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May 22, 2005 Years ago, living beings were thought to be divisible into two Kingdoms--Plantae and Animalia. Nowadays five kingdoms are recognized, but Animalia are still one of them. Animalia are further divided into about 36 phyla. To me, the most interesting phyla are Chordata (animals with spines or near-spines), Arthropoda (insects, spiders and crustaceans), and Mollusca (squids, octopuses and shellfish). Chordata are further subdivided into 7 classes--Aves, Mammalia, Reptilia, Amphibia, Chrondrichthyes (sharks and rays), Agnatha (jawless fish) and Osteichthyes (other fish). Aves (birds) and Reptilia (reptiles) have very recently been lumped together as a single class or superclass, but, for the time being, I'll consider Aves as still constituting a class. This class is divided (currently) into 31 orders, the following: Anseriformes, Apodiformes, Apterygiformes, Bucerotiformes, Caprimulgiformes, Casuariiformes, Charadriiformes, Ciconiiformes, Coliiformes. Columbiformes, Coraciiformes, Cuculiformes, Falconiformes, Galliformes, Gaviiformes, Gruiformes, Musophagiformes, Passeriformes, Pelecaniformes, Phoenicopteriformes, Piciformes, Podicipediformes, Procellariiformes, Psittaciformes, Pteroclidiformes, Rheiformes, Sphenisciformes, Struthioniformes, Strygiformes, Tinamiformes, and Trogoniformes. A grammatical note is in order. According to internationally adopted rules, names of kingdoms, phyla, classes, orders, families and genera (plural of 'genus') are capitalized, while names of species are not. Thus we have 'Haliaeetus leucocephalus' (bald eagle), where 'Haliaeetus' is the genus and 'leucocephalus' is the species. The above words, like 'Columbiformes' are plural nouns; one should say, "Columbiformes are (not 'is') an order of birds.". An adjective can be formed from any of the names of the orders: columbiform, passeriform, etc. Many of these adjectives will not be found even in unabridged dictionaries like the OED and Webster's Third International. As far as I know, they needn't be capitalized. As I mentioned in an earlier article, called "The Foibles of Biology", these scientific names are needlessly complicated and awkward, and might well have been simplified, but now that they have been instituted, there's little to be done except accept them. Also, the rules of capitalization contradict ordinary English usage, but so be it. Anyone who can pronounce all of the names of the orders of birds without recourse to a dictionary must be a clairvoyant. I've taken care to be accurate about the single and double "i's" in the nomenclature. The 31 orders of birds are subdivided into families, from one to 103 families per order. There are 212 families of birds in all. For those orders consisting each of a single family, the order and the family are coextensive, but two names are provided nonetheless, mainly for the purpose of maintaining the semblance of an outline. For example, Struthioniformes (ostriches) consist of a single family, Struthionidae (ostriches), the suffix '-formes' pertaining to orders, and the suffix '-idae' pertaining to families. The most numerous order is Passeriformes, which, to use the diction of zoologists, consist of sparrows and their "allies", that is, other similar birds, not necessarily friendly or even conscious of their similarity. Examples of families are: Corvidae (crows and allies); Laridae (gulls and allies); Ardeidae (herons and allies); and Meleagrididae (turkeys and allies): Each family is divided into genera, which may number anywhere from a single genus to hundreds of genera. There is no distinctive suffix to indicate that a particular noun is the name of a genus. Examples of names of genera are: Branta (Canada geese); Botaurus (bitterns); Grus (cranes); and Egretta (egrets). As was said, names of genera are capitalized and are supposed to be unique throughout all 5 biological kingdoms. In other words, the noun "Recurvirostra" (the genus of avocets and allies). for example, is reserved exclusively for avocets, and will not show up, say, as the name of a genus of bacteria or moss. A genus may be coextensive with its family and even its order; if so, the three names will also be linked etymologically. Thus we have Struthioniformes, Struthionidae, Struthio (ostriches). However, the mere fact that there are three linked nouns does not prove that this coextensiveness exists. For example, we find Passeriformes, Passeridae, Passer (sparrows), but there are other families than Passeridae in the the order Passeriformes, and other genera than Passer in the family Passeridae. In this case, sparrows are said to be the "type" of the family and the order, that is, the best-known or most typical of all the birds in the group. Each genus is divided into one or more species. The specific (here"specific" means pertaining to "species") name of a bird, such as "americana" in "Fulica americana" (the American coot) is unique only within the genus Fulica. Thus, we also have Ardea americana (whooping crane), Chloroceryle americana (green kingfisher), Spiza americana (dickcissel), Anas americana (American wigeon, a kind of duck), and many others. So, while we may speak meaningfully of genus Fulica, we can hardly refer to species americana unless it's already known that we're talking about coots. Sometimes a third word is added to the the ordinarily binomial name, and this is name of the "race". "Pyrrhula pyrrhula griseiventris" is the name of a race of bullfinches called Eurasian bullfinches. To return to the orders, among the most interesting are Anseriformes (swans, geese and ducks), Apodiformes (hummingbirds, etc.), Charadriifomes (plovers, sandpipers, phalaropes, godwits, gulls, etc.), Ciconiiformes (storks, ibises, herons, egrets, etc.), Columbiformes (pigeons), Coraciiformes (magpies, hornbills, kingfishers, etc.), Cuculiformes (cuckoos), Falconiformes (eagles, hawks, kites, condors, vultures, etc.), Galliformes (turkeys, chickens, peacocks, partridges, grouse, pheasants, francolins, woodcocks, etc.), Gaviiformes (loons), Gruiformes (cranes, rails, coots, etc), Passeriformes (crows, jays, sparrows, waxwings, bobolinks, nuthatches, finches, cardinals, vireos, wagtails, etc.), Pelecaniformes (pelicans, anhingas, cormorants, etc.), Phoenicopteriformes (flamingos), Piciformes (woodpeckers), Procellariiformes (petrels), Psittaciformes (parrots, parakeets and cockatoos), Sphenisciformes (penguins), Struthioniformes (ostriches) and Strygiformes (owls). This classification is constantly undergoing revision and there are many disagreements concerning various birds. Hardly can write down the names of the orders before he or she finds that they have just changed, An old order has been divided into two orders, or two old orders have been merged in one. Many criteria are used by zoologists in deciding on the various taxa involved, most of them on the microbiological level. Still the birds in one order should resemble one another in "gross aspect", that is, they should look like each other too. And generally this is true. For instance, swans, geese and ducks do look more like each other than they look like non-anseriform birds. They are also my favorite birds. ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. 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