LINN^US. 279 



cies ; among the Anseres, which are characterized 

 as having the bill smooth, covered with epidermis, 

 and enlarged at the tip, are the gannet with a bare 

 pointed bill, the divers, the terns, and the gulls, 

 with bills not at all answering to the description 

 given ; among the Grallse with a cylindrical bill, are 

 the ostrich with a short depressed one, the boatbill 

 with one resembling a boat, the spoonbill, the 

 heron, the flamingo, and others, whose bills differ 

 from each other as much as from that of the snipes 

 and curlews ; the character given to the bill of the 

 Gallinse agrees with that of many Passeres; and, 

 lastly, the wagtail, the swallow, the tit, the robin, 

 and a multitude of other small birds, have bills ex- 

 tremely unlike those of the goldfinch, bunting, and 

 crossbill, which are referred to the same order. We 

 mention these circumstances, not for the purpose of 

 detracting from the merit of Linnaeus, but simply 

 because we are persuaded that many of his general- 

 izations are extremely incorrect, as are in many re- 

 spects those of all his predecessors, and even of the 

 ablest philosophers of the present age. It is absurd 

 to attempt to thrust the objects of nature into squares 

 or circles, or enclosures of any other form. Every 

 system that has been invented has failed in pre- 

 senting even a tolerably accurate view of the dis- 

 crepancies and accordances of the endlessly-diversi- 

 fied forms that have resulted from the creation of 

 an Infinite Power. 



The following table presents the Linnsean arrange- 

 ment of Birds in outline : — ' 



Order I. Accipitres. 

 41. Vultur, vultures. Beak hooked; head bare: 8 

 species. 



