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Show 138 1\tACI.EA Y SYSTEM OF Here rnan is put into the typical place, as the gen~ine head, not only of this order, but of the .~hol~ ann~al world. The double affinity which is requisite IS obtained, for here he has the simiadre on one hand and the cebidte on the other. The five tribes of the order .a~e completed, the vespertilionidre bein.g shift~d (provJs~onally) 1nto the natatorial place, for wl:Ich tl~eu appropr~at~ness is so far evidenced by the aquatic habit~ of sever~l ot t~e tribe and the lemuridte into the suctonal, .to whiCh theu length of muzzle and remark~ble saltat?r~ power are; highly suitable. A~ the same ttme, .the s1m1adre are de: gt·aded from the typiCal place, to W~Ich they hav~ no ~01t of pretension, and placed where their me~n and ~Ischi~Vous character seems to require;. the cebtdre. agau~ heing assio-ned that situation which their comparattv~ly tnoffensive0 dispositions, their arbore~l habi.ts, an~ their e~tra?rdinary development of the ta1l (which With them 1s like a fifth hand,) render so proper. The zoological status thns assigned to the human race is precisely what m!ght be expected. In order to understand its full value, it is necessary to observe how the various type peculiariti~s operate in ~xing the charac~er pf the animals ranked In them. It IS easy to conceive that they must be, in some instances, much mixed up with each other, and consequently obscured. ~fan animal, _for cxan1ple, is the suctorial member ·of a c1r~le of sp~ciCs, forming the natato~ia~ type o~ gener~, f01:m1ng a. f~mily or sub-family which In Its turn Is rasonal, Its quahhes must evidently be greatly mingled and ill t.o define. But,. on the other hand, if we take the rapac.Ious or sub-typtcal group of birds, and look i!l it for the tri.be which is again the rapacious or sub-typical group of 1ts order, w~ may expect to find the qualities of that group exa~ted or Intensified, and accordingly made the more conspicu?us. ~uch is really the case with the vultures, i~1 the rapacwus.bnds, a family remarkable above all of theu order for the1r ~arnivorous and foul habits. So, also, if we take the typ1cal group of the birds, the incessores or perchers, and look in it for its typical group, the conirostres, and see.k there again for the typical family of that group, .th~ c~rv1dre, w.e may expect to find a very marked supenonty 111 orgam~ zation and character. Such is really the case. " The crow," says l\1!1'. Swainson, " unites in i~selr .a great?r number of properties than are to be found Individually tn '« ANIMATED NATURE. 139 afty other g~nus of birds; as if in fact it had taken from all the other orders a J?O~~ion .of their peculiar qualities, for the p_urpose of exhii11tmg In what manner they could be combined. From the rapacious birds this ' type ot types,'.as t~e crow.has been j~st_ly called, ~a~{es the powe1 of soanng In the air, and of seizing upon hvmg birds like the h~w~s, while its habit of devouring putrid substa~ces, and piClnng out the eyes of young animals, is borrowed fro~. the vultures. Fro1n t.he .scansorial or climbing orde. r It ~akes the faculty of piclnng the ground, and discovel'Ing It~ fo~d wh~n hidden from the eye, while the parr? t fa~IIy g1ves It the taste for vegetable food, and furni~ hes It With great cunning, sagacity, and powers of imitatwn, even to counterfeiting the human voice. Next come the.order of waders, w.h~ impart their quota to the perfection oft~~ cr?w by gi.ving It great .powers of flight, and per~ect facility In wall~Ing, such be1ng among the chief attnb.utes of t~e suct.onal or~e~. Lastly, the aquatic birds contribute th~n· portion, by giving this terrestrial bird the power of feeding not only on fish, which are their peculiar food, but actually of occasionally catching it.* In this W?nderful n~anner do w~ find the crow partially invested With the united properties of all other birds while in Its uwn or~er, that of the incessores or perchers: it stands the pre-emment type. We cannot also fail to rtrgard it as a remarkable pr~of of the superior organization and character of the corvidre, that they are adapted for all climates and accordingly found all over the world." ' Mr. Swain~on's de~cription of the zoological status of the c.ro~·, wntten w1thout the ~east design of throwing any hght upon that of man, evidently does so in a remarkable degree. It prepares us to expect in the place am~ng the mammalia, corresponding to that of the corvidre In the aves, a being or set of beings possessing a remarkable concentration of qualities from all the other groups of their order! but in general character as far above the corvidre ~s a typ1cal group is ·above an aberrant one, the mammaha above the aves. Can any of the simiadre pretend to such a place, narrowly and imperfectly endowe. d as t~ese c.reatures are-a mean refle~t_ion ~pparently ot s?mething higher? Assuredly not, and In this consideratton alone, Mr. Swainson's arrangement must fall to the ground. To fill ·worthily so lofty a station in the anima- • See Wilson's American Ornithology ; artie:~, Fishing C1·ow |