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ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 



place of temporary rest, in their voyage through the 

 regions of space, than as their permanent abode. They 

 remind us of those invisible spirits of the unseen world, 

 which, we are taught to believe, traverse the air on the 

 wings of the wind ; who alight, but for a moment, 

 among the sons of men, and then depart to breath a 

 purer atmosphere. Of all unintelligent beings, they 

 alone are gifted with a musical voice, possessing both 

 sweetness and varied expression. Their language, in 

 some measure, is thus intelligible even to man, in- 

 spiring him with cheerfulness or melancholy. Hence 

 it is, that from among birds the poets have selected 

 their sweetest themes. They are, both poetically and 

 literally, the butterflies of vertebrated animals* ; flitting 

 from one plant to another, living less on earth than in 

 the air, and having their wings ornamented with fea- 

 thers of bright or varied colours. In both we dimly 

 see an indication of that existence which will separate 

 the spirit of man from those cares, anxieties, and al- 

 lurements which chain him down to earth, as if it was 

 his final and only stage of action. It is highly pro- 

 bable that the " Sweet Psalmist of Israel f " had some 

 such thought, when he longed for the wings of the 

 dove, that he might flee from earth and be at rest 4 



(2.) It is to this interesting and varied class of 

 animals that our present volume will be exclusively 

 dedicated. Our chief object will be to explain those 

 relations which they bear to other animals, and those 

 which they possess among themselves. We shall en- 

 deavour to exhibit Ornithology, not as an isolated 

 science, disconnected in its relations from other classes of 

 the animal kingdom, and whose parts are to be classed 

 without any reference to general laws ; but we shall 

 view it as a part only of one u stupendous whole," — 

 as forming an integral portion of that mighty circle 

 over which the same laws of physical science equally 



* The feathers of birds, soft and imbricate, are perfectly analogous to 

 the down upon the wings of butterflies, and both are disposed in the same 

 manner. 



+ Bishop Home. J Psalm xi. 1. and lv. 6. 



