SbcifteslRotes 



have — justly, perhaps — rated his ornithol- 

 ogy low ; but where is the carper among 

 them who can escape the fascination of that 

 which clothes and animates and colors his 

 passages of mere description ? 



As an American, one might be captious 

 enough to resent certain indignities to our 

 birds. For example, Buffon insisted upon 

 classing our beautiful little song-thrush, 

 the cat-bird, with the fly-catchers ; and he 

 compromised with Klein (who made out 

 that our flicker was a cuckoo) by saying : 

 " Celui-ci semble faire une espece mo- 

 yenne entre le picet le coucou!" Then 

 he trims his pen and adds : " It is one 

 more example of those links which nature 

 everywhere sets between her productions." 

 Catesby was responsible, however, for 

 Buffon's statement to the effect that the 

 golden-winged woodpecker did not climb 

 tree-boles. But I must not begin this 

 picking of flaws in my old friend's work, or 

 I shall soon be like all the rest. Were 

 Buffon alive to-day, I should, however, 

 ask him to let me laugh my fill at his 

 expression " ce pic demicoucou." A 



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