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helpless, and ieed Irom the months of their parents, are-- 

 called Altrices. The common Robin is a good illustration 

 of this group. Other birds, like the hens and ducks, have 

 young which are able to run about and take care of them- 

 selves, in part at least, as soon as hatched. These are called 

 Precoces. Each of these sub classes is to be divided into 

 several orders, but Bonaparte himself has made various 

 alterations in the serial arrangement of the orders and sub- 

 orders in his published papers. If we place the singing' 

 birds highest, as 1 have pioposed, instead of the parrots, the 

 following arrangement, though somewhat different from* 

 either of those of Bonaparte, seems to me the most natural. 



01 the Altrices ^ the first order will be the Passer es, inclu- 

 ding the singing birds or Oscines, as well as most of the 

 other small perching birds ; second the Scansores including 

 the parrots ; third the Accipitres or birds of prey ; fourth 

 the Cokunbffi or doves and pigeons, and perhaps, also, the 

 Dodo, which is very little known, and forms, in one of the 

 .arrangements of Bonaparte, a separate order, called Inepti ; 

 fifth, the HerodioneSj including the herons, cranes and the 

 like ; and sixth the Ga-vicc, with two sub- orders embracing 

 the* gulls, albatross, pelicans, cormorants, <fcc. 



In the second sub-class or Precoces. there are four orders ;- 

 first, the Gallincc, including the hens, pheasants, <fec. ; sec- 

 ond, the Stntthiones, embracing the ostrich and other simi- 

 lar birds ; third, the Gralla, containing the plovers, sand- 

 pipers, and the like ; fourth, the Anseres, including the 

 two sub-orders Lamellirostres, or ducks, geese, etc., and 

 Brachypteri or auks and divers. The penguins in the 

 latest arrangement of Bonaparte form a distinct order, the 

 lowest of the Altrices, but previously they had been placed 

 as a sub-order, Ptilopteri, under the Anseres. The Flamin- 

 go which has been placed among the waders, with tho 



