the pope being white, of the cardinals red, of
bishops purple, and of the lower clergy black. It is not in the
strictest sense a liturgical head-dress, its use not being confined to
liturgical functions. In these functions, moreover, its use is strictly
limited; e.g. it is worn at low masses by the priest only when he goes
to and from the altar, at high masses also when the celebrant sits
during the singing of the _Kyrie, Gloria_ and Creed, and at processions
when these take place outside the church and are not sacramental, and so
on.

Though the form of the biretta, devised in the 17th century, is peculiar
to the Roman Church, it is but a variant of the original _biretum_,
which developed in various countries into head-coverings of different
shapes and significance. At the outset there was little to distinguish
the _biretum_ from the _pileus_ or _pileolus_ (skull-cap), a
non-liturgical cap worn by dignitaries of the Church under the mitre and
even under the biretta. When the word _biretum_ first appears in the
13th century, it practically means no more than "cap," and is used as a
synonym of _pileus_. As an ecclesiastical vestment the cap can be
traced, under the name of _pileus_, to the 12th century; under that of
_infula_, to the end of the 10th. It would seem to have been worn by the
cantors as a protection against cold. The same utilitarian reason led to
its introduction among the clergy generally. Thus in 1243 Pope Innocent
IV. granted leave to the Benedictines of St Augustine's at Canterbury,
and to those of Winchester, to wear the _pileus_ in choir. With the
extension of its use, too, the custom grew up (c. 1300) of investing
clerks with the _biretum_ as the symbol of the transfer of a benefice, a
custom which survives, in Roman Catholic countries, in the solemn
delivery of the red biretta by the head of the state to newly created
cardinals, who afterwards go to Rome to receive the red hat. This red
biretta is called the _zucchetto_.

This use of the _biretum_ as a symbol of office or dignity was not
confined to the clergy. With various modifications of form it was worn
by all persons of standing, e.g. barons, judges, and doctors and masters
of the universities. The _biretum_ was also used in the investiture of
laymen with office, e.g. a duke or the prefect of the city of Rome (Du
Cange, _Gloss._ s.v. _birretum_). The "cap of maintenance" or "cap of
estate," still borne before the British sovereign on state occasions, is
a barret-cap of the type of the 14th and 15th centuries; it is of
crimson velvet, turned up with ermine. By the 16th century the
barret-cap had become the common head-gear of all people of substance,
men and women. It was flat, square or round, sometimes with edges that
could be turned up or down according to convenience, and was often
elaborately decorated. By the 17th century it had given place in
ordinary civil life to the brimmed hat; but in various shapes it still
survives as official head-gear in many European countries: the _Barett_,
worn in church by the Lutheran clergy, in the courts by German lawyers,
and by the deans and rectors of the universities, the _barrette_ of
French judges and barristers, the "black cap" of the English judge, and
the "college cap" familiar in English and American universities, and
vulgarly known as the "mortar-board."

Meanwhile the ecclesiastical developments of the _biretum_ are not
without interest and significance. Originally this had been a round cap,
low or moderately high, slightly bulging out at the top, and ornamented
with a round knob. By the 16th century, both in England and on the
continent, a tendency had begun to emphasize the ridges of the sutures
and thus produce a square shape. Henceforth the evolution followed
different lines. In England, in the 17th century, the square flat top
began to be enlarged, forming a rim of thick stuff projecting beyond
the close-fitting cap. This was the "square cap" so virulently denounced
by the Puritans as a symbol of High Church Erastianism. With the triumph
of High Church principles at the Restoration it was natural that a loyal
clergy should desire to emphasize this squareness, and the consequent
exaggeration of the square top of the cap necessitated a further
stiffening. In the 18th century, accordingly, the top began to be made
of a board of wood or card covered with cloth, the close-fitting cap
proper retired farther from the edges, the knob developed into a long
tassel, and the evolution of the modern "college cap" was complete (see
fig. 1).

[Illustration: FIG. 1.

  a, _Pileus_ of Archbishop Warham (d. 1532).
  b, Square cap of Archbishop Cranmer (d. 1556).
  c, Square cap of Archbishop Parker (d. 1575).
  d, Square cap of Archbishop Whitgift (d. 1583).
  e, Square cap of Archbishop Laud (d. 1645).
    All these are from portraits at Lambeth.
  f, Square cap of George Morley, bishop of Winchester (d. 1684).
  g, Modern college cap.]

On the continent, meanwhile, in the Roman Catholic Church, the _biretum_
had also developed into its present characteristic form, and by a very
similar process. By the end of the 16th century the square shape was
everywhere prevalent; at the beginning of the 17th century cardboard was
introduced to stiffen the sides and emphasize the squareness, and the
actual form of the biretta, as described above, had become fixed (see
fig. 2). Only in Spain has the biretta continued to be worn without the
raised ridges.

[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Illustrations of the _biretum_ from monuments in
the cathedrals of--

  a, Brandenburg (1281).     e, Würzburg (1521).
  b, Augsburg (1342).        f, Regensburg (1564).
  c, Bamberg (1483).         g, ib. (1605 ?).
  d, Regensburg (1550).      h, Bamberg (1626).

  (Redrawn from Braun's _Liturgische Gewandung_.)]

The use of the Roman biretta has been introduced by a certain number of
the clergy into the Anglican Church. It is clear that there is no
historical justification for this; for though both college cap and
biretta are developed from the same "square cap," the biretta in its
actual shape is strictly associated with the post-Reformation Roman
Church, and its actual ceremonial use is of late growth. Braun
(_Liturgische Gewandung_, p. 513) thinks that the symbolism of the cross
may have had some influence in fixing and propagating the square shape,
and he quotes a decree of the synod of Aix (1585) ordering the clergy to
wear a biretta sewn in the form of a cross (_biretum in modum crucis
consutum, ut ecclesiasticos homines decet_). So far as the legality of
the use of the biretta in the Church of England is concerned, this was
pronounced by Sir R. Phillimore in the Court of Arches (_Elphinstone_ v.
_Purchas_, 1870) to be legal "as a protection to the head when needed,"
but this decision was reversed on appeal by the judicial committee of
the privy council (_Hebbert_ v. _Purchas_, 1871). Of late years the old
square cap of soft padded cloth or velvet has been revived in the
Anglican Church by some dignitaries.

  See J. Braun, S.J., _Die liturgische Gewandung_ (Freiburg-i-B., 1907);
  _Hierurgica Anglicana_, part ii. (London, 1903); H. Druitt, _Costume
  on Brasses_ (London, 1906).     (W. A. P.)

BIRGER (?-1266), Swedish statesman, nephew of Birger Brosa, and the most
famous member of the ancient noble family of the Folkungeätten, which
had so much to say for itself in early Swedish history, was created jarl
of Bjälbo by King Erik Eriksson in 1248 and married the king's sister.
On Erik's death (1250) Birger's son Valdemar was elected king while his
father acted as regent. During the sixteen years of his sway Sweden
advanced greatly in fame and prosperity. In 1249 he led an expedition to
Finland, built the fortress of Tavastehus, and thus laid the foundations
of Sweden's oversea empire. He also built Stockholm, and enriched it by
making it the chief mart for the trade of Lübeck, with which city he
concluded a commercial treaty. As a lawgiver also Birger laboured
strenuously in the interests of civilization. In his old age he married
the daughter of King Abel. There is a fine statue of the great jarl in
the Riddarholm church at Stockholm, erected by Fogelberg at the expense
of the Stockholm magistracy in 1884. He is also the central figure of
Fr. Hedberg's drama _Brollopet på Ulfåsa_ (1865).

  See _Sveriges Historia_, vol. i. (Stockholm, 1879-1883).

BIRIBI, or CAVAGNOLE, a French game of chance, prohibited by law since
1837. It is played on a board on which the numbers 1 to 70 are marked.
The players put their stakes on the numbers they wish to back. The
banker is provided with a bag from which he draws a case containing a
ticket, the tickets corresponding with the numbers on the board. The
banker calls out the number, and the player who has backed it receives
sixty-four times his stake; the other stakes go to the banker. In the
French army "to be sent to Biribi" is a cant term for being sent to the
disciplinary battalion in Algeria.

BIRJEND, the capital of Káïn, a sub-province of Khorasan in Persia, in
32° 53' N. 59° 10' E., and at an elevation of 4550 ft. Pop. about
25,000. It is situated 328 m. from Meshed by the direct road, in a
fertile valley running east and west, of which the southern boundary is
a lofty range of barren hills known as Kuh i Bakeran. Through the valley
runs the Khusp river, which loses itself in the desert towards the west;
it is, however, generally dry. The water-supply of the town and of the
70 or 80 villages under its jurisdiction is very scanty. On the east of
the town at the foot of a hill stands a dilapidated fort. Birjend has
six good caravanserais, a college and some mosques; post and telegraph
offices were established there in 1902.

BIRKBECK, GEORGE (1776-1841), English physician and philanthropist, was
born at Settle in Yorkshire on the 10th of January 1776. He early
evinced a strong predilection for scientific pursuits; and in 1799,
after graduating as doctor of medicine, he was appointed to the chair of
natural philosophy at the Andersonian Institution of Glasgow. In the
following year he delivered, for the benefit of the working-classes, a
gratuitous course of scientific lectures, which were continued during
the two following years and proved eminently successful. He removed to
London in 1804, and there he endeavoured to prosecute his philanthropic
schemes, at first without much encouragement, but ultimately with marked
success. In 1823 he contributed to found the Mechanics' Institute, the
name of which was afterwards changed to Birkbeck Institution or College,
in honour of its founder. He was appointed director of the institute,
which he had originally endowed with the sum of £3700, and held the
office till his death on the 1st of December 1841. The sphere of
usefulness of the institution was gradually enlarged, and an enlargement
of the buildings was carried out in 1883-1885. The college now holds day
and evening classes in many of the sciences, in literature, languages
and art.

BIRKENFELD, a town of Germany, capital of the principality of the same
name, on the Zimmerbach, 25 m. S.E. of Trier and on the main line of
railway from Bingerbrück to Neunkirchen. Pop. 2500. Close by, on an
eminence, lie the ruins of the castle of Birkenfeld, dating from the
14th century, once the residence of the counts palatine of Zweibrücken.
The town has an Evangelical and a Roman Catholic church, a grand-ducal
high school and a hospital. Besides brewing and tanning, its industries
include the manufacture of tobacco and chicory. There is also a
considerable trade in cattle.

The PRINCIPALITY OF BIRKENFELD is hilly and well-forested; agriculture
prospers on the cleared lands, and fruit is grown in the valley of the
Nahe, the principal stream. Ironstone and roofing slates are quarried,
and there is some industry in agate-polishing and the manufacture of
trinkets. The principality has an area of 312 sq. m. and a population
(1900) of 43,409, chiefly Protestants. It is formed out of the former
lordships of Dachstuhl and Oberstein, of part of the ancient countship of
Sponheim, and sections of the duchy of Jülich, which were granted to the
grand-duke of Oldenburg by the congress of Vienna in 1815. It is entirely
an _enclave_ in Prussian territory, and though it is represented in the
Oldenburg diet, it is governed by a separate _Regierungskollegium_,
consisting of a president and two members, who are responsible to the
Oldenburg ministry.

BIRKENHEAD, a municipal, county and parliamentary borough, and seaport
of Cheshire, England, on the river Mersey, 195 m. N.W. of London. Pop.
(1901) 110,915. It lies opposite Liverpool, on the east shore of the
peninsula of Wirral, and is served by the Birkenhead (London &
North-Western and Great Western joint) and the Wirral railways. It is
wholly of modern growth, although the name of Byrkhed is traced to the
forest which is believed to have extended between the mouths of the Dee
and the Ribble in Lancashire. A Benedictine monastery was founded (c.
1150) by Hamon de Mascy, third baron of Dunham Massey, and dedicated to
St Mary and St James. It drew its main revenues from tolls levied at the
Mersey ferry; and its prior sat in the parliament of the earls of
Chester, enjoying all the dignities and privileges of a Palatinate
baron. A fine crypt, along with remains of the prior's lodging,
refectory and chapel, may still be viewed, as the priory was purchased
by private subscription and handed over to the municipality in 1896.

The rise of Birkenhead, from a hamlet of some 50 inhabitants in 1818 to
its present importance, was due in the first place to the foresight and
enterprise of William Laird, who purchased in 1824 a few acres of land
on the banks of a marshy stream, known as Wallasey Pool, which flowed
into the Mersey about 2 m. west of the village. Among other engineers,
Telford and Stephenson favoured the project of converting Wallasey Pool
into a great basin for shipping; but, largely owing to the fears of
Liverpool lest a formidable rival should thus be created, it was not
until 1843 that parliamentary powers were obtained, and the work
entrusted to James Rendel, who finished it in less than five years. The
docks, which covered an area of 7 acres, were opened in 1847, and after
thrice changing hands were made over in 1858 to the Mersey Docks and
Harbour Board, a body created by act of 1857, to control the harbourage
on both sides of the river.

Meanwhile, the town itself grew rapidly. In 1833 an act was passed for
paving, watching, cleansing and improving the streets; as well as for
the regulation of police, and the establishment of a market. The
Improvement Commissioners constituted by this act included the mayor,
bailiffs and four aldermen of Liverpool, under whose care the main
streets were laid out on a regular plan, intersecting one another at
right angles; and the first iron tramway in England was laid down.
Electricity was subsequently applied to the tramway system. Noteworthy
public buildings are St Aidan's College, a large brick building in Tudor
style, for the use of Anglican students in theology; the market hall
(1843); town hall, a free library with branches, borough hospital, built
at the cost of Sir John Laird; and many schools both public and private,
including the industrial schools built as a memorial to Albert, prince
consort, at the cost of Sir W. Jackson, and the school of art, given by
Sir John Laird. There are many handsome modern churches, all built since
1821. Roman Catholics are especially numerous, owing to the presence of
a large Irish population. The town is well furnished with open spaces.
Birkenhead Park was opened in 1847, Mersey Park in 1885; while a tract
of moorland 6 m. distant in the township of Thurstaston, was allotted to
the borough of Birkenhead in 1887; and Meols Common, comprising over 50
acres of pastureland on the shores of Liverpool Bay, was made over to
the corporation in 1900.

The increase of railway accommodation has been swift. In 1878 the old
Monks Ferry station on the Great Western system was superseded by the
opening of the Woodside passenger station, and a few years later the
Birkenhead town station was opened. In 1886 the Mersey tunnel,
connecting Birkenhead with Liverpool, was opened by the prince of Wales.
The system extends from Rock Ferry and Park stations on the Cheshire
side to the low-level at Central Station in Liverpool, and has
connexions on the Cheshire side with the Great Western, North-Western,
Wirral and various local lines. The Wrexham, Mold & Connah's Quay
railway, which was taken over by the Great Central company in 1905,
helped to bring the mineral wealth of Flint and North Wales generally
into the Birkenhead docks.

Woodside Ferry may still be regarded as the principal entrance to
Birkenhead and the Wirral from Liverpool. The exclusive right of
ferryage was granted to the priory in 1332. In 1842 the Birkenhead
Commissioners purchased it, under an act of parliament, from the lord of
the manor, Mr F.R. Price. In 1897 the corporation further acquired the
rights over the Rock Ferry and the New Ferry at the southern end of the
town. Despite competition from the Mersey tunnel, these ferries continue
to transport millions of passengers annually, and have a considerable
share in the heavy goods traffic.

Though at the outset a mere commercial offshoot of Liverpool, Birkenhead
has acquired a large export trade in coal and manufactured articles,
importing guano, grain and cattle in return. Iron foundries, breweries,
oil-cake and seed mills also exist side by side with such immense
engineering and shipbuilding works as the Britannia Works, Canada Works,
and, above all, Laird's shipbuilding works, where several early iron
vessels were built, and many cruisers and battleships have been
launched. Huge warehouses and sheds have been erected along the quays
for the storage of freight. In 1847 the Birkenhead Dock Warehousing
Company opened its first warehouse, capable of holding 80,000 tons of
goods. A line called the Dock Extension railway was carried round the
whole, and the company erected, for their workmen, the Dock Cottages.
This entire property is now under the authority of the Mersey Docks and
Harbour Board. The pile of buildings known as the corn warehouses are
traversed by a canal which gives access to its several departments, and
are provided with mechanical grain-elevators. There are also extensive
lairages for live-stock, and cold storage for dead meat. On the north
and north-east, and partly on the east, Birkenhead is bounded by its
docks, which extend, for a distance exceeding 2 m., from the
landing-stage at Woodside Ferry to the Wallasey Bridge. Of these the
principal are the Egerton, Morpeth, Morpeth Branch and Wallasey Docks;
while the Alfred Dock, with its three entrances, nineteen pairs of
lock-gates, 8 acres of water, and 460 lin. yds. of quay-space, fulfils
the part of an entrance-lock to the whole system. The great Float, now
occupying the site of Wallasey Pool, separates Birkenhead from
Poulton-cum-Seacombe in the parish of Wallasey. It forms an immense dock
of 120 acres, with a quay-space of about 5 m.; and communicates on the
E. with a low-water basin of about 14 acres and with the Alfred Dock; on
the S.E. with the Morpeth, Morpeth Branch and Egerton Docks. The Morpeth
Dock (about 11 acres, quay-space 1299 lin. yds.) is in communication
with the Morpeth Branch Dock (about 3½ acres, quay-space 600 lin. yds.);
both being set apart for the use of steamers. The total water-space of
these docks amounts to 165 acres, and the lineal quay-space is about 9½
m. The entrances to the Birkenhead Docks are capable of docking the
largest class of steamers afloat. The massive iron bridges across the
dock entrances are opened and closed by hydraulic power, which is
likewise applied to the cranes, coal-hoists, warehouse-lifts and other
machinery about the docks. At the extreme western end of the West Float
are three large graving docks, two about 750 ft. in length, and 130 and
80 ft. respectively in width; while the largest measures about 900 ft.
in length and 130 ft. in width.

In 1861 Birkenhead was created a parliamentary borough, returning one
member. In 1877 it received a municipal charter, the boundaries of the
borough including the suburban townships of Tranmere, Claughton, Oxton
and part of Higher Bebington. The borough is under a mayor, 14 aldermen
and 42 councillors. Area, 3848 acres.

BIRMINGHAM, a city and the county-seat of Jefferson county, Alabama,
U.S.A., in the north-central part of the state, 96 m. N.W. of
Montgomery, at an altitude of 600 ft. It is served by the Southern, the
Louisville & Nashville, the Seaboard Air Line, the Central of Georgia,
the Alabama Great Southern (of the Queen & Crescent Route), the Illinois
Central, the Atlanta, Birmingham & Atlantic, the Birmingham Southern
(for freight only), and the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham (Frisco
system) railways. Pop. (1890) 26,178; (1900) 38,415, of whom 16,575 were
of negro descent, and 1776 were foreign-born; (1910) 132,685. Birmingham
is situated in Jones Valley, between two mountains which lie south-east
and north-west of the city. Its streets are wide and well constructed,
and there are sixteen public parks, three of which, East Lake, Lakeview
and Capitol, are particularly attractive. Among the principal buildings
are the First National bank, the immense Union station and the Saint
Vincent hospital; besides several fine office and school buildings
(including the beautiful manual training high school) and churches.
Although the state constitution restricts municipal investments, a
Waring or "Separate" sewage system has been established. The most
important educational institutions are the Birmingham medical college
and college of pharmacy; the Birmingham dental college; a school of art
and a conservatory of music. At East Lake station, in the north-east of
the city, is Howard College (Baptist; founded at Marion, Perry county,
in 1841 as an academy; granted first collegiate degrees in 1848; opened
in East Lake in 1887); and 2 m. west of the city is the North Alabama
Conference College (Methodist Episcopal South), opened in 1897.

Birmingham, situated in an immensely rich iron, coal and limestone
region, is the principal manufacturing centre in the state, and the most
important centre for the production and manufacture of iron in the
southern states. In the decade 1890-1900 the value of the products of
Birmingham's manufactories increased 78.9% from $7,064,248 to
$12,581,066; in 1900 establishments under the "factory system" produced
goods valued at $8,599,418, in 1905 at $7,592,958, a decrease of 11.7%.

Immediately outside the city limits in 1905 there were many large
manufactories, including the repair shops of the Southern railroad; iron
and steel, car wheels and cotton-oil were among the products of the
suburban factories. In Jefferson county there were in 1900 more than 300
mining and manufacturing establishments, engaged, chiefly, in the
production of iron, coal and coke, and a majority of these are in
Birmingham and its suburban towns. A short distance south of the city is
Red Mountain, 25 m. long and about 225 ft. high, rich in hematite iron
ore; valuable limestone deposits are found some 30 m. distant, and in
the vicinity are three great coalfields, the Warrior, the Coosa and the
Cahaba. These natural advantages make possible the production of pig
iron at an unusually low cost. In 1900 the Birmingham district produced
six-sevenths of the total pig iron exported from the United States, and
in 1902 nine-tenths of Alabama's coal, coke and pig iron; in 1905
Jefferson county produced 67.5% of the total iron and steel product of
the state, and 62.5% of the pig iron produced by the state. The first
steel plant in the southern states was established at Birmingham in
1897; in 1902, at Ensley, one of the suburbs, there were 10 furnaces
controlled by one company. The city has also a large trade in cotton,
the annual receipts averaging about 100,000 bales. Among the
manufactures are cotton goods, cotton-seed oil, yarn, furniture and
machinery. Birmingham also has important lumber interests.

The city is a product of the industrial transformation in the southern
states since the Civil War. In 1870 the site was a cotton field, where
two railways, the South & North, and the Alabama & Chattanooga, now part
respectively of the Louisville & Nashville and the Southern System, met,
2 m. from Elyton. In 1871 a land company, promoted by railway officials,
founded Birmingham. Within four months the population was 1200; by 1873
it was 2500; in 1880 it was 3086; and in 1890 it had reached 26,178.

BIRMINGHAM, a city and a municipal, county, and parliamentary borough,
the metropolis of one of the greatest industrial districts in England.
Pop. (1901) 522,204. It lies in the north-west of Warwickshire, but its
suburbs extend into Staffordshire on the north and west, and into
Worcestershire on the south. It is 113 m. north-west from London by the
London & North-Western railway, lying on the loop line between Rugby and
Stafford; it is also served by the northern line of the Great Western,
and by the north and west (Derby-Bristol) line of the Midland railway.

_Site._--Birmingham, built upon the New Red Sandstone, is situated in
the valleys of the Rea and other small feeders of the river Tame, near
their sources, and upon the rising ground between these valleys. The
site is, therefore, boldly undulating, varying from 200 to 600 ft. above
sea-level, steadily rising towards the north and west, while the
well-marked line of the Lickey hills skirts the site on the south-west,
extending thence south-eastward. From the high ground to the south-east
Birmingham thus presents the appearance of a vast semicircular
amphitheatre, the masses of houses broken by innumerable
factory-chimneys; the whole scene conveying a remarkable impression of a
community of untiring industrial activity. The area of the town is
nearly 20 sq. m., the greatest length from north to south 7 m., and the
greatest breadth about 4 m. Yet Birmingham is a fraction only of an
industrial district, of which it forms the south-eastern extremity,
which itself resembles one vast city, and embraces such famous
manufacturing towns as Dudley, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Wednesbury and
many others. This is the district commonly known as the "Black Country,"
which forms part of the South Staffordshire industrial district.
Birmingham, however, does not lie actually within the "Black Country"
properly so-called.

_Streets and Buildings._--The plan of the town, as dictated by the site,
is irregular; the streets are mostly winding, and often somewhat narrow.
In the centre are several fine thoroughfares, containing nearly all the
most important buildings. New Street, Corporation Street and Colmore Row
are the chief of these. At the western end of New Street is a fine group
of buildings, including the council house and art gallery, the town hall
and post office. The council house and art gallery, begun in 1874 and
completed in 1881, is in Renaissance style, and the material is Darley
Dale, Spinkwell and Wrexham stone. The entrance is surmounted with a
pediment filled with groups of excellent sculpture. The erection of that
part which forms the art gallery was the work of the gas committee, to
whom the council granted the site on condition that they would build
such a gallery over their own office, the council having no powers at
the time to raise the required funds. The art gallery contains a fine
collection of modern paintings, including masterpieces of David Cox,
Millais, Hunt, Henry Moore, Albert Moore, Briton-Riviere and
Burne-Jones. In the industrial hall are rich stores of Oriental metal
work, Limoges enamel, English and foreign glass and Japanese ceramics.
In the side galleries are various textiles, and Persian, Rhodian, Grès
de Flandres and other pottery. There is a remarkable collection of
Wedgwood. Notable also is the collection of arms, which is probably the
most complete in existence. The purchase of pictures has been made from
time to time by means of an art gallery purchase fund of £12,000,
privately contributed and placed under the control of the corporation.
Many valuable works of art are the gift of individuals. In 1906 plans
were obtained for additional municipal offices and another art gallery
on a site on the opposite side of Edmund Street from the council house.
The town hall, completed in 1850, is severely classic, modelled upon a
Greek temple. The lower stage consists of a plinth or basement, 23 ft.
high, upon which is reared a facade of peripteral character, with eight
Corinthian columns (36 ft. high) at the two principal fronts, and
thirteen columns on each side. These columns (imitated from those of the
temple of Jupiter Stator at Rome) support a bold and enriched cornice,
finished at each end with a lofty pediment and entablature. The exterior
of the hall is built of Anglesea marble. The interior consists chiefly
of a regularly-built room, designed specially for meetings and
concerts, with an orchestra containing a fine organ. The hall seats
upwards of 2000 persons, but when cleared of benches, as is the case at
great political meetings, over 5000 may find standing room. The Midland
Institute, adjacent to the town hall on the west, has a fine lecture
theatre. To the south lie the post office, the inland revenue office and
Queen's College. To the north is the Gothic building of Mason College,
an institution merged in the university. The Central free library,
adjoining the Midland Institute, was rebuilt in 1879, after a fire which
destroyed the fine Shakespeare library, the Cervantes collection, and a
large series of books on, and antiquities of, Warwickshire, known as the
Staunton collection. The Shakespeare series was as far as possible
replaced, and the whole forms one of the largest reference and lending
libraries in England. Edmund Street and Colmore Row are fine
thoroughfares running parallel in a north-easterly direction from either
side of the council house; in the first the principal building is the
school of art, in the second are several noteworthy private buildings.
Both terminate at Snow Hill station, that of the Great Western railway.
New Street station, that of the London & North Western and Midland
railways, lies close to the street of that name, fronted by the Queen's
hotel. The station is nearly a quarter of a mile in length. The roof of
the older portion consists of a vast arch of glass and iron, carried on
pillars on each side, and measuring 1100 ft. in length, 80 ft. in
height, and 212 ft. in width in a single span. The building of the Royal
Society of Artists fronts New Street itself with a fine classic portico;
here are also the exchange (Gothic) and the grammar school of King
Edward VI., a Perpendicular building dating from 1840, designed by Sir
Charles Barry. Corporation Street was the outcome of a great
"Improvement scheme" initiated in 1875, with the object of clearing away
a mass of insanitary property from the centre of the town and of
constructing a main thoroughfare from the centre to the north-eastern
outlet, starting from New Street, near the railway station to Bull
Street, and thence continuing to the Aston Road. The scheme received
parliamentary sanction in 1876, and was finished in 1882 at a cost of
£1,520,657. This led to an almost total extinction of the residential
quarter in the centre of the town. The finest building in this handsome
street is the Victoria assize courts. The foundation stone was laid by
Queen Victoria in 1887, after Birmingham had been created an assize
district; the building was completed in 1891. There is a handsome
entrance, and within is a great hall, 80 ft. by 40, with a series of
stained-glass windows. The exterior is red, and highly ornamented in the
style of the Renaissance.

Among other noteworthy buildings are the county court, education offices
and military drill hall. Among a fine series of statues and monuments
may be mentioned the statue of Nelson by Richard Westmacott, in the Bull
Ring; those of Joseph Sturge, at the Five Ways, and of Thomas Attwood,
the founder of the Political Union, in Stephenson Place, both by J.E.
Thomas; James Watt, a singularly beautiful work, in Ratcliff Place, by
Alexander Munro; Sir Robert Peel, in New Street, by Peter Hollins;
Albert, prince consort, in the council house, by J.H. Foley; and Queen
Victoria, by Thomas Woolner; Sir Rowland Hill, in the hall of the post
office, by Matthew Noble; and Dr Priestley, in New Street, by F.J.
Williamson. There is also a fountain behind the town hall, commemorative
of the mayoralty of Mr Joseph Chamberlain, and flanked by statues of Sir
Josiah Mason, and George Dawson, who took active part in the municipal
reform movement previous to Mr Chamberlain's years of office. Sir
Francis Chantrey's famous statue of James Watt is in a special chapel at
Handsworth church.

_Suburbs._--The principal streets radiating from central Birmingham to
the suburbs are served by electric tramways worked by the corporation,
and also by motor omnibuses. The principal suburbs are as follows.
Edgbaston and Harborne lie south-west of the centre of the city, being
approached by Broad Street. These form a residential district
principally inhabited by the richer classes, and owing to the
enforcement of strict rules by the ground landlord, retain a remarkable
semi-rural character, almost every house having a garden. Here,
moreover, are Calthorpe Park, the botanical gardens, and the large
private grounds attached to Edgbaston Hall, also the Warwickshire county
cricket ground. To the south of Edgbaston, however, are the growing
manufacturing districts of Selly Oak and Bourneville, and south of
these, Northfield and King's Norton, in Worcestershire. The districts to
the east of central Birmingham are Balsall Heath, Sparkbrook, Small
Heath and Saltley. On the south-east is the residential suburb of
Moseley, and on the east that of Yardley. Between Moseley and King's
Heath to the south, is Highbury, the seat of Mr Joseph Chamberlain,
whose active interest in the affairs of the town, both during his
mayoralty (1873-1876) and at other times, was a principal factor in such
works as the municipalization of the gas and water supply, the
Corporation Street improvement, and the foundation of Birmingham
University. On the east side the transition from town to country is
clearly marked. This, however, is not the case on the west side, where
the borough of Smethwick adjoins Birmingham, and the roads through West
Bromwich and towards Oldbury and Dudley have the character of continuous
streets. On this side are Soho and Handsworth, which gives name to a
parliamentary division of Staffordshire. To the north lies Aston Manor,
a municipal borough of itself, with Perry Bar beyond. To the north-east
a populous district extends towards the town of Sutton Coldfield. Aston
Hall is a fine Jacobean mansion standing in an extensive park. Aston
Lower Grounds is an adjacent pleasure-ground. Besides these and the
Edgbaston grounds the chief parks are Summersfield Park, towards
Smethwick; Soho Park; Victoria Park, Handsworth; Adderley Park, towards
Saltley; and Victoria Park, Small Heath. There is a race-course at
Castle Bromwich, 3 m. east of the town.

_Churches and Religion._--Birmingham is not rich in ecclesiastical
architecture. It became a bishopric under the Bishoprics of Southwark
and Birmingham Act 1904, including the archdeaconry of Birmingham and
the rural deanery of Handsworth, previously in the diocese of Worcester.
Before 1821 it was in the diocese of Lichfield. There were formerly a
religious house, the priory of St Thomas the Apostle, and a Gild of the
Holy Cross, an association partly religious and partly charitable,
having a chantry in the parish church. The possessions of the priory
went to the crown at the dissolution, and the building was destroyed
before the close of the 16th century. The lands of the Gild of the Holy
Cross were granted by Edward VI. to trustees for the support of the free
grammar school. Until 1715 there was but one parish church, St Martin's,
a rectory, having the tithes of the entire parish of Birmingham. St
Martin's was erected about the middle of the 13th century, but in the
course of ages was so disfigured, internally and externally, as to
present no traces, except in the tower and spire, of its former
character. In 1853 the tower was found to be in a dangerous condition,
and together with the spire was rebuilt. In 1873 the remaining part of
the old church was removed without disturbing the monuments, and a
larger edifice was erected in its place. St. Philip's, a stately Italian
structure, designed by Archer, a pupil of Wren, was the next church
erected. It was consecrated in 1715, enlarged in 1884, and became the
pro-cathedral on the foundation of the diocese. It contains a rich
series of stained-glass windows by Burne-Jones. Then followed St
Bartholomew's in 1749, St Mary's in 1774, St Paul's in 1779, St James's,
Ashted, in 1791, and others. St Alban's is a good example of J.L.
Pearson's work, and Edgbaston church is a picturesque Perpendicular
structure.

Under the Commonwealth Birmingham was a stronghold of Puritanism.
Clarendon speaks of it and the neighbourhood as "the most eminently
corrupted of any in England." Baxter, on the other hand, commending the
garrison of Coventry, says it contained "the most religious men of the
parts round about, especially from Birmingham." The traditional
reputation for Nonconformity is maintained by the town, all varieties of
dissenters being numerous and influential. The Unitarians, the oldest
body established here, have among their chapels a handsome structure in
Bristol Road, the Old Meeting, which in 1885 replaced the building in
which the congregation was formed on the Presbyterian model by a number
of ministers ejected under the Act of Uniformity. Another chapel, the
New Meeting, in Moor Street, is memorable as having been the place of Dr
Joseph Priestley's ministerial labours from 1780 onwards. In 1862 the
Unitarians removed from this place to a new Gothic edifice, called the
church of the Messiah, in Broad Street, where they preserve a monument
of Priestley, with a medallion portrait in profile, and an inscription
written by Priestley's friend, Dr Parr. The first meeting-house of the
Society of Friends dates from about 1690. Among Independent chapels,
that of Carr's Lane had John Angell James and Robert William Dale as
ministers. The Baptists first erected a chapel in Cannon Street in 1738.
The Wesleyan Methodists were established in Birmingham by John Wesley
himself in 1745, when he was roughly handled while preaching on Gosta
Green. In 1903 a very fine central hall, with lofty tower, was opened by
this body, in the style of the Renaissance, fronting upon Corporation,
Ryder and Dalton streets. The Presbyterians have also places of worship,
and the Jews have a synagogue. From the revolution of 1688 until 1789
the Roman Catholics had no place of worship here; but Birmingham is now
a Roman Catholic bishopric. The cathedral of St Chad was built from the
designs of A.W. Pugin. At Erdington, towards Sutton Coldfield, is a
large Benedictine Abbey (1897) of the Beuron congregation, founded as a
monastery in 1876; and in the vicinity, at Oscott, is St Mary's College,
where the chapel is a fine example of Pugin's work. Cardinal Newman was
superior of the Oratory of St Philip Neri from its foundation in 1851.

_Administration._--The government of the town resided originally in the
high and low bailiffs, both officers chosen at the court of the lord of
the manor, and acting as his deputies. The system was a loose one, but
by degrees it became somewhat organized, and crown writs were addressed
to the bailiffs. In 1832, when the town was enfranchised, they were made
the returning officers. About the beginning of the 19th century,
however, a more regular system was instituted, by an act creating a body
of street commissioners, who acted for the parish of Birmingham, the
hamlets outside its boundaries having similar boards of their own. The
annoyance and difficulty caused by these bodies, thirteen in number, led
to a demand for the incorporation of Birmingham as a borough; and a
charter was accordingly granted by the crown in 1838, vesting the
general government in a mayor, sixteen aldermen and forty-seven
councillors. The powers of this body were, however, unusually
restricted, the other local governing bodies remaining in existence. It
was not until 1851 that an act of parliament was obtained, abolishing
all governing authorities excepting the town council, and transferring
all powers to this body. Another local act was obtained in 1862, and in
1883 these various acts were combined into the Birmingham Corporation
Consolidation Act. In 1889 Birmingham was created a city, and a grant
made of an official coat of arms carrying supporters. The title of lord
mayor was conferred on the chief magistrate in 1897. The city council
consists of eighteen aldermen and fifty-four councillors, selected from
eighteen wards; it is divided into seventeen committees, most of which
consist of eight members. The corporation is the largest employer of
labour in the borough, and is also a large landowner.

The gas, electric and water supplies are in its hands. The gas supply
was taken over in 1875, and the electric in 1900 for £420,000. The local
sources of water-supply are the rivers Bourne and Blythe, the Plant
Brook and the Perry Stream, and eight deep wells. These works can
provide 20 million gallons daily in dry weather. A large area outside
the city boundaries is supplied, and in 1891, the demand having risen to
nearly 17 millions a day, new sources had to be considered, and it was
determined to seek an entirely new supply in Wales. By an act of 1892
power was given to acquire the watershed of the rivers Elan and
Claerwen, tributaries of the Wye, lying west of Rhyader in Wales, and to
construct the necessary works, the capital authorized being £6,000,000.
About £5,900,000 had been spent when, on the 21st of July 1904, King
Edward VII. formally opened the supply. Two reservoirs on the river
Elan, formed by masonry dams from 98 to 128 ft. above the river-bed,
were then completed, the construction of the three planned on the
Claerwen being deferred until necessity should arise. Nearly a mile
below the confluence of the rivers the great Caban Coch dam, 122 ft.
high, and the same in thickness at the base, and 600 ft. long at the
top, holds up the water for over 4 m. in the Elan, and over 2 in the
Claerwen, having a capacity of 1500 million gallons. A series of thirty
filter beds is included in the original scheme; and the water travels
73.3 m. from the source to Birmingham by gravity alone with a fall of
about 170 ft. The area of the gathering ground is 45,562 acres, the mean
annual rainfall in the district being 63 in. The complete scheme
provided water for fifty years in advance, and a maximum of 75 million
gallons a day was taken into account, in addition to 27 million gallons
for compensation water to the river. The part of the works opened in
1904 provided about 27 million gallons of supply daily to the city. The
corporation is obliged by the act to supply towns within 15 m. of the
line of the aqueduct. A village for the accommodation of workmen was
established near the Caban Coch dam; and the corporation adopted a
modified form of the Gothenburg system in respect of the supply of
intoxicating liquors, permitting no publican to open a licensed house.

The administration of the poor-law is vested in a board of guardians of
sixty members for the parish of Birmingham. The parish of Edgbaston
(wholly within the borough) is in the poor-law union of King's Norton,
and that part of the parish of Aston included in the borough is in the
Aston Union. There are three workhouses--that for Birmingham parish,
situated at Birmingham Heath, is capable of receiving over 2000 inmates.
In 1882 a superintendent relieving officer was appointed, and a system
of cross-visitation started for the purpose of checking abuses of
outdoor relief. Workhouses, infirmaries and cottage homes are managed by
the board, on which women first sat in 1880. The administration of
justice was performed from 1838 to 1884 by a court of quarter sessions,
with a recorder, and a court of petty sessions. In 1884 Birmingham was
made an assize district of Warwickshire. In 1905 a special juvenile
offenders' court was initiated. The borough gaol is at Winson Green
towards Smethwick. The drainage system is managed by the Birmingham,
Tame and Rea District drainage board, constituted in 1877, and
consisting of members from the city council and from districts outside
the municipal area.

Birmingham was enfranchised in 1832, when two representatives were
assigned to it, and Thomas Attwood and Joshua Scholefield, leaders of
the Political Union, were elected. In 1867 three members were assigned,
and in 1885 the number was increased to seven, and a corresponding
number of parliamentary divisions created, namely Bordesley, Central,
East, Edgbaston, North, South and West. By the Provincial Local
Government Board Act of 1891 four local board districts were added to
the city of Birmingham for local government--Harborne (Staffordshire),
Balsall Heath (Worcestershire), Saltley and the rural hamlet of Little
Bromwich (Warwickshire). These districts were by the act declared to be
in the county of Warwick, though still remaining in their respective
counties for the exercise of freehold votes. By this act the boundaries
of the city were made conterminous for parliamentary, municipal and
school board purposes. The area is 12,639 acres.

The population of Birmingham in 1700 was about 15,000. In 1801 it was
73,000, and it increased rapidly through the century. In 1891 it was
478,113 and in 1901, 522,204.

  University.

_Education._--The oldest educational institution is the grammar school
of King Edward VI., founded in 1552 out of the lands of the Gild of the
Holy Cross, then of the annual value of £21. The endowments now yield
upwards of £37,000. The principal school included in the foundation is
the boys' high school, held in the building in New Street. It has a
classical and a modern side, and educates about 500 boys. Adjoining it,
in a new building opened in 1896, is a large high school for girls, with
300 pupils. There are also on the foundation seven middle schools,
called grammar schools, four for girls and three for boys, situated in
different parts of the city, and containing about 1900 pupils
altogether. The schools have numerous scholarships tenable at the
schools as well as exhibitions to the universities and other places of
higher education. Queen's College, founded in 1828 as a school of
medicine, subsequently embraced other subjects, though in 1882 only the
medical and theological departments were maintained. In 1882 a large
part of the scientific teaching, hitherto done by special professors in
Queen's College, was taken over by Mason College, and in 1892 the whole
medical department was removed to the same institution under an order
from the court of chancery. This change helped to advance the Birmingham
medical school to a position of high repute. The theological students
(Church of England) of Queen's College are few. The idea of developing
Queen's College into a university had long existed. But it was destined