Xll INTRODUCTION. 



" Ireland was a new field, and a country little known to the 

 naturalist," has been refuted by the labours of those men 

 whose names have become synonymous with the sciences they 

 had enlightened, and whose research is appreciated in every 

 scientific circle in Europe. Yet we must recollect, with some 

 regret for our own unworked energies, that in England and 

 Scotland there are found men, like those weavers of Spital- 

 fields, who, self-taught and well-informed, have cast addi- 

 tional light upon the science whose study they had made a 

 pleasure and recreation. 



Natural history, whose study has attracted the attention 

 and displayed the energies of Linnaeus, and Cuvier, and 

 Buifon whose characteristics were thought worthy of note 

 in the age that produced the Stagyrite and Pliny whose prin- 

 ciples we see followed by those great minds, linked thought in 

 thought, from the earliest days of civilized history to the age 

 which sufficiently indicated its progress by ushering in the 

 master mind of Humboldt many and worthy have been its 

 describers. Natural history has even had its martyrs, who 

 sacrificed their lives for the advancement of a cherished 

 science, penetrating to unknown regions in defiance of health, 

 already worn by unremitted labours and unwearied exertions. 

 Thus we have seen the ardent and illustrious Peron, expiring 

 after producing the first offerings of his talent ; and, sinking 

 under his exertions, the weaver of Paisley, whose name, as the 

 ornithologist of America, is familiar to every one. In our own 

 day we have seen Audubon depicting nature in the back 

 woods of America, and Gould adding to our knowledge in 

 the remoteness of our antipodes. 



Many men neglect natural history from the mere ina- 

 nity of their minds, but there are none so wilful as to close 

 their eyes and refuse to behold the noblest of those forms 

 which have been created to afford them raiment and food, 

 occupation in tending, and a constant source of pleasure in 



