94 : DICTIONARY OF BIRDS 
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to belong to the same group,—Philepittide and Xenicidxe, more properly 
Acanthidosittide (XENIcUS), and it is remarkable that these last three 
Families are the only members of the Mesomyodt which are not peculiar 
to the New World—nay more, if we except the Tyrannidx, which in 
North America occur chiefly as migrants,—not peculiar to the Neotropical 
Region. The Tracheophonx are held to contain five Families—Furnaride 
(OVEN-BIRD), Pteroptochide (TApacuLo), Dendrocolaptide (PICUCULE), 
Conopophagide and Formicariide (ANt-THRUSH). Returning now to the 
Acromyodt, which include, it has just been said, a normal and an abnormal 
section, the latter consists of Birds agreeing in the main, though not 
absolutely, as to the structure of the syrinx with that of the former, yet 
differing so considerably in their osteology as to be most justifiably separated. 
At that time only two types of these abnormal Acromyodi were known— 
Menura (LYRE-BIRD) and Atrichornis (SCRUB-BIRD), both from Australia, 
while all the remaining Passeres, that is to say, incomparably the greater 
number of Birds in general, belong to the normal section. Thus the 
whole scheme of the Passeres,! as worked out by Garrod and Forbes, can 
be briefly expressed as below; and this expression, so far as it goes, is 
probably near the truth, though for simplicity’s sake some of the inter- 
mediate group-names might perhaps be omitted :— 
ELEUTHERODACTYTLI, 
ACROMYODI, 
NORMALES, 
ABNORMALES, Menwra, Atrichornis. 
MESOMYODI, 
HOM@OMERI, 
Tracheophone, 
Furnariide, Pteroptochide, Dendrocolaptide, Conopophagide, For- 
micartide. 
Haploophone, 
Tyrannidx, Rupicola, Pittide, Philepittide, Xenicidx. 
HETEROMERI, Cotingidx, Pipridex. ; 
DESMODACTYLI, 
Hurylemide. 
It will be seen that no attempt was made to separate the Normal 
Acromyodians into Families. Already, in The Ibis for 1874 (pp. 406- 
416), Mr. Wallace had published a plan,? which, with two slight modifica- 
tions that there were manifestly improvements, he employed two years 
later in his great work on The Geographical Distribution of Animals, and 
this included a method of arranging the Families of this division. Being 
based, however, wholly on alar characters, it has of course a great simi- 
larity to the schemes of Prof. Cabanis and of Sundevall, and, though 
simpler than either of those, there is no need here to enter much into its 
details. The Birds which would fall under the category of Garrod’s 
Acromyodt normales are grouped in three series:—A. “Typical or 
1 It is right to observe that this scheme was not a little aided by a consideration 
of palatal characters, as well as regard to the disposition of some of the tendons of the 
wing-muscles. i 
* Presenting some analogy to the work of Garrod and Forbes, though mainly 
based on external characters, is that carried on in regard to the feathering of Birds’ 
wings, as quoted elsewhere (REMIGES, p. 781, note), and deserving much attention. 
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