


13 
Subclass FALCONIFORMES. 
The Falconiformes are supposed to be the only birds which combine the following 
characters :— 
A. Young born helpless, but passing through a downy stage before acquiring feathers. 
B. Hallux always present, and connected with the flzvor longus hallucis, and not 
with the flewor perforans digitorum. C. Spinal feather-tract well defined on the 







neck, 
a Bea 
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The Falconiformes are allied to the Passeriformes, and do not differ from them in any very 
important feature, except that the young birds pass through a downy stage before acquiring 
feathers. It is possible that this character may be of older date, and consequently of greater 
taxonomic value, than the definition of the feather-tracts on the neck or the ossification of 
the nasal septum—in which case the Falconiformes might be added to the Pelecano-Hero- 
diones, the Tubinares, and the Impennes., An alternative arrangement of the various 
Orders and Suborders based upon this hypothesis will be found in an appendix to the 
Introduction. 
