Owing to the worn and imperfect condition of the type and its very 

 small size as used in the tabulated lists, many of the characters are to 

 be distinguished only by closest scrutiny. On this account is was con- 

 eluded that a photographic reprint was impracticable. As stated in 

 my circular of announcement, as nearly as possible the reprint is an 

 exact reproduction of the style, form, size, paging, paragraphing, typo- 

 graphy and inaccuracies of the original. The tables, which contain, 

 with their foot notes, that part of the reprint most requiring absolute 

 accuracy, have, (if that were possible), received greater care than 

 the text. 



Apart from its technical value, the work before us has great 

 historic and literary interest. The name of George Ord was long ago 

 immortally associated with that of Alexander Wilson. If the latter 

 is the Father of North American Ornithology, Mr. Ord, in a humbler 

 sense, may be characterized Father of North American Zoology, his 

 contribution to Guthrie's Geography being the first systematic Zcology 

 of America by an American. The limited and concise nature of this 

 production gives only a casual glimpse at the personality of its author : 

 when, however, it dees reveal itself, the same lofty and sacred animus 

 which inspired the noblest writings of Wilson and Audubon is 

 unmistakable. 



The systematic zoologist of to-day, wearied with the rr.cdern techni- 

 calities of his profession, does well to recur to the heartfelt delineations 

 of nature by the old school masters, and to consider the present 

 scramble after names and novelties as a mere accessory to a clearer, 

 more spiritual insight and interpretation of life. George Ord was 

 quick to recognize in Wilson and others of his day the traits of true 

 genius for the stud}' of nature, because he possessed these require- 

 ments in no small degree himself. To him the study of Natural His- 

 tory was not merely a delight or a hobby, but it became a sacred trust; 

 by it he not only sought to please but to instruct, to correct the crude 

 misrepresentations of foreign naturalists, to truthfully portray the 

 zoological productions of his native land and divert the reader from an 

 abstract view of created things to contemplate the omniscient plan of 

 the Creative Mind. 



The modesty of George Ord is noteworthy. In neither edition of 

 Guthrie's Geography containing the North American Zoology does his 

 name appear. In the "Advertisement" preface to the edition of 1815 

 (vol. i.) the editor refers to it in the following words:- 



