[2] Great bustard; of the gallinaceous order. This is the largest bird of European climates, the male being four feet in length from the beak to the tail, seven in breadth with the wings extended, and weighing about thirty-five pounds. The females are commonly a third less in every respect. Though the wings of the bustard are small in proportion to the body, yet the bird can raise and sustain itself in the air, but, cannot proceed out of a straight direction. It loves open, spacious plains, and avoids the water. The bustard is timid and difficult of approach; it however defends itself furiously when attempted to be caught, by beating the enemy with its legs. If taken when young, it is easily tamed, and brought to feed with other poultry. The most common colour of this bird is black, slightly tinged with red on the back, and the under parts white mixed with fawn-colour; a down of bright pink appears at the roots of the feathers. There are many kinds of this animal, both indigenous and exotic: the African; the tufted; the blue; the white bustard, &c.—See New Dictionary of Natural History.
[3] Yguana; a reptile of the family of lizards; it is found in South America and its islands. The animal is from four to six feet in length, of which the tail makes at least half. The head is small, flattened at the sides, covered with scales, and provided with large jaws and sharp-pointed teeth. A protuberance like a wen appears in the front of the neck. The body is every where clothed with hard scales. The colour of this creature is variable; its most common hue is green tinged with yellow; sometimes it exhibits gray or blue tints, and at others a mixture of all these colours together, like the cameleon, which the yguana greatly resembles.—See New Dictionary of Natural History.
[4] Lizards; The whole family are found to love music passionately; a sure means of attracting them is by musical sounds or whistling; in this manner the yguana is subdued. When the musician is sufficiently near, he plunges the end of a switch into the nostril of the animal, who dies instantly without pain.—Dictionary of Natural History.
[5] Tetrix. (Canadian Heath Cock.) This bird is found also in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and adjacent parts. Its modes of life are similar to the heath-cock of Europe, and is called by some authors simply the crested heath-cock. The head and neck are of a deep glossy black, which in all other parts is tinctured with green. The bill is covered with a yellow skin, except at the extremity, where it is bare and black; the eyes are also encircled with a skin of the same colour. On the top of its head there is a crest formed of several handsome feathers two inches and a half in length. The feathers on the neck, which are also of a beautiful fibre form, fall gracefully down; but when the creature is agitated, they as well as those on the head become erect. When he wishes to call his females round him, the feathers assume this state; he trains his wings on the ground and spreads his tail into the form of a wheel, and in the velocity of his motions makes a singular kind of noise like distant thunder or a muffled drum.—New Dictionary of Natural History.
[6] Myrica cerifera, or Waxtree; it grows in Louisiana, and a smaller kind in Carolina. It is a pretty aquatic shrub and bears whitish-coloured flowers, the fruit of which hangs in small clusters. It is about the height of a very small cherry-tree, and in the form and smell of the leaves resembles the myrtle. The berries are of a gray colour, contain kernels which are covered with a kind of wax, of which the natives make good candles. Naturalists are of opinion that it might be easily made to flourish in other climates.—See Valmont de Bromare, and Dictionary of Natural History.
[7] Tuiete. This is the smallest kind of Brazilian parrot. There is an infinite variety in their plumage.
[8] Among others, M. Huber of Geneva: he has published a volume of his observations upon ants, no less agreeable than instructive in the perusal.
[9] See History of the Insects of America. By Mademoiselle Merian.
[10] Caoutchouc; The tree which furnishes elastic gum; it is called by the natives of Brazil, where it is produced, Hhevé.
[11] Of all the palm-trees which are natives of Asia, the sago-palmist is one of the most useful and interesting: a liquor runs from incisions made in its trunk, which readily ferments, and is Both salutary and agreeable for drinking. The marrow or pith of the tree, after undergoing a slight preparation, is the substance known by the name of sago in Europe, and so eminently useful in the list of nutritious food for the sick. The trunk and large leaves of the palmist-sago are a powerful resource in the construction of buildings; the first furnishes planks for the carpenter, and the second a covering for the roof. From the last are also made cord, matting, and other articles of domestic use.