Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/513

 BUZZARD'S BAY BYRGIUS 507 with a wide subterminal band of black, and two others alternating with two of light cinere- ous. It inhabits all of temperate North Amer- ica, and cannot be distinguished, according to Baird, from the European rough-legged species. It flies slowly, sailing often in circles ; its habits and food are as in the species above described. The black hawk (A. Sancti Johannis, Gmel.) is a little larger than the last, and in the adult of glossy black plumage, often with a brown tinge, and with white spots on the forehead, throat, and occiput; tail with a well defined white bar, and irregularly marked with the same toward the base; inner webs of quills white, conspicuous from below during flight; tarsi densely feathered in front. It is found in the eastern and northern parts of America; chocolate-brown specimens are frequently met with. The buzzards seek their food late in the evening, and in that respect closely resemble the owls, as well as in their low, slow-sailing flight just above the tops of the long meadow grass, which they almost fan with their wings, as they seek in it their prey of small quad- rupeds, such as field mice and ground squirrels, the inferior reptiles, newts, frogs, lizards, and snakes, as well as the young of game, both winged and fur-bearing, among which they make sad havoc. These birds must not be confounded with the American vultures, of which there are two species found in the United States, the cathartet aura, or turkey buzzard, as it is erroneously called, and the G. atratus, or carrion crow, as it is misnamed in the south. (See TURKEY BUZZARD.) BUZZARD'S BAT, on the S. coast of Massa- chusetts, 30 m. long by a mean width of 7 m., contains the harbors of New Bedford, Fair Haven, Mattapoisett, Sippican, and Wareham. It is sheltered from the ocean, and separated from Vineyard sound, by the Elizabeth islands. BVLES, Mather, an American clergyman, born in Boston, March 26, 1706, died there, July 5, 1788. He graduated at Harvard college in 1725, was ordained minister of the Hollis street church, Boston, in 1733, and received the de- gree of doctor of divinity from the university of Aberdeen in 3 765. He remained loyal during the revolution, and was compelled on that ac- count to resign his pastorate in 1776. The fol- lowing year he was denounced in town meet- ing as an enemy to his country, arrested, im- prisoned in a guard ship, and sentenced to ban- ishment, which was afterward commuted to confinement to his own house, from which he was soon released. Many of his sermons were published separately from 1729 to 1771. He also published "A Poem on the Death of George I." (1727) ; " A Poetical Epistle to Gov. Belcher, on the Death of his Lady" (1736); and " Miscellaneous Poems " (1744). His repu- tation rests mainly upon his wit, which ex- hibited itself chiefly in puns. BYBiG, John, a British admiral, born in 1704, executed at Portsmouth, March 14, It57. In 1 756, Minorca being menaced by the French, j Admiral Byng was appointed commander of a ! squadron consisting of 10 ships ef the line, with ! which he proceeded to its relief. After arri- ' ving in the Mediterranean, finding his equip- ! ments inadequate to the service required, he ' sailed for Gibraltar to get provisions and refit. He now learned that the French had succeeded in landing 19,000 men in Minorca, and had re- duced nearly the whole of the island. Al- though a council of war pronounced against the attempt, Byng made an effort to establish com- munication with the garrison, which, after an indecisive engagement with the French fleet, proved unsuccessful. For his conduct on this occasion he was superseded, and on his return home was brought to a court martial. After a long trial he was found guilty of cowardice in the presence of the enemy, and sentenced to be shot, but recommended to mercy. His gen- eral unpopularity and the rancor of his political enemies prevailed against this recommendation, and the sentence was carried into execution. Macaulay brands his punishment as " altogether unjust and absurd." BYNKERSHOEK, Cornells van, a Dutch jurist, born at Middelburg, May 29, 1673, died at the Hague, April 16, 1743. He was educated at the university of Franeker, practised as an ad- vocate at the Hague, and was for many years president of the supreme council of Holland, Zealand, and West Friesland. He wrote Ob- servationes Juris Romani (Leyden, 1710), and Questiones Juris Pwblici (1737), and compiled a digest of Dutch law. His complete works have been published in 2 vols. fol. (Geneva, 1761 ; London, 1767). BYRD, William, an American lawyer, born at Westover, Va., March 28, 1674, died Aug. 26, 1744. Having inherited an ample fortune, he was sent to England for his education, was called to the bar at the Middle Temple, studied for some time in the Netherlands, visited the court of France, and was chosen fellow of the royal society. He was for a long time receiver general of the revenue in Virginia, three times colonial agent in England, for 37 years a mem- ber, and finally president of the council of the colony. In 1728 he was one of the commis- sioners appointed to fix the boundary between Virginia and North Carolina. " The Westover Manuscripts," written by him, containing an account of this survey, as well as of travels and observations elsewhere, were published at Pe- tersburg in 1841. In 1733 he laid out the cities of Richmond and Petersburg, on land owned by himself. He possessed the largest private library in America. BYRGIUS, Justns (properly JOBST BUKGI), a Swiss inventor, born at Lichtensteig, Feb. 28, 1552, died at Cassel in 1633. In 1579 he was invited to Cassel, and attached to the observa- tory there. He constructed a celestial globe, which attracted the attention of Rudolph II., who invited him to enter his service, which he did in 1604, and after the emperor's death in 1612 remained in Vienna till 1632. He drew