AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
TATURALISTS have thought proper 
X ^ to eftablifh relations between the 
anatomy of animals and that of man, and - 
to trace out the former from the latter. 
By means of this arrangement, underftood 
only by connoilTeurs, thofe parts on which 
a bird refts all its weight are called its toes\ 
that part which rifes moi:e or lefs perpendi- 
cularly, inftead of being called a leg ac* 
cording to the common idea, is named a 
foot ; the latter having the heel above it, 
is immediately followed by the leg, which 
generally paffes for the thigh ; and, in fliort, 
this laft part, which in the living bird is 
fcarcely diftinguifhable, is concealed, and, 
as one may fay, forms a part of the body 
itfelf. Hence we may conclude, that the 
foot of a heron, for example, is as large as 
its whole body : an affertion which would 
appear ridiculous and abfurd to thofe not 
Vol. I. b pre- 
