ORDERS. 
13 
degree in which this membrane is developed, consti- 
tutes the difference between the Rasores, the Gualla- 
TORBS, and the Natatores. A more extended defin- 
ition of each order will, nevertheless, give a better idea 
of their contents to the generality of readers. 
(15.) 1. 1 he rapacious birds, or Raptorks, are 
composed only of the vultures, falcons, and owls j of 
the two other types, which would constitute this a cir- 
cle, one, which was represented by the Dodo, has 
been exterminated within the records of modern times, 
while the other is utterly unknown, and probably was 
lost in some more remote convulsion of the earth. 
It is well known that the three families now living, are 
eminently rapacious, feeding upon other animals, whe- 
ther living or dead ; their bill is armed with a strong, 
and often sharp, tooth in each jaw, representing the 
tormidable canine teeth of the Fero', and with which 
they tear and divide their prey. They are the strongest, 
most cruel, and most sanguinary of all birds; and re- 
present, in tludr own circle, the carnivorous quadrupeds. 
{lb.) II. 'I’he order Insessores is by far the most 
extensive ; for it comprises, with the exception of the 
fowls, the whole of the remaining tribe which live upon 
the land. 1 heir chief distinction, as already stated, is 
in their feet (as seen in that of the 
coinmon oriole, fig. 3.), the toes of 
which are so disposed that they can 
grasp the houghs of trees with the 
greatest facility; and although many of 
them habitually live upon the ground, 
yet there is no insessorial bird yet 
discovered, which has the hind toe 
raised above the others. The per- 
fection of the feet is accompanied 
, by other peculiarities. It is in this 
r er t at we find the greatest powers of song, and, 
pon the whole, the greatest variety and beauty of 
P umage. In short, in whatever light we view them, 
a whole, they unquestionably exhibit the greatest 
