HOW TO NAME THE BIRDS. 



of the birds, and that of the order and family to which they 

 belong; then you must buy a good manual to answer all 

 further queries, either Eidgway's,^ Coues's,^ or Chapman's ^ 

 will serve your purpose. Kidgway's follows the modern 

 method, Coues's is both modern and charming, Chapman's is 

 both modern, simple, and comprehensive . It is the same as 

 when beginning the study of history : you first wish to learn 

 the name of a character, for what he was famous, and how he 

 appeared ; then with a distinct realization of the man's per- 

 sonality in your mind, you take an interest which, at first, 

 would have been impossible, in looking into his ancestry, 

 and finding precisely what union of races and families pro- 

 duced his particular type. 



Inverted evolution, or working from effect to cause, is the 

 simplest way to interest popular attention in any branch of 

 science. If people accept a tangible fact and go no further, 

 they have at least gained some information ; if they possess 

 the thinking-faculty, and desire to find the causes, they 

 are one step on the right road. Of course this method, if 

 method it can be called, lies open to the charge of superfici- 

 ality, and to the saying that " when science and sentiment 

 meet, sentiment loses its case." There is, of course, a species 

 of maudlin sentiment that is the proverbial cloak of inaccu- 

 racy, the variety that weaves touching but perfectly im- 

 possible tales and fables about natural facts. This is the 

 sentiment that originated the story of the self-sacrifice of 

 the Pelican in feeding its young from the blood of its own 

 breast. Whereas the Pelican belongs to a class of birds 

 who, after taking their food into the crop and partly digest- 

 ing it, bring it up again to feed their offspring. The act of 

 pressing the bill against the distended crop to dislodge the 

 food, sometimes irritates the skin ; hence the conclusion was 

 drawn that it drew its own blood. 



1 " A Manual of North American Birds," Robert Ridgway. 



2 "Key to North American Birds," Dr. Elliott Coues, Boston: Estes & 

 Lauriat. 



8 " Hand Book of the Birds of Eastern North America," Frank M. Chap^ 

 man. New York : D. Appleton & Co. 



38 



