2 PASSERES. 



(Meth. Av. Tent. p. 1) and by Dr. Elliott Coucs in the Introduction 

 to the great work on North-American Birds, and that there are 

 too many exceptions to be found to the characters laid down to 

 render their diagnoses of the order comprehensive. At the same 

 time it may be useful to give some characters propounded by the 

 above-named ornithologists, as follows : — 



Hallux stout, furnished with a larger claw than the other toes ; 

 greater coverts arranged in a single row, not reaching beyond the 

 middle of the secondaries ; sternum simple, with a single notch in 

 the posterior margin*. 



In the present work, for the lower groups, it is proposed to follow, 

 as f;ir as possible, thu divisions of Professor Sundevall's ' Tentamen,' 

 without adopting their exact order. However modified the arrange- 

 ment may be, this useful treatise will form the basis of my classifi- 

 cation. Severid alterations proposed by Dr. Coues will be adopted 

 by me ; and at the same time the primary arrangement of the 

 suborder as put forward by Prof. Garrod (/. c.) and by Mr. Wallace 

 (in his essay entitled ' An Arrangement of the Famihes constituting 

 the order Passcres ') will be followed, though the sequence of the 

 families wUl be somewhat changed. For American Passeres the 

 labours of Professor Baird and Mr. llidgway, in their great work on 

 jVorth-Amcrican Birds, will be consulted ; and it is to be regretted 

 that the details of the system of classification proposed by Messrs. 

 Sclater and Salvin in their ' Nomenclator,' which seem to contain 

 some original and highly natural combinations, have not yet been 

 given to the world. 



Dr. Coues's full characterization of the Passeres is as follows : — 

 " Hallux invariably present, completely incumbent, separately mo- 

 vable by specialization of the flexor halluds hnijus, with enlarged 

 base and its claw larger than that of the middle digit. Neither 

 second nor fourth toe versatile ; joints of toes always 2, 3, 4, 5 from 

 first to fourth. Wing-coverts comparatively short and few, with the 

 exceptions of the least coverts upon i\\e plica aJaris, arranged in only 

 two series, the greater of which does not reach beyond the middle 

 of the secondary remiges. Eectrices 12 (with rare anomalous ex- 

 ceptions). Musical apparatus present in greater or less development 



* The above cliaractevs, as a rule, suffice to separate tlie order Passeres from 

 tlie so-called Picaria, and they are cliiefly those eMiployed by Professor Sim- 

 devall (Meth. Av. Tent. p. 1) for his first order of birds {Oscines, Pallas). It 

 may, however, be well to reproduce here the characters assigned to the order 

 by Dr. Coues, one of the most painstaking of modern systematic ornithologists, 

 who, in avowedly confessing that his classification is based upon that of 

 SundevaU, modestly omits reference to the very useful compendium of addi- 

 tional and secondary characters which he has himself furnished. It is a fact 

 admitted by all ornithologists who have paid attention to the classification of 

 the class Aves, that a really satisfactory systematic arrangement of the families 

 does not at present exist ; but during the last ten years the labours of Pro- 

 fessors Huxley and Parker, Professor Garrod, Dr. Murie, Dr. Elliott Coues, and 

 other well-known anatomists have produced a wonderful cliange in the classi- 

 fication of birds ; and it is not too much to expect that in another equal period 

 a satisfactory arrangement of tlie class will have been proijounded. 



