ISO 
ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 
Intores by the side of that which constitutes the 
Insessores, and the following analogical characters may 
thus be more clearly stated. 
Gballatores and Insessores. 
Families of the 
Grallatares. 
Typical Characters. 
Analogies. 
Tribes of the 
Insessores. 
Trixoida!. }■ Bill long, very straight; each pre-I„„„ 
i eraineutly typical. j Conirostres. 
f Bill short, upper mandible abruptly t 
C uaBADRiADAt. j curved near the tip, and bent over f Dentirostres. 
C the lower. 3 
r Wings long, ample, quill feathers') 
Ardead®, J ™“>'«iMatc at their Ups; seize their Ifissirostbes. 
c. prey by a sudden dart. > 
Tvntalidas. Bill very long; plumage metallic. TisNinRosTRE.s. 
Rallio®. f Bill and wings very short; legs strong; )„ . 
I toes long ; live on the grouniL 3 ocansores. 
It will almost invariably be found, throughout all 
groups in the vast order of perchers, that those which 
represent the Conirostres have the bill longer, straighter 
and more conic than any that belong to the subtypic^ 
group which follows it. Out of instances almost innu- 
merable, which confirm this law, we may cite the wood- 
peckers among the Scansores^ the true starlings in the 
circle of the SturnideB, the Coccothraxistince among the 
finches, not to mention the same character in minor 
groups : hence, also, in the families before us, the Trin- 
gidm have the straightest and most conic bills of all 
those waders whicli possess the other typical distinctions ; 
and they thus show the perfection of their circle, just as 
much as the Conirostres do of the other. We think 
that no unprejudiced ornithologist will deny that the 
Charadriada-, or plovers, are closely and intimately con- 
nected to the sandpipers, and that these two families are 
the two most typical of the whole. Their general con- 
formation, and the peculiarity of their being the only two 
which have the hinder toe, where it exists, elevated 
above the others, is, in our opinion, demonstrative 
endence on this point: if this be conceded, it follows 
that the Charadriada are the subtypical group, and are 
consequently analogous to the Dentirostres. But how. 
