628 CLASS AVES. 



SUPPLEMENT ON THE PALMIPEDES. 



On the general observations on this order in the text, it is 

 quite unnecessary for us to enlarge here ; we proceed there- 

 fore, at once, to our supplement on the divisions. 



The first family is Bbachyptera ; the first genus Co- 

 LYMBus; and the first subgenus that of Podiceps, or the 

 Grebes. 



The grebes are not web-footed, but have the feet pinnated, 

 or enlarged, by a membranous edge, like fulica, or the coots, in 

 the last order. They belong, as do several of thegenera included 

 among the grallae bv Cuvier, to Dr. Latham's very judicious 

 division of pinnatipedes * From their peculiar conforma- 

 tion, the grebes cannot walk well, nor do they fly without 

 difficulty ; but as the extent of their sternum gives them 

 great muscular power, they cut the water with extreme facility, 

 either at its surface, or in its depths, for they have some- 

 times been taken in nets at the depth of twenty feet and 



* We cannot avoid, in this place, paying a just tribute of praise to this 

 excellent ornithologist, whose merits, perhaps, are not always so duly 

 appreciated as they ought to be. In the changes which he has made in 

 the Linnsean system, he has exhibited a salutary cautiousness, united with 

 an enlightened discrimination. The establishment of his cduvibine and 

 pinnated orders, the clear characters on which his sections are founded, 

 and his usually just allocation of genera, are ample proofs of this. As to 

 his " double emplois" and casual inaccuracies, respecting foreign species, 

 they are not to be attributed to himself, but to the state of the subject. 

 Wherever the Doctor has had an opportunity of personal knowledge, the 

 truth and fidelity of his descriptions are not to be excelled ; and he has 

 given us a vast deal of original and valuable matter, put forth without 

 ostentation, and without the vain parade of learning, by which so many 

 others have found an easy path to the temple of celebrity. 



