﻿16 



ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 



last order, is short, thick, and arched above ; and the 

 tail, which in the waders is always more or less short, is 

 here strikingly developed. The peacock, turkey, and our 

 domestic poultry give us examples of one set of rasorial 

 birds ; and the partridges, grouse, and quails, of another. 

 Great bulk is found both in this and in the natatorial 

 order, but docility is a moral trait peculiar to this. 



(20.) It will be needless, after this exposition, to 

 bring forward further proof that the five types of the 

 animal kingdom, which we have formerly traced in 

 quadrupeds *, are equally conspicuous in birds, nor will 

 the reader be at a loss to perceive in what manner these 

 two classes are represented. Their analogies, indeed, 

 are so beautifully simple and harmonious, that we 

 cannot refrain from throwing them into a tabular form. 



Primary Types.' Orders of Birds. Typical Characters. -^/Jpfds^^" 

 C Organs of prehension and} 

 general strr ^ 

 developed. 



a Sub-typicaL Raptores. { Carnivorous ; claws retrac. J Ferje 

 3. Aquatic. Natatores. {^^0^^ 1 C ™- 



1 Suctorial. GuilXATOBM. {'^JgftfiJ'lbo? ' H 

 THead with crests of horn} 



5. Rasorial Rasore, J £#fc'J£&i5 [ U ™" Ti - 

 C for walking. j 



L Typical. Insessores. ^ general structure highly £ Cjuadrumana. 



(21.) These analogies are so perfect, and che series 

 so completely in unison with those of all other animals, 

 that we deem it unnecessary to go into any long details. 

 There is one circumstance however, relative to the two 

 first groups ; which, as it has never been pointed out, 

 demands our attention, inasmuch as it completely sets 

 aside the speculative idea that the parrots are the types 

 of all birds, because the monkeys are so of quadrupeds. 

 The parrots, indeed, are well known to have great powers 

 of grasping, and every one has seen them hold their food 

 in their claws : but this is only the development of one 

 particular* character, not that union of several, which 

 is the first and greatest distinction of all pre-eminent 



* See Classification of Animals, p. 53. 



