RASORES. 341 



RASORES. 



As nearly all the birds of this group, subsequently described, belong to the family 

 of Tetraonidce , we shall, in the following table, confine our attention to the genera 

 composing it. We wish, however, to apprize the ornithologist, that this is more 

 the result of theory than of that minute analysis upon which our arrangement of 

 the Insessores is entirely founded : the primary laws which appear to regulate 

 all the groups of that vast order may be traced in the following table, con- 

 structed more with reference to those laws than with a desire to discover the 

 connecting links between the genera. 



TETRAONID^. 

 j< • I g \ Tarsi naked ; hallux perfect Perdix, Lin. 



_ , . " a \ Tarsi feathered ; hallux perfect Tetrao, Lin. 



bub-typical group ?) 



Cryptonix, Tem. ? 



Tarsi naked j hallux minute or obsolete . . I Ortygis, 111. 



3. 

 Aberrant group. 



Crypturus, 111. 



We are not prepared to demonstrate the accuracy of the designations given 

 to the two first groups, since the question must be determined by analysing the 

 Pavonid^e. We wish this point, therefore, to be considered as doubtful. The 

 aberrant division is more definite, although some uncertainty hangs upon the 

 situation of the Bustards and of Cryptonix. The family, however, is clearly 

 of a subordinate rank ; or, in other words, is only equivalent in value, in the 

 number of its groups, to one of the perfect sub-families of the typical Insessores. 

 Selecting the Genus 



TETRAO, 

 we find a remarkable representation of the insessorial series in the following 



l. 



Typical group 9 



2. 



Sub-typical group?' 



SUB-GENERA. 



Tail broad, the feathers truncate, slightly rounded; 



hinder toe longer than the nail ; the anterior J>Tetrao, Lin. 

 toes naked, with pectinated margins 



Tail shorter, nearly even ; hinder toe shorter than 



the nail ; anterior toes feathered, the margins ^Lagopus, Ray. 

 not pectinated 



