LECTURE Ilf. 



THE DAPXHICKS. 



8 1. I BELIEVE that somewhere I have already 

 observed, but permit myself, for immediate 

 use, to repeat what I cannot but think the 

 sagacious observation, — that the arrangement 

 of any sort of animals must be, to say the 

 least, imperfect, if it be founded only on the 

 characters of their feet. And, of all creatures, 

 one would think birds were those which, con- 

 tinually dispensing with the use of their feet, 

 would require for their classification some 

 attention also to be paid to their bodies and 

 wings, — not to say their heads and tails. 

 Nevertheless, the ornithological arrangement 

 at present in vogue may suffice for most 

 scientific persons; but in grouping birds, so 

 that the groups m.ay be understood and re- 

 membered by children, I must try to make 

 them a little more generally descriptive. 



82. In talking of parrots, for instance, it is 



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