48 Mr. Vigors's Sketches in Ornithology. 



late M. Kuhl, for his exertions in unravelling the intricacies of 

 this subject: and in characterizing the species of Palceornis, little 

 more is necessary than a reference to the birds belonging to that 

 group as described in his Monograph * of the family. In mention- 

 ing that work, I cannot allow myself to pass it over with mere 

 simple approbation. It has the merit of being the first instance in 

 which the principles, so successfully developed in the " Horae 

 Eutomologicse " in reference to some departments of the y/nnw/oiff, 

 Avere applied to a group of the Vertebrated Animals : and wh^re 

 the circular disposition in which the groups of nature return into 

 themselves, and the uninterrupted series of affinities by which 

 they are connected together, have been asserted and satisfactorily 

 demonstrated. Whether the views which M. Kuhl unfolded in 

 his Monograph were the result of his ovvn observations on nature, 

 or whether he was originally indebted for them to the " Horae 

 Entomologicae," it is now impossible to determine. Certain it is 

 that he spent some time in this country in the year 1819, when 

 the work referred to had just been published, and when the prin- 

 ciples illustrated in it formed a topick of general conversation and 

 of peculiar interest among men of science. This period was im- 

 mediately previous to the appearance of the Monograph on the 

 Psittacidce^ which was published in 1820. Whatever may be our 

 opinions on this point, the work itself affords a superiour example 

 of an attempt at a natural arrangement. The leading divisions, 

 with some slight modification, t will be found to accord with those 



* See " Conspectus Psittacorum, ab H. Kuhl, Ph. Dr. &c." printed in 

 the "Nova Acta Physico-Medica Academiae Caesareee Leopoldino-Carolinae 

 Naturas curiosorum." Vol. 10. p. I. Bonnas, 1820. 



+ M. Kuhl's grand divisions of the family amount to six: but they will be 

 seen, if accurately examined, to compose but^'ye of equal degree. His sixth 

 division, which unites the Cockatoos and Maccaws, is composed only of the two 

 species which form the genus Microglossum, Geof, St. Hil., or those which M. Le 

 Vaillant denominates Aras a trompe. This group, though generically distinct 

 from the other species of the Cockatoos, more particularly by the form of the 

 tongue, accords with them so closely in the general characters of the section 

 or subfamily, as to cause an unnatural break if we separate it from them. The 

 only material deviation which it exhibits from the Cockatoos is the nakedness 

 of the face: but this deviation merely places it at (he extreme of that sec- 



