DON FELIX D'AZARA. 65 



panied with exact drawings; but in the district 

 where I wrote, and for 400 leagues round, there 

 was no one near me who was acquainted with the 

 art, and I was therefore compelled to limit my 

 wishes within the bounds of my own unaided exer- 

 tions/' * This want certainly occasions the student 

 much more trouble in identifying the species ; 

 though this, we believe, has very much been done 

 to his hand by Sonnini. In the preface, Azara 

 tells us, that the rapacious birds are to those which 

 are not so, in the proportion of one to nine ; while 

 in Europe, according to Buffon, they are as one to 

 fifteen. He adds, " the French naturalist informs 

 us that in America the birds are not melodious, and 

 this, he ascribes, to the influence of climate. But 

 were we to select the best chorus of songsters we 

 could procure in the old world, and compare it with 

 another chosen in the new, the victory would pro- 

 bably be disputed. From the contest, the nightin- 

 gale, however, must be excluded, for no American 

 bird can compete with her." 



As exhibiting a specimen of Azara's style in this 

 department, we select his account of the flying- 

 toads, Crapands velons, or enyoulevens. " These 

 birds are allied to the swallows, by their flat head, 

 their neck, and their short feet, as well as by their 

 feeble bill, the nature of their food, their manner of 

 procuring it, and other characters. They differ 

 from them chiefly in being larger, nocturnal, soli- 

 tary, or, at least, less sociable, in resting on the 

 * Hunter, p. xxiv. 



