﻿6 



ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 



distinctions of their class. They are birds which can- 

 not fly, and which have no real feathers. They walk,, 

 indeed, upon two feet ; but so does the kangaroo and the 

 jerboa, which, indeed, are quadrupeds, but whose fore 

 feet are as little developed as the wings of the ostrich. 

 True it is, that we can have no hesitation in referring 

 each of these animals to their proper class ; and, there- 

 fore, it may be said, there are still gaps in the chain. 

 We freely admit this. But the question is, not whether 

 the series of links are perfect, but whether the last in 

 each does not bear all the marks of having been for- 

 merly united by means of some few which are lost. 

 If the Omithorhynchus, of all existing quadrupeds, 

 evinces the nearest approach to birds, and the ostrich, 

 among birds, shows the like tendency towards the struc- 

 ture of quadrupeds, we have all the evidence requisite 

 to prove their relationship. 



(6.) We have said that birds are the butterflies of 

 the vertebrated animals, not merely in the figurative 

 imagery of poetry, but in the sober language of science. 

 This analogy will be at once apparent, on comparing the 

 circle of the animal kingdom with that of the vertebrated 

 animals. 



Circle of the Tvvical Characters Circle of the 



Animal Kingdom. I ^P teat tnatacters. Verlebrata. 



1. Typical circle. Vertebrata. Pre-eminently typical. Mammalia. 



2. Sub-typical j Annulosa , £Body furnished with" j AyE& 



o Ahomn . •„ r Moll use a. Crawl upon their bellies. Reptilia. 

 cle J Acrita Changeable in form. Amphibia. 



C Radiata. Pre-eminently aquatic. Pisces. 



Notwithstanding what has been said (1.) on the many 

 circumstances which give to birds a greater interest than 

 we in general feel towards quadrupeds, it must be re- 

 membered that these latter are a much more highly 

 organised class, and that therefore they exhibit the per- 

 fection, or types, not only of the vertebrated circle, but 

 of the entire animal kingdom. Annulose animals, or 

 insects, are the next in rank ; and the most perfect of 

 these are the Ptilota, or winged class, at the head of which 

 stands the order Lepidoptera. Hence, one of the most 



