Bats are numerous in Africa, and most of the species inhabiting this continent are peculiar to it. The Rodentia are also for the most part of peculiar species; among them are hares, rabbits, jerboas, squirrels, rats, and mice. Among birds, the ostrich is confined to Africa, but ranges from its southern extremity to the northern borders of the Great Desert. Its feathers form a highly valued article of traffic, and the bird is domesticated in many parts of Africa for the sake of procuring these free from injury. The vulture (of which two species occur--one in Northern Africa and the other in the neighborhood of the Cape) serves here, as elsewhere, to preserve the air from impurity, by feeding on the carcasses of animals, and divides with the hyena the office of scavenger. The owl, falcon, and eagle are also enumerated among the African birds of prey. Of gallinaceous birds Africa possesses only the guinea-fowl; but the domestic poultry are numerously reared, though not indigenous. The woods of tropical Africa abound in numberless varieties of parrots and paroquets, besides many other birds of bright and gaudy plumage--as the beautiful sun-birds (which inhabit the western coasts, and are scarcely larger than the humming-birds of America), together with the golden-colored orioles, crested hoopoes, bee-eaters, and others. The honey-suckers, which abound in the neighborhood of the Cape of Good Hope, feed entirely upon the nectar or saccharine juice of the proteas and similar plants. The sun-birds also occur in Southern Africa, and rival those of India and the Gambia in the brilliancy of their colors.