CONIROSTRES. — DIVISIONS. — BUCERID&. 03 
of the bill, which is scarcely ever so decidedly notched 
as that of the Dentirostres, with which alone the pre- 
sent group can be confounded. In all the aberrant 
tribes of perchers, — that is, in the Fissirostres, Tenui- 
rostres, and Scansores, the feet are very short, generally 
weak, and always imperfect, — they exhibit a structure 
calculated for one purpose alone, as the woodpeckers ; 
or at most two, as in the parrots. But, in the present 
tribe, the feet are developed in their just proportions, 
and are suitable both for perching, walking, and climbing 
horizontally among trees; the toes, in almostevery instance, 
being placed three forwards and one backwards. 
(106.) The primary divisions of this order will now be 
explained, but the mode by which the three aberrant 
families are united into a circle is not yet known. These 
aberrant groups we shall denominate the Buceride, or 
hornbills; the Musophagida, or plantain-eaters; and the 
Fringillide, or finches. ‘The two typical groups have 
been correctly named (from the crow and the starling) 
the Corvide and the Sturnide. The contents of each 
of these families will now be explained. 
(107.) The Bucerida, or hornbills, are well distin- 
guished at first sight, by the enormous size of their bills, 
which are generally swollen or enlarged at the base, as 
the name implies, into protuberances resembling horns 
or nobs. In some species, however, the bill is without 
these appendages, so that they bear the nearest affinity to- 
the toucans — belonging to the scansorial tribe, which is 
joined to the conirostral. We have no bird, indeed, which 
actually unites the two families in so perfect a manner as 
that by which the toucans are blended with the Fissirostres 
through Prionites ; yet this latter group fulfils the double 
purpose of pointing out both affinities : we see in the little 
power possessed by the toucans of climbing, that nature 
is about to quit the scansorial structure. Now, we 
should expect that a bird which might conduct us from 
the toucans to the hornbills would be of a large size, and 
that it would present us with some of the gay eolours 
peculiar to the toucans, both in its bill and plumage ; 
