aBAN RL!) 
Oe ape 
ie 4 
104 ON THE €LASSIFICAT! 
satisfactory and perfect. We shall first ti: — ve 
manner the Sturnide represent the rksayi ypes 
ornithology, and consequently si tribes of the J 
sores, or perchers. - 
4 
ey 
SturnIpsé, or Starlings. — ANALOGIES. a 
Subfamilies. Analogical Characters, interes . 
STURNIDZ. Bill lengthened, more or less conic. ContRosTREs. 
ill more compressed; the culmen 
curved ; the lip distinctly notched. } DENTIROSTRES, 
LAMPROTORNINZE. ; B 
‘ 
b 
Tail unusually developed ; COM } 
SCAPHIDURINE, phire SinhGana ? SCANSORES. ; 
Bill very slender towards the end; if 
ICTERINE. feed chiefly on soft substances. Temuikostaaay ] 
Bill very short; wings long, pointed ; i} - 
AGELAINE. f hakite migratory. ° FISSIROSTRES. . | 
The analogies between the two typical groups are sc 
perfect, that they hardly require any further notice. 
The starlings are the most typical of one group, just 
as the Conirostres are of the other ; and both have the 
most conic bills of that particular: modification which 
is calculated for searching on the ground for insec 
food; in both also, the upper bill is very slightly 
notched,— a character which is not found in either of 
the three aberrant groups of the Srurnip#, although 
their bills are more conic than even that of . the 
starlings. The Lamprotornine are distinguished fro ; 
the last by the great compression and curvature of the 
culmen or ridge of the bill, where we find the notch @ 
deep as in the thrushes and other groups of dentirostiil 
birds ; and it is just by these characters that the Denti- 
rostres are distinguished from the other tribes of the — 
Insessores. In the rasorial groups, the tail is ee. 7 
developed in an unusual manner: this is one of t 
distinctions of the Scansores; and we find the same 
degree of singularity, under a different form, in ne 
boat-shaped or concave tails of the Scaphidurine 
The most slender-billed birds are well known to be the 
tenuirostral families, and the grallatorial waders ; whil 
the most slender-billed of the starlings are the Jete 
