﻿ORDERS. 



13 



degree in which this membrane is developed, consti- 

 tutes the difference between the Rasores, the Gralla- 

 tores, and the Natatores. A more extended defin- 

 ition of each order will, nevertheless, give a better idea 

 of their contents to the generality of readers. 



(15.) I. The rapacious birds, or Raptores, are 

 composed only of the vultures, falcons, and owls ; of 

 the two other types, which would constitute this a cir- 

 cle, one, which was represented by the Dodo, has 

 been exterminated within the records of modern times, 

 while the other is utterly unknown, and probably was 

 lost in some more remote convulsion of the earth. 

 It is well known that the three families now living, are 

 eminently rapacious, feeding upon other animals, whe- 

 ther living or dead ; their bill is armed with a strong, 

 and often sharp, tooth in each jaw, representing the 

 formidable canine teeth of the Ferce, and with which 

 they tear and divide their prey. They are the strongest, 

 most cruel, and most sanguinary of all birds; and re- 

 present, in their own circle, the carnivorous quadrupeds. 



(l6.) II. The order Insessores is by far the most 

 extensive ; for it comprises, with the exception of the 

 fowls, the whole of the remaining tribe which live upon 

 the land. Their chief distinction, as already stated, is 

 in their feet (as seen in that of the 

 common oriole, fig. 3.), the toes of 

 which are so disposed that they can 

 grasp the boughs of trees with the 

 greatest facility ; and although many of 

 them habitually live upon the ground, 

 yet there is no insessorial bird yet 

 discovered, which has the hind toe 

 raised above the others. The per- 

 fection of the feet is accompanied 

 by other peculiarities. It is in this 

 order that we find the greatest powers of song, and, 

 upon the whole, the greatest variety and beauty of 

 plumage. In short, in whatever light we view them, 

 as a whole, they unquestionably exhibit the greatest 



