xv CLASSIFICATION 3 8 7 



I will now, taking a few typical cases, give the 

 reasons why some birds which have a superficial 

 resemblance should be separated from one another, 

 and why others which at first sight arc very unlike 

 must be counted as near relations. What reason is 

 there for putting Fowls and Pigeons in different 

 orders, or at any rate in different sub-orders ? The 

 young Pigeon is born blind and is helpless for about 

 nine days ; l the young Chicken is able to run at once. 

 In the Pigeon the tail has only twelve feathers, in 

 the Chicken, eighteen. How is a Penguin to be 

 distinguished from an Auk, a Puffin, or a Razorbill ? 

 The Penguin has no apteria, or featherless spaces, a 

 unique, or almost unique, characteristic. The Heron, 

 the Stork, and the Adjutant are born helpless, then 

 pass through a down stage, and are, therefore, to be 

 distinguished from the Crane, which is born with 

 down upon it, and runs a few hours after birth. The 

 Petrel is related to the gigantic Albatross ; in each 

 the nostrils may be seen as raised tunnels running 

 for some distance along the top of the beak, and, 

 hence, they are called Tubinares. The Water-ouzel 

 is not distantly related to the Thrushes ; like them 

 he has the first or outermost primary wing-feather 

 very short, and the second shorter than the third or 

 fourth. And yet he has the habits and look of a 

 water-bird ; he dives and holds on to stones at the 



1 Mr. Seebohm and Mr. Mivart are in error when they state 

 that no pigeons pass through a down stage. I have seen the 

 down upon a young Stock dove, and also upon the young of 

 Columba Bolli. See also Bronn's Thier-Reich, vol. "Aves," 

 where Dr. Gadow figures the nestling down feather of a Pigeon. 



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