44 A HISTORY OF 



Bird* of the sparrow kind comprehend all that beautiful and VQCJU 

 class that adorn our fields and groves, and gratify every sense in its 

 turn. Their bills may be compared to a forceps that catches hold ; 

 their legs are formed for hopping along ; their bodies are tender . 

 pure in such as feed upon grain, impure in such as live upon insects. 

 They live chiefly in trees ; their nests are artificially made, and their 

 amours are observed with connubial fidelity. 



Birds of the duck kind use their bills as a kind of strainer to their 

 food ; it is smooth, covered with a skin, and nervous at the point. 

 Their legs are short, and their feet formed for swimming, the toes be- 

 ing webbed together. Their body is fat, inclined to rancidity. They 

 live in waters, and chiefly build their nests upon land. 



With respect to the order of birds that belong to the waters, those 

 of the crane kind have the 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 covered with a very thin skin ; their tail is 

 short, and their flesh savoury. They live in lakes upon animals, and 

 ihey chiefly build their nests upon the ground. 



Such is the division of Linnaeus with respect to this class of ani- 

 mals ; and, at first sight, it appears natural and comprehensive. But 

 we must not be deceived by appearances : the student, who should 

 imagine he was making a progress in the history of nature, while he 

 was only thus making arbitrary distributions, would be very much mis- 

 taken. 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 dis- 

 tribution, 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 him- 

 self imposed upon ? In such a case, the only wav to form any idea 

 of the animal whose history he desires to know, is to see it ; and that 

 curiosity very few have an opportunity of gratifying. The number ol 

 birds is so great, that it might exhaust the patience not only of tiie 

 writer, but the reader, to examine them all : in the present confined 

 undertaking it would certainly be impossible. I will, therefore, now 

 attach myself to a more natural method; and, still keeping the gene- 

 ral division of Linnaeus 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 pro- 

 bably find all the species, and all the varieties that demand his curi- 

 osity. When the leader of any tribe is described, and its history 

 known, it will give a very tolerable idea of all the species contained 

 iincUM it. It is true, the reader will not thus have his knowledge 

 ranged under such precise distinctions ; nor can he be ab.e to say with 

 mich huency, that the rail is of the ostrich class; but, what is 'much 

 more material, ne will have a tolerable history of the bird he desires 

 i know, or at least of that which most resembles it in nature. 



