28 HISTORY OF 



might exhaust the patience not only of the writer, but the read- 

 er, to examine them all : in the present confined undertaking it 

 would certainly be impossible. I will, therefore, now attach 

 myself to a more natural method ; and still keeping the general 

 division of Linnaeus before me, enter into some description of 

 the most noted, or the most worth knowing. 



Under one or other class, as I shall treat them, the reader 

 will probably find all the species, and all the varieties that de- 

 mand his curiosity. When the leader of any tribe is described, 

 and its history known, it will give a very tolerable idea of all 

 the species contained under it. It is true, the reader will not thus 

 have bis knowledge ranged under such precise distinctions ; nor 

 can he be able to say with such fluency, that the rail is of the os- 

 trich class ; but what is much more material, he will have a tol- 

 erable history of the bird he desires to know, or at least of that 

 which most resembles it in nature. 



However, it may be proper to apprize the reader, that he will 

 not here find his curiosity satisfied, as in the former volumes, 

 where we often took Mr BuflTon for our guide. Those who 

 have hitherto written the natural history of birds, have in general 

 been contented with telling their names, or describing their toes 

 or their plumage. It must often, therefore, happen, that instead 

 of giving the histoiy of a bird, we must be content to entertain 

 the reader with merely its description. I will, therefore, divide 

 the following history of birds, with Linnseus, into six parts ; in 

 tlip fii'st of which I will give such as Brisson has ranged among 

 the rapacious birds ; next those of the pie kind ; and thus go on 

 through the succeeding classes, till I finish with those of the 

 duck kind. But before I enter upon a systematic det-iil, I will 

 beg leave to give the history of three or four birds, that do not 

 well range in any system. These, from their great size, are suf- 

 ficiently distinguishable from the rest ; and from their incapacity 

 of flpng, lead a life a good deal diflfering from the rest of the 

 feathered creation. The birds I mean are the Ostrich, the Cas- 

 sowary, the Emu, the Dodo, and the Solitaire. 



