. On the natural history and classification of birds . Ferce, and with whichthey tear and divide their prey. They are the strongest,most cruel, and most sanguinary of all birds; and re-present, in their own circle, the carnivorous quadrupeds. (l6.) II. The order Insessores is by far the mostextensive ; for it comprises, with the exception of thefowls, the whole of the remaining tribe which live uponthe land. Their chief distinction, as already stated, isin their feet (as seen in that of thecommon oriole, fig. 3.), the toes ofwhich are so disposed that they cangrasp the boughs of trees with the
. On the natural history and classification of birds . Ferce, and with whichthey tear and divide their prey. They are the strongest,most cruel, and most sanguinary of all birds; and re-present, in their own circle, the carnivorous quadrupeds. (l6.) II. The order Insessores is by far the mostextensive ; for it comprises, with the exception of thefowls, the whole of the remaining tribe which live uponthe land. Their chief distinction, as already stated, isin their feet (as seen in that of thecommon oriole, fig. 3.), the toes ofwhich are so disposed that they cangrasp the boughs of trees with thegreatest facility; and although many ofthem habitually live upon the ground,yet there is no insessorial bird yetdiscovered, which has the hind toeraised above the others. The per-fection of the feet is accompaniedby other peculiarities. It is in thisorder that we find the greatest powers of song, and,upon the whole, the greatest variety and beauty ofplumage. In short, in whatever light we view them,as a whole, they unquestionably exhibit the greatest. 14 ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. perfection of the class; just as do the Quadrumanaamong quadrupeds. (17.) III. The order Natatores indicates the po-sition of the swimming tribes; those whose feet areformed almost exclusively for swimming, and who ha-bitually live in the water. The duck and the gooseare familiar examples; but, to see this structure highlydeveloped, we must turn to the cormorant, the pe-licans, the grebes, and the puffins. The wings, ingeneral, are very short in such as have the feet greatlydeveloped, as in the two last mentioned families : butsometimes we find this preponderance reversed, for inthe pelicans the wings are remarkably long and the feetweak. In the gulls and terns, again, both wings andfeet are highly organised, so that it might lead us tosuspect those birds were the types of the whole order. (18.) IV. In the Grallatores, or waders, we have acontinuation of aquatic, but not of perfect swimmingbirds.
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