Ardeae.-Piscivorous, nidicolous, waders; with complicated hypotarsus and with long cervical apteria.
In this respect cassowaries and emeus hold an intermediate position, their occasional zoophagous (especially piscivorous) inclination being well known.
From this point of view the various adaptive modifications of mammalian dentition may be roughly grouped under the headings of piscivorous, carnivorous, insectivorous, omnivorous and herbivorous.
The fish-eating, or piscivorous, type of dentition is exemplified under two phases in the dolphins and in the seals (being in the latter instance a kind of retrograde modification from the carnivorous type).
