FISSIROSTRES. 153 



Swifts, the Humming birds from all the otlier Honey Suckers, 

 Ampelis from Bombycilla, Pitta from the Thrushes, and many 

 other similar examples ; and I agree with Kaup, from whom I 

 quote the above, when he says that, *' if from the existence or the 

 want of some small muscles of the lower larynx, anatomists 

 think they can exclude from the order Ornithes all the biids 

 not possessed of the apparatus of singing muscles, then I must 

 confess, that from such a method, consistently pursued, the most 

 artificial system will result." 



I shall, with Gray and Horsfield, commence the great series of 

 perching birds, with the fissirostral group. 



Tribe, Fissirostres. 



Gape of the mouth wide; legs and feet short and feeble ; toes 

 more or less connected together : bill, wings, and tail much varied. 

 Usually take their prey on the wing. 



Tlie fissirostral tribe of birds appear to be a most natural group. 

 They nearly corespond with the Syndactyli and Heterodadyli of some 

 ornithologists, and comprise a very varied collection of birds, which, 

 however, all agree more or less with tlie characters given above. 

 The bill is most varied ; in some exceedingly short, depressed, and 

 triangular; in others long and conic ; in some slender and curved ; 

 in others, thick and wide, or wide and depressed ; the gape, how- 

 ever, is wide in all. The wings in most long and pointed, in 

 others shorter and more rounded, yet powerful ; tlie tail long and 

 forked, or short and square, or with the centre or outer feathers 

 greatly elongate. The feet in general are small, and the tarsus 

 short; the toes more or less joined at the base in most ; in a few, 

 one toe is wanting, and in some the toes are in pairs ; the hind toe 

 is generally very small. 



Most of the tribe live on insects whicii they capture on the 

 wing, either in the air, or pick off' tlie ground ; others partake also 

 of fish, small reptiles, and a few live partly on fruit. Their nidi- 

 fication is as various as their external form ; but, with one or two 

 exceptions, none of them make nests of materials interwoven 

 together. Some nestle in hoiei» in banks, or in trees, some on the 



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