INSESSORES. 



459 



characterise the feet of the "Birds of Rapine, nor yet the ex- 

 tended toes which enable the Wader to walk safely over 

 marshy soils and tread lightly on the floating leaves of aquatic 

 plants ; but the toes are slender, flexible, and moderately elon- 

 gated, with long, pointed and slightly-curved claws. 



" The Perchers in general have the females smaller and less 

 brilliantly coloured than the males ; they always live in pairs, 

 build in trees, and display the greatest art in the construction 

 of their nests. The young are excluded in a blind and naked 

 state, and wholly dependent for subsistence during a certain 

 period on parental care. The brain arrives in this order at its 

 greatest proportionate size ; the organ of voice here attains its 

 greatest complexity, and all the characteristics of the bird, as 

 power of flight, melody of voice, and beauty of plumage, are 

 enjoyed in the highest perfection by one or other of the groups 

 of this extensive and varied order." 



The structure of the feet, then, gives the definition of the 

 order, but the minor subdivisions are founded on the nature 



Fig. 178. Insessores. A, Foot of Yellow Wagtail ; B, Foot of Water-ousel ; C, 

 Conirostral beak (Hawfinch) ; D, Dentirostral beak (Shrike) ; E, Tenuirostral beak 

 (Humming-bird) ; F, Fissirostral beak (Swift). 



of the beak ; this organ varying in form according to the nature 

 of the food, " which may be small or young birds, carrion, 



