202 
ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 
Columha, &c., all of which he leaves nearly in the same 
state as they are to be found in Latham, and other 
Linnsan writers. In this respect his divisions are far 
inferior to those of VieiUot, and even of Cuvier. IVe 
deem it unnecessary to notice some other artificial 
systems that have appeared more recently ; some are 
merely in the form of a catalogue, without a single de- 
finition, or a single reason assigned for proposing the 
new orders, families, &c., that occur throughout ; while 
- others seem to have been invented merely from caprice, 
and in which the best known, and the most natural 
affinities, are violated in every page. It is quite as 
unnecessary that the student of modern ornithology 
should trouble himself to become acquainted with aU 
these, as that a foreigner, desirous of acquiring the 
EngHsh lan^age, should begin with learning all the 
provincial dialects of the different counties. We can 
see no use, therefore, in bringing into notice a multi- 
plicity of systems, which almost any one could have 
invented, and which nobody follows. Of those here 
mentioned the following is a list. 
Ilhger. Carol: Illigcri D. Prodromus Systematis Mamma- 
tiiini et Avium : additis terminis zoographicis utriusque 
classes, eorumquo versionc Germanica. Perolini, ISII I 
vol. 8vo. 
Cuvier. Pe Regne Animal distrihuii d’apresson organisation, 
^aris, 1817. 4 vol. 8vo — Nouvelle edition. Paris, 1829. 
5 vol. 8vo.* 
VidlloU Analyse d’ une N'oiivclle Ornitliologie Rlcmentaire 
Par L. p. Vieillot. Paris. 1816. Pamphlet of 70 pp. 
lemminck. Manuel d’ Ornitliologie, on Tableau .Svsteinatinue 
des Oiseaux qui se trouvent en Europe; precede d’une 
Analyse du Systemege'neral d’ Ornitliologie. Par C T Tem 
ininck. Second Edit. Paris. 1820. 2 vol. 8vo. 
(1 72.) General systematic work.s, wherein not only 
the divisions are defined, but the species are described 
are much more useful to the practical ornithologist’ 
» The best English transtation is that by Dr. M'Miirtrie in 
octavo volume, the abridgement being eontined to the (lesedi "ionrof the 
spcces, which arc meagre, and not at all necessary to rb^owlS of the 
nriT- .'i'hnre are two others, much more expeLwe, hnn^^iv are over^ 
loaded, either with badly executed plates, or verbose and ill digested additions. 
