XCll 
INTRODUCTION’. 
us with astonishment at the power, wisdom, 
beneficence of the Creator ! 
In proportion as we become acquainted 
these particulars, our visits to, and residence 
the country, become more and more agreeah^'^' 
Formerly, on such occasions, we found ourselves 
solitude, or, with respect to the feathered tribs* 
as it were in a strange country, where the mannC' 
language, and faces of all, were either totalV 
overlooked, or utterly unknown to us : now, 
find ourselves among interesting and well kno'^** 
neighbours and acquaintances ; and, in the not^’ 
of every songster, recognize, with satisfaction, 
voice of an old friend and companion. A stu^l/ 
thus tending to multiply our enjoyments at ^ 
cheap a rate, and to lead us, by such pleasii’^ 
gradations, to the contemplation and worship ® 
the Great First Cause, the Father and Preserv^^ 
of all, can neither be idle nor useless, but is word’/ 
of rational beings, and, doubtless, agreeable to 
Deity. ^ 
In order to obtain a more perfect knowledge ® 
birds, naturalists have divided them into classe®' 
orders, genera, species, and, varieties ; but in do'*’^ 
this, scarcely two have agreed on the same 
of arrangem.ent : and this has indeed proved 
source of great perplexity to the student. So**’ 
