that connect the Orders and Families of Birds. 443 
as well as by common observers ; and yet the former have gene- 
rally ranked the Pari in a different tribe, and some indeed have 
even ranked them in a different order from the Sylviade, in con- 
sequence of their more conical bill and the absence of the man- 
dibulary notch. A rigid deference to those particulars which form 
the characteristics of the conterminous subdivisions would cer- 
tainly exclude the Pari from the present tribe of Dentirostres. But 
the nature of their food, which consists chiefly of insects, and the 
similarity of their habits, give them a more natural connexion with 
_ the families among which I have now ventured to point out their 
place, than with the hard-billed and granivorous birds, where they 
are generally stationed. Here it may also be observed, that they 
form part of one of the extreme families of the tribe, and are 
immediately connected with a group of the preceding family of 
Sylviade, which passes on to the Conirostres, the succeeding 
subdivision of the order. ‘They thus are brought into contact 
with the tribe to which the strength and the conical structure 
of their bill indicates a conformity ; while at the same time they 
maintain their station among the groups where their manners 
and general economy would naturally place them. The Pari, 
which thus introduce us into the present family, lead us on to the 
more typical groups of the Linnean Pipre, with which they bear 
an acknowledged affinity in manners and general appearance*. 
The genus Pardalotus, Vieill., which is the representative of the 
latter group in Australasia, appears to connect these two allied 
groups of the Old and the New World, by exhibiting the nearly 
divided foot of the one and the partially curved bill of the other. 
Here come in the Rupicola, Briss., and Phibalura, Vieill. And 
here, as I have already observed when speaking of the Thrushes, 
* « Les Manakins —— d'autre part leur bec court, et leurs proportions generales, 
les ont fait long-temps regarder comme assez semblables à nos Mesanges.” Cuv. Regne 
Anim. i. p. 363. À 
VOL. XIV. 3 M I appre- 
