Birds. 1 1 



marsupials. How truly it may be said that ignorance is the parent of 

 prejudice, and conceit the chief organ of organized and accredited 

 falsehood !" Who shall then say to the Australian that he is himself 

 the victim of the ignorance and conceit which he so justly deplores ? 

 Our books will avail us nothing ; he will detect this ignorance and 

 conceit in every page : he will credit our statements as little as we 

 believe in the histories of blue lions, fiery dragons, or demure dodos. 

 It is therefore the best way to treat an introduced animal, if perfectly 

 independent of man, exactly as we treat acknowledged natives. The 

 question is merely one of comparison ; each living inhabitant of a 

 country has undergone the process of introduction, though the date 

 of that introduction be entirely lost sight of in the obscurity of ages. 

 From the moment an animal or plant naturalizes itself, maintains its 

 position and perpetuates its kind without the assistance of man, or in 

 open defiance of his power, — from that moment it is equally a native 

 with those which hold the best title to be considered aborigines ; and 

 all that we can say by way of distinguishing these from the rest is to 

 append to their names the supposed date of introduction. 



The geographical distribution of animals has obtained the conside- 

 ration of our ablest naturalists, and almost all of them have thought it 

 necessary to invent such hypotheses as shall account for recorded or 

 observable phenomena ; this however seems scarcely the legitimate 

 aim of the naturalist : and indeed it is remarkable how very much less 

 satisfactory are the learned explications of the most able hypotheses 

 than the plain record of the most simple facts. In taking therefore a 

 slight view of the vertebrated inhabitants of Britain, no notice will be 

 taken but of species existing in a state of perfect freedom ; and the 

 enumeration will be made strictly in accordance with the views alrea- 

 dy explained. K. 



(To be continued). 



Short Communications about Birds. 



Tree Sparrow, (Pyrgita montana). I noticed this bird in great 

 plenty in June 1841, in the neighbourhood of Aldwinkle, in North- 

 amptonshire. They were commonly in pairs, in the foot-paths of the 

 fields, apparently collecting food for their young. I found several 

 nests in the heads of old willows. — Henry DouUeday; Epphiy, June 

 16, 1842. 



