ANALOGIES OF THE PTERODACTYLI. 135 



(132.) On looking to those birds which, in their 

 own circles, occupy an analogous station to that of 

 Pteroddctylus among the Enalosaures, we cannot fail 

 to perceive several remarkable analogies between them. 

 Let us, therefore, compare the structure of these fly- 

 ing lizards with the tenuirostral and grallatorial types 

 of birds, which, by our present theory, they should 

 represent. Of all the reptiles yet discovered, the Ptero- 

 dactyli have the longest head or muzzle ; and among 

 birds we find this to be the chief character of tenui- 

 rostral types, as the name in fact denotes. The hum- 

 ming birds, the hoopoes, and the promerops among 

 perching birds, are all so characterised. Their bills, in 

 proportion, are double the length of all others in their 

 own order. If we turn to the wading birds (Gral- 

 latores^, which represent those just mentioned, the 

 enormous length of their bill is very striking. Not 

 to mention the herons, the woodcocks, and the snipes, 

 where this organ is greatly developed, we see it of 

 still greater length in the curlews and the different 

 groups of the old genus Ibis. All these, likewise, 

 have very long necks, so also have the flying lizards, 

 yielding only in this respect to the Plesiosaurus. The 

 power of flying and the consequent superiority of 

 motion enjoyed by these reptiles above all their class, 

 are beautifully illustrated by this analogy. The swiftest 

 flying birds are, undoubtedly, among the tenuirostral and 

 the wading types ; for we hesitate not to consider the 

 motion of all the humming birds through the air as 

 more rapid (or at least apparently so) than even that 

 of swallows, while the peculiar length and structure 

 of the wing, in all the typical groups of wading birds, 

 sufficiently shows that this superiority of flight is also 

 one of the principal distinctions of that order. The 

 tail of these lizards, also, was remarkably short, so 

 also is that of all the waders, and in both do we find 

 the tarsus or leg considerably longer than the toes. 

 This analogy, in fine, is as complete as can possibly be 

 expected between two groups belonging to different 



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