Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 1 (1843).djvu/39

Rh marsupials. How truly it may be said that ignorance is the parent of prejudice, and conceit the chief organ of organized and accredited falsehood!" Who shall then say to the Australian that he is himself the victim of the ignorance and conceit which he so justly deplores? Our books will avail us nothing; he will detect this ignorance and conceit in every page: he will credit our statements as little as we believe in the histories of blue lions, fiery dragons, or demure dodos. It is therefore the best way to treat an introduced animal, if perfectly independent of man, exactly as we treat acknowledged natives. The question is merely one of comparison; each living inhabitant of a country has undergone the process of introduction, though the date of that introduction be entirely lost sight of in the obscurity of ages. From the moment an animal or plant naturalizes itself, maintains its position and perpetuates its kind without the assistance of man, or in open defiance of his power,—from that moment it is equally a native with those which hold the best title to be considered aborigines; and all that we can say by way of distinguishing these from the rest is to append to their names the supposed date of introduction.

The geographical distribution of animals has obtained the consideration of our ablest naturalists, and almost all of them have thought it necessary to invent such hypotheses as shall account for recorded or observable phenomena; this however seems scarcely the legitimate aim of the naturalist: and indeed it is remarkable how very much less satisfactory are the learned explications of the most able hypotheses than the plain record of the most simple facts. In taking therefore a slight view of the vertebrated inhabitants of Britain, no notice will be taken but of species existing in a state of perfect freedom; and the enumeration will be made strictly in accordance with the views already explained.

Tree Sparrow, (Pyrgita montana). I noticed this bird in great plenty in June 1841, in the neighbourhood of Aldwinkle, in Northamptonshire. They were commonly in pairs, in the foot-paths of the fields, apparently collecting food for their young. I found several nests in the heads of old willows.—Henry Doubleday; Epping, June 16, 1842.