PRELIMINARY NOTICES. 



Enough has, perhaps, been said concerning the quinary 

 ttrrangement of Birds proposed by Mr. Vigors, in ihe Intro- 

 duction, see page 41; but as Mr. Macleay, the original 

 propounder of the system, has given us a learned and valu- 

 able paper, in the sixteenth volume of the Linnean Trans- 

 actions, relative to the analogies existing between Birds 

 and the Mammalia, it may be useful to observe that he has 

 proposed the following comparative Table: 



MAMMALIA. AYES. 



1 Ferce Carnivorous 1 Raptor es» 



2 Primates Omnivorous 2 Insessores. 



3 Glires Frugivorous 3 Rasores. 



4 Ungulata \ Frequenting the l ^ Gral/atores, 



^ \ vicuiily of water, S 



5 Cetacea Aquatic 5 Nalatores. 



Corrections and Additions to Ornitliologia. 



Colymbus minor, or Didapper, page 11. This is a mistake; 

 it is the Fulica chloropus, or Moor-Hen. 



TurdusmusicuSf or Song-Thrush, page 18. In regard to the 

 firucture of the nest of this bird, see forwards in the Letter to 

 the Editor of the Magazine of Natural History. 



Hirundo escalenta, or esculent Swallow, page 23. The 

 Chinese carry on a large trade in these birds' nests. It is said 

 that tlie quantity annually sent from Java to China is 242,000 

 lbs. the export value of which is estimated at £284,000. What 

 there can be in these superior to the gelatine to be obtained 

 from innumerable animal substances the luxurious Asiatics can 

 best explain. 



Sleep of Birds, page 57. Ducks will also sleep while doating 

 on the water; and, most probably, many other of the natatoria 

 tribe; hence the facility of their moving from one region of the 

 earth to another. 



Incubation of Birds, page 60. Mr. Sweet, Mug, Nat. Hist. 



