6 CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 



practical purposes and general use, the annexed will be found, 

 on the whole, simple and satisfactory. Whatever may be 

 their imperfections, we can at least vouch, from experience, 

 for their tending very materially to facilitate a learner's 

 progress; and as they are founded on the authority of some 

 of our most esteemed naturalists, 1 * even the more advanced 

 may, it is to be hoped, refer to them with advantage.f 



* Chiefly from Cuvier and Dumeril. 



t The best tables of classification and reference we have seen are 

 those now published in large sheets with figures, at a very moderate 

 price, by M. Achille Comte, illustrating CUVIER'S JKegne Animal. 



