121 



GRALLATORES. 



IN passing 1 from the Rasorial birds, one link of 

 connection is at once conspicuous between- the 

 Bustards, which we have just described, and the 

 Charadriadce. The form of the feet and tarsi, and 

 mode of running among the plovers, remind us 

 of them ; but in the genera Tachydromus and 

 (Edicnemus, we have very near approaches, particu- 

 larly in the last or " Thick-knees," several foreign 

 species being as tall as some of the middle-sized 

 bustards. Mr. Swainson again states, that the 

 Herons, by means of the Cranes, show the greatest 

 affinity to the Ostriches, being all very tall birds, 

 in a great part terrestrial in habit; and though 

 the wing is ample, it is comparatively not in much 

 use. But, in a limited fauna, it is impossible to 

 enter minutely into these alliances, without intro- 

 ducing- many species that are foreign ; suffice it to 

 say, that we esteem the connection through the 

 Charadriadce as the most marked ; at the same 

 time, we shall commence the order, by describing 

 the British members of the family of the Herons, 

 or the 



ARDEAD^E, 



THE greater proportion of which, as stated, are 

 birds of large size ; all of them have the feet and 

 legs elongated, and particularly fitted for wading, 



