Families constituting the Order Passeres. 409 



PASSERES. 



ilst primary well developed (4) 



1st primary reduced (1) 



1st primary rudimentary (3) 



9 primaries .... 1st primary being- absent (2) 



We commence with the extensive series of families possess- 

 ing 10 primaries the first of which is neither rudimentary 

 nor fully developed, but is almost always markedly small, 

 weak, narrowed, or shortened, compared with those which im- 

 mediately follow it. Our Thrushes, Warblers, and Crows are 

 examples of this series, which consists of twenty-one families 

 of preeminently Old-World birds. Only one of these families 

 is peculiar to America; and that one (Vireonidse) shows a 

 transition to the Mniotiltidse in the following series by having 

 the first primaiy sometimes radimentary, or even absent. 

 Only a few other families of this series occur in South Ame- 

 rica ; and only two of them, the Turdidse and Troglodytidse, 

 are well represented there. The following is a list of these 

 families : — 



Series A. Typical or Turdoid Passeres. 



Wing with 10 primaries, the first always more or less markedly reduced 



in size. 



1. Tm-didae. 11. Oriolidse. 



2. Sylviidae. 13. Campephagidae. 



3. Timaliidai. 13. Dicruridse. 



4. Cinclidae (inch Heni- 14. Muscicapidae. 



curus and Eupetes). 15. Vireonidse. 



5. Troglodytidse. 16. Pachycephalidse. 



6. Certhiidae. 17. Laniidae. 



7. Paridae. 18. Corvidae. 



8. Leiotrichidae. 19. Paradiseidae. 



9. Phyllomithidse. 20. Meliphagidae. 

 10. Pycnonotidae. 21. Nectariniidae. 



It will be observed that in this series of families every one 

 has undoubted affinities with some others placed near it, ac- 

 cording to the views of all those naturalists who have freed 

 themselves from the trammels of the old rostral system. But 



