. On the natural history and classification of birds . 148 ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. strained and unusual attitudes seen in the tomtits(Parus), sometimes hanging by their feet to reach abunch of flowers, which could not otherwise be ap-proached ; the feet, therefore, of the two families, inall essential points, are precisely the same. (128.) The name of Syndactyle has been given bywriters to all such feet as have the outer toe more orless joined to that of the middle: hence, as such feetoccur in almost every natural group among the perchers,the term has become altogether vague, from its
. On the natural history and classification of birds . 148 ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. strained and unusual attitudes seen in the tomtits(Parus), sometimes hanging by their feet to reach abunch of flowers, which could not otherwise be ap-proached ; the feet, therefore, of the two families, inall essential points, are precisely the same. (128.) The name of Syndactyle has been given bywriters to all such feet as have the outer toe more orless joined to that of the middle: hence, as such feetoccur in almost every natural group among the perchers,the term has become altogether vague, from its in-discriminate use. M. Cuvier, more especially, has sofar neglected a due restriction to the meaning of thisterm, that he has actually, from this one circumstance,classed the hornbills (Buceridce) with the bee-eaters,and the kingfishers! Syndactyle feet, in short, areeven more varied than the scansorial, but with thisessential difference, that the birds possessing them donot, like the Scansores, constitute a natural group ; butare merely one of the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookidonnaturalh, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1836
