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INTRODUCTION. 
a long time, our house-swallow, Hirundo rustiea , 
was believed to fly both to Africa and America; 
but that of the latter country has been found to be 
quite a distinct species. 
The American race of mankind is certainly the 
most distinct, for it is only towards its northern 
extremity that we find in the Esquimaux tribes an 
approximation to the Finlanders of Europe or the 
Kamtschatka families of Asia. Now this is precisely 
the case in respect to the distribution of birds. In 
the Arctic Regions, more than four-fifths of the 
species discovered during the northern expeditions 
are actually the same as those of northern Europe, 
but of these only nine are land birds. Beyond these 
limits the ornithology of America begins to assume 
the same isolated character so conspicuous in the 
phisiognomy of its human races. 
Such are a few only of the results that have 
attended our investigations on the geographic distri- 
bution of animals, but more especially of birds. And 
we merely introduce these general remarks on the 
present occasion, that our juvenile or unscientific 
readers may form ideas on the subject at large, and 
on the “ local habitation," which the secret and 
mysterious laws of a beneficent Creator have imposed 
on the countless beings which cover this goodly 
earth. The arrowy course of the swallow — the 
wanderings of the albatross — or the soaring of the 
eagle — are all directed to certain points, and are 
confined within limits, invisible indeed to the ma- 
terial eye, yet as impassable and as exclusive as a 
