INTROnUCTION. 19 



w\\^ stocks, but we know that it was accom- 

 plished, and we see that one animal after 

 another was added to the catalogue of his 

 humble subjects, while, at the same time, 

 empires were in their dawn, cities arose, 

 pohtical power became concentrated in various 

 given locahties ; the interchange of national 

 productions gave impetus to improvement ; 

 and the finer arts of life became developed 

 from the rude germs of their primordial origin. 

 At what precise point of time, or under what 

 peculiar circumstances, our domestic animals 

 respectively yielded to man's great mastery, 

 and submitted to his service, are points buried 

 in oblivion ; nor is it needful that they should 

 be minutely ascertained. We know enough 

 to feel that, in these conquests, of more solid 

 benefit than those of the sword, we are pre- 

 sented with important considerations in the 

 history of our species. And thus are we led 

 to the axiom with which we started, that man 

 began his career, not, as some philosophers 

 tell us, in the character of a degraded savage, 

 but in that of a benefactor to futurity. 



In the present work, we shall confine our 

 observations to those of the feathered race 

 which come under the general name of 



