26 INTRODUCTION, 



The Natural History of Birds, or, as it is now scien- 

 tifically termed, ornithology, needs little to recommend 

 it to those whose taste for simple pleasures is not vitiated. 

 The habits, manners, and modes of life of this interesting 

 portion of the animal kingdom, have attracted the attention 

 of numerous naturalists, who have, from time to time, re- 

 corded a variety of useful, instructive, and amusing facts 

 concerning it. Various artificial arrangements have also 

 been proposed, by which, it has been presumed, the science 

 of ornithology may be more readily and correctly acquired. 

 Among these, the arrangements of Linnaeus, of Pennant, of 

 Latham, and of Vigors, deserve, it appears to me, the 

 most attention ; although those of Brisson, the Baron 

 Cuvier, and of M. Temminck, are also entitled to respect. 

 Nor ought, perhaps, the name of John Ray, our own coun- 

 tryman, who flourished in the seventeenth century, as a dis- 

 tinguished naturalist, to be here omitted ; but we cannot 

 enter into a detail or examination of these last writers' 

 systems. As, however, that of Li NIMBUS has obtained much 

 celebrity, is constantly referred to by our naturalists ; and 

 seems, besides, 1o have contributed much to the foundation 

 on which many, if not all, of the subsequent arrangements 

 of the Natural History of Birds have been built, it may be 

 useful to place an Epitome of it before the reader, premising, 

 that no artificial arrangement which has hitherto been made 

 public, how ingenious soever it be, will correspond exactly 

 with that which is found in Nature; but, that some arrange- 

 ment is nevertheless useful to facilitate this pleasing study, 

 will, it is presumed, be universally admitted. 



The following are the Ordeks, Genera, and the Number 

 of the Species, described by Linnaeus. 



