CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 
7 
We are far from recommending these Tables as 
perfect, or even the best that could be drawn up, 
and an experienced student will, no doubt, find 
some of the subdivisions to be defective ; but, when 
the difficulty of any mode of classification, so accu- 
rate and unexceptionable in all its details as to meet 
every case, is considered, an approximation to the 
truth is all that can be hoped for ; and we trust, 
that for practical purposes and general use, the an- 
nexed will be found, on the whole, simple and 
satisfactory. Whatever may be their imperfections, 
we can at least vouch, from experience, for their 
tending very materially to facilitate a learner’s pro- 
gress ; and as they are founded on the authority of 
some of our most esteemed naturalists*, even the 
more advanced may, it is to be hoped, refer to them 
with advantaged. 
* Chiefly from Cuvier and Dumeril. 
+ The best tables of classification and reference we have 
seen are those now publishing in large sheets with figures, 
at a very moderate price, by M. Aehille Comte, illustrating 
Cuvier’s Regne Animal . 
