Sbrffte^lRotes 



Bexon, neither of whom has ever had 

 due credit or discredit, owing to the 

 shadow of their great master. Dauben- 

 ton, who had been employed on the his- 

 tory, quit before the bird-volumes were 

 begun, on account, it is said, of pique at 

 having some of his work suppressed. 

 There can be no doubt, however, that 

 Buffon's genius went directly into all of the 

 most important descriptive articles in these 

 nine volumes, as well as into the various 

 essays (such as they are) on classifica- 

 tion, anatomy, distribution of species, 

 etc. All of the ornithological leaders, 

 so to call them, certainly were written 

 by him. 



To me there is no more charming read- 

 ing than Buffon's ornithological romancing 

 when he lays himself out to be at once 

 exhaustive and brilliant. One can always 

 rely upon his imagination and his style. 

 Moreover, he knew how to give the fra- 

 grance of fresh discovery to nearly every- 

 thing, and now, after a hundred years, his 

 pages still exhale somewhat of their first 

 bouquet. Critics of the scientific order 

 121 



