172 Mr. V1cons's and Dr. HorsFiELD’s Description of the 
as to the number of species, still we must observe that they 
appear to us, when judiciously modified and faithfully inter- 
preted, not merely to embrace all the later acquisitions of sci- 
ence, and to include them within the bounds prescribed by their 
natural affinities, but to evince an almost intuitive insight on the 
part of that great master into the laws of nature. We have been 
accustomed, indeed, to contemplate with astonishment the ex- 
pansiveness of those views with which he anticipated the modi- 
fications of form which have been brought to light by succeeding 
. researches, and provided a station for them in his system suited 
to their place in nature. In but few instances have we seen 
cause to object to those leading views; anda slight modification 
will stamp even these few instances as of equal value with the 
rest. On the other hand, we are free to confess that among the 
various systems of ornithology which have arisen professedly to 
supersede his principles of arrangement, we see everywhere 
what appears to us to be an unfaithful representation of nature. 
When we adhere, then, to the principles of Linnzus, and to 
those grand and leading divisions which he has portioned out 
for our instruction, although with a modification of the terms of 
his nomenclature,—a modification which the fleeting nature of 
nomenclature itself renders necessary, and to which the scien- 
tific language of our own days must submit in its turn,—we 
conceive that we pay the most genuine homage to his genius 
and reputation. Were we, on the other hand, to-adhere strictly 
to his nomenclature, and endeavour to square it to the gigantic 
mass of materials that is progressively increasing upon us; we 
consider that we should endanger his reputation by exposing the 
inadequacy of his system to any practical purposes, and thus 
prove ourselves by ill-judged adulation to be the mere lip- 
worshippers of his name. 
It is thus, by adhering to the general views of Linnæus, but 
partially 
