62 John Hogg, Esq., on the Classification of Birds, 



thraustes. &c., Vigors^ family of Loxiadae. (See Zool. Journ,, 

 vol. ii., p. 399.) 



Family Aedonidce. Instead of the name Sylviadae, which 

 has been given to the group of true Songsters or Warblers, I 

 have bestowed that of Aedonidce, from the Greek aribm, a 

 nightingale, which is derived from the verb ahhw, to sing. The 

 word for this family will itself appropriately signify song^ 

 sters, being also received from that chief of songsters the 

 nightingale, as its type. Consequently, it appears to me 

 to be better to assign the generic appellation of Aedon to 

 that bird, than to continue that of Philomela. So, then, our 

 two European nightingales would be called Aedon Philomela 

 and Aedon Luscinia. 



Subtribe 4, Latrones, Robbers, are ^er birds of prey of the 

 Insessorial order, or Perchers. They include the Butcher- 

 birds, Shrikes, and Fly-catchers. 



Subtribe 5. Anisodactyli. This and the two following sub- 

 tribes, Syndactyli and Allodactyli, are distinguished by their 

 toes. 



Family 2. Upupidw. As the hoopoe must clearly be placed 

 in a distinct family, I have employed that previously formed 

 by the Prince of Canino. But the same author having insti- 

 tuted the family Cypselidce for the Swifts, and so entirely 

 divided them from the Hirundinidse, I can by no means agree 

 with him in the necessity for this. 



Tribe VII. Cutinarirostres, I have thus designated be- 

 cause of the tumid and soft skin, or cuticle, at the base of 

 the bill, in which the nostrils are situated, being peculiar to 

 the pigeons, doves, and turtles. 



The title of Gyratores, bestowed upon the Columbidae by 

 C. L. Bonaparte, is strongly indicative of their movements. 



Here I must remark, that those zoologists who class the 

 ColumbidoB with the Basores, or Gallinaceous birds, evidently 

 transgress the order of nature. No doubt, these birds ap- 

 proximate nearest to the latter in some respects, yet in 

 others, and those the most important, they are totally dissi- 

 milar. 



They resemble the Basores^ and especially the domestic 

 poultry, in their young being hatched with much hairy down 



