﻿INSESSORIAL OR PERCHING ORDER. S3? 



at once from the gallinaceous, the wading, and the 

 swimming orders. 



(272.) The most ahsolute peculiarities of the order 

 before us are those we have just stated ; but there are 

 some others to^be mentioned of a secondary nature, inas- 

 much as they are not without several exceptions. Thus 

 a few of them, like the shrikes, possess a strong tooth 

 in the upper mandible, similar to that of the hawks ; 

 while many more, as in the finch family, have not the 

 slightest vestige of this process. The most prevalent 

 construction of the bill is, nevertheless, to have this 

 member more or less notched, a structure which en- 

 ables these 'birds to take a firm hold of their food, 

 although without the power of tearing it in pieces by 

 their bill. They are likewise the most highly organised 

 in other respects, whether we view them as the most 

 melodious songsters, the most expert architects, or the 

 most resplendent in their colours, of the whole feathered 

 creation. 



(273.) The leading divisions of this order are so 

 obvious that every ornithologist, unprejudiced by the 

 authority of artificial systems, cannot fail to perceive 

 them. The Dentirostres, Conirostres, Scansores, Te~ 

 nuirostres, and Fissirostres, are so many prominent 

 groups, which have long been known and recognised by 

 all the moderns ; and they have accordingly been cited, 

 with justice, to illustrate the circular disposition of the 

 entire order.* So far, therefore, as regards the admis- 

 sion of these groups, nothing more need be urged, since 

 they are now universally adopted. This unanimity, 

 however, amongst ornithologists merely extends to the 

 typical forms: all agree, for instance, in classing the 

 woodpeckers and parrots as climbing birds ; but, because 

 the scansorial structure is exhibited under a different form 

 in the Grimpereauoc of M. Cuvier, or the tree-creepers, 

 we find these birds occupying a station in the Mcgne 

 Animal with the Tenuirostres. Even this latter tribe, 

 by some authors, is made to embrace every bird sus- 

 * See Linnaean Transactions, vol. xiv. p. 346. 

 Z 



