PRELIMINARY NOTICES. 



and used ; and sure I am that, if they cannot be anglicised, 

 the introduction of them, and the multiplication of new 

 terms in a learned language, how much soever they may 

 please the pedant, must very materially obstruct the pro- 

 gress of science; learned terms may, and perhaps always 

 will, please a few, but, by the generality of persons, their 

 introduction will be disapproved, and their acquisition will 

 be felt and deemed a wearisome pursuit. Things and facts, 

 not words, are now and, in the acquisition of all knowledge, 

 ought ever to have been the order of the day. 



On the Songs of Birds in the Torrid Zone. 



The Reviewer wonders, seeing I am acquainted with 

 Wilson's American Ornithology, that I am disposed to echo 

 the opinion that birds of song are scarce in the western 

 world. I am not aware that I have in any part of my work 

 stated such an opinion. I have said, "It is perhaps true 

 that the birds of warm climates do not equal those of the 

 temperate ones in the sweetness and the richness of their 

 notes ;" and I have also said that, " From the abundance 

 of many of the Pica- tribe, such as parrots, and some others 

 of harsh note, it is probable that their sounds in the tropical 

 woods overpower and confound the more soft and sweet 

 modulations of the warbler tribes; and hence the opinion 

 has obtained credit that the tropical regions are deficient in 

 birds of song." But how this can be interpreted into the 

 opinion given to me, I really cannot divine : when, more- 

 over, I reflect that Wilson must have been most conver- 

 sant with the birds of the temperate climates of the United 

 States, how what I have said can be applied to the birds 

 which he has described does indeed surprise me*. 



* The whole number of birds described by Wilson, be it 

 remembered, is only 278. 



