THE ORNITHOLOGICAL GUIDE. 29 



which even their authors never imagined they pos- 

 sessed. Conversant with the different relations 

 which one group of beings bears to another, he is 

 enabled to trace the most beautiful and unexpected 

 analogies throughout the animal kingdom, until he 

 at length gains a full conviction of the paucity and 

 simplicity of nature's laws, amidst the countless 

 variety of her forms and modifications. 



" The two departments of study here sketched, as 

 pursued by the practical and the scientific naturalist, 

 are brought before the reader, not for the purpose of 

 vaunting the superiority of one over the other, but 

 that he should clearly understand their nature, and 

 make up his mind, at the outset, which path of 

 inquiry he will pursue. But, indeed, if he be not 

 frightened by the difficulties attending an enlarged 

 knowledge of the science, he may combine both 

 these trains of inquiry, in moderation, without the 

 smallest detriment either to one or the other. He 

 may observe in the fields, and study in his closet; 

 and this is usually done by all the rising naturalists 

 of the present day. Those who are satisfied with 

 being mere amateurs, may confine their researches 

 to what they can learn in the open air; yet even 

 these would find a far superior delight in their favorite 

 pursuit, by viewing it in a more intellectual and 

 philosophic spirit; just as a person who understands 

 the mechanism of a watch derives much more plea- 

 sure from knowing the relations of its parts, than he 



