2 INTRODUCTOllY OBSERVATIONS. 



observation had a character of its own — that character con- 

 sisting of a Avicle range of facts and events ; and tliat the 

 various species could be placed in a system according to affi- 

 nities in many cases not difficult to be traced. Since that 

 period I have enjoyed opportunities of extending my observa- 

 tions, and of confirming the views I had then adopted. The 

 generalizations alluded to, and which many others have parti- 

 ally or wholly elaborated for themselves, are briefly expressed 

 in the following Ordinal formulae. 



The observations necessary in introducing the Water 

 Birds having already been given in the preceding volume, in 

 which also the extended characters of the first order of these 

 birds, and of two of its families, are contained, it is expedient 

 to present here only the particulars necessary for connecting 

 the two volumes. It may be remarked, however, that the 

 study of these birds is beset with more obstacles than that 

 of most of the other tribes — not on account of any difficulty 

 in procuring specimens for dissection or external inspection, 

 but because their habits cannot be satisfactorily observed 

 without numerous visits, in varied circumstances, to the 

 places — often wild coasts, magnificent precipices, and remote 

 islands — which they frequent. I have possessed very favour- 

 able opportunities of making acquaintance Avith many of them, 

 and the exemption from restrictions imposed by our ill-con- 

 trived and crime-producing system of game laws, the adven- 

 tures, sometimes perilous, but always exciting and agreeable, 

 experienced in boat-excursions, in scrambling on the shelves 

 of precipices, in exploring maritime caverns, and in watching 

 the various actions of these birds, always rendered the study 

 of them peculiarly agreeable to me, as I believe it is to m0i5t 

 practical ornithologists. 



