346 Mr. P. L. Sclater on the present 
of birds. As, however, there are some 4700 species of Os- 
cines known, it is absolutely necessary to subdivide them ; 
and the task of doing this in the most convenient and natural 
way is not an easy one. 
Sundevall, who has certainly devoted more time and at- 
tention to the external characters of the Passeres than any 
other naturalist of this century, in his last work (‘ Methodi 
Naturalis Avium disponendarum Tentamen,’ Stockholm, 
1872) divided his “Oscines laminiplantares”? (which are 
equivalent to the Passeres here considered, with the excep- 
tion of the Larks) into six “ Cohortes,” as follows :— 
i, Cichlomorphe .... 50 fam. iv. Certhiomorphe .... 5 fam, 
ii. Conirostres ...... 15 ,, v. Cinnyrimorphe .... 5 5 
iii, Coliomorphe...... 15 ,, vi. Chelidomorphe .... 1 ,, 
Sundevall’s characters are derived partly from the struc- 
ture of the bill and partly from other points, and his six 
primary divisions seem to me to be very naturally conceived. 
On the other hand, Mr. Wallace’s well-known arrangement 
of the Passeres, first proposed in this Journal*, and subse- 
quently followed in his great work on distribution, is based 
entirely upon the structure of the wing. Mr. Wallace’s For- 
micaroid and Anomalous Passeres correspond nearly with 
what I call the Oligomyode, Tracheophonz, and Pseud- 
oscines, whilst the Oscines are distributed in his arrangement 
under three heads, as follows :— 
Series A. TypPrcAL orn TURDOID PASSERES. 
Wing with 10 primaries, the first always more or less markedly 
reduced in size. 
1. Turdide. 9. Phyllornithidee. 
2. Sylviidee. 10, Pycnonotidee. 
3. Timaliidee. 11. Oriolidee. 
4. Cinclidee. 12, Campephagide, 
5. Troglodytidee. 13. Dicruridee. 
6. Certhiidee. 14, Muscicapidee. 
7. Paridee. 15. Vireonide. 
8. Leiotrichide. 16, Pachycephalide. 
* This, 1874, p. 406. 
