10 ornithologist's text-book. 



upon, and the figures are very bad. He was more 

 bent on forming wild and absurd theories of his 

 own — to which his countrymen generally are much 

 addicted — than on collecting "facts, fresh from the 

 fields." Thus his histories degenerate into mere 

 interesting tales, which, though amusing to the 

 general reader, can be of little use to the philoso- 

 phic Naturalist; and hence the Histoire Naturellc 

 cannot with safety be perused by the young Orni- 

 thologist, until he has attained a certain proficiency 

 in the science, and learnt to judge for himself- The 

 Crossbill (Crucirostra, Meyer,) Buffon considers a 

 Lusus Naturae, and supposes the Woodpeckers 

 (Piciance, Swains.) to be the most unhappy of the 

 feathered race ; without reflecting that every living 

 creature is perfectly adapted to its peculiar mode 

 of life, and that were any part of its organization 

 changed, it must inevitably perish. The only way 

 in which the works of this author can be said to 

 have advanced the interests of science is, that it 

 increased the number of field Naturalists in about 

 the same ratio that the Systema Natura did the 

 cabinet class. The Histoire Naturelle may be had 

 in every language and every shape. 



General Synopsis of Birds, by John Latham, 

 M.D. London, 1782, 3 vols., and two supplements, 

 4to. 



Latham's Synopsis is well known in every part 

 of the world where Natural History is studied, and 

 was undoubtedly the most useful and valuable 

 ornithological work that had as yet appeared, as it 

 contained exact scientific descriptions and figures 

 of every bird then known. The Synopsis certainly 

 contains many errors, but the work was, and still 

 is, indispensable to the Ornithologist. Dr. Latham's 



