VERIFICATION OF GROUPS. 289 
tribes and orders of the whole class, we bring forth new 
and unexpected proofs of the harmonious simplicity of 
nature, and demonstrate our group by a mass of evi- 
dence perfectly unanswerable ; but, to establish analogies, 
we must not be left to vague suppositions or fanciful 
conceits, and this obliges us to test our group by de- 
termining its types. 
(351.) ILI. The system of representation, by which 
the types or divisions of a natural group are determined, 
is the third and last test. It is by this that we can judge, 
whether our group is perfect or imperfect ; and by this 
we can calculate, from analogy, the probable extent of 
the gaps that may occur in a natural series. It is easy 
to divide the smallest circular groups, into three, four, 
five, or seven divisions, for the propriety of these 
divisions (they not being circular) cannot be con- 
troverted by the answer that has been given, of ‘putting 
them to the test of returning into themselves.” The 
naturalist, therefore, requires something more to guide 
him in correctly dividing his group, not only as to the 
number of its divisions, but as to the structure or pecu- 
liarities which each should possess. Without this guide, 
he will be unable, in many cases, to establish the parallel 
analogies, and he must wander in all the uncertainties 
of conjecture. Hence it becomes necessary to compare 
his divisions with the characters of the types in the 
animal kingdom. If these exhibit a conformity, how- 
ever remote, whether in their structure, nature, or habits, 
and if they follow each other in the same progression, he 
has no need of looking farther. His group is one of 
Nature’s ; discovered, it may be, by himself, but existing 
** from the beginning.” 
(352.) But theory without analysis is like precept 
without example: we shall choose, therefore, an illustra- 
tion to show the full force of these remarks. For this pur- 
pose we select one of the best known of our native birds, 
the hedge-sparrow (Accentor modularis Cuv.) ; chiefly 
because we have felt much interested in the delightful 
history which has been given of it by the amiable and 
U 
