that connect the Orders and Families of Birds. 489 
Gruide. 
Ardeide, Leach. 
Scolopacide. 
Rallide, Leach. 
Charadriade, Leach. 
The species that enter into the family of Gruide, most of which 
were comprised originally in the genus Ardea of Linnæus, are se- 
parated from the remainder of that group by their food, which is 
chiefly vegetable ; their manners, in which they approach nearer 
the land-birds ; and the formation of their bills and feet, the former 
of which are more obtuse at the end, and the latter more short than 
is observable in the true Ardeæ. In these characters, as well as 
in their general appearance, more particularly with respect to 
their plumage, they have a near alliance, as has been elsewhere 
observed, with the Struthionide of the preceding order. The 
first group that meets our attention in this family is the Psophia 
of Linnzus. This genus, in the comparative shortness of the 
bill, is connected with Anthropoides of M. Vieillot, the type of 
which is the Demoiselle of Numidia so distinguished in our me- 
nageries by its graceful form and gestures. The Crowned Crane 
of Africa, equally familiar to our cabinets and menageries, the 
Ardea pavonina of Linnæus, unites this genus to the true Grus 
of the present day. If the genus Dicholophus of M. Illiger be 
found to belong to the Wading Birds, of which I have little 
doubt, its situation will most probably be in the present family, 
to which it bears a nearer resemblance in plumage and general 
structure than to any other division of the order. In this case 
it will form a more immediate link than any group at present 
known in the family with the Charadriade, which meet it at the 
corresponding extreme of the order; its shorter and more ele- 
vated hind toe forming the passage between the fully tetradactyle 
foot of the Gruide, and the tridactyle foot of the Charadriade. 
M. Cuvier 
