V 



EXTRACTS FROM Professor MacGillivray's 

 Works explanatory of his System of Orni- 

 thological Classification as differing from 

 those of other Ornithologists. 



The object which I had in view when, many years ago, 

 I commenced the observations recorded in this work 

 was at some convenient season to lay before the public 

 descriptions of the birds of Great Britain, more extended, 

 and if possible more correct, than any previously offered. 

 To accomplish so ambitious a purpose, I judged it neces- 

 sary to direct my attention to the living objects them- 

 selves, rather than to their skins in collections or their 

 portraits in books ; to follow them in their haunts, 

 observe their manners, procure unmutilated specimens, 

 carefully examine all their parts, and thus be enabled to 

 bring forward facts that had been entirely overlooked, 

 and place others in a light in which they had not pre- 

 viously been viewed. Short specific characters, slight 

 descriptions or notices, and measurements of parts, I 

 could easily have obtained by visiting museums and 



