of the Family of Anatida*. 29 



point, I must refer the reader to the ornithological volume of 

 the Northern Zoology,' now about to appear, where he will 

 find our peculiar views explained and illustrated. I have, in- 

 deed, chosen to enumerate, in both instances, the subordinate 

 divisions of the aberrant group, but they are always viewed by 

 me as forming a distinct circle of their own, the primary 

 divisions of every natural group being considered as THREE, 

 and not FIVE. In the present instance, the three sub-genera of 

 Chauliodus, Dafila, and Boschas, possess one common cha- 

 racter, in not having the bill conspicuously dilated at its ex- 

 tremity; while their circular succession can hardly be ques- 

 tioned, when we find that the greatest modern reformers * leave 

 the Gadwall and the Mallard in the same group : these 

 writers having overlooked the modification of the laminae, and 

 passed over the difference in the habits of these birds, as not 

 bearing upon the question. 



The theory, that the Mallard is the typical representation of 

 this family, has now, I trust, been thoroughly investigated, and 

 demonstrated to be erroneous ; nor can I consider the two 

 circular arrangements f that have been made of the whole 

 family, each apparently perfect, but essentially different, in any 

 other light. They appear to me to be the result of abstract 

 theory, and of a theory completely misapplied. On the other 

 hand, I deem it but justice to the great merits of another orni- 

 thologist of our own country, to acknowledge the assistance I 

 have derived from his highly valuable paper, on the trachasa 

 of birds J, and at the same time to declare that if there is any 

 truth in his own inferences, drawn from internal structure, or 

 in mine, resulting from attention to external form and habits, 

 he has himself marked out the true circle of the Anatidae, so 

 far as the British species are concerned, totally unconscious of 

 having done so. There is, and there cannot be, but one plan of 

 creation. In our efforts to develope this plan, we must, as 

 Mr. Yarrell justly observes, ' combine ascertained habits, ex- 

 ternal characters, and anatomical structure :' and in proportion 

 as we can do this, so may we assume that our arrangement is 



NATURAL. 



* Dr. Leach, Dr. Fleming, Stevens, Vigors, 

 f Linn. Trans., *iv, p. 499. Zool. Jour, III. p. 404. J Lion. Trans., xv. p. 378, 



