that connect the Orders and Families of Birds. 449 
a 
and curvature of its bill, it approaches, in conjunction with many 
of the Paradiseæ, to some of the extreme species of the Buceride, 
among which the Buceros nasutus of Dr. Latham may be in- 
stanced. 
. We thus arrive at the singular family of Buceride, which seems 
to draw near to the preceding groups in its food and habits*, as 
far at least as we can conclude from the very imperfect accounts 
which are transmitted of them. From the strength also of the 
formation of these birds, and the powers with which they are en- 
dowed, they seem to assert a title to a place in the vicinity of the 
group which is typical in the tribe. In one particular, however, 
we may detect a deviation from the more perfect structure of 
that type. The fore toes of all are strongly united at the base, 
the external being joined to the middle as far as to the second 
articulation ; an impediment which must considerably interfere 
with the free action of the member. This deficiency is, on the 
other hand, retrieved by the superior robustness and muscular 
conformation of the whole limb. An analogous defect, and an 
analogous mode of compensating for it, is observable in the Os- 
trich, a bird also, it is to be observed, closely allied to the typi- 
cal group of its own family ; and in both instances we may pro- - 
nounce the deviation from the more regular or perfect confor- 
mation to be a defect rather to the eye of the observer, an in- 
fringement upon what he would conceive to form the beau ideal 
of the typical character, than a defect in reality. We may here 
delay a moment to observe upon the causes that assign so totally 
remote a station from the. present to the Todide, Meropide, and 
Halcyonide, whose gressorial feet, as they are technically called, 
are of precisely the same structure as those of Buceros. In them 
.* Grands oiseaux d'Afrique et des Indes, leur port et leurs habitudes les rap- 
prochent des corbeaux. Ils prennent toute sorte de nourriture, cbassent aux souris, . 
aux petits oiseaux, aux reptiles, et ne dedaignent pas méme les cadavres.—Cuvier, 
Regne Anim. i. p. 418. 
z the 
