PHILOSOPHY OF ZOOLOGY. 



bears a great resemblance to the corncrake, a bird which, 

 in many respects, agrees with the partridge. Even among 

 the true water birds, or such as have webbed feet, there 

 are a few, as the bean goose, which feed on grain and grass 

 in the fields, like the gallinaceous birds, while others, as 

 the black-backed gull, have a propensity to feed on carrion 

 like the eagle. These instances of dissimilar manners in 

 birds of similar forms, and vice versa> might be multiplied 

 to such an extent, as to demonstrate, that many of those 

 groups which modern ornithologists denominate Natural 

 Families, are, in several respects, artificial combinations, 

 and that all our systematical arrangements must depend on 

 characters, between which there are no absolute limits. Such 

 we confess to be the case with the characters which are now to 

 be employed. 



FISSIPEDES. 



Toes free. 



In this extensive group, the feet are formed for grasping 

 or walking. The species, consequently, reside on land. 

 In those which frequent marshy ground, the toes are, in 

 some cases, flattened below, or even bordered with a web, 

 to enable them to walk on the mud, or even to swim a little. 

 Even in such birds, which approach the Palmipedes, swim- 

 ming is performed with difficulty, and diving is nearly im- 

 practicable. In many genuine land birds which frequent 

 dry ground, the middle toe is connected, by means of a 

 web, with the outer toe, as far as the first joint. This is 

 probably intended to increase the sole of the foot, and 

 render it better adapted for standing or walking on the 

 ground. 



I. Tibial joint feathered. The legs are usually short, 

 and the feathers frequently grow upon what is termed 

 the knee-joint, at the union of the tibia and tarsus, and 



