MAY be considered as the connecting link between the Monkeys and the genuine quadruped. Their habits are nocturnal, whence they have been called Lemurs, or ghosts. They pass a considerable portion of the day in sleep, rolled up like a ball, with the large tail passed between the hind legs, and twisted round the neck. They live in troops, more or less numerous, like the apes and monkeys, on trees, and climb with great quickness, and leap with so much force as frequently to rise ten feet at a single bound. They feed on fruits, roots, &c., and carry their food to their mouth with their hands, like the apes; their voice, when not alarmed, is a quick grunt. Their nocturnal and unobtrusive habits may probably account in some degree for the rarity of their appearance. They are all inhabitants of Madagascar, but allied species are also found in Bengal, and other parts of Hindostan, in Ceylon, and Java. The above specimens are from the Zoological Gardens, and are the White-fronted and the Black and White Lemurs. BOOK II. INHABITANTS OF THE AIR. § I. RAPTORES. _Diurnal Birds of Prey._ [Illustration: THE GOLDEN EAGLE. (_Aquila chrysaëtos._)] “But who the various nations can declare, That plough with busy wing the peopled air? These cleave the crumbling bark for insect food, Those dip the crooked beak in kindred blood: Some haunt the rushy moor, the lonely woods; Some bathe their silver plumage in the floods; Some fly to man, his household gods implore, And gather round his hospitable door, Wait the known call, and find protection there From all the lesser tyrants of the air. The tawny Eagle seats his callow brood High on the cliff, and feasts his young with blood.” BARBAULD. THE GOLDEN EAGLE is one of the largest and most powerful of all those birds that have received the name of Eagle. It weighs above twelve pounds. Its length, from the point of the beak to the end of the tail, is about three feet; the breadth, when the wings are extended, is seven or eight feet. The beak is horny, crooked, and very strong. The feathers of the neck are of a rusty colour, and the rest dark brown. The feet are feathered down to the claws, which have a wonderful grasp; the toes are yellow, and the four talons are crooked and strong. As in all birds of prey, the female is the larger, and more powerful. Eagles are remarkable for their longevity, and their faculty of sustaining a long abstinence from food. Of all birds the Eagle flies highest; and from thence the ancients have given it the epithet of the _Bird of Heaven_: “Bird of the broad and sweeping wing, Thy home is high in heaven, Where wide the storms their banners fling, And the tempest’s clouds are driven. Thy throne is on the mountain top, Thy fields the boundless air; And hoary peaks, that proudly prop The skies, thy dwellings are.”