CHAPTER XXX. 
A BIRD’S MODERN KINSFOLK. 
We have already said much of a bird’s kinsfolk. 
In fact, the whole story of the birds, as we have seen, 
lies in their relationships, and how they have branched 
away from each other. This last topic will be a sort 
of summary statement of all that is past. 
Here, then, is a little diagram that may help us to 
see this kinship as it now presents itself, taking all 
the indications into consideration. It does not follow 
that this is a scheme of classification. Little attempt 
at order is intended, though something of the usual 
arrangement crops out. Neither is it intended to 
imply always that the upper group is older than the 
lower, but that most of its ties of kinship lie above 
rather than below. In order that the diagram may 
be read easily, the low forms are placed at the top 
and the high forms at the bottom. but, of course, 
development is usually spoken of as being upward. 
If we think of the newer forms as “coming down 
from the past,” our diagram will be appropriate. 
The small circles represent groups that are strik- 
ingly distinguished from each other in popular dis- 
cussion, and the question of orders, families, ete., with 
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