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GRALLATORES. 
In passing from the Rasorial birds, one link of 
connection is at once conspicuous between the 
Bustards, which we have just described, and the 
Charadriadce. The form of the feet and tarsi, and 
mode of running among the plovers, remind us 
of them ; but in the genera Tachydromus and 
GEdicnemus, we have very near approaches, particu- 
larly in the last or “ Thick-knees,” several foreign 
species being as tall as some of the middle-sized 
bustards. Mr. Swainson again states, that the 
Herons, by means of the Cranes, show the greatest 
affinity to the Ostriches, being all very tall birds, 
in a great part terrestrial in habit; and though 
the wing is ample, it is comparatively not in much 
use. But, in a limited fauna, it is impossible to 
enter minutely into these alliances, without intro- 
ducing many species that are foreign ; suffice it to 
say, that we esteem the connection through the 
Charadriadce as the most marked; at the same 
time, we shall commence the order, by describing 
the British members of the family of the Herons, 
or the 
ARDEADjE, 
The greater proportion of which, as stated, are 
birds of large size ; all of them have the feet and 
legs elongated, and particularly fitted for wading, 
