10 I N- T R O D U C T I 0 N. ■ 
the feathered tribe. To the diftinedon of 
fpecies I wiihed to join alfo a thorough know- 
ledge of their manners; and I was never per- 
fedly fatisfied with my excurfions, but whea 
I was able to furprife the male and the fe- 
male in fuch a fituatioii as no longer permit- 
ted me to doubt of their fex. I have often 
■fpentwhole weeks in watching, to diftinguiih 
the fpecies of birds, before 1 could procure a 
pair. 
In the fpace of eight or nine years, there- 
fore, by care and labour, and after many at- 
tempts and much devaftation, I was able 
not only to give to thefe animals, fo tender 
and delicate, their proper forms ; but alfo to 
keep them in that pure and found fiate of pre- 
fervation, v^hich makes all the m.erit of my 
. collection. By being habituated to live with 
them in the fields , in the woods, and in their 
moft fecret retreats, 1 have learned alfo to 
diftingiuili the fexes in the moil invariable 
manner ; a divining art, if I may ufe the ex- 
preiTion, which I do not pretend to ccnlider 
as a great merit, but which a very fmall 
number of . ornithologifts have acquired. 
How often have I feen in cabinctS; curious 
enough 
