Classification. 1 1 



Since that time all the numerous systems of classification have 

 proceeded from the same principle of structure. Various, indeed, 

 have they been, adopted by ornithologists of this and other 

 countries ; some fanciful, as the ' Quinary System/ or ' series of 

 circles/ established by Vigors ; others complicated and puzzling 

 from their needless minuteness ; others positively erroneous, as 

 a farther acquaintance with birds has shown ; but the method 

 which I here set forth, adopted by modern ornithologists, and 

 more particularly by those of this country, has this great advan- 

 tage over all that have preceded it, in addition to its superior 

 accuracy, that it is simple and plain, as well as comprehensive ; 

 neither from over minuteness burdening the memory unneces- 

 sarily, nor from an opposite extreme of indefiniteness leaving any 

 deficiency or doubt. This, moreover, is the system adopted by 

 Yarrell, Hewitson, and the principal British ornithologists of the 

 present day.* 



To proceed, then, with the classification of birds, I must repeat 

 what I touched on in a previous page, that birds are commonly 

 placed in two grand divisions, viz., ' Land Birds/ or those whose 

 habitat is the land ; and ' Water Birds/ or those which princi- 

 pally court the water, as their names respectively imply. These 

 are two great classes, separating our British birds into two nearly 

 equal parts ; the number of Land Birds amounting to 199, the 

 Water Birds to 176 species. 



The first great division of these two classes is into the five 

 ' Orders,' the members of which are of somewhat similar habits 

 and formation, and partake of the same general characteristics. 



Of these five, the first is the ' Kaptorial ' order, composed of 

 those birds usually known as ' birds of prey ;' and, as their 

 natural habit is, the destruction of the feebler tribes and the 

 smaller animals, they have been most mercilessly persecuted by 

 man in all countries. This continual persecution will easily 

 account for their rarity and their habitual shyness, seldom ven- 



I should add that though I now confine my observations to birds of this 

 country, yet the same arrangement applies equally to birds generally 

 throughout the globe. 



