8 
ON THE CLASSIFICATION OP BIRDS. 
which these types are distinguished in Ornithology, are, 
1. Raptorial ; 2. T'ho Insessorial ; 3. The Natato- 
rial, or aquatic ; 4. The Grallatorial, or Teniiirostral ; 
and, 5. The Rasorial, or Soaiuorial. 
(9-) The first, or pre-eminent type, is termed the 
Insessorial, or typical, because it corresponds to the order 
Insessores, the most perfect in this class. We use the 
term perfect, on this and all other occasions, not as im- 
plying that other groups — when compared to such as arc 
thus termed — are imperfectly formed, but as indicative 
only of a higher or more complicated organisation. 
Nothing that the Universal Creator has made, can, 
by any pos-sihility, be imperfect, in the usual meaning of 
the word; because, as one of His attributes is perfection, 
it of course follows that all His works are equally so; that 
is, they are most beautifully and most completely formed 
for the station in the the scale of nature they are intended 
to fill, and for performing the functions belonging to 
their particular organisation. But while this truth is ap- 
parent to all who wissh to know it, there cannot be a doubt, 
that some animals have their instincts more developed 
and their forms more highly organised than others. A bee 
is a more perfect animal than a butterfly, and this latter 
than an oyster. Why > Because, although each, “ after 
its kind,” is perfection, yet a wonderful degree of in- 
stinct has been given to the first, great beauty of form 
to the second, and both have been denied to the third, 
— which, moreover, is barely capable of voluntary 
motion. We have thought it right to enter upon this 
explanation not thatit is necessary towards men of real 
science and good feeling— hut to take from one or two 
obscure writers the power of wilfully misinterpreting the 
sense in which we use the terms perfect and imperfect, 
when applied to animals. Ilegarding circles which are 
distinguished by these epithets, we have already said 
sufficient. But to return. 
(10). The Imesmrial, or pre-eminent type, as just 
intimated, is that which is most highly organised, either 
with a variety of powers, or with any one power in 
particular, nearly to the exclusion of many others. 
