The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and
Instruction, by Various

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Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction
Vol. 19, Issue 550, June 2, 1832

Author: Various

Release Date: March 17, 2004 [EBook #11612]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.

VOL. 19. No. 550.] SATURDAY, JUNE 2, 1832. [PRICE 2_d_.

* * * * *

RARE ARCTIC BIRDS.

[Illustration: THE WHITE-HORNED OWL ]

[Illustration: THE COCK OF THE PLAINS ]

[Illustration: LEGS AND FEET OF THE MOUNTAIN GROUSE.]

Few of the results of recent expeditions of discovery have been so
interesting to the public as their contributions to zoological history.
Many important additions to geographical science have also been made by
these journeys into countries hitherto unexplored, or but imperfectly
known by Europeans; but the interest is not of that attractive character
which is more or less attached to the natural history of these
districts. The great delight that we take in the latter species of
knowledge is referable to the curiosity we feel respecting the
inhabitants of a country after we have once been assured of its
existence. Our first inquiries naturally enough relate to the tenants of
our own species; we then ask what description of quadrupeds are found
over its plains, and how far they enlarge or circumscribe the enjoyments
and liberty of sovereign man; the birds that warble in its groves, the
insects that flutter in its breeze, the fish that tenant its seas,
rivers, and lakes, and the plants that wave in wild luxuriance on its
hills and dales; and by comparing all these varieties with the natural
characteristics of our own country, and contrasting their differences
with others, we are enabled, in some degree, to appreciate, by the
linked gradations, the order and harmony that reign throughout
nature--the minute beauty of parts which are so essential to the
perfection