CLASSIFICATION 



13 



the trachea or windpipe in supplying air to the lungs, its forma- 

 tion is worthy of attention. Its upper end consists of the 

 larynx, and it passes down the neck as a flexible tube, formed 

 by a continuous succession of bony rings connected by membrane, 

 until it bifurcates into two bronchi, which open into the lun"s. 

 A common feature, found in many groups not nearly allied, is 

 the dilatation of a portion, generally near the middle, while a 

 remarkable modification is exhibited by the males of many of the 

 Duck-tribe, some of the lowest rings being fused together and 

 forming what is known as the hidla ossea or " labyrinth.' In 

 other Anatidae (some of the Swans), and some of the Cranes, the 

 trachea enters the keel of the sternum ; but a not unfrequent 

 modification, usually confined to the male sex, often occurs else- 

 where, when the windpipe is looped back upon itself. All these 

 arrangements, however they may aft'ect the sounds uttered by 

 Birds, do not in themselves constitute the voice organ of most. 

 That is reserved for the syrinx, a peculiarity of the Class Ares, 

 consisting of the lower end of the trachea and the adjoining part 

 of the bronchial tubes ; and the varied modulations are effected 

 by means of muscles attached thereto. These voice-muscles may 

 be wholly absent or of the simplest character, but they attain their 

 highest perfection in the Fasseres, and especially in the large 

 group of them known as Oscines, where there are often five or 

 seven pairs. In this group the lowest four or five tracheal 

 rings are solidly fused into a little bony box communicat- 

 ing with the bronchi ; the first and second bronchial rings (or 

 in this part often semi-rings) being closely attached to the 

 trachea, and the spaces between the second and third and the 

 third and fourth being generally closed by an outer typaniform 

 (drum-like) membrane, while the rest of the semi-rings of the 

 bronchi are closed by the inner tympaniform membrane. It 

 should be clearly understood that all the notes emitted by Birds 

 are produced by the above structures only, and that the tongue has 

 nothing to do with their utterance, except, possibly, in the case 

 of the sounds that Parrots (but not other birds) are taught to 

 produce. 



Classification. The Classification of Birds is still in a con- 

 dition of uncertainty, notwithstanding the many schemes succes- 

 sively propounded during more than two centuries. To dwell 

 upon them here would be impossible, and it is only practicable 



