8 GRALLATORES. ARDEAD. 
Famizty IL—ARDEAD~. 
As I have previously observed, those groups which appear 
to partake most equally of the advantages to be derived from 
both land and water, may properly be considered as the ty- 
pical families of the Grallatores. The Ardeadz, then, na- 
turally come under that class; as birds which inhabit the 
land, or at least do not possess the essential qualities of wa- 
ter-fowl (such as the powers of swimming and diving), but 
yet derive their support almost entirely from the watery ele- 
ment. The characteristics of the family (at least of the 
most typical genera) are legs of great length, enabling them 
to wade deep into the water in search of their prey, and for 
the capture of which is added a great extension of neck, with 
a long sharp-pointed bill, acting as a spear to transfix it. 
Modifications, however, of these characters, of course exist 
in the forms which lead to and connect this with the other 
families of the order, and with the other orders of the class, 
supporting that succession of affinities that prevails, not on- 
ly in the feathered race, but throughout the whole system of 
animated nature. 
The food of the Ardeadz is almost entirely animal, con- 
sisting of fish, reptiles, worms, and insects, and sometimes of 
the smaller Mammalia, inhabiting the banks of rivers, or 
living in marshy districts. 
A small portion only of the genera that compose the va- 
rious families are to be found in the British Islands, as might 
indeed be expected in so confined a part of the globe. Due 
allowance must therefore be made for the apparent deficiency 
of those links that unite birds with characters deviating con- 
siderably from each other ; as such links are beautifully sup- 
plied by the interposition of genera or forms belonging to 
other climes; and the natural chain of affinities readily and 
satisfactorily traced. 
