that connect the Orders and Families of Birds. 417 



reopsis in particular evinces still more this affinity. Here the 

 thighs are naked above the knee, as in the genuine Waders. 

 And this character, as well as many other particulars in its ap- 

 pearance in general, so far connects it with both orders, as to 

 have caused different systematic writers to place it in each. It 

 may here be observed, that the genera which compose the natu- 

 ral family of Rallidce, are closely allied to the Ilamatopus, Linn., 

 which commences the adjoining subdivision of the Waders. They 

 are also brought, by means of the circular disposition, which 

 I shall dwell upon more fully hereafter, into immediate contact 

 with the Tringa of Linnaeus, which terminates the family that 

 precedes them. Here, by means of the lobated feet, they are 

 connected with PAff/aropws, which 1 arrange, as one of the extreme 

 groups of the Scolopacidce, close to the genus Tringa, where they 

 were placed by Linnaeus, and in which situation they are still 

 retained by M. Cuvier. The whole of the swimming birds, 

 therefore, which are to be found in the Wading order, are thus 

 brought into contact and united by uninterrupted links of affi- 

 nities. 



We have now arrived at the fifth and last division of Birds, 

 and have only to trace its connexion with the first, in order to 

 complete the circle in which the orders have been asserted to be 

 united. The difference between the types of the Raptorial and 

 Natatorial groups is at first view as great as can be imagined. 

 Frequenting different elements, and performing totally opposite 

 functions in nature, they can scarcely be conceived capable of 

 being brought within a common sphere of action ; while the 

 extreme discrepancy in the structure of their feet renders it at 

 first sight difficult to conjecture how any modification of it can 

 bring them into contact. These difficulties, however, vanish on 

 a nearer inspection, and we find a gradual approximation take 

 place between these apparently discordant groups, similar to 



what 



