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It has thus come about that of all the Corvidae the daw is now the favourite as a pet bird, and in the domestic condition he is accorded more liberty than is given to other species. We think he makes better use of his freedom, that he does not lose touch with his human friends when allowed to fly about, and appears more capable of affection. Formerly, the raven and magpie came first as pets.
So, also, if we take the typical group of the birds, the incessores or perchers, and look in it for its typical group, the conirostres, and seek there again for the typical family of that group, the corvidae, we may expect to find a very marked superiority in organization and character. Such is really the case. "The crow," says Mr.
We cannot also fail to regard it as a remarkable proof of the superior organization and character of the corvidae, that they are adapted for all climates, and accordingly found all over the world. Mr. Swainson's description of the zoological status of the crow, written without the least design of throwing any light upon that of man, evidently does so in a remarkable degree.
Such a question evidently ought not to be answered rashly; and I shall therefore confine myself to the admission that, judging by analogy, we might expect to see several varieties of the being, homo. There is no other family approaching to this in importance, which presents but one species. The corvidae, our parallel in aves, consist of several distinct genera and sub-genera.
To the aquatic type his love of maritime adventure very readily assimilates him; and how far the suctorial is represented in his nature it is hardly necessary to say. As the corvidae, too, are found in every part of the earth almost the only one of the inferior animals which has been acknowledged as universal so do we find man.
It prepares us to expect in the place among the mammalia, corresponding to that of the corvidae 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 corvidae as a typical group is above an aberrant one, the mammalia above the aves.
Class Aves. Order Incessores. Tribe Conirostres. Family Corvidae. Sub-family Corvinae. Genus Corvus. Sub-genus, or species Pica. This brings us down to species, the subdivision where intermarriage or breeding is usually considered as natural to animals, and where a resemblance of offspring to parents is generally persevered in.
In him only is to be found that concentration of qualities from all the other groups of his order which has been described as marking the corvidae. That grasping power, which has been selected as the leading physical quality of his order, is nowhere so beautifully or so powerfully developed as in his hand.
But I never saw a daw or starling feed his mate, or feed another daw or starling, although I watched closely every day and often for an hour at a stretch, and though I am convinced that the starling, like the rook and crow and daw, and in fact all the Corvidae, pairs for life.
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