XX11 PREFACE. 



to the Quadrupeds and Birds) that of the 

 inestimable Ray, who advanced the study 

 of nature far beyond all that went before 

 him ; and whose abilities, integrity, and 

 mildness, were no less an ornament to the 

 human species in general, than to his own 

 country in particular. Yet, as this excel- 

 lent man was in a manner the founder of 

 systematic Zoology, so later discoveries 

 have made a few improvements on his la- 

 bors : wherever, then, he is mistaken in the 

 arrangement, we shall attempt a reform, 

 assisted by the more modern systems, all 

 of which owe their rise to the plan chalked 

 out by our illustrious countryman. It is 

 unnecessary to detain the reader in this 

 place with the reasons for our deviation 

 from the order we observed in our last 

 edition, for they are given at large in the 

 Prefaces to our Synopsis and History of 

 Quadrupeds and Genera of Birds. 



We have, in our descriptions, wholly 

 omitted the anatomy of animals ; as that 

 part, unless executed with the greatest 

 skill, would be no small blemish to the 



