C. J. Sundevall on the Wings of Birds. 4-17 



number of the Waders and Water-birds, which also have long 

 wing-bones and remiges (e. g. Cicotiia, Ardea, Larus), and 

 that their whole structure and feathery covering is exactly 

 the same as in the three orders above mentioned. It is un- 

 necessary to cite examples of this, as they occur upon every 

 one of the preceding pages. If other parts of the body are 

 taken into consideration, we always find in the fundamental 

 form the same definite divergence from the Song-bird type, 

 and agreements with the Gallinse, Waders, and Water-birds, 

 The Accipitres and the Gallinse appear as two modifications 

 of the same form, developed in difierent directions; the 

 latter, both externally and internally constructed to feed on 

 vegetable diet, with a strongly muscular stomach adapted in 

 other respects thereto, with a large Ccecum,with beak and claws 

 not very acute, with no need of strong flight, &c. ; the former 

 converted into an animal of prey, with a thin stomach 

 and in general a smaller intestine, with stronger organs of 

 capture, and especially a great power of flight. But the 

 near affinity between them appears distinctly in the downy 

 covering, the arrangement of the feathers, the structure of 

 the arm, the whole construction of the feet, and even in the 

 form of the beak and claws in the Vulturini and a great 

 number of the American species of Buteo and Aquila, when 

 compared with those of the Gallinse. Like tlie next forms, 

 however, the Raptorial birds approach the Song-birds by a 

 greater development of the posterior toe, and also by the 

 incomplete structure of the young and the necessity of 

 feeding them. The hinder toe, however, never acquires the 

 form which alone belongs to the Song-birds, but always re- 

 tains the same type as in the preceding, and is somewhat 

 elevated at the root. 



The remaining forms of birds (the Doves, Parrots, Cuckoo- 

 like birds, and Pici) range themselves with the exception of 

 the last named, just as distinctly, with the same great division 

 of the class; but also show, besides the peculiarities just 

 mentioned, some further resemblances to the Song-birds, in 

 the generally smaller number of the arm-remiges, and the 

 smaller number of rows of the inferior coverts. Their 



