RISE AND PROGRESS OF ZOOLOGY. Sl} 
veller, and a most accurate observer of nature. He 
expended his entire fortune in producing the most 
magnificent series of works, upon his favourite study, 
we possess ; and he has been the chief guide to MM. 
Temminck, Cuvier, and nearly all the moderns, in 
respect to the genera and families of African birds. 
Le Vaillant *, unfortunately for his own fame, was 
a rigid disciple of Buffon. He affected to despise 
system, and would only use French names. The 
consequence has been that those who came after him 
have had all the honour of incorporating and clas- 
sifying his discoveries in the regular systems; and 
groups which were first distinguished and pointed 
out by himself, are now only known by the names 
given to them in the Régne Animal, and other works. 
The plates of his three last works are exquisite, having 
been made from the drawings of Barraband, the 
best ornithological painter France has ever produced. 
We may here introduce the name of the Spanish 
naturalist, Don Felix de Azara, who investigated, 
with great ability and unwearied zeal, the quadru- 
peds and birds of Paraguay, of which province he 
was the governor. Azara, like Le Vaillant, rejected 
system; but although his descriptions are not only 

* F. Le Vaillant. (1.) Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux 
d’Afrique. Paris, 1799. 6 vols. folio or quarto. (2.) His- 
toire Naturelle des Perroquets. Paris, 1801. 2 vols. folio or 
quarto. (3.) Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux de Paradis, des 
Rolliers, des Toucans, et des Barbus. Paris, 1806. 1 vol. 
imp. folio. (4.) Histoire Naturelle des Promerops et des 
Grépiers. Paris, 1807. folio. (5.) Histoire Naturelle d'une 
Partie d’Oiseaux de l’Amerique et des Indes. Paris, 1801. 
4to. 
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