DISTRIBUTION OF EUROPEAN BIRDS. 25 



and Western Asia, they will amount only to ten ; leaving 

 seventy-two as a marked and very prominent character- 

 istic of European ornithology. In further illustration 

 of the very limited range of these families, it appears 

 that three only, of eighty-five, equally inhabit Ame- 

 rica ; and that even the identity of one of these (Parus 

 atricapillus L.) with a European species (P. palustris 

 L.) is more than questionable. 



(33.) The large omnivorous birds of Europe, compris- 

 ing the crow and starling families (Corvidce, Sturnidce), 

 appear widely dispersed. Yet, upon the whole, several 

 species, and even peculiar genera, are left to characterise 

 this portion of the world. We may state their number at 

 twenty-one; thirteen of which, or more than one half, 

 habitually reside in Europe ; four occur in Northern 

 and Central Africa; one the beautiful rose-coloured 

 starling (Pastor roseus T.) inhabits likewise the table 

 land of Asia, and the deserts of Africa ; while three are 

 found in America. 



(34.) These details, of the greatest importance to 

 our present enquiry, yet tedious, perhaps, to the general 

 reader, it becomes necessary to dwell upon, before 

 a competent opinion can be formed on European orni- 

 thology. The facts exhibited have never before been 

 stated ; and they appear sufficiently strong to justify 

 our looking to Europe as the principal seat of a pecu- 

 liar geographic division of animals. In this difficult 

 and somewhat laborious investigation, we have been 

 much assisted by the writings of Wilson, Temminck, 

 and Le Vaillant; but more particularly by that liber- 

 ality which throws the magnificent Museum of the 

 French nation open to the use of all scientific en- 

 quirers. Yet, with all these sources of information, and 

 perhaps- greater, had such existed, it cannot be supposed 

 that inaccuracies may not occur. Such calculations, 

 in short, from their very nature, cannot be perfect ; 

 for they are founded upon a state of knowledge which 

 is ever improving. All we can do, in such cases, 

 is to make as near an approximation to truth as 



