1 



228 GALLINJL, GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. 



Subclass 11. AVES TEERESTRES, or CUESOEES. 



TEREESTRIAL BIRDS. 



This second series includes all living birds, between tlie Columhce and the Lam- 

 ellirostres, excepting, probabl_y, the ostriches and their allies. Like the other two 

 divisions called "subclasses" in the present work, it is insusceptible of definition 

 by characters of more than the slightest morphological importance, and conse- 

 quently has nothing of the taxonomic value commonly attaching to groups so 

 named. It may be considered, however, to represent the teleological generalization, 

 that a certain number of birds, differing greatly in structure, are collectively 

 modified in a way that fits them for similar modes of life — that several diflferent 

 types of structure are bent to subserve a particular end. In a certain sense, there- 

 fore the Cursores may be said to hold together more by analogical relationship 

 than by special morphological affinity ; and among them there is certainl}' greater 

 diversity of structure than that existing between some of them and the birds 

 standing upon the confines of Insessores and Natatores. On the one hand, the 

 gallinaceous birds shade directl}^ into the columbine, while on the other, the 

 Grallatores are perfectly linked with the Natatores by means of the flamingoes. 

 As implied in their name, the birds of this series are especially terrestrial in habit, 

 spending most of the time on the ground, not on trees or the water ; although most 

 of them fly vigorously, and some swim well. A character of general applicability 

 is the combination of long or strong legs (as compared with Insessores), with the 

 freedom of the knee and lower thigh from the body (as compared with Natatores). 

 The hallux as a rule is reduced in length and elevated in position, and is often 

 absent altogether — a modification rarelj' found outside this group; the front toes 

 are generally webbed at base, often cleft, occasionally lobed or even full-webbed. 

 Excluding the struthious birds, which cannot well be brought into this connection, 

 the series represents two commonly received orders. 



Order GALLIN.ffi, Gallinaceous Birds. 



Equivalent to the old order Rasores, exclusive of the pigeons — this name being 

 derived from -the characteristic habit of scratching the ground in search of food ; 

 connecting the lower terrestrial pigeons with the higher members of the great 

 plover-snipe group. On the one hand, it shades into the Columbai so perfectly that 

 Huxley has proposed to call the two together the " Gallo-columbine series ;" on 

 the other hand, some of its genera show a strong plover-ward tendency, and have 

 even been placed in Liniicoloi. The birds of this family are more or less perfectly 



