Classification. 13 



orders ; but in lieu of this they are provided with very strong 

 limbs and powerful muscles, and with short toes, enabling them 

 to run with great swiftness. This division does not contain any 

 great number of species, and yet as many of them are sought for 

 by the epicure, and others still more by the sportsman, there is, 

 perhaps, no class of birds the habits and general nature of which 

 are so generally known as this. When I mention that the 

 ' Kasores ' include not only all the gallinaceous birds, as our 

 Barn-door Fowls, but also Partridges, Pheasants, and Grouse, 

 the truth of this statement will be at once seen. As all the 

 members of this order are extremely good for food, a beneficent 

 Providence has caused them to be very productive, and the 

 number of eggs to a nest is usually very considerable. 



The fourth order begins the other great division, viz., the 

 ' Water Birds/ and comprises those numerous aquatic birds 

 which, not having webbed feet, and so not being perfectly framed 

 for swimming and diving, nevertheless are formed for living 

 partly in the water, and generally procure their food from wet 

 and marshy places, if not from rivers, lakes, and the sea-shore. 

 These are the ' Grallatores,' or ' waders,' and are distinguished 

 from the land birds by their habits, as well as by the length of 

 leg and neck so fitted for their aquatic ways ; also by the forma- 

 tion of their feet, so admirably adapted for wading on soft mud, 

 for running lightly over water-plants, and enabling them to 

 move easily in their accustomed haunts. The Herons, Snipes, 

 and Plovers may serve as examples of this class. 



The fifth and last order contains the true water birds, whose 

 domain is essentially the sea, or the inland lake and large river. 

 These are bond fide inhabitants of the water, passing nearly all 

 their time there, retiring far away from land as day approaches, 

 feeding in the sea, sleeping on the sea, and only occasionally 

 visiting the shore. These are the ' Natatores/ or ' swimmers,' 

 whose boat-shaped bodies and webbed feet attest their remark- 

 able powers of swimming and diving, and render it impossible to 

 mistake them as belonging to any other order. From the posi- 

 tion and extent of the British Islands, the birds which comprise 



