INTRODUCTION. IX 



the issue of my * Synopsis of Callistse,' I have written a careful re- 

 vision of the species in a general Synopsis of Tanagers, published 

 in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for last year, and have 

 added three or four newly-discovered birds to the genus. The ar- 

 rangement adopted in the present work is the same as is there given. 

 With regard to the position of the genus Calliste in the Natural 

 System, it is certainly one of the most typical genera of the Tana- 

 gers, that is, one of the genera in which the characters of the Tana- 

 gers are most fully developed. To arrive, therefore, at its true 

 position, we must first say a few words on the Tanagers generally. 

 Now a Tanager, as I have already remarked in my observations on 

 these birds published in the ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society,' 

 is a dentirostral Finch, that is, a bird which, having all the essential 

 characters of the Finch, is yet so far modified, as regards certain 

 parts of its structure, as to fit it for feeding, not on grains and seeds, 

 which are the usual food of the Fringillidce, but on soft fruits and 

 insects, the habitual food of the Sylviidce. Thus it happens that 

 the views of modern Naturalists have varied concerning the true 

 position of these birds, according as they have given greater weight 

 to their Fringilline or Sylviine affinities. Mr. G. R. Gray, follow- 

 ing some of the older authors, arranges them along with the Fringil- 

 lidce, while Dr. Cabanis and Prince Bonaparte remove them far away 

 into- the same family with the American Wood-warblers {Mniotil- 

 tince). Now if we take the more typical portion of the Tanagers, 

 the Pyrangce, Ramphoceli, Tanagrce, Callistce, Euphonice, &c., by 

 themselves, we can easily conceive that it may at first sight seem 

 more natural to associate them along with the American Wood- 

 warblers. But when we look at the group as a whole, and see the 

 gradual increase of Fringilline resemblances as we pass through C/ilo- 

 rospingus into Arremon and Salfato?', and finally arrive at Pityhis, 

 which can hardly be separated from the CoccothraustincB, I think we 

 can scarcely doubt about the true position of the Tanagers. I do 

 not contend that they must necessarily be placed with the family of 

 Fringillidce, but that, if not within the limits of that family, they 

 must stand as their next neighbours, and as a very closely-allied 

 group. But the fact is that, if we could arrive at a perfect natural 

 arrangement — a simple impossibility in a linear series — there is no 

 doubt that we should place the Tanagers also near the American 



