THE RASORIAL FORM IN BIRDs. 261 
ceived by Linneus, when he compared the ruminating 
quadrupeds to the gallinaceous birds; an analogy, in- 
deed, so apparent to the commonest observer, that we 
can only feel surprise at its ever having been questioned 
by any one, much more by those who are naturalists. 
Nature seems to have intended’that a few of her atia- 
logies should be stamped by such striking and indis- 
putable resemblances, that the most ordinary capacities 
should acknowledge them; and by giving us, as it 
were, these landmarks, or stations, to depart from, she 
seems to have invited and encouraged our further re- 
search into the more complicated parts of her system. 
Any theory, therefore, which sets out with denying 
what the rest of mankind have long perceived, requires 
more than ordinary proofs of demonstration ; and, at 
best, is calculated to excite onr caution in its adoption, 
if not our suspicion of its correctness. There is no 
one truth in natural arrangement capable of such varied 
and overwhelming demonstration as that upon which 
reposes the analogy of the ungulated quadrupeds (Un- 
gulata) to the rasorial order of birds; both of which 
show the highest intelligence, the greatest docility, and 
the most cheerful contentment under the domestication 
of man. We are surrounded with proofs of this, which 
meet us in every direction. All our quadrupeds of 
burthen or of food are taken from the Ungulata. The 
horse, the ox, the sheep, and the goat are in our 
meadows and pastures ; while the dog is a rasorial type 
of the Fere. 
(320.) Let us now look to the feathered creation. 
The varied contents of our farmyards belong solely and 
exclusively to the rasorial type; for even the common 
duck, although a natatorial bird, is yet the rasorial type 
of its own family: this we have elsewhere proved by 
strict analysis * ; and on the same conclusive evidence 
can be established the accuracy of the original opinion en- 
tertained by Linneus regarding the Ruminantia and the 
Rasores. But this is not all. It has been our especial 
* Journal of the Royal Institution, new series, No. iv. p. 11. 
So 
