FZSSIROSTRES. 383 



one of which crosses the quills at about an inch 

 from the point. The tail also is black, with an 

 angular band of white across the centre, and a 

 narrow edging of the same colour on the outer 

 feather. The female differs in having the plu- 

 mage less marked, and the crest not so fully 

 developed. 



FISSIROSTRES. 



Those members of the fifth great tribe, the 

 Fissirostres, which we can claim as natives or 

 visiters to our islands, will complete our review 

 of the British Incessores, which, in our anxiety 

 to give as complete as possible, has already 

 exceeded our usual limits, and obliged us to con- 

 dense the notices of some of those which come 

 more seldom to our shores. The forms which 

 occur in Britain among the Fissirostres are, as 

 in the two last tribes, also extremely limited. 

 The great mass of known species are entirely 

 insectivorous ; countries of particular temperature 

 and characters are necessary fdr the production 

 of insects, and the climate of Northern Europe 

 being unfavourable for their extensive develop- 

 ment, the birds which compose the tribe are 

 comparatively deficient within its range. In two 

 of the families we have a single example, and in. 

 another only two. In the first, Merops may be 

 thus characterized : 



