182... ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BI wi 
prehensive circle there is one group emin t atly di 7 
guished by crests, still holds good in this ; ; and ¢ hat 
Grallatores likewise present us with another orour 
. equal rank, where the wings are convex and feeble, : 
bill short and hard, and the feet remarkably Lange 
strong, is abundantly proved by the rails, which are th 
aquatic poultry of the waders. Imperfection of foo 
moreover, which is another of the fissirostral character 
must not be looked for in an order like this, where th . 
whole of the families seek their food on the ground, a 
must therefore be able to walk remarkably well. Thes ef 
considerations, joined with others, one of which we shall 
presently notice, have decided us in considering thi 
Ardeade@ as the fissirostral type of the Grallatores ; ant 
we therefore pass to the next analogy, or that whic 
we consider to exist between the Ibis and the Tenuwis 
rostres. The different modifications of the Linnear 
genus Tantalus, certainly comprehend those bird 
furthest removed from the typical pertection of the 
waders : their bill, although long, is more solid ; the face, 
-and sometimes the head, is naked (as we see in tI 
Ampelide and other corresponding groups) ; and the 
plumage, totally unlike the more typical waders, is ge- 
nerally glossed with rich metallic colours: had they b but 
remarkably short legs, they would, in fact, be giganti ic | 
humming-birds ; and even that which i is entirely crimso: n 
finds its representative in such birds, similarly coloured, 
as analysis proves to be tenuirostral types. The ane 
logy of the Rallide to the Rasores has already 
alluded to, and is too obvious to require further eluci- 
dation. We have, unfortunately, no space for defining, 
so far as our researches have yet gone, what appear t 
be the precise limits or the connecting links of these fa- 
milies: but the primary groups, as now arranged, furnish 
a strong corroboration that the series is natural, merely 
from this result, —that we find the two first distinguished 
by having the hinder toe, where it exists, very small and | 
elevated ; while in the aberrant group, composed of th 
Ardeade@, the Tantalide, and the Rallide, the hinder 
4 
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