THE RATE OF ANIMAL DEVELOPMENT. 257 



a time trailed helplessly along. Thus, then, we see that in the mam- 

 malia, instead of man standing alone, sharply contrasted to the rest of 

 the class, he merely occupies one extremity of a series toward the 

 other end of which stand our much-talked-of friends the lamb and 

 the foal, while the carnivorous animals and the apes occupy interme- 

 diate positions. Some very plain reasons why this should be the case 

 will follow in due course. 



But what are the facts concerning birds ? Are they all able, as 

 soon as hatched, to direct the beak with perfect accuracy, to select 

 suitable nourishment, and to flutter about awaiting merely the growth 

 of their wing-feathers before they can take flight ? Davy's " Ornither " 

 must have been either a willful sophist or a most egregious goose. 

 Had he been an accurate and conscientious observer, he must have been 

 aware that what he predicates of birds in general is true, in any sense, 

 merely of the Gallinre, Grallse, Anseres, and Struthiones, and assuredly 

 not of the Passeres, Picariae, Coluinbse, Psittaci, and Raptores. Did 

 any of the authors to whom we have been referring, before indulging 

 in platitudes on young ducks, ever take the trouble to " consider " 

 young hawks, young thrushes, or young canaries ? Had they done so 

 they would have seen that such nestlings, instead of being able to 

 " direct the beak with the greatest accuracy," can merely sit in the nest 

 with open mouth waiting to be fed ! A young canary, so far from 

 being able to stand or walk, seldom fails to break its legs if startled 

 and induced by fright to attempt leaving the nest. Such facts as 

 these are known to every bird-fancier nay, we might say to every 

 rustic youth, who has ever robbed a nest and has attempted to bring- 

 up the callow young by hand. They are not known, it appears, to 

 men of erudition. It was, we think, the Prime Minister of Gustavus 

 Adolphus, of Sweden, who said to his son, " Thou knowest not with 

 how little wisdom the world is governed." In like manner, and even 

 more truth, it might be said that we know not with how little accurate 

 thorough knowledge books are compiled, the world is misinstructed, 

 and imposing reputations are built up. 



AVe do not demand original observation from Professor AThewell. 

 Every one knows that the possessors of inherited wealth are apt to 

 despise the man who has acquired a fortune by his own exertions. 

 But there is a class of men more numerous, we fear, in England than 

 in any other civilized country who, with a still more unjustifiable 

 prejudice, contemn all knowledge that has not been derived from books, 

 and scorn original research and discovery. Still it is strange that 

 none of these writers should have met with the following observation 

 from Gilbert White : * "On the 5th of July, 1775, 1 again untiled part 

 of the roof over the nest of a swift. The squab young we brought 

 down and placed upon the grass-plot, where they tumbled about and 

 were as helpless as a new-born child. When w^e contemplated their 



* " Natural History of Selborne," Letter XXI. 



VOL. XTII. 17 



