of certain Birds of Cuba, 'if .'\il -S 



do : but as, to say the least, it is somewhat oracular to advance 

 positions of arrangement without deigning to state the observed 

 facts on which they are grounded, I trust that not merely zoology, 

 but moreover that species of comparative anatomy upon which 

 zoology must always rest as its firmest basis, lies peculiarly 

 within the province of the Linnean Society. A good authority 

 on this subject has said : " L'histoire naturelle d'un animal est 

 la connaissance de tout I'animal. Sa structure interne est a lui 

 autant et peut-etre plus que sa forme exterieure*. — Depuis que 

 I'histoire naturelle prend enfin la Nature pour base de ses distri- 

 butions, ses rapports avec I'anatomie sont devenus plus intimes. 

 L'une de ces sciences ne peut faire un pas sans que I'autre en 

 profite. Les rapprochemens que la premiere etablit indi(|uent 

 souvent a I'autre les recherches qu'elle doit faire +." If, how- 

 ever, some comparative anatomists will lose sight of the con- 

 nexion between the two sciences, and thus of the grand object 

 of their art, thereby subjecting themselves to that imputation 

 of dryness and contraction of ideas, which has been (I should 

 hope, rather hastily) applied as well to the English zoologists as 

 comparative anatomists .|., let the zoologist at least free himself 

 from the charge ; and by the union of the one science, which 

 affords facts, with the other, that teaches us the mode of arrang- 

 ing them, let him endeavour to approach " cette methode na- 

 turelle unique qui doit faire le but de tous les naturalistes." 



I have been led to these remarks, because, subject in a parti- 

 cular degree to error as an individual like myself must'always 

 be, who has not had the benefit of a regular anatomical educa- 

 tion, I venture to lay before the Linnean Society some observa- 

 tions on the anatomy of birds, — less indeed in the expectation 

 that they can merit attention in themselves, than in the hope 



* Cuvier, Lef. d'Jnat. Comp. vol.3, p. xxii. + Ibid. vol. 1. p. xvii. 



if Ibid. vol. 1. p. xvii. 



,".>;. B 2 that 



