Song Birds and Water Fowl 



eye view of the scene, by a classification which, 

 though not based upon the minute criteria of 

 science, is more serviceable to the field orni- 

 thologist, who observes the life-habits, rather 

 than the anatomical structure, of his specimens. 

 No one method of classifying objects, be 

 they animal, vegetable, or mineral, can be so 

 comprehensive as to present all their features. 

 The nature, especially of the higher classes of 

 creation, is so many-sided, that no one system 

 of grouping can possibly summarize all the 

 interesting facts. Human beings can be grouped 

 in many ways, each method emphasizing its 

 peculiar aspect of the race. Some of the most 

 fundamental traits of a man's character are at 

 once revealed by knowing his nationality ; but 

 the daily current of his life is better understood 

 by knowing his profession, as a physician, or a 

 merchant, or an artist. The former view pre- 

 sents his more hereditary nature, and the latter 

 his equally individual but more accidental char- 

 acter. The current classification of birds, be- 

 ing based on heredity, as shown by anatomical 

 structure, is like the former method of knowing 

 a man's nature; but, however profound, it 

 omits many of the distinctive aspects of bird- 

 life, and particularly some that are of most 

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