By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 



301 



enabled with ease to obey their own peculiar instincts, and fill the 

 place allotted to them in nature. 



I have now brought to a conclusion my preliminary remarks on 

 the general structure and classification of birds, and perhaps I ought 

 to apologize to the readers of our Magazine for the length to which 

 these papers have run; it was necessary to the explanation of a 

 somewhat wide subject that the points above treated of should be 

 clearly understood ; but I trust that they have not been uninterest- 

 ing, and that while they will render more intelligible the description 

 of the different species which occur in our county, (upon which I 

 shall now enter) they may have induced some, who have hitherto 

 thought little of these matters, to admire the perfection of the works 

 of the Creator, and the wondrous means by which His ends are 

 reached. I cannot better close this part of my subject, than in the 

 words of the poet, who was so accurate and so admiring an observer 

 of the various works of God. 



" Let no presuming impious railer tax 

 Creative Wisdom, as if aught was form'd 

 In vain, or not for admirable ends. 

 Shall little haughty ignorance pronounce 

 His works unwise, of which the smallest part 

 Exceeds the narrow vision of her mind ? 

 As if upon a full proportioned dome 

 Of swelling columns heav'd, the pride of art! 

 A critic-fly, whose feeble ray scarce spreads 

 An inch around, with blind presumption bold, 

 Should dare to tax the structure of the whole. 

 And lives the man, whose universal eye 

 Has swept at once th' unbounded scheme of things ; 

 Mark'd their dependance so, and firm accord, 

 As with unfaultering accent to conclude 

 That this availeth nought ? Has any seen 

 The mighty chain of beings, lessening down 

 From Infinite Perfection to the brink 

 Of dreary nothing, desolate abyss ! 

 From which astonished thought, recoiling, turns ? 

 Till then alone let zealous praise ascend 

 And hymns of holy wonder, to that Power 

 Whose wisdom shines as lovely on our minds 

 As on our smiling eyes his servant sun." 



Alfred Charles Smith. 



Yatesbury Rectory, August, 1855, 



2 R 



