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* BIRCH. 94 and many of his translations of Egyptian texts appeared in this series. He was also one of the founders of the Society of Biblical Archseology, and was a frequent contributor to the Traitsnc- iions and to the Proceed itifia of the Society. For his untiring industry, and his l)o!dness in ex- ploring untried fields of research, Birch's reputa- tion as an Eg.i'ptologist stands deservedly high. The best sketch of his life and work is to be found in Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology. Vol. IX. (London, 1893). BIRCH, Tnoin.s (1705-66). An English historian, born at Clerkenwell. He took orders in tlio Church of England in 1731, was in Essex in 1732, and in 1734 became chaplain to the Earl of Kilmarnock, who was beheaded in 1746. He was then (1746) appointed rector of Saint Mar- garet Pattens, London, and in 1752 was one of the secretaries of the Royal Society, a history of which he published (4 vols., 1756-57). His first literary undertaking was The General Diction- ary, Historical and Critical (10 vols., 1734-41), founded on Bayle's celebrated work. He next edited the State papers of Thurloe, secretary to Oliver Cromwell (7 vols., 1742). Among his other works are Life of the Hon. Robert Boyle, (1744); Inquiry into the Share which King Charles I. Hud in the Transactions of the Earl of Glamorgan (1747) ; Historical View of the Nego- tiation Betieecn the Courts of England, France, and BriLssels, 1302 to 1617 (1749) ; JAfe of Til- lot son (1752) : Memoirs of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth (2 vols., 1754), and he edited the works of Sir Walter Raleigh, Bacon, and others. BIRCH, TnoM.s (1779-1851). An American artist. He was born in London, England, but removed to the United States in 1793, and about 1800 began painting portraits in Philadelphia. In 1807 he visited the Cape of Delaware, and thereafter turned his attention to marine paint- ing, in which lie showed much skill. During the War of 1812 he painted a series of pictures of naval battles. His paintings of the engagements between the United States and the Macedonian and between the Constitution and Oucrrierc are in the Jo.scph Harrison collection of Philadel- phia. Tliree of his marine views are in the Clag- horn collection. BIRCH-PFEIFFER, bcrK'pfTf'er,Cii.RLOTTE (1800-68). A German actress ami playwright, born in Stuttgart. She made her debut in Munich at tlic age of 13, and played with great success in Berlin, Vienna, llaml>urg, Saint Petersburg, Pesth, Amsterdam, and other places. In 1825 she married Dr. Cluistian Bircli of Copenhagen. Slic managed the theatre in Zuricli from 18.57 to 1843, and then, after visiting pro- fessionally most of the cities in (Jermany, made an engagement with the Royal Theatre in Berlin, which continued until her deatli. Her l>lays, al- though of no high artistic merit, showed true dramatic talent, and a thorough knowledge of stage etfccts, and met with popular success throughout (iermany. Most of lier i)biys were dramatizations of popular novels. The following were especially successful: Pfrffcrriisel ; Hinko; Die Giinstlingc, probably her best; Der GWckner von Notre Dame, after Victor Hugo; Die Erau in Weiss, after W. Collins, and Die H'msc von Loicood, after Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. A complete edition of lier writings wa8 pub- lished in 1862. BIRD. BIRD (origin obscure). Birds are warm- blooded vertebrate animals clothed with feathers, and normally capable of tliglit. They comprise the class .tics. They have existed since early Mesozoic times, exhibit an interesting evolution within very compact and well-defined limits, dwell in everj- part of the globe, are exceedingly diverse in size, form, ability, and appearance, adapted to every sort of climate and food, show mental qualities of a high order, are of great importance in their economic relations with man, and in most cases are beautiful in outline and color and possessed of melodious voices. The Biro's Place in Nature. Birds are classified between the reptiles, regarded as in- ferior to them, and the mammals, regarded as superior in general organization. Birds differ from mammals, broadly, in being clothed with feathers instead of hairs, and in the absence of milk-glands, and by sundry differences in anat- omy and methods of existence, such as the hatch- ing externally of eggs, and the devotion of the fore limbs to flight. They differ from reptiles in having a covering of feathers instead of scales; a complete double circulation of warm blood; no more than three digits in the manus, long legs, etc. Affinity with Reptiles. — The differences last noted are, however, of much less importance than those which separate them from mammals, and the structural resemblance is so close that some anatomists, notably Huxley, have included rep- tiles and birds in .a single group, the Sauropsida, comparable to Fishes or Mammals, and com- pleting, with them, the three divisions of the Vertebrata. This grouping was founded upon the fact that birds and reptiles were alike in being oviparous or ovoviviparous; in having a cloaca ; in the incompleteness of the diaphragm, and of a corpus callosum in the brain ; in having only one occipital condyle; in the presence of a movable quadrate bone and other peculiarities of the skull : and in the fact that the ankle-joint is between two sets of tarsal bones. The close relationship thus implied has been confirmed by the disclosures of paleontology, which show that birds have a reptilian ancestry, and are an off- shoot of the same stock as modern reptiles. Deielopmcnt of the Class. — For details of the geological evidence of the origin and evolution of birds, the reader is referred to the articles Bird, Fo.s.sil; and Evolution. It will suffice here to sum up the matter as Prof. A. Newton, following Fiirbringer, docs in his Dictionary of Birds (London, 1893-96). Birds, since they spring from reptiles, must have begun with toothed forms of small or moderate size, with long tails and four lizard-like feet, having well- formed claws, while their bodies were clothed with a very primitive sort of down. To them succeeded forms wherein down developed into feathers, and the fore and hind limbs differed in build — the former becoming organs of pre- hension (as is still the case in some young birds), and the latter the chief instruments of progression. Then followed a dinosaur-like transformation of the pelvis and legs, and a grad- ual coalescence of the ankle-bones, enabling birds more and more to walk erect. These early rep- tilian birds were flightless and terrestrial, or at most climbed trees. "Among those which pos- sessed this habit, the befeathering (which as yet had, like the hair of mammals, served only f<ir ■f