CONIROSTRES. 243 



3. Aberrant group. 



Fissirostres. I Tj-ii • i ,1 j j-ui I Frinqillince . 



I Bill conic, nearly entire, the under mandible [ •* 



Tenuirostres. { n ,1 ,, ., } AlaudincB. 



generally smaller than the upper one. I 



Scansores. [ J Pyrrhulince. 



The latter division, from the great diversity of its contents, cannot be defined 

 by characters applicable to all ; yet that it constitutes a circular group we can 

 have little doubt ; since the close affinity between Pipilo and our Emberiza cris- 

 tata* indicates that by such forms the Fringillince and the Pyrrhulince are brought 

 together. The Sparrows, the Buntlings, and all the plain-coloured Finches of 

 northern latitudes are thus detached from all others, and associated among the 

 true Fringillince, — proving that even colour is one of the leading distinctions 

 in the system of Nature. 



The circular affinities of the Fringillidce will, however, be better understood 

 by the following sketch. On quitting the Sylviadce, by means of the Lark- 

 Warblers (Anthus), we at once enter among the true Larks. From this group 

 Nature departs by two routes ; one lies through the Buntling- Larks (Plectro- 

 phanes), the Buntlings (Emberiza), the terrestrial Finches (Fringilla), the Spar- 

 rows (Pyrgita), and the Ground-Buntlings (Pipilo) ; by this latter group she 

 enters among the Tanagers, and so reaches the typical form of Coccothranstes 

 by the intermediate genera of Tiaris, Sw., and Ploceus, Cuv. The second, or 

 right-hand route, passes through the genera Myrafra, Horsf., Megalotis, Sw., 

 Crithagra, Sw., and Pyrrhula. Between the Bullfinches, generally so termed, 

 and Coccothraiistes, are the Linnets (Linaria) ; and we again reach the typical 

 structure by means of such forms as Guiraca, Sw., and two others, not yet defined. 

 We may premise, that this sketch, meagre as our space compels us to make it, 

 is the result of severe analysis. 



The typical sub-families, we may venture to pronounce, are perfect ; that is, 

 every genus, and nearly every sub-genus, is known or has been defined. But the 

 three aberrant divisions, namely, the Fringillince, the Alaudince, and the Pyrrhu- 

 lince, require much more study than they have yet received ; we therefore refrain 

 from hazarding any opinion upon the value of their subordinate groups, further 

 than to annul several of the genera and sub-genera proposed by others, as well 



* Zoo?. Illustrations, iii., pi. 148, note. This remarkable bird, which we now find is unquestionably a native of 

 Brazil, was first described by us under the above name. M. Temminck, as usual, gave it another, and M. Vieillot a 

 third. The figures given by these writers, however beautiful as pictures, are most defective : the bill is represented 

 as perfectly conic, whereas the upper mandible is considerably arched, and its whole form is more like that of a Bull- 

 finch, a Pipilo, or a Guiraca. — See our remarks in Appendix to Griffith's Cuvier, Aves, part ix., p. 687- — Sw. 



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