lo ALP—ALTRICES 



allantois shrivels up, and is cast off with the shell ; its stalk or 

 urachus, from the cloaca to the navel, is gradually absorbed, there 

 being no urinary bladder in Birds (see Embryology). 



ALP, otherwise ALPH, AWBE, or OLPH, a word of unknown 

 origin, but of long standing (see Chaucer, Romaunt of the Rose, circa 

 1400), and still locally used in one or other of its forms, e.g. " Blood- 

 Olph" and "Green-Olph" for the Bullfinch and Greenfinch 

 respectively. 



ALT RICES, the name given by Sundevall [K. Vet. Acad. Handl. 

 1836, p. 64) to his first section of the Class Aves, comprehend- 

 ing those which " alu7d puUulos" (feed their young), founded on 

 the scheme of Oken (Lehrb. d. Zoologie, p. 371), in opposition 

 to Pr^ecoces, the birds which at birth are more or less able to feed 

 themselves, but subsequently abandoned by its inventor {Tentamen, 

 p. XX., Nicholson's transl. p 26). 



The division of the Class thus indicated has under various 

 names been advocated by several authorities, and at first sight has 

 a plausible appearance ; but investigation shews that it cannot be 

 adopted. Doubtless the original Birds, like Keptiles, were Frsecoces, 

 and the AUrices are of later date. The existence of the numerous 

 intermediate forms may thus be explained ; but it follows that we 

 cannot use as absolutely valid diff'erentiating characters such as are 

 aff'orded by the open or closed eyes of the young at birth, by their 

 being clothed in down or naked, by their remaining in the nest or 

 not, by their way of feeding themselves or being fed. It is possible 

 that the transition from Prsecoces to AUrices has been governed by 

 purely external circumstances, which may still be in action — such, 

 for instance, as the nest being built high above the ground or 

 water. There are many AUrices whose whole anatomical structure 

 proves them to be more nearly related to certain groups of typical 

 Prsecoces than they are to other AUrices. These circumstances as 

 fully explained (Jenaisch. Zeitschrift, 1879, p. 385, and Bronn, 

 lliierreich, Aves. p. 701) lead to the following divisions of birds in 

 regard to their development : — 



1. Pr.^coces or Nidifugx — hatched with eyes open ; thickly clad in 



down ; able to run at once, or almost at once ; and having such 

 an amount of yolk stored in the abdomen as to render them for 

 some time more or less independent of other food : — Ratitse, 

 Crypturi, Galling, Laridse, Liviicolie, Pteroclidx, Grallae, Anseres, 

 Pygopodes. 



2. Altrices or Nidicolse — 



a. Lower Nidicolse — some hatched with their eyes open, others 

 blind ; covered or not with down ; unable to leave the nest ; 

 fed by the parents ; amount of food-yolk very limited : — 

 Spheniscidae, Steganopodes, Tubinares, Herodii, Pelargi. 



