RISE AND PROGRESS OF ZOOLOGY. 81 



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 Regne 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 

 Grepiers. Paris, 1807. folio. (5.) Histoire Naturelle d'une 

 Partie d'Oiseaux de l'Amerique et des Indes. Paris, 1801. 

 4to. 



