Bl R 



431 



B I R 



1. Accipitres. 4. Gallinae. 



2. Passeres. 5. Gralla). 



3. Scansores (Climbers). 6. Palmipedes. 

 Vieillot, whose work is dated in 1816, though it did not 



appear till 1817, distributes birds into the following five 

 orders 



1. Accipitres. 4. Grallatores. 



2. SylvicolcB. 5. Natatores. 

 S. Gallinacei. 



Temrninck's arrangement (1815-1820) consists of the 

 following sixteen orders : 



1. Rapaces. 9. Pigeons. 



2. Omnivores. 10. Gallinaces. 



3. Insectivores. 11. Alectorides. 



4. Granivores. 12. Coureurs. 



5. Zygodactyles. 13. Gralles. 



6. Anisodactyles. 14. Pinnatipe'des. 



7. Alcyons. 15. Palmipedes. 



8. Chelidons. 16. Inertes. 



In 1525 Nicholas Aylward Vigors, Esq. (following out 

 the principle adopted by William Sharp Mac Leay, Esq., in 

 his Hnrce Kntomologicce, a work of great learning and 

 deep reasoning) proposed his arrangement of birds accord- 

 ing to their natural affinities. ' I discovered,' says the 

 author, in his paper in the 1 4th volume of the Transactions 

 of the Linneean 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 

 groups or orders of the contiguous classes of zoology. I 

 equally detected the existence of the same principle in 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 



Insessores, 

 Raptores, [AvKs.] Rasores, 



Natatores, Grallatores, 



be arranged round a common centre, the author conceives 

 that they would be found to be mutually connected to- 

 gether, and that-the plan which holds good in the general 

 division will be found to be confirmed on examining the 

 subdivisions. 



The second order Insessores, for instance, he divides 

 into five tribes, 



Conirostres, 

 Dentirostres, Scansores, 



[INSESSORHS.J 

 Fissirostres, Tenuirostres, 



in which he finds a similar connexion, as he also does in 

 the five families into which he further separates each tribe. 



In the same year M. Latreille published his method as 

 follows : 



Premiere section, les Terrestres. Deuxiemc section, les Aquatiques. 



1. Ordre Rapaces. 6. Ordre Echassiers. 



2. Passereaux. 7. Palmipedes. 



3. Grimpeurs. 



4. Passerigalles. 



5. Gallinaces. 



These orders include 252 genera. 



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

 and 1822, and developed by his pupil, M. Lherminier, in 

 1*27, is founded entirely on anatomical details, and prin- 

 cipally upon the comparative development of the sternum. 

 In the method of 1827, the birds are divided into the 

 ' Normaux,' those whose sternum is furnished with a crest 

 or keel more or less developed, and which have three bones 

 at the shoulder, distinct, and simply contiguous. This 

 4 sous-classe' contains thirty-four families from the first of 

 the birds of prey to the last of the siwmmers. The second 

 'sous-classe,' or the 'Anomaux,' consists of those whose 

 sternum is formed of two pieces originally separated, and 

 uniting upon the median line to constitute a bony plate of 

 variable form, but always without an osseous crest or keel, 

 or brisket, and whose three shoulder-bones are distinct in 

 youth, but anchvlosed in the adult. To the 'Anomaux' 

 belong but one family, the Cursores, comprehending the 

 ostrich and its congeners. 



In 1828 M. Lesson published his 'Projet,' wherein ne 

 commences with the two great divisions 'Terrestrial' and 

 'Aquatic,' and distributes the birds into nine orders, founded 

 on the form of the toes, wings, and beak, The ninth order 



consists of ' Paradoxaux,' which in place of wings are fur- 

 nished with anterior members armed with claws, the fingers 

 being surrounded by (empales dans) a membrane, and have 

 the body covered with decomposed and hairy featV.era* 

 this order contains but one genus, Ornithorhynchus ? but 

 to this last word the author adds a query. 



In 1831 William Swainson, Esq., rejecting the quina- 

 rian theory above alluded to, which he had adopted in the 

 year 1824, proposed (in the second part of the Fauna Bo- 

 reali-Americana containing the birds) a new arrangement 

 in these terms : 



' 1. Every natural series of beings, in its progress from a 

 given point, either actually returns or evinces a tendency to 

 return, again to that point, thereby forming a circle. 



' 2. The contents of such a circle or group are symbo- 

 lically represented by the contents of all other circles in 

 the same class of animals ; this resemblance being strong 

 or remote in proportion to the proximity or the distance of 

 the groups compared. 



' 3. The primary divisions of every natural group, of what- 

 ever extent or value, are THREE, each of which forms its 

 own circle.' 



No one can read over the preceding compendium, which 

 only embraces, be it remembered, the more prominent sys- 

 tems (for many omitted names will occur to the learned, 

 thoseol'Barrere.Frisch, Bonnaterre, and others, forinstanoe), 

 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 considered, than doubts 

 have arisen, and another and another still succeeds. Cuvier 

 expressed his dissent from all the systems which he had 

 seen, and his conviction that the true arrangement was 

 yet to be sought for. 



That method which, founded on an intimate knowledge of 

 the comparative anatomy, habits, and instincts of birds, 

 unites them in groups that will bear the most strict appli- 

 cation of those three tests, is the most likely, we may ob- 

 serve in conclusion, to approach the nearest to the system of 

 nature. 



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 descrip- 

 tion ; we shall therefore request the reader to be content 

 with the following enumeration of some of the most cele- 

 brated authors in this department. 



The ornithology of America and the West Indies has 

 been given by Hernandez, Marcgrave, De Azzara, Sloane, 

 Catesby, Vieillot, Wilson, Spix, Charles Bonaparte (Prince 

 of Musignano), Audubon, Richardson and Swainson, and 

 Nuttall. 



That of Britain by Pennant, Lewin, White, Bewick, Mon- 

 tagu, Donovan, Selby, Mudie, and others. 



That of Europe by Temminck ; that of Germany by 

 Meyer and Wolff; and Charles Bonaparte has taken up 

 that of Italy. Gould's ' Birds of Europe' and Meyer's ' Il- 

 lustrations of British Birds' are in a course of publication. 



Le Vaillant has illustrated the birds of Africa, and of 

 other countries. 



The following names of some of those who have also dis- 

 ;inguished themselves as general authors or particular illus- 

 trators will readily occur to the student who enters upon 

 this branch of natural history : Albin, Audebert, Audu- 

 bon, Barraband, Bechstein, Bennett, Blyth, Brisson, Brun- 

 nich, Buffon, Buhle, Cuvier, Daudin, Desmarest, Edwards, 

 Fleming, Forster, Frisch, Gerardin, Gould, Gray, Gunther, 

 Hardwicke, Herbert, Houttuyn, Hunter, Illiger, Jardine, 

 Jenner, Leach, Lear, Lesson, Macartney, MacLeay, Mark- 

 wick, Meyer, Naumann, Nilsson, Nozeman, Rennie, Riip- 

 pell, Sabine, Savigny, Selby, Sepp, Schteffer, Shaw, Shep- 

 lard, Slaney, Sonnini, Spix, Stephens, Swainson, Sweet, 

 Syme, Vieillot, Vigors, Wagler, Wa-terton, Whitear, Yarrell. 



In conclusion, it may not be uninteresting to say a word 

 or two upon the fossil remains of birds. ' We mi^ht have 

 anticipated,' writes Lyell (Principles of Geology, vol. iii. 

 ). 1 75, 3rd ed.), ' that the imbedding of the remains of birds 

 n new strata would be of very rare occurrence, for their 

 lowers of flight insure them against perishing by numerous 

 :asualties to which quadrupeds are exposed during floods ; 

 and if they chance to be drowned, or to die when swimming 

 on the water, it will scarcely ever happen that they will be 

 submerged so as to become preserved in sedimentary depo- 

 sits. In consequence of the hollow tubular structure of 

 their bones, and the quantity of their feathers, they are ex- 

 tremely light in proportion to their volume, so that when 



