16'8 
ON THE CEASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 
as cock-fighting formerly was to the Europeans. There 
is, in Tropical America, a very singular race of birds, 
called Tinnamous by some of the Brazilians, and 
Ynambus by Azara (Crypturus 111.): they have 
scarcely any tail, their body is thick, and their whole 
appearance reminds us of a pigmy bustard ; which 
group they probably represent in the New W orld. The 
species are numerous : as for their flesh, we have often 
tasted it ; and consider it, both in whiteness and flavour, 
infinitely above that of the partridge or pheasant We 
believe these birds never perch, as some suppose, but 
that they live entirely among herbage, principally in 
the more open tracks of the interior. 
(1 89 .) The Stbuthionidje, forming the fourth 
family, is composed of the largest birds in creation ; 
namely, the ostrich, the cassowary, and the emu ; 
eminently distinguished by tlieir size, their imbecility of 
flight, and by never having more than three toes to their 
feet. Nature has given them but the rudiments of wings, 
yet she has amply compensated for this deficiency by the 
gift of most extraordinary speed in running. We find 
these birds are distributed with a beautiful regard to 
geographic order : Rhm is the American ostrich, 
Struthio the African, Camarius the Asiatic, Dromiceius 
the Australian, and Otis the European. From this 
family we entirely exclude the dodo, which was, in our 
opinion, the rasorial type of the Vulturidw. 
(1.90-) The ConuMBiD.®, or pigeons, form our last 
division. These elegant and lovely birds are placed by 
M. Cuvier at the end of the Gallinacea, — a station which 
is supported by many weighty considerations. The 
pigeons appear as much isolated from all other birds as 
the parrots ; for, although the family is particularly nu- 
merous, and spread over every part of the world, there 
does not appear one species, yet discovered, which ex- 
cites a doubt as to its true affinities. Distinct as they 
appear, when viewed as a whole, we find they present 
manyremarkahle variations among themselves: theseform 
different subordinate groups, to w’hich generic names, by 
