﻿ORDERS. 



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have the longest, the straightest, as well as the most 

 curved bills. The sandpipers, the curlews, the ibis, 

 and many other well-known waders, may be cited to 

 illustrate this position ; and we see, among the hum- 

 ming birds, representations of all these forms of bills. 

 The eyes are placed far back on the head, just as in the 

 gliriform quadrupeds ; witness the woodcock and the 

 hare. The waders, in general, are the swiftest runners, 

 and their flight is equally rapid, yielding only to the 

 swallows. We are now, of course, looking only to those 

 families which are eminently typical of the order; for 

 in others these characters are either much diminished, 

 or do not all exist. Thus, the herons and cranes walk 

 slowly and fly heavily : many of the plovers are seldom 

 found on the sea shore, and 

 have no web to their toes : the 

 rails (fig. 5.) have remarkably 

 short wings, large but net 

 high legs, and confine them 

 to fresh water; while the 

 coots have webbed feet, walk 

 badly, but swim dexter- 

 These deviations, which at first might be thought 

 inconsistent with the alleged distinctions of the order, 

 are, nevertheless, absolutely necessary to make it natural. 

 They indicate analogies, which, did they not exist, 

 would at once show that the group was artificial. 



(19.) V. W e now come to the last order, that of Ra- 

 sores, wherein are contained the whole of the Gallinacece, 

 or fowls ; the chief characteristic of which is the great 

 size and strength of their legs, and the proportionate 

 shortness of their wings. We at once perceive how well 

 this structure is adapted for birds which, from living 

 upon the ground, have little occasion for flight. The 

 construction of their feet is somewhat similar to what 

 we see among the Insessores, but with this remarkable 

 difference, — that the hind toe, instead of being upon the 

 same level as the others, is situated higher up, and above 

 the heel (fig. 2. c) : the bill, in opposition to that of the 



