40 CANTATORES. SONGSTERS. 



tation, and the stomach slightly or moderately muscular, they 

 being in general omnivorous. Species of both these orders 

 exhibit close affinities to species of the present order, which 

 presents the following general characters. 



The bill is never longer than the head, nearly straight, 

 slender or moderately stout, compressed, tapering, pointed, 

 sharp-edged ; the upper mandible with a notch or sinus, which, 

 however, is in some species obsolete. The tongue is short, or 

 of moderate length, narrow, flat, emarginate, and papillate at 

 the base, thin-edged, with the point slit or lacerated. The 

 oesophagus is narrow, without crop or dilatation ; the proven- 

 triculus oblong, with a complete belt of roundish or oblong 

 simple glandules. The stomach is roundish, or broadly ellip- 

 tical, and compressed ; its muscular coat thick, and forming 

 two distinct lateral muscles, with an inferior thinner muscle ; 

 its cuticular lining dense, tough, and slightly rugous. The 

 intestine is short, and rather wide, the coeca very small, cylin- 

 drical, and adnate ; the rectum short, wide, with an elliptical 

 dilatation or cloaca. See Plate XIII. 



The body is ovate ; the neck short ; the legs of ordinary 

 length or short ; the tarsus much compressed, covered ante- 

 riorly with about seven scutella ; the toes four, compressed, 

 three anterior, slightly spreading, the first stouter and about 

 the same length as the second and fourth, which are nearly 

 equal, the third much longer, and united at its base with the 

 fourth. The claws are rather long, arched, slender, compress- 

 ed, tapering to a fine point, that of the hind toe longest. The 

 wings are of moderate length, semi-ovate ; the first quill ex- 

 tremely small, sometimes wanting, the third and fourth gene- 

 rally longest. The tail is composed of twelve feathers, but 

 varies in size and form. 



The cranium is large, ovate, broad and rounded behind ; 

 the orbits are very large, their septum incomplete ; the jaws 

 of moderate length, and rather slender ; the upper with the 

 nasal vacuity large and elliptical, the lower almost straight, 

 with an oblong vacuity near the condyle. The cervical verte- 

 brae are generally twelve ; the dorsal eight ; the united lumbar 

 and sacral ten, or the lumbar three and the sacral seven ; the 



