106 Mr. Nuttall on the Birds of Massachusetts. 
they are drawn into a common interest with ourselves, and 
which should influence our feelings and instruct our minds, are 
too generally treated as subordinate objects of study; and 
hence we find, even in Europe, that the birds which have been 
generally known for several thousands of years, as having an 
existence, have not yet been studied with any care, in refer- 
ence to their manners and habits, as holding any marked place 
in the general scale of creation. 
Cambridge, April, 1831. 
