IBS THE XATUEAL HISTOUT EEVIEW. 



to a separate family, but the distinctious are in reality mucli too 

 sliglit to be insisted upon. The next two birds treated of by Dr. 

 Jerdon, on the other hand, are members of a very easily recogniz- 

 able and independent type of the Grallatorial order, which has not 

 yet been satisfactorily located by naturalists. There can be little 

 doubt, indeed, that the association of the Jacanas {Parra) with the 

 American form Palamedea is erroneous, and unless we adopt Mr. 

 Parker's views of placing them near the Plovers, perhaps the safest 

 plan is to leave them, where Dr. Jerdon arranges them, next to the 

 Gallinules. Two species of Jacana are met with in India, and of the 

 next succeeding family, the EallidsB (embracing the "Water-hens, 

 Coots, and Eails), of very similar general habits, thirteen species. 

 With them we conclude the list of those families of the Grrallatorial 

 Order that produce their young clothed and able to run immediately 

 on their exclusion from the egg^ according to the orthodox fashion of 

 the great sub-class " Prsecoces." The Storks, Herons, and Ibises, 

 which Dr. Jerdon places at the end of the Grallatores, under the 

 Bonapartean term " Cultrirostres," hatch their young helpless 

 and dependent on their parents' care, like those of the sub-class 

 " Altrices," although we think it still remains to be seen that the 

 condition of the young in these two cases is exactly of the same 

 character. 



The Storks (CiconidaB) have some six representatives in India, 

 amongst which are to be counted two species of Adjutant {Lepto- 

 pliilos) — one of them we believe very well known to all dwellers in 

 Indian cities, where it acts as a common scavenger. The Herons 

 (Ardeidse) are more numerous. Seventeen species of this group 

 are treated of by Dr. Jerdon, amongst which are nearly all our 

 European species — several of them very rare in the west — will be 

 found to recur. Lastly the TantalidsB, under which head our author 

 unites the Ibises, Spoonbills, and the anomalous form AnastomuSf 

 number six species, and close the category of Indian Grallatores. 



With the final order of Natatores or Swimmers, which Dr. 

 Jerdon now enters upon, we shall not detain our readers long. In 

 this branch of Ornithology we may remark the British Naturalist 

 has a larger field of work than his Indian brother. YarreU's Birds, 

 gives upwards of 100 Swimming-birds as met with wdthin +he 

 limits of the British Isles, while Dr. Jerdon's work only contains 

 65. About one half of these are common to the two Faunas. The 

 Anatidse, a very natural group, w^hich Dr. Jerdon unnecessarily 



