RASORES AND GRALLATORES. 
INTRODUCTION. 
“ Ces oiseaux (ga)linac£s) mdritent cependent bien plus 
notre attention, si nous envisageons sous le rapport de 
Futility et des jouisaances que nous serious a me me d’en 
retirer : ce n’est qu'a l’insouciance qui nous est si na- 
turelle, qu’on doit reproclier de n’avoir pas des longtemps 
mis cn oeuvre les tnoyens necessaires pour nous rendre 
familiers des ttres qui. en B’accoutoutumnnt a I’homme au- 
roient continue de vivre sous son domaine, ct lui seroient 
dcvenus de la premiere utility.” — Temminck. 
“ In exploring tlie tract which leads us, step by step, to an 
acquaintance with them (grallatorcs), we must travel 
through reeds and rushes, with doubtful feet, over the 
moss-covered, faithless quagmire, amidst oozing rills and 
stagnant pools.” — Bewick. 
u Incapable of that perfection in swimming which is de- 
veloped in the next order, the Waders may be termed 
Marine Rasores , or Fowls of the Sea. They are always 
walking on its shores, or on the sides of its fresh waters ; 
and they depend as much upon their ambulations, for 
seeking sustenance, as upon their wings, for those long 
expeditions they are known to make.'” — Swain son. 
The Rasorial order of birds in the British Islands, 
contains a number of species so limited, that it 
has been necessary, in the present volume, to 
join with it the history of the Grallatores or 
Waders. The direct importance of the first to 
man, whether in a wild or in their reclaimed and 
cultivated state, is greater than that of any of 
