i. THE ROBIN. 7 



The eighth, a Circus. 



The ninth, a Buteo. 



■ The tenth, ' an Archibuteo. 



. The eleventh, an Accipiter. 



The twelfth, an Erythropus. 



And the thirteenth, a Tinnunculus. 

 There's a nice little lesson to entertain a 

 parish schoolboy with, beginning his natural 

 history of birds ! 



6, There are not so many varieties of robin 

 as of hawk, but the scientific classifiers are not 

 to be beaten. If they cannot find a number 

 of similar birds to give different names to, 

 they will give two names to the same one. 

 Here are two pictures of your own redbreast, 

 out of the tw^o best modern works on ornitho- 

 logy. In one, it is called " Motacilla rubecula ; " 

 in the other, " Rubecula familiaris." 



7. It is indeed one of the most serious, as 

 one of the most absurd, weaknesses, of modern 

 naturalists to imagine that a7iy presently in- 

 vented nomenclature can stand, even were it 

 adopted by the consent of nations, instead of 

 the conceit of individuals. It will take fifty 

 years' digestion before the recently ascertained 

 elements of natural science can permit the 



