y^ 



484 NATURAL HISTOllY OF BIRDS. 



of this vast multitude of forms are confessedly anythiiii: l>ut natural. Several single 

 characters have been enifiloyed, but in every case the result has Ijccii that some forms 

 were sejiarated from their nearest allies, the relatioMshi]> of which is so clear tliat it 

 cannot be disjjuted ; hence the systematist was comjiclled to take them into a s^roup 

 from which the characters given excluded them and made them 'exceiitions.' It has 

 repeatedly been atteiiipteil to estuiilish sections lii<;lier than families, but without suc- 

 cess. Wallace's proposition to employ the number of ju-imaries as an easy means of 

 separating large groups has received considerable favor, but the fact that none of the 

 groups are without 'exceptions,' and that nine and ten ))rimaries may occur within 



the same genus, makes the scheme valueless in 

 a natural classification. The fact is, really, that 

 the lentil (first) ]>rimary is not absolutely want- 

 ing in the 'niiie-]primaried ' Passeres, but its 

 size is so extremely reduced as to become quite 

 or nearly invisible in the old birds, the more so 

 \ \Vl\\'V^\i\ . since its position is also slightly changed, as it 



, ^c\»\\\T.>? **'^\\ [g forced up on the ujiper surface of the wing. 



Not so in the vounc, however. In a verv vounir 



FIG. 23,-;. - Primaries nml first secondaries of sr^L-imen of the snow-ilake (Plectrophe)utx niva. 

 wing of fl.Miiilini; J'licli-ophi-uaj- enlarccil one /.•,\ o ' iiine-Iirini'iried ' soi-oies now liefore mf 

 aniloiieUalf limes, from above ;«, alula: rO/>, "*;>"' ""n J'" IIU.U IKl .si)l,CH.s, IIOU unoieme, 



covert of i«.nuiii...ate. an,i ci(i/.,envert of last the Outermost (tenth) primary is plainly visible 



primary : r/c, greater covens : /». prmmnes ; Up, ^ ' ^ J ^ •' 



penuitfmate primary; 10;,, ultimate (lirst) pri- i„ jts natural position, and witli the corrcspoud- 



mary ; s, seeonilaries. J ^ 1 



iiig great covert in its ])ro])er place, that is, in 

 the interval between llic ultimate ami iieniillimate primaries, as shown in the accom- 

 ]ianying cut (Fig. 235). From this will be easily jierceived how jierverse is tlie method 

 of counting the iirimarics from the edge of the wing, since, in iiiiie-i)ilmaried birds, 

 the feather which is usually called the fii-st in reality corres])onds to the second of 

 the ten-primaried sjjccies. By counting truni tlie secondaries, no difliculty is 

 experienced. 



Since Cuvicr's days, however, the Passei'cs have most commonly been gathered 

 into groups .iccording to the shape of the lull, and the section names ending in -rostres 

 are familiar to everybody. For convenience they have been em]p]oyed even in the 

 latest systems, though confessedly only in default of something better. Believing 

 that their retention is a decided obstacle to a natural arrangement, we shall take no 

 further notice of them. It may be proper to enumerate them, however, since they 

 play a considerable role in the ornithological nomenclatuie. According to Sclater's 

 arrangement of the laminiplantar Passeres, these sections are as follows: — 



Dentlrontrcs, comprising tliiuslies, wrens, warblers, tits, Old World fly-catchers, pipits, etc.; 



Latiroslren, for the swiillows; 



Ciirriroslrcs, creepers and nuthatches; 



Tcnuiroslres, sun-birds, lioney-suckors, etc. ; 



Coiiiroxlrcs, finches, weaver-birds, tan;igors; 



Cutti-irostrcs, crows, pies, jays, starlings, gracklcs, birds-of-Paradise, etc. 



We do not claim, however, that the arrangement to be ajiplied in the following is 

 quite natural in all its detail. 'J'lic exact afliiuties of many forms are as yet very ob- 

 scure, or in dispute, wliile in many other instances we ai-e still ignorant of the nature 

 of some imjiortant chai'acters, whether we shall regard them as generalized or spe- 

 cialized features. But we must warn against any criticism charging uuuaturalness on 



