INTRODUCTION. 
3 
how shall he lift a substance heavier than the air ? And how 
guide its progress through the air ? Show him the weighty 
body of an Eagle or a Swan, # tell him their living history, 
and he may reasonably doubt your fact, and deny that these 
things could he. 
There is one difficulty in the use of wings that any one 
may ascertain for himself. Let him take the smallest sized 
hoy’s kite by the narrow end, and wave it up and down at 
arm’s length; he will instantly perceive how great is the 
resistance of the air, and how obvious the inability of his 
muscular strength to produce anything like the rapid motion 
of a wing. And yet, in order to possess the powers of a 
bird, he must he able to construct and move artificial wings, 
in superficial extent, in some cases measuring several of such 
kites; with the additional difficulties, which mathematical 
knowledge would prove to he proportionally increased at 
every step in his progress. How all these seeming impos- 
sibilities are accomplished is perhaps the most interesting 
part of the following pages. 
But the study of Ornithology has other charms, in a great 
measure confined to itself, and recommending it to the at- 
tention of a large class of readers; namely, that of its being 
within the reach of all who take an interest in the proceed- 
ings of the natural world. Quadrupeds, generally speaking, 
are few in number, and so difficult of access, that in fact, 
beyond the limited families of our domestic menageries, few 
can have an opportunity of investigating their habits. Out of 
eighty genera of four-footed animals, about fifteen only are 
to he met with in the British islands; of these, many live 
so remote from man, that accident alone can gratify his 
curiosity, and of that greater portion scattered over the 
earth, few, comparatively speaking, ever fall under the obser- 
vation of the most inquiring traveller. One-half of the 
characteristic features of the lion and tiger tribe we collect 
from the analogous habits of one of a similar genus, namely, 
the cat, which harmlessly purrs by our fire-side: while the 
* The wild swan weighs 25lbs. 
B 2 
