THE OSPKEY. 



167 



family, and for insects he admits between the 

 "Tribus" and '"Familia"' the catef,^ory named by 

 MacLeay '"Stirps." 



In 1825, then, the name '•subfamily" was set- 

 tled upon as the desif^nation to be given to the 

 primary subdivision of a famih^ in ornitholoj^y 

 and so it has remained with scarcely any ex- 

 ceptions to the present time. 



swainson's adoption ok ouinariaxism. 



In 1824, in "An Inquiry into the natural Affi- 

 nities of the Laniada?, or Shrikes; preceded by 

 some observations on the present state of orni- 

 tholog"y in this country,"* Swainson g^ave in his 

 adhesion to the fundamental propositions pub- 

 lished by William S.' MacLeay in 1821 in his 

 "Hora» Entomologica?." He urged that "Orni- 

 thology is neither a study of names, nor of 

 feathers," but rather "teaches us to enquire 

 what place [a bird] accupies in creation; what 

 functions it is destined by Almighty Wisdom to 

 perform; how its organization corresponds to 

 these functions; and lastU", its various relations 

 to other animated beings." Such an "under- 

 taking," he says, "is a new and intricate field 

 of enquir}'; which, to the honor of Britain, has 

 been opened to us by one of her sons." He 

 then proceeds at once to apply the principles in 

 question to the Laniada?. 



In this article, he briefly reviews the groups 

 Lanianae, Thamnophilina?, and Edolianae.f He 

 proposed to continue his article "in the next 

 number" of the Zoological Journal, but never 

 did so. 



The first article he issued from his new resi- 

 dence, "Tittenhanger Green." was devoted to a 

 fuller exposition of his quinarian views, and 

 although on an entomological subject, must 

 receive our attention for a moment. This arti- 

 cle was "A Sketch of the Natural Affinities of 

 the Ivcpidoptera Diurna of Latreille" con- 

 tributed to the first volume of "the Philosophi- 

 cal Magazine" started in 1827 (p. 180-188). This 

 was dated "Feb. 1st, 1827." He confessed his 

 creed explicitly in that article. It was his 

 "firm conviction that the Almighty Author of 

 the universe has created all thing's that have life 

 upon one plan; and that 'this plan is founded 

 on the principle of series of affinities returning 

 into themselves;']: which can only be repre- 

 sented by circles." He duh' credited "this sub- 

 lime discov'er^', sufficient of itself to immor- 

 talize a name," to his "illustrious countryman." 

 William Sharp MacLeay He avows that "in 

 the winter of 1823," he had "attentively studied" 

 the same insects, but "deferred" publication 

 "from a desire of procuring further informa- 

 tion." The system adopted was strictly quina- 

 rian, but admitted a "tj'pical group" with two 

 families and an "aberrant group" with three. 



NEW genera and species. 



Soon after his Sketch of the Lepidoptera 

 Diurna was published, Swainson completed two 



articles, to some extent complementary to each 

 other, one containing descriptions of many 

 new American species and the other diagnoses 

 of many new genera. The former, entitled 

 "A Synopsis of the Birds discovered in Mexico 

 by W. Bullock, F. L. S. and H. S., and Mr. 

 William Bullock, Jun.," was published in "The 

 Philosophical Magazine" for Mav and June, 

 1827, li, p. 364-369 and 433-442). The latter was 

 "On several Groups and Forms in Ornithology 

 not hitherto defined" and was published in the 

 tenth and eleventh numbers ("No. x" and "No. 

 xi") of "The Zoological Journal" for "April- 

 September. 1827" and "September-December 

 31, 1827," (iii, p. 158-175; 343-363). 



The "Synopsis" was an enumeration of nomi- 

 nally 101;; species of Mexican birds of which no 

 less than 65 were supposed to be new — of the 65 

 new species 18| have been discovered since 

 within the territories of the United States. They 

 are named below, with addition of the numbers 

 of the "synopsis" and the generic names adopted 

 for them by the American Ornithologists' 

 Union. 



6. Hirundo thalassinus — Tachycineta. 

 12. Tyrannula nigricans — Sayornis. 



18. Setophaga miniata — Seto'phaga. 



19. Setophaga rubra — Ergaticus. 

 28. Cinclus mexicanus — Cinclus. 



^2). Orpheus curvirostris — Harporhynchiis. 



37. Sialia azurea? — Sialia sialis aziirea. 



45. Pipilo maculata — Pipilo. 



SA. Carduelis mexicanus — Spinus psaltria 



iiiexicatius. 

 60. Xanthornus Bullocki — Icterus. 

 64. Icterus cucullatus — Icterus. 

 71. Pyranga hepatica — Piranga. 

 75. Guiraca melanocephala — Habia. 

 90. Crotophaga sulcirostris — Crotophaga. 

 92. Trochilus fulgens — Eugenes. 



95. Trochilus platycercus — Selasphorus. 



96. Cynanthus latirostris — I ache. 

 99. Cynanthus lucifer — Calothorax. 



Swainson, in his Sj^nopsis, remarks: "The 

 generic definitions will, I hope, shortly appear in 

 another Journal, to which they have been sent, 

 with the intention of preceding'- the publication 

 of this paper, ever since last November [1826]. 

 By this unfortunate delay, I am reduced to the 

 vmpleasant necessity of referring to a book not 

 yet published, for what the reader should have 

 the immediate power of consulting. '""^ 



As indicated in the title, the birds of the 

 Synopsis were collected by the Bullocks in 

 Mexico. The career of the elder Bullock was 

 quite interesting and some notice of it will be 

 taken in a future number of the Ospkev. 



In the Synopsis, a generic name was also 

 introduced which has had a limited currency — 

 Scaphidurus. Swainson expressh' saj's (p. 431) 

 that "M. Vieillot's name for this group, Quis- 

 calus, being alreadj^ used in botany, I propose 

 to call it Scap/tidurus, as expressive of the sin- 

 gular boat-shaped tail common to most, if, not 



*Zool. Journ., i, 289-307. 



+Z00I. Journ., i, 293-307. 



{MacLeay; Hora3 Entomolos;., Part ii, p. 459. 



§37 is repeated (p. 369, 433) and consequently there are 102 specific names. 



liThe 18 only cover the species noNV regarded as valid and not the synonyms. 



llPhil. Mag., i, 365. 



