14 PREFACE. 



hobbies to the rump, crop their ears, and pare their 

 hoofs to the quick. Between these effigies of natura- 

 lists, and the true flesh-and-blood philosophers, there 

 are various gradations. For my part, instead of con- 

 sidering four hundred duodecimo pages sufficient for 

 the description of twenty-seven species of birds, I am 

 convinced that a tolerably full account of any one of 

 them, the Golden Eagle for example, would extend 

 over a greater space. Although my descriptions are 

 generally much longer than any hitherto published, 

 they are yet so defective, that I cannot apologise for 

 their length. It is obvious, that a man who knows one 

 plant or one animal well, has more knowledge than he 

 who can merely name a hundred or a thousand ; and 

 for this reason, I would that every student of nature 

 should in his researches penetrate a good deal deeper 

 than the cuticle of a plant, the scales of a fish, or the 

 feathers of a bird. 



