412 Mr. N. A. Vigors on the Natural Affinities 



decisive of their affinity to them ; and it is by means of these 

 characters that the passage from one order to the other is pre- 

 served. If we now look among the Insessores for that tribe which 

 approaches most closely to the Rasores, we may select the sin- 

 gular African family consisting of the genera Musophaga Isert, 

 and Corythaix 111., which the accurate hand of M. Cuvier has 

 already marked out as uniting the two orders. The internal 

 structure of these birds, at least of the latter genus, has been 

 decided* by that discerning anatomist to be the same as that of 

 the Perchers ; and from their toes being arranged in pairs, al- 

 though like those of many of the same tribe they are said to be 

 retractile, they may be assigned a place among his GrimpereuuT, 

 or our tribe of Scatisores. Their food and habits, and indeed their 

 general appearance, on the other hand assimilate them to the 

 llasores. The well-known genus the Touraco of M. Le Vaillant 

 approaches some species both of the Cracidce and the Columbidce 

 by its bill ; while the tail and wings of both Musophaga and 

 Corythaix exhibit the exact form of the former family, or of the 

 Linnean genus Crax, which meets the family of the Pigeons at 

 the opposite extremity of the Gallinaceous order. It is conse- 

 quently at this point of junction between the families of Colum- 

 bidce and Cracidce, by means, as we shall see hereafter, of the 

 genus Penelope of Merrem, that the second and third orders 

 appear to be naturally connected. 



In pursuing the same line of inquiry, and exploring the pas- 

 sage from the Gallinaceous to the Wading orders, we may remark 

 a striking character in one of the groups of the former, which 

 immediately suggests the union between them. The tribe of 

 Cursores of Illiger have their affinity to the Wading Birds indi- 

 cated by the length of their legs and their nakedness above the 



* " Leurs narines sont aussi simplement perches dans la come du bee, — etle sternum 

 (au moins celui du Touraco) n'a pas ces giandes 6chancrures ordinaires dans les galli- 

 nac6s." — Regrie Anim. i. p. 435. 



knees : 



