471 



I'.IUDS. 



with gradually increasing information, were published in various 

 places, and in 1758 the ninth edition (" lunge, auctius fuctuiu a me 

 ipso," says the author) waa tent forth in 8vo. In thin edition tho 

 birds are arranged under the same ' orders ' as they aro in the twelfth 

 and last edition, which appeared in 1766. Tho thirteenth edition was 

 not the author'*, but Gmelin's. 



The following are the order* of Linnmus's class A ret : 



1. Accipitra. Birds of Prey, properly so called. 



2. Pica. Woodpeckers, Crows, Huuiiuing-Birds, Kingfishers, Ac. 

 Ac. Ac. 



3. Atrra. Swimmers. 



4. Oralla. Waders. 



5. GaUiiur. Oallinaceous Birds (Partridge and Domestic Fowl, for 



;ti -t.lll ' 



6. Pattern*. Sparrows, Finches, Thrushes, Doves, Swallows, Ac. Ac. 

 These orders, some of which are not very natural, include with their 



subdivisions 78 genera. 



In 1 760 appeared the system of Brisaon, which divides birds into 

 two great sections. The first, consisting of those whose toes are 

 deprived of membranes ; the second, of those whose toes are furnished 

 with membranes through their whole length. 



There are many subdivisions, under which are arranged 26 orders, 

 including 115 ggnera. This able ornithologist owes much of his 

 celebrity to the minute accuracy of his specific descriptions. 



In 1770 Buflbn published the first part of his work relating to bird*. 

 It is marked by the same eloquent animated style which adorns the 

 rest of his ' Natural History ; ' but much cannot be said for its arrange- 

 ment, nor for the justice of some of its conclusions. 



Scha'ffer, in his ' Elementa Ornithologica,' which was given to the 

 public in 1744, divides birds into two great families, Nudipedet and 

 Palmiptdu. 



Scopoli (1777), in his 'Introduction to Natural History," divides 

 them also into two families ; but he takes his distinction from the 

 arrangement of the scaly skin on the legs ; the first division or Retipeda 

 consisting of those the skin of whose legs is marked by small polygonal 

 scales ; the second, Scutipedet, of those the front of whose legs is 

 covered with segments or unequal rings with lateral longitudinal 

 furrows. 



In 1781 our countryman Latham published his general synopsis, 

 and in 17S7 and in 1801 his two supplements appeared. In 1790 his 

 ' Index Ornithologicus,' in two volumes quarto, being an abridgment 

 <>f his more extended work, was given to the public. Separating, like 

 Willughby and Ray, the birds into two grand divisions, lund-birds 

 and water-birds, he arranges them under the following orders, which 

 include 101 genera : 



Land-IliniV. WatiT-Uirdi. 



1. Accipitra. 1. Qrallce. 



2. Pica. 8. Pinnatipeda. 



3. Pattern. 9. Palmipcda. 



4. CWW 



5. GaUina, 



6. StrulhioiKt. 



In 1 799 M. de Locdpede published his method, arranging 130 genera 

 under 39 orders. 



In 1806 DumcYil, in bis ' Zoologie Aualytique,' divided birds into 

 six orders. 



The following is Blumenbach's arrangement : 



Land-Bird*. \V:iii.r-llinK 



1. Accipitra. 8. Grailte. 



2. Levirottrtt. 9. Atttcm. 



3. Pi<-;. 



4. Coracet. 



5. Patttrrt. 



6. Galliiut. 



mtkionet. 



In 1810 Meyer, in the ' Almauach des Oiseaux de 1'Allemagne, par 

 Mwn. Meyer et Wolff,' arranged them under 11 m 



In 1811 llliger divided them into seven orders, including 41 families. 



Then came Cuvier, who in his ' Itcgne Animal ' (1817) published the 

 following method : 



1. Accipitra. 4. Gullimr. 



2. Patient. .'>. in-nllir. 



3. Scantortt (Climbers). 6. Palmipede!. 



Vieillot, whose work U dated in 1816, though it did not appear till 

 1817, distributes birds into thu following five orders : 

 1. Accipitra. 4. (IraUatortt. 



- >,''/. 6. Nataiora. 



3. Oallinacri. 



T. miuinck's arrangement (1815-20) consists of thu following 10 

 orders : 



1. Rnpaca. itvnt. 



2. Omnirurtt. 10. Utdlinacd. 



, "nedirorrt. 11. AUclorida. 



4. Granirora. 12. Coureun. 



5. Zyyodactyta. IS. Grailet. 

 0. AHUodactyke. 14. I'inu.i'.. 



7. Aleyoiu. 15. PalmipiJct. 



8. C'ktlidont. 1C. Inerta. 



BIRDS. 4:1 



In 1825 Nicholas Aylword Vigors (following out the principle 

 adopted by William Sharp M'l.cay, iu bis ' Hono Entomologies^' 

 a work of great learning and deep reasoning) proposed his arrange- 

 ment of birds according to their natural affinities. " I discovered," 

 says the author in his paper iu the 14th volume of the 'Transactions 

 of the Linnaean Society/ "as I advanced, that the larger or primary 

 groups were connected by an uninterrupted chain of affinities ; that 

 this series or chain returned into itself; and that the groups of which 

 it was composed preserved in their regular succession an analogy to 

 the corresponding grou j>s or orders of the contiguous classes of zoology. 

 I equally detected the existence of the same principle iu most of the 

 subordinate subdivisions, even down to the minutest, to a degree at 

 least sufficiently extensive to afford grounds for asserting its general 

 prevalence." 



Thus, if his five orders 



Intatortt, 

 Raptora, AM-. Ratortt, 



f/atatorei, GraUaturtt, 



be arranged round a common centre, the author conceives that they 

 would be found to be mutually connected together, and that the plan 

 which holds good in the general division will be found to be confirmed 

 on examining the subdivisions. 



The second order Intettora, for instance, he divides into five 

 tribes : 



Conirottrtf, 

 Dentirottra, l.v-i."..i;i -. Scantora, 



Fitniroilret, Ttnuirottra, 



in which he finds a similar connection, as he also does ill tl 

 families into which he further separates each tribe. 

 In the same year M. Latreille published his method as follows : 

 Section 1, Lcs Terrestro. Section 2, Let Aquatiquea. 



1. Rapaces. 6. Echassiera 



2. Passereaux. 7. Palmipedes. 



3. Grimpeurs. 



4. PaHserigalles. 



5. Gallinaccs. 



These orders include 252 genera, 



The method proposed by M. de Blainville in 1815, 1821, and 1822, 

 and developed by his pupil, M. Lhenninier, in 1827, is founded entirely 

 on anatomical details, and principally upon the comparative develop- 

 ment of the sternum. 



In 1828 M. Lesson published his 'Projet,' wherein he commences 

 with the two great divisions ' Terrestrial ' and ' Aquatic,' and dis- 

 tributes the birds into nine orders, founded on the form of the toes, 

 wings, and beak. The ninth order consists of ' Paradoxaux,' to 

 which he refers the Ornithorhynchus. 



In 1831, Mr. Swainsou, rejecting the quinorian theory above alluded 

 to, which he hod adopted in the year 1824, proposed (in the second 

 part of tho 'Fauna Boreali-Americana ' containing the birds) a new 

 arrangement, which he framed according to the dogma that " the 

 primary divisions of every natural group, of whatever extent or value, 

 are three, each of which forms its own circle." 



No one can read over tho preceding compendium, which only 

 embraces the more prominent systems, without perceiving that the 

 great aim of modern science has been to produce the best natural 

 arrangement. No sooner has one method been advanced and con- 

 sidered, than doubts have arisen, and another and another still suc- 

 ceeds. Cuvier expressed his dissent from all the systems whirl, he 

 had seen ; and it is no doubt as true now as when he expressed his 

 conviction that the true arrangement is yet to be sought for. 



To give a list of all the writers on the Natural History of Birds 

 would be quite out of place in a work of this description ; we must 

 therefore conclude this article with the following enumeration of some 

 of the most celebrated authors in thin de]tartment. 



The ornithology of America and the West Indies has been given by 

 Hernandez, Marcgrave, De Azora, Sloane, Catesby, Vieilh.t, Wilson, 

 Spix, C. L. Bonaparte (Prince of Cauiuo), Auduboii, Richardson, 

 Swainsou, and Nuttall. 



That of Britain by Pennant, Lewin, White, Bewick, Montagu, 

 Donovan, Selby, Mudie, Yarroll, Mocgillivray, W. Thompson, Meyer, 

 and others. 



That of Km.. pc by Tcmminck ; that of Germany l.y Mcvcr and 

 Wolff; and C. I,. Itonaparte that of Italy. Gould's ' itini.< of Bnrop*' 

 illustrate the ornithology of the Continent and British Islands. His 

 other works on the Birds of Australia, the Humuiing-Birds. the 

 'I'.. 11. .ins, and various monographs, are amongst the most splendid 

 contributions to the science of Natural History. 



Le Vaillaut has illustrated the birds of Africa and other countries. 



The following names of some of those who have alo distinguished 

 themselves as general authors or particular illustrators will readily 

 occur to the tuden> who enters upon thin branch of Natural History : 

 All. in, Audebert, Audubon, Borraband, Bechstein, Bennett, lil'yth, 

 Brisson, Brunnicb, Buffon, Buhlc, Cuvier, Daudin, Desmarest, Edwards, 

 Fleming, Foster, Frisch, Gerardin, Gould, Gray, Uunihcr, llardwickc, 

 Herbert, Houttuyu, Hunter, llliger, Jardine, Jenner, Leach, Lear, 

 Lesson, Macartney, M'Leay, Markwick, Meyer, Naiimanii, Nilsson, 

 No /.email, Renuie, Hiippell, Sabiiie, Savigny, Selby, Scpp, S, I,M tier, 

 Shaw, Sheppard, Slaney, Sonuini, Spix, Stephens, H. E. Strickland, 



