Classification. 9 



becomes the way, the smoother the road, till at length we find 

 ourselves unencumbered by hindrances, and surrounded by all 

 the sweets and pleasures of this most fascinating study. 



Now, one of the very first requirements in every branch ot 

 Natural History is method; one of the most indispensable is order: 

 without this, it will be impossible to progress ; and Ornithology, 

 like a skein of silk, which, if handled with due care is easily un- 

 wound, deprived of method soon becomes a tangled mass of 

 knots, which defy the skill of the extricator to unravel them. 

 The very first lesson, then, that we must learn, and one which 

 we must never forget if we would know anything of Ornithology, 

 is a little insight into the classification of birds, whereby what 

 before seemed hopeless confusion becomes, by the touch of this 

 magic wand, the very perfection of order. There seems, at first 

 sight, to be a wide difference between the majestic swan and the 

 diminutive tree-creeper, between the lordly eagle and the insig- 

 nificant sparrow, between the noble bustard and the tiny wren ; 

 but by methodical arrangement we see how link succeeding link, 

 and species connected by the strongest affinity with species, they 

 are all integral parts of the same great chain ; united by many 

 intermediate bands, but still component parts of the same great 

 whole. Nay, not only so, but, by the help of classification, we 

 can not only assign to each bird, quadruped, insect, fish, or 

 reptile its own appropriate place, but. beginning with the noblest 

 of God's creatures, with man, we can pass gradually through all 

 the animal kingdom, stopping to admire with what excellent 

 method, and by what almost insensible degrees, the race of 

 quadrupeds merges into that of birds ; how the race of birds is 

 intimately connected with fishes, fishes with reptiles, reptiles 

 with insects, insects with animals of inferior order, and these 

 again with the vegetable, and as some affirm even the 

 mineral kingdom. These are surely wondrous facts, and of 

 exceeding interest : to follow up and pursue this chain requires 

 time indeed, and skill and opportunities, such as few can com- 

 mand; but to gain an insight into this beautiful order and 

 arrangement is within the reach of all ; and the more we inves- 



