Hoopoe. 



SECT. II. ON THE STUDY OP NATUHAL HISTORY, 

 ESPECIALLY THAT OF BIRDS. 



Every one knows that there are two ways of 

 obtaining a knowledge of any natural production, or 

 indeed of any subject, phenomenon, or event, soever 

 that can occupy the attention of human beings. The 

 first of these is direct personal observation g^ing 

 directly to the subject, and examining it in as far as 

 it is an object of the senses, and drawing from the 

 facts, which are thus obtained, all those conclusions 

 which are necessary either for connecting it with the 

 knowledge which has been previously acquired, or 

 for making it the medium of acquiring any future 

 knowledge that may be desirable, and to which it 

 may, in a natural manner, and by fair and legitimate 

 inference, lead. Wherever this is practicable, it is 

 far preferable to any other method, because it ad- 

 dresses itself immediately to the conviction, without 

 any labour of weighing evidence, any reliance upon 

 the testimony of others, or any trouble in deciding 

 between truth and falsehood, or between certainty 

 and probability. 



