90 



ON THE MENTAL QUALITIES AND 



to support, and through the medium of which to view na- 

 ture. 



A simple mode of testing its merits is as follows : Take 

 a genus of birds, consisting of species w 7 hich migrate, and 

 of others which are resident. The thrushes form a genus 

 of this kind, and of upwards of a dozen species in my col- 

 lection, I shall select the skulls of four, the fieldfare 

 ( Tardus pilaris ) , the redwing ( T '. iliacus J , the blackbird 

 ( T. Mem! a J, and the song-thrush (T. musicus J, the two 

 former of which are migratory, and the two latter resident 

 birds. On comparing the cranium of the blackbird in its 

 anterior and lateral region, the seats of Locality, Distance, 

 Resistance, and Time, with the corresponding situations in 

 the skull of the fieldfare, the region in question will be at 

 once perceived to be sensibly more developed in the former 

 than in the latter bird, the reverse of what phrenologists 

 affirm to be the case. The skull of the song-thrush, in like 

 manner, is decidedly fuller in the same region than that of 

 the redwing. That there is no fallacy in these observations 

 of ours, it is within the reach of every one to satisfy him- 

 self; for all the birds mentioned may be easily procured, 

 and their skulls compared with each other. 



Nor are similar instances to the above of rare occurrence. 

 On examining the skull of the ring-dove ( Columba Palmn- 

 bus J with that of the migratory pigeon f C. migrator! a J, 

 we do not find any difference in the development of the 

 four organs which give the migratory impulse, sufficient to 

 account for the immense difference in the habits of the two 

 birds. The one resides with us the w hole year round, while 

 the extraordinary migrations of the latter have been long 

 known to naturalists, 



