GRAtLAtORES: WADERS OR STtLtttJ tltRtSj 101 



water ducts ; Anaerinae, geese and sv/ans 5 Phaenicopterinae, Flam= 

 ingoes 5 and Merginae, Goosandera, Some of these however, are large 

 and have striking structural Tariations that would admit of further re- 

 presentative subdivision, and if any thing of this kind were attempted 

 in the case of Anserinae, the long beak and toes, as well as the spurs, 

 would without question place Plectrophoreae in the fourth position re- 

 presenting the Grallatores. A probable order might be 1 Cygneaes 

 2nd, Bernicleae, 3rd, Ansereae, 4th, Plectrophoreae, 5th, Nettapeae. It 

 may thus appear probable that even in this instance the spurs on the 

 wing are/;onnected with a grallatorial position, and should always point 

 oar attention in that direction. Its occurrence in the grallatorial repre- 

 sentative among Raptorial birds, and the use said to be made of it as 

 a weapon of oiFence, are very interesting facts, but further observations 

 are required. There are certainly many instances in which peculiar- 

 ities of structure, which are at first judged to belong to a species are' 

 found to prevail in small groups occurring in different parts of a gen- 

 eral system, all which, however important their differences, have & 

 mutual relation of which this peculiarity is one of the signs, and to 

 the intelligent naturalist often a very valuable indication. 



1 need hardly say, in conclusion, that in the order Insessores, which 

 ia equivalent in extent and importance to the whole five other orders 

 of birds, the Suborder Tenuirostres represents the order GrallatoreSji 

 displaying throughout all its families the same arrangements for the 

 suctorial or extractive method of obtaining food under modifications, 

 which again distinctly represent the five Suborders of Insessores, and 

 consequently also the five orders of other birds. If we look further 

 and inquire after the corresponding groups in other parts of the 

 animal kingdom many interesting relations are brought under our 

 notice, of which I shall refer to a very few. Among the Gyrence-* 

 phalous Mammalsj a great division, whose separation from the lower 

 mammalia seems to me strikingly natural, we have the Carnivora 

 manifesting power and ferocity ; the Qudrumana activity and arboreal 

 habits ; the Kuminantia are the analogues of Rasorial or Gallinaceous 

 birds } the Pachydermata, a truly natural assemblage detected by the 

 sagacity of Cuvier, and the attempts to divide which otherwise thaii 

 into the families composing it, has only obscured the subject, repre-^ 

 gent the Grallatores, as the Cetacea obviously do the Natatores. The 

 protruded and highly sensitive snout, used for discriminating the food 

 in the ground or amidst dirt, a»d the semiaqilatic habits, some 



