196 Biographical Account of the 



useful in the identification of species, a description can 

 scarcely be too minute. 



His largest and most important work, and that on which 

 his fame must mainly rest, is his History of British Birds, 

 which was in progress during a great part of his life. The 

 first volume issued from the press in 1837 ; the fifth and last 

 was published the very week of his death. 



As a scientific ornithologist, he first introduced the method 

 of determining species by anatomical structure, which, al- 

 though not yet universally adopted, is undeniably the most 

 correct and certain which has been proposed ; and the com- 

 parative neglect of it is probably to be attributed to the fact 

 that many intelligent observers and describers of birds are 

 not sufficiently expert anatomists to be able to avail them- 

 selves of it. 



His views will be best given in his own words : — 



" After much consideration, however, and after examining 

 the digestive organs in a great number of birds belonging to 

 nearly all the families, I have resolved to adopt the intestinal 

 canal as a central point of reference. Instead, then, of de- 

 scribing merely the bill, I attend to the mandibles, the mouth, 

 the tongue, the throat, the oesophagus, the crop, the proven- 

 triculus, the stomach, the intestines, and the coecal appen- 

 dages ; the modifications of which seem to be to throw more 

 light upon the affinities of the larger groups than those of any 

 other organ." — (Introduction to History of British Birds, 

 p. 6.) 



" Some ingenious writers have attempted to shew that a 

 knowledge of the internal structure of animals is not essen- 

 tial to the zoologist, who, it is said, may get on remarkably 

 well, and form the most natural arrangements, by attending 

 merely to the exterior. The views of such persons are not 

 likely to find much favour in the eyes of those who have 

 studied animals as organised beings, and who do not remain 

 satisfied with inspecting the surface. Zootomy regards the 

 entire structure of animals, which must be examined in all 

 their parts before the zoologist can arrange them according 

 to their affinities. The study of their interior must in fact 

 form the basis of all arrangement ; and although many 



