EXPLANATION OF THE CHART OF THE ORDERS OF NORTH 
AMERICAN BIRDS. 
The Orders of North American birds lend themselves with gratifying readiness to the purposes 
of a landscape chart. In this way more than any other known to the author can the greatest 
number of facts regarding the Orders and their relationships be set forth in a manner easily un- 
derstood, and calculated to appeal to the eye. 
As with the mammals, .the highest Orders are found in the tree-tops and the air ; and as nearly 
as possible the relative sizes of the various Orders are shown. The birds of the highest and most 
perfect organization appear at the top of the chart, and the lowest forms are those of deep 
water, farthest from the land. 
The great size of the Order Passeres is strikingly apparent; and it is situated in the tree-tops 
where its members live. 
The curious shape of the Order Macrochires is due to the fact that the Goatsuckers, Swifts 
and Humming-Birds have so little in common that they are wellnigh separated; but the larger 
body — the Hummers — are closely related to the Perching-Birds. 
The Order Coccyges is composed of two groups equally ill matched, the Cuckoos and Kingfishers. 
The former touch the Perching-Birds, the latter the sharp-beaked fishers; but the association of 
the two in one Order is not satisfactory, and not likely to stand. 
The Orders Columbae, Gallinae and Paludicolae are found on the uplands, immediately 
above the Limicolae, or Shore-Birds. 
The Herodiones (Herons, Egrets and Bitterns) range along the shore from the sea, up the 
river, to the interior lake, while the Anseres — Ducks and Geese — cover lake, river and sea. 
The Flamingo’s Order — Odontoglossae — is of the shallow water of an estuary, connecting the 
Herons and Ducks. 
The Steganopodes (Cormorants, Pelicans, etc.) prefer the shallow waters of the sea, while the 
Gulls and Terns (Longipennes) range from shallow to deep waters. 
The Tubinares (Albatrosses, Fulmars, etc.) and Pygopodes (Auks, Murres, and other weak- 
winged divers) are birds of deep water. 
For obvious reasons, it has not been considered a practicable matter to include on a landscape 
chart the birds of the world, or even those of South America. 
