The architecture of birds / [Anon].

  • James Rennie
Date:
[1831]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The architecture of birds / [Anon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    bind togethér, that it is not to be broken or cracked, by blows either of stone or iron, without a great deal of trouble.* What is still more to be admired is the proportion and figure of the cavity within, which is composed and proportioned after such a manner that it is not possible to receive or admit any other thing save the bird which built it, for to every thing else it is so impenetrable, close and shut, that nothing can enter, not even the water of the sea.”’*t See here,’ adds Montaigne, ‘a very clear description of this building, and borrowed from a very good hand, and yet methinks it does not give a sufficient light into the difficulty of this architecture.’ To us it appears that what Plutarch took for the nest of the halcyon was simply the crustaceous cover- ing of some of the sea urchins (Echimde), which agree in most particulars with his description. The most common of the shells, perhaps, is the edible one (Echinus esculentus) found on sea rocks near low- water mark, and varying in size from that of a small orange to nearly that of a cocoa-nut, and in colour from almost white to reddish orange. When alive, or recent and uninjured, it is covered with numerous blunt spies disposed in rows, but frequently cross- ing each other{ at various angles, so as to give some colour to Plutarch’s notion of interlacing, and the comparison of lian to basket-making,§ while the whole crust, readily separating into five triangular sections, doubtless gave rise to the notion of ‘ ribs and hoops,’ particularly as these sections are themselves marked with ribs.|| The peculiar closure of the mouth also appears to have suggested the wonders respecting * Plutarch, de Solertia Animal. * Tdem, de Amore in Prolem. ; $¥ Donati, Storia Nat. Marina dell Adriatico, p. 38. § Elian, de Animal, ix, 17. ll Monro, Physiol. of Fishes, fol. p. 66,
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