NUMBER OF PEIMAEIE>S IN OSCINE BIRDS 183 



establishing (Oru. Notizea, ii. 327) the family upon these tarsal characters, 

 its position is " still doubtful " (wocft zwelfulhaft). In G. R. Gray's system, 

 it immediately follows his Emherh'uUv ; and, indeed, some of the Larks bear 

 no slight superficial resemblance to some of the Buntings. But in the 

 sequence of oscine families adopted in the present and other of my works 

 (which is substantially the same as that employ^ed by the best late authori- 

 ties in this country),! find no more fitting place for the family than where 

 I ventured to put it in the '"Key" — next to the MbtaciMito, and between 

 ■the foregoing set of lO-primaried families, and such 9-primaried groups as 

 the Motacillidw, SylvicoUdw, aud Fringillidw, which are to follow. These con- 

 siderations lead up to another remarkable characteristic of the Alandidm ; 

 namely, the apparently variable number of the primaries. 



The number of primaries among oscine birds, whether " nine" or "ten", 

 has been rightly considered an important item in classification, ranking in 

 value with the muditioations of the tarsal envelope jast disomsed. Oiciue 

 families, and even groups of families, are conveniently distinguished by 

 this character, and as naturally as by the " booting ", or scutellation, of the 

 tarsus. In certain families, however, the distinction fails to hold. In the 

 Vireonldw, for instance, species of the same genus have indifferently " nine " 

 or " ten" primaries. Thus, Vireo pMladelphiciis and V. gilviis are two species 

 so much alike that presence or absence of a spurious " first " j)rimary be- 

 comes the readiest means of distinguishing them. Noting this remarkable 

 circumstance in 1865, Professi^r Baird was led to look m ire closely into the 

 matter. His results are summed on page 325 of the " Review of American 

 Birds" (see also p. 160) ; from which it appears that in those Vireoa which 

 seem to have only nine primaries, two little feathers, distinct in size, shape, 

 and to some extent iu position from the general series of primary coverts, 

 are found at the base of the supposed first primary ; while iu those Vireos 

 with an obvious spurious first primary, making ten in all, only one saoh 

 feather is found. " In all the families of Passeres where the existence 

 of nine prim. iiie-i is snppjsid to be ohxraeteristic," he continne-i, " I have 

 invariably found, as far as my examinations have extended, that there were 

 two of the small feathers referred to, while in those of ten primaries but 

 one conld be detected." He does not specify how far his examiuations 

 extended. 



Believing thisto be an important matter, which would bear further investi- 

 gation, I have been led to look into the question, with the most satisfactory 

 results, confirming Professor Baird's observations and extending them to 

 include every one of the North American families of Oscines, excepting, per- 

 haps, Laniidw (in Collurio) and Ampelidw (iu Ampelis). With the possible 

 exception of the two genera specified, I find, on examining numerous genera 

 of all the North American families, that those ratedas 10-primaried have 

 but one of these little feathers, while all the rest have two. 



In clamatorial Passeres, perhaps without exception, there are ten fully 

 developed primaries, the first of which may equal or exceed the next in 

 length. In the single North American clamatorial family Tyrannidm, I find, 

 as before, only one of these little feathers. In a "Woodpecker, remarkable 

 among picariau birds in possessing only nine fully developed primaries, the 

 first being short or spurious, there is also but one. 



It seems to be conclusively proven that among the supposed 9-primaried 



