10 YELLOW-BUMPED PABBAEEET. 



"The common ancestor has perished, but the links of the chain that 

 connect the whole Parrot family with him remain",, it maybe replied: 

 well, we prefer another theory, which has the advantage of requiring 

 neither axiom nor postulate to prove its very truth. 



The Evolutionist when confronted with a difficulty, meets it by 

 assuming "ages", and saying that this species "has taken to doing so 

 and so", and this other to "doing in such another manner", and 

 "this or that characteristic has been acquired, or relinquished", in 

 virtue, of course, of some inherent power existing in the creature 

 itself to modify its structure. The falsity of this doctrine has been 

 demonstrated over and over again, but it is nevertheless gaining ground; 

 it is the "fashionable" theory of the day, and like all other outcomes 

 of fashion will have its day. 



Lories, for instance, are Parrots which "have taken to living among 

 blossoming trees, and feeding off the nectar and pollen of the flowers, 

 instead of seeds and grains. Accordingly, they have acquired a shape 

 well adapted to their new habits, including the short tarsi, and the 

 long filamentous tongue characteristic of these birds", but if anyone 

 should ask when this change of form, this divergence from the original 

 Parrot type took place, he will be told that it all happened long 

 ago, is expected to accept that answer as satisfactory and conclusive, 

 and to ask no more questions, which are embarrassing. "Maman", 

 said a French child to her parent one day, "where is France situated?" 

 "In Europe, my love": "and where is Europe, Maman?" "In the 

 world, my dear": "but where is the world, Maman?" "In the universe, 

 Miss": "but where is that?" " Tais-toi done, imbecile, tu m'embetes!" 



What a distance we have wandered from our Yellow-rumped friends 

 to be sure ! France, the world, the universe, and we know not where 

 beside; but not further than the Evolutionist from a true solution of 

 the problem of life. It is a favourite theory with the apostles of the 

 new belief that every one who dissents from their views is a fool; so 

 be it — we prefer our folly to their wisdom. 



It is curious, to say the least, that a theory propounded by its 

 author to account for the extinction of a species, should be evoked to 

 explain the origin of species in general by philosophers of quite a 

 different school. 



Professor Owen thus writes in reference to the Origin of Species, by 

 the late Mr. Darwin: — "The influence of the contest for existence, 

 amidst the changes of the circumstances to which an animal has been 

 adapted, on the extinction of species, was first propounded by the 

 author, in his fourth memoir on Dinomis, 1850, {Trans, of the Zool. 

 Society, vol. iv., p. 15.) The same principle has since been evoked to 



