and analogies, that the author should fee more or Ife’ss 'acquainted
■with the whole system of nature. To attempt, wilhoutfflthe aid
of methodical arrangement; a subjfefet so vaj^ and^apparently
unlimited w|),uld .be hopeless.. Hqj|ce the importance^of a,CQmsct
System of classileMiMj and the fcon^mction#of one^MeK shalf
|ex^ibit, as far as practicable, thtggrue affinities of o ^ ^ ta ih .a s
exercised the attention of the^dst^jpow^fu]^mdnds,^that havei
M n employed in the study of 'nature.
That division of the feajhegred clasgvpopulmly called B irS Of
’p t » , h ^ ^ lw a y s been redoaaa^zed^'as.Psepayate.P^rl 'w&jgHp.fmfttF
g r ^ p . ^^m the Linneanyfptem they fo rn ilh e order AccipW esu
^aVd.were, by that fathe^of. the science, distributed into three gceajf
n^t^if al divisions, which comprffiemoarly, if not fy ib ^ o n e,fi ftpjjffii
parfmf all the knoWf-s.peftes^>f birds,$ The ii]^eripnarrkngem3ft
of one of these groups^M^gejqis Falco of!*L&me, at , present
composed of beWeejytwo and three hundred - s p e c if has mu^fi
divided the opiffions of fkturalists.-^From; thq mkjestiSEagle,
the terror of the hu^andpaan, to thgmfdebiest'Hawk,a^^^ig. on
grasshoppers, *it is^undemable that thegeexistf i i ^ l l tjfese birds,
a great reseiiblanee. in korife of We ^most promment characteristics;
wMch, J a e ilf ‘found Ip^fedepaijuate in Am Fish-hawk,
pis well agpRe Kife, and alL other species of tJ^FaJfoiMir^e*
howevdf dissimilar ^ indicagif thejr'separ^tidh as # peculiar fam ily
from a ll|o th l| birds; nut th a t^ h e j^ te ^Oeptible of divisiop
into smaller ggolips of* inferior rank, no, practical ornithologist
will. Jpr a moment d|ny. * Whether these minor groups shall be
considered as trivial and secondary, or whefber some of them
ought-not"’to be admitted as distinct and independent genera, is a
question that hag-been mftbh :,agitated, and respecting which, ornithologists
will »probably for h lonj|? time continue to disagree.
Equally. gresjCpauthorities might be cited in favour x>f ei|her of
these opiniofis, which like many others o f;more importance that
hd^e"fdivided' mankind- frdtn the beginning of the world, may
perhaps after all be conMderfed as merely a dispute about words.
*“ Admitting, h<6wever, as sd&ms to bft done- all-
this great genus may be subdivided with propriety, look upon
it as. ^ p ltlh d d ry qwesttomy whether we shall call th f
minor.'grdttps genera, subgenera, or sections; and we deem it of
still less eonsequenee, in a p'hSp^bphfoal1 vidw, whether the names
byWhichWlese groups are desi'gnaled^ be-taken from a learned,* or
a vernacular language. It' is- our intention to pursue a midale
bourse. "W e are conduced of the necessity oft,employing numerous
subdivisions, not only in th isjHpfe. also in its allied genus
ntzdx. Thqgd<& however, we cannoj agree to admit as genera;
pWerring to call them suihgefiera, and giving them a name; but
wjibii having occasion» to mention a sjfe&ies belonging to any of
tfeferi, tq employ the name of the great»gensa>&'
? The desire of avoiding tod gfeat a mwl^liea^ton of groups, has
caused*’some,5 even of Sflb^b first ornithologists of ^mrotirne, to
employ f^jon,&tnat are not natural, and « ith false or inappJIteable
©haraetefs; aflB.*, as ift th%y»would eompel nature to conform to
their p r e c o n c e i v e d and narrows views,4-after having assigned de4-
cided limits to\ their groups, to^jfwce into them# spores not only
widely different, but that do not- even possess !the artificial character
proposed. W© shall not imitate this irrational example.
It shall rather he our object- to coffipose^natural’ groups,- dp.d,
in obedience to this principle, whenever we'meek with a group,
or- e*vefi a single specie^- ©dearly insulated, it shall at*lei»** he
pointed out; not so much regarding-‘Ihe number of o,ur sub genera,
as the characters that unite the species of. which they are respectively
composed. ;
It is objected- to the numerous subdivisions that have been
proposed in our day; th at they pass into, and blend insensibly
with each- o^her. This is no- doubt true5; but is it not the same