THE 



FEATHERED TRIBES 



BRITISH ISLAN 



ORDER XI. 



SEED-EATING BIRDS. 



THIS is by no means a precise or well-defined order. Indeed, 

 there is no possibility, in the present state of our knowledge, 

 of forming anything like a good natural arrangement. Birds 

 vary so much in their food, and change so much in their 

 localities, that it is impossible to classify them with even 

 tolerable precision. To any one who examines them, even 

 with slight attention, the reason of that must appear very 

 obvious. The classification of birds cannot be formed upon 

 any one character, as that of the mammalia is upon the 

 teeth. It depends on the bill and alimentary system, the 

 feet, and the wings jointly, or rather upon the relations in 

 which these stand to each other ; and, as a relation cannot 

 be either expressed or understood, except by means of the 

 things that are related, it cannot be made the foundation of 

 a clear or simple definition. Hence, when we apply the term 



VOL. II. B 



