INTRODUCTION. 
W ith those who take any interest in Natural History, 
it is as natural to inquire the country and the name 
of an unknown animal, as to put the same questions 
regarding a foreigner, whose features and garb 
differ from our own. In either case, the name to 
ordinary persons, even when heard, conveys no 
ideas associating with those he already has ; it re- 
mains a fact, indeed, hut “ bare and barren.” The 
locality, however, or place of residence of the 
stranger, brings with it some degree of interest, 
either ■with things we know of or have pictured to 
ourselves. We feel as if we could recognize the 
bird if we saw it again, and we connect it in some 
way with the general ideas we have formed of that 
country of which it is a native. 
It is known to every intelligent reader, that the 
five great divisions of our globe are peopled re- 
spectively by the five leading varieties of the human 
species ; and that each of these, again, present us 
■with numerous variations of a secondary character. 
