446 Mr. N. A. Vigors on the Natural affinities 



second group, which forms a section at present of the genus 

 Anthus, and of which the A. Ricfiardi, Vieill. may be consi- 

 dered the type, where the bill retains the form of that of An- 

 thus, but the hind claw assumes the length and straightness of 

 the claw oi Aland a. The strong affinity that thus exists between 

 them receives no interruption, in consequence of their forming 

 the extremes of the respective groups to which they belong : 

 and thus, though justly placed in different families, and even in 

 different tribes, they maintain that natural relationship which so 

 intimately connects them. The family of Fringillidce, upon 

 which we now enter, contains, in addition to Alauda, to which 

 Emberiza, Linn, and its*»affinities seem nearly allied, — the 

 greater part of the Linnean Fringilla, together with the Linnean 

 Tanagra, which approach them in their external characters, 

 and in their habits, as far as has hitherto been ascertained. 

 These latter groups contain many natural genera, into which 

 the nature of my inquiry, limited to a rapid outline of the affini- 

 ties that connect the families of the class, will not permit me at 

 present to enter, further than to observe, that they may be traced 

 from the point of their connexion with the Linnean Fringilla, 

 back, by a gradual increase of the base of the bill in breadth and 

 height, to the family of Loxiada, which unites with them at the 

 opposite extremity of the series of families which compose the 

 tribe. The Fringillida, again, by means of the sharp-pointed 

 and lengthened bill of Carduelis, Briss., and by the extension of 

 the Oilmen of the upper mandible in an angular form for some 

 extent upon the front of the head, conduct us on the other side 

 to the genus Icterus, Briss., which commences the succeeding 

 family. Here the genus Ploceus*, Cuv. also seems to hold an 



inter- 



* There is another decided line of relationship between the two families, namely, that 

 which some species of the Linnean Alauda, particularly J. capensis, bear to the Sturnus 



Ludo- 



