28 Mr. Swainson on the Typical Perfection 



of Nature is essentially a system of types and symbols. Seeing 

 then that this system can never be developed without the aid of 

 those matter-of-fact naturalists, those true students of nature, 

 who throw aside ponderous systems and observe facts, how 

 much it is to be regretted that the natural history of birds has 

 been so greatly neglected ! But for the writings of Le Vaillant 

 and D'Azara, among foreigners, and those of White, Wilson, 

 Montague, and Selby, in our own country, the true naturalist 

 who sought to apply isolated facts to general truths, would 

 receive but little help from all that has been Written on the sub- 

 ject *. The most trivial circumstance in the habits and eco- 

 nomy of an animal, may ultimately prove to be just as im- 

 portant in deciding its place in nature, as any other belonging 

 to structure : both are equally essential, both must harmonize, 

 both confirm, and strengthen each other, and both illustrate 

 general laws. This has been exemplified in the preceding 

 pages, and we can only regret that the natural history of these 

 birds (otherwise so well known as species) has not enabled us 

 to do this more effectually. 



Yet while we 'give just and due "praise to such writers, we 

 cannot join in the attempt of their admirers, to place them 

 upon the highest pinnacle of fame. The study of nature is as 

 diversified as it is vast, and requires to be pursued by different 

 modes, and by different capacities. Without the aid of the 

 systematist, or of the ' closet' naturalist, the whole book of the 

 creation would exhibit but a ponderous collection of isolated 

 facts, interesting indeed in themselves, but crude, uninviting, 

 and trivial to the philosophic inquirer. If natural history can 

 teach nothing more than that one bird built on the ground, and 

 that another constructed its nest upon a tree, it may be a 

 rational recreation, but it can never become a science. 



In regard to the tabular disposition of the five sub-genera, or 

 types of form, given in the preceding pages, it will be expected 

 that I should say a few words, since it is at variance with the 

 mode of exhibiting circular affinities, adopted by that distin- 

 guished writer who first detected this arrangement. On this 



* Anatomical facts, of course, are equally important with those of habit, and 

 in Mr. Yarrell we can now boast of an ornithologist |whose labours in this depart- 

 ment are peculiarly valuable and important, 



