4096 The Zoologist — August, 1874. 



or insessorial birds, all xygodactyle birds, and the pigeon. Tt is 

 therefore with peculiar pleasure that I see the value of these 

 characters virtually admitted by Mr. Gould, although he still 

 ignores them as a means of natural classification. 



" From the egg to the chick is a natural sequence : and here commences a 

 stage in the life of birds which has been regarded by myself with more than 

 ordinary interest. If any one feature iu my illustrations to the ' Birds of 

 Great Britain ' has special claims to originality it is the representation of 

 the young or infantine state of many of the species ; and this I trust will 

 be duly appreciated by those who possess the work. In the imagination of 

 most people young birds are blind, callow, helpless creatures, depending in 

 every way on the fostering care of their parents, and instinctively opening 

 their gaping bills to receive the food assiduously brought to them. Such a 

 helpless condition as this undoubtedly prevails among the young of nearly 

 all, if not all, the Insessorial birds; but compare these with those of other 

 forms, and what vast differences are seen ! The tiny offspring of the grebe 

 emerging from its bursting shell in all the vigour and activity of a fully 

 organized being, is immediately capable of clambering, should danger ap- 

 proach, upon its mother's back, or of seeking security and concealment by 

 diving under a floating leaf Who is not familiar with the duckling, which 

 from birth equals if it does not surpass its parents in the quickness of its 

 movements and in the skill with which it darts over the surface of the water 

 in pui-suit of flies or other insects? As a means to an end (that of con- 

 tinuing its existence unaided), the young duck is as perfect as the old bird, 

 though destitute of the power of flight to be accorded to it hereafter. What 

 the webbed feet and swimming capabiHties are to the immature birds above 

 mentioned, the organs of flight are to the chick of the gelinotte or hazle- 

 heu, which within a day of its exit from the shell is endowed with such a 

 development of its primaries and secondaries that it can. fly from branch to 

 branch or dart after its parents through the wood with an ease and rapidity 

 equal to that of any other little bird. At this early stage the gelinotte 

 appears all wings, and from the down, which alone covers its body, presents 

 somewhat of the appearance of a gigantic moth. The young of the heron 

 exhibit a very low degree of perfection, but those of the crane, the bustard, 

 and the plover are agile on exclusion." — P. 21. 



It is inexpressibly gratifying to me to find so accomplished an 

 ornithologist as Mr. Gould not only admitting, but insisting on, 

 these physiological characters: he never would have done this, — 

 he never would have brought these characters prominently to the 

 front, — unless fully convinced of their importance. Although it 

 may be said he has not yet fully utilized their characters, for pur- 



