( xiii ) 



INTRODUCTION. 



IT would be inconsistent with the projected plan of the pre- 

 sent work, in which the Plates are intended to form the pro- 

 minent feature, to enter into a discussion upon the peculiar 

 adaptation of the several organs of the feathered tribe to 

 the modes of life to which they have been ordained by an 

 all-wise Creator ; to exhibit, in the course of such discus- 

 sion, a minute display of their anatomical structure ; or to 

 endeavour after explanations of the different and wonderful 

 phenomena that this race of creatures occasionally present 

 (further than I may hereafter touch upon under each de- 

 scription), especially as there are already before the pub- 

 lic so many excellent works entering diffusely and deeply 

 into such points. These works are open to all who feel in- 

 terested in the study of this pleasing branch of Natural 

 History ; and it may therefore be sufficient for me to point 

 out such only as appear more particularly illustrative of 

 the several heads above mentioned. 



With respect to Organic Structure, both external and 

 internal, and the necessary adaptation of its several parts to 

 peculiar habits of life, I would recommend an attentive per- 



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