BIRDS IN GENERAL, 



461 



With respect to the order of birds that be- 

 long to the waters, those of the crane kind 

 have their bill formed for the purposes of 

 searching and examining the bottom of pools; 

 their legs are long, and formed for wading; 

 their toes are not webbed ; their thighs are 

 half naked ; their body is slender, and cover- 

 ed with a very thin skin; their tail is short, 

 and their flesh savoury. They live in lakes 

 upon animals, and they chiefly build their 

 nests upon the ground. 



Such is the division of Linnasus with re- 

 spect to this class of animals ; and, at first 

 sight, it appears natural and comprehensive. 

 But we must not be deceived by appearances: 

 the student, who should imagine he was mak- 

 ing a progress in the history of nature, while 

 he was only thus making arbitrary distribu- 

 tions, would be very much mistaken. Should 

 he come to enter deeper into this naturalist's 

 plan, he would find birds the most unlike in 

 nature thrown together into the same class; 

 and find animals joined, that entirely differ in 

 climate, in habitudes, in manners, in shape, 

 colouring, and size. In such a distribution, 

 for instance, he would find the humming-bird 

 and the raven, the rail and the ostrich, joined 

 in the same family. If, when he asked what 

 sort of a creature was the humming-bird, he 

 were told that it was in the same class with 

 the carrion-crow, would he not think himself 

 imposed upon? In such a case, the only way 

 to form any idea of the animal whose history 

 he is desirous to know, is to see it ; and that 

 curiosity very few have an opportunity of 

 gratifying. The number of birds is so great, 

 that it might exhaust the patience not only of 

 the writer, but the reader, to examine them 

 all: in the present confined undertaking it 

 would certainly be impossible. I will, there- 

 fore, now attach myself to a more natural 

 method ; and, still keeping the general divi- 

 sion of Linna3us before me, enter into some 



description of the most noted, or the most 

 worth knowing. 



Under one or other class, as I shall treat 

 them, the reader will probably find all the 

 species, and all the varieties that demand his 

 curiosity. When the leader of any tribe is 

 described, and its history known, it will give 

 a very tolerable idea of all the species con- 

 tained under it. It is true, the reader will 

 not thus have his knowledge ranged under 

 such precise distinctions; nor can he be able 

 to say with such fluency, that the rail is of 

 the ostrich class; but, what is much more 

 material, he will have a tolerable history of 

 the bird he desires to know, or at least of 

 that which most resembles it in nature. 



However, it may be proper to apprize the 

 reader that he will not here find his curiosity 

 satisfied, as in the former volumes, where we 

 often took Mr. Buffbn for our guide. Those 

 who have hitherto written the natural history 

 of birds, have in general been contented with 

 telling their names, or describing their toes 

 or their plumage. It must often, therefore, 

 happen, that instead of giving the history of 

 a bird, we must be content to entertain the 

 reader with merely its description. I will 

 therefore divide the following history of birds, 

 with Linnaeus, into six parts ; in the first of 

 which I will give such as Brisson has ranged 

 among the rapacious birds ; next those of the 

 pie kind ; and thus go on through the suc- 

 ceeding classes, till I finish with those of the 

 duck kind. But before I enter upon a syste- 

 matic detail, I will beg leave to give the his- 

 tory of three or four birds, that do not well 

 range in any system. These, from their great 

 size, are sufficiently distinguishable from the 

 rest ; and, from their incapacity of flying, lead 

 a life a good deal differing from the rest of 

 the feathered creation. The birds I mean 

 are the Ostrich, the Cassowary, the Emu, the 

 Dedo, and the Solitaire. 

 3Y 



