CHAPTER VII. 



THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 



The diversitiy in form and plumage of the feathered tribes presents, on a superficial 

 observation, a maze of intricacy apparently insuperable. Hence the efforts that have 

 been made for their classification, not, be it observed, as the ultimate object of attention, 

 but as the means of making progress in the study of birds ; — a key, in fact, to unlock 

 the stores of this intereresting department of natural history. 



Some persons have considered nothing more striking than parallelism, of which the 

 engraving presents an example (fig. 26). It is composed of two series belonging to two 

 classes of the same branch : the mammalia and the birds, which offer analogies long ago 

 pointed out by Linnaeus. The first two homologous types of each series are on the side of 

 the mammalia a monkej', and on the side of the birds a parrot. Both stand at the head 

 of their class, by the development of their brain ; both are similar in their friut-eating 

 propensities, and in their capability of climbing ; both, like the human species, use their 

 limbs to carry their food to the mouth ; both have powers of imitation : the one is 

 favoured by similarity of structure, and imitates the gestures and actions of man ; the 

 other imitates the speech of man. They are represented climbing the same tree, and 

 eating the same fruit. 



The two following tyj)es, the panther and the falcon, both feed on living prey ; both 

 possess great tact for its discovery ; both are provided with talons for seizing it ; teeth for 

 tearing it in pieces, and a short intestinal tube for its digestion. Both are remarkable 

 for their ferocious apjJoarance, their rapid movements, and their muscular vigour. Both 

 are represented engaged in the same chase. 



The two placed below arc of an inferior order, living on carcasses and carrion : one is 

 the striped hyaena, the other the x'ldture ; both are as cowardly as they are voracious, 

 and both prefer carrion already half-putrefied to any other food ; both prowl about the 

 neighbourhood of man's habitations, to devour in common the filth that spread around 

 would generate miasma ; both are rej)resented tearing it from the same carcase. 



The two next belong to insectivorous animals : one is the tupaia, the other is the 

 starling; both seek their prey on trees. 



The two next are granivorous animals : the field mouse and the sparrow. 



The two next arc animals of complex stomach, some feeding on mountain pasturages, 

 as the antelope, the other the nepaul, the two horns of which ofi'er the closest analogy to 

 the antelope. 



The others arc the dromedary, ruminating, without liorns, and the ostrich, wl(l\ an 

 enormous crop ; both are herbivarous, and inhabit the desert. 



The two last types arc the seal and the penguin ; both possess abortive members, as 

 pahnated fins, both plunging under the water to lisli for their fuod. 



The next engraving (fig. 27) offers illustrations of three parallel scries taken from the 

 birds. The first three are alike in the enormous volume of their beaks ; the second have 



