38 PRACTICAL ORNITHOLOGY. 



go so far as to tell us that lungs and liver, and bones and muscles, 

 and such trash, have nothing to do with the study of living nature. 

 They even unblushingly call themselves philosophers, and " the 

 higher order of zoologists." Let us not think more highly of 

 ourselves than we ought, but simply strive to acquire and im- 

 part a knowledge of the works of God, In the Linnsean So- 

 ciety's Transactions, you will find a most instructive account 

 of the windpipes of birds by Mr Yarrell, which, however, I 

 did not look to until I had examined the subject in nature. 

 His description and nomenclature of the parts are different from 

 mine, and therefore you must consider well before you adopt 

 either. Our fifth practical lesson is now ended : when we meet 

 again, we shall talk of hill and dale, thicket and wild wood ; 

 traverse in thought the barren heath and the cultivated field ; 

 and listen to the songs of the Mavis and Merle, as we bask on 

 the sunny slope of some rocky mountain that overhangs the 

 far-extended and populous valley of the Tay, or to the croaking 

 notes of the Ptarmigan, misnamed " mutus,'''' as we penetrate 

 the white mist that envelopes the craggy summit of Ben Ledi. 



