376 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



The characters given above applj"- to the group which Dr. Gadow <* 

 designates as the "Parinse typicse," his "Parinae australes" and 

 "Panurinse" being excluded, as having probably different relation- 

 ships, as are also the genera Suthora Hodgson and GJiolornis J. 

 Verreaux, by some authors placed among the Paridse. Even as thus 

 restricted there is reason for doubting the naturalness of the group, 

 the Remizinse and Psaltriparinse together possessing both skeletal and 

 external characters of sufficient importance to suggest the propriety 

 of their separation from the Paridae,* while certain genera (for exam- 

 ple Oephalqpyrus Bonaparte) are of still more questionable affinity. 

 Ohamsea undoubtedly should be removed if we are to have definable 

 groups of Oscines. 



In order to show what appear to me to be the relationship of the 

 Paridse to allied groups, the following "key" is here presented: 



u. Outer toe but little if any longer than inner; hallux (without claw) not longer 

 than inner toe (without claw). 

 6. Bill notched, slender, depressed basally; nostrils operculate, the operculum 



extending anteriorly to end of nasal fossa Sylviidse « 



bb. Bill without trace of notch, stout ( relatively shorter and thicker) , not depressed 

 basally; nostrils small, nonoperculate, or else (Chamseidse) the operculum 

 not extending to anterior end of nasal fossa, 

 c. Tarsus nearly half as long as wing, twice as long as middle toe without 

 claw; basal phalanx of middle toe adherent to outer toe by only half its 

 length, to inner toe by less than half its length; nostrils large, longitu- 

 dinal, distinctly operculate, wholly exposed; eighth primary not longer 

 than first CliainEeldee 



cc. Tarsus less than one-third as long as wing, much less than twice as long as 

 middle toe without claw; basal phalanx of middle toe adherent to outer 

 toe by greater part of its length, to inner toe by at least half its length 

 (entirely adherent in typical forms) ; nostril small, roundish, nonopercu- 

 late, concealed by antrorse latero-frontal plumules; eighth primary longer 



than third Paridse 



aa. Outer toe much longer than inner toe; hallux (without claw) longer than inner 

 toe (without claw). 

 6. Hallux (without claw) equal to or longer than outer toe (without claw), the 

 latter not reaching beyond middle of penultimate phalanx of middle toe, its 



"Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum, viii, 1883, 2. 



6In a paper entitled Notes on the Osteology of the Paridse, Sittidae, and Chameea 

 (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xiii, 1890, 337-345, pi. 27), Mr. Frederic A. Lucas states his 

 "inability to assign osteological characters to the group," equivalent to the family 

 Paridse as here circumscribed, and adds, "That the group is not a natural one I 

 should hesitate to assert, but it is by no means so homogeneous as the Swallows, 

 "Wrens, or Thrushes, so far as I have studied them." The genera upon which M*. 

 Lucas's conclusions were founded are Bseolophus, Parus, Penthestes, PsaUriparus, 

 JEgithalos, and Auriparus, and the osteological characters which he points out show 

 clearly that these are quite trenchantly separated into two groups, of which only 

 the first two constitute the typical form. 



'Including "Eegulinse" and Polioptilinse. 



