THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 257 
haunting Kingfisher and the Dipper one after the other, but 
their essential differences are great indeed. 
The large beaks of the Toucans have suggested * to us the 
large-beaked Hornbills, but in truth, as we shall see, they are 
in no way akin. Nor are the Colies* really allied to Toucans 
or Todies. The brilliant Trogons* have led us to speak of the 
Birds of Paradise, but the latter are really nothing but glorified 
Crows, while the Lyre-bird, on the other hand, is nearly as 
distinct in its nature as in the form of its tail. The Huia-bird, 
again, is but a kind of Crow; and the wonderful Opistho- 
comus turns out to be not miles asunder from a game-cock, 
being really an ally of the Curassows. The Bower-birds *, on 
further inquiry, prove to be Birds of Paradise, which have 
taken to decorating their runs instead of their bodies ! 
The beginner will have deemed it natural that we should 
foliow popular usage and associate the Swallows with the 
Swifts, but his studies will show bim that they may have as little 
in common as have the true mole and the rat-mole amongst 
beasts. 
Creepers and Honey-eaters’ have been mentioned together, 
but they are not really allied ; and the brilliant Humming-birds 
and Sun-birds °, beyond being passeriform birds, have little but 
their brilliance in common, and are really groups rather distant 
from one another. 
The Orioles and Waxwings must also be extricated from the 
company in which they have been provisionally placed, and the 
wonderful Mocking-bird will be seen not to rank with the 
Nightingale, but rather with the Wren. 
The Piping Crow, again, is not really a Crow, but a Shrike’. 
The Osprey * has once more (unlikely as it seems) an outlook 
towards the Owls; while the American Vultures’ have little 
affinity with real Vultures” at all, or with Eagles or Owls either, 
but perch by themselves ornithologically. Thus it is plain what 
a scientifically heterogeneous group is that which we have spoken 
of by the term" “ Scansorial birds,” as also that all those groups 
which we have distinguished’* as having conical, slender, or 
widely gaping bills are not “ natural” groups. 
1 Pp, 74-78, 2 P80. 3 P. 88. 
4 P95, 5 P99. ° P. 101. 
7 Pp. 121. ® P. 126, 9 P. 128, 
10 P. 197, uP 131. 12 P, 132. 
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