PREFACE. 
O rnithology is a fcience which treats of Birds ; defcribes 
their form, external and internal j and teaches their ceco- 
nomy and their ufes. 
A Bird is an animal covered with feathers ; furnilhed with a 
bill j having two wings, and only two legs ; with the faculty, ex- 
cept in very few inftances, of removing itfelf from place to place 
through the air. 
External Parts of BIRDS. 
A Bird may be divided into Head, Body, and Limbs. 
HEAD, 
Roftrum , or bill, is a hard horny fubftance, confifting of an up- 
per and under part, extending from the head, and anfwering to 
the mandibles in quadrupeds. Its edges generally plain and iharp, 
like the edge of a knife, cultrated *, as the bills of Crows ; but 
fometimes ferrated 3 as in the Toucan ; or jagged , as in the Gan- 
* This and other terms are explained by figures in the British Zoology, 
vol. i. tab, xv. A few terms are explained from the figure on the title. 
B 
Bill. 
NET 
