XX INTKODUCTION. 



exceptional powers of meraoiy^ and the former destroys the value of the 

 important lessons to be learnt from the geographical distribution of genera. 

 I must plead guilty to one more cause of indignation, namely, the publi- 

 cation, with more or less trumpet of authority, of careless, slip-shod, slovenly 

 work ; but the special case to which 1 allude is of such a character that 

 even indignant criticism does not require any apology. I have done my 

 best to stem the revolutionary torrent which threatens to sweep away the 

 ancient landmarks of ornithological nomenclature; and I can'only leave the 

 results in the hands of my readers, trusting in the eventual triumph of 

 common sense over pedantry. 



I remember a few years ago having a long talk with a celebrated orni- 

 thologist who presided over one of the most important continental museums. 

 We discoursed on evolution, in which my learned friend did not believe, 

 and on various other subjects — ornithological, anthropological, and geogra- 

 phical, until finally I was gravely informed that all these questions had been 

 exhaustively treated of in the manuscripts which my friend intended to leave 

 in the hands of his executors, and that after their publication no further 

 books on science would be necessary ! It seems inconceivable that ignorance 

 almost as grave could exist in our own country ; but I was once seriously 

 told by an enthusiastic admirer of the ' Catalogue of Birds in the British 

 Museum^ that ornithology was nearly played out, and that when that 

 voluminous work was completed there would be little or nothing left for 

 ornithologists to do ! It is impossible to overestimate the fathomless abyss 

 of ignorance in which learned scientific men are content to dwell. 



No doubt in a few years my work will be superseded by a far better one. 

 If ornithology makes as rapid strides in the next quarter of a century as 

 it has done in the last, we may expect great things. Light is beginning to 

 dawn on the classification of birds, now that their bodies and not merely 

 their skins are studied. When the almost inexhaustible riches of this 

 mine are explored, perhaps the habits and instincts of birds may be more 

 studied. Birds are alive. The highest development of life is mind. 

 When the mental condition of birds has been scientifically studied, it will 

 be found that the true history of a bird includes not only that of its 

 body from the embryo onwards, not only that of its skin from youtli 

 to adult, not only its geographical distribution and the literature which 

 treats of it, but consists par excellence of its habits and the instinct or 

 reason which rules them. 



The scientific world is beginning to see straight on this subject, thanks 

 to the labours of Mr. Samuel Butler, who, in spite of much opposition, 

 has placed the facts in such a clear light that they carry conviction 

 with them, so that even his opponents are gradually accepting his 

 views without admitting it, and drifting unconsciously into his very 

 phraseology. 



