ARCTIC EUROPE. 29 



investigation of other classes, it is impossible to judge : 

 for, even did our present very confined limits permit 

 the enquiry, we should have to rely more upon theory 

 than upon facts. Many of the quadrupeds originally 

 dispersed over Europe, have already become extinct as 

 natives, and the races of others are fast disappearing: 

 we know not, in fact, the original and natural dispersion 

 of these animals. Conclusions, drawn from such as are 

 now only known in a fossil state, would be still more 

 vague. Geographic ornithology is nearly exempt from 

 both these objections : since the paucity of fossil re- 

 mains referred to this class, proclaims how few species 

 must have been extirpated. Birds, more than any other 

 vertebrated animals, seem to have been the least affected 

 by the Deluge, or by other changes calculated to modify 

 their original dispersion. It naturally follows, that, in 

 tracing the distribution of the feathered creation, we 

 have selected that department of nature which has left 

 us unshackled by geological controversy, and that which 

 from possessing the most authentic materials is best 

 fitted to illustrate our subject. 



(40.) The conclusions which we must arrive at, upon a 

 review of the foregoing statements, are these : First, 

 that the European province is strikingly characterised by 

 its peculiar animals, and sufficiently so to constitute it one 

 of the primary zoological divisions of the world. Se- 

 condly, that it occupies those countries which are the 

 chief seat of the Caucasian race, with which its orni- 

 thology presents many singular and undeniable analogies. 

 Thirdly, that these analogies are so remarkable, and so 

 manifest, that we must conclude that the same ALMIGHTY 

 POWER has distributed both upon one uniform and har- 

 monious plan. 



(41.) Having so far pointed out those peculiarities 

 which entitle Europe to be considered one of the chief 

 zoological divisions of the world, we shall now, viewing 

 it in that light, take a rapid survey of its more particular 

 features. Our observations will be arranged under the 

 three divisions it naturally presents; namely, 1. the 



