92 CLASS AVES. 



for instance, motacilla is ranged in the section of passeres sim- 

 plicirostres, whereas, from the character of the beak, it should 

 be under emarginatirostres. 



The method of Brisson is purely artificial. It is composed 

 of twenty-six orders, and one hundred and fifteen genera. 

 The birds are classed, 1st, according to the presence or absence 

 of the membranes uniting the toes, and according to the greater 

 or less perfection of such membrane where it does exist : 2d, 

 according to the number^^and disposition of the toes : and 3rd, 

 according to the form of the beak. The birds whose toes are 

 without membranes compose the first seventeen orders. Those 

 which have four toes and the legs covered with feathers to the 

 heel are contained in the first fourteen. Those which have the 

 four toes separated from their commencement are confined to 

 the first thirteen. Those which have three anterior toes and 

 one posterior are confined to the first twelve. The last nine 

 orders are composed of birds whose toes are furnished with 

 membranes in their entire length. We shall not trouble our 

 readers with any minuter analysis of this system. 



Schseffer, in 1774, published a methodical distribution of 

 birds, in which he uses for the distinction of orders only the 

 characters furnished by the feet. 



The method of our countryman, Latham, is pretty nearly 

 that of Linnaeus, with the addition of two orders, the first of 

 which comprehends only the pigeons, and the second the 

 ostrich. A third order, borrowed from Schseffer, contains the 

 pinnatipedes, or birds with a cleft instead of an entire mem- 

 brane like the true palmipedes. This writer also added several 

 new genera to those already established. 



In this brief notice of systematic writers, we must not omit 

 the name of Mr. Vigors, whose observations on the nomencla- 

 ture of ornithology, and whose improvements in the classifica- 

 tion of certain fam.ilies of birds are of the utmost value. This 

 gentleman, to the profoundest knowledge of the subject, unites 

 the power of adorning it by the most elegant style of composi- 



