﻿342 ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 



CIRCLE OF THE ORDER INSESSORES, or Perchers. 



, r Bill more or less conic, strong, slightly,} 



Tuniral ) or not at all notched ; mouth without f c 



JEST 1 bristles; feet robust, formed both for ^onirostres. 



Lice. ^ perching and walking. Omnivorous. J 



2. r Bill shorter and more compressed, with al 



Subtypical < distinct tooth-like notch; mouth gene->DE> 



Circle. C rally defended by bristles. Insectivorous. 3 



NTIROSTRES. 



f Bill entire ; feet very short, not adapted^ 

 j for walking ; position of the toes va- 



3. I rious ' 



Aberrant ~{ 1. Feet formed tor climbing. Scansores. VCURTIPEDES. 



Circle. I 2. Bill long; tongue extensile. Sue-") Tenuirostres . 

 j tonal. J 



! 3 " B "i^ r .°ff„ atthebaSe ' Feedu P on |Fi5iirosfre5. j 



l_ the wing. 



This table is drawn up in conformity with our second 

 proposition — already so fully explained * — that the 

 primary divisions of every circular group are five, ap- 

 parently ; but three, actually. In the present instance, 

 more than perhaps in any other, this union of the three 

 aberrant groups is demonstrated by the genus Prion ites 

 in the Fissirostres, and the Ramphastidce in the Scan- 

 sores ; the details of w T hich will be given in their pro- 

 per place. 



(282.) The leading groups of the Insessores have 

 been so repeatedly and so fully demonstrated as repre- 

 sentatives of the primary orders of birds, by some of 

 our best naturalists, that very little need be said upon 

 the subject ; the nature of our present volume, how- 

 ever, requires that it should not be passed over in 

 silence, although the analogy, under a different form, 

 has been illustrated in a prior treatise. We shall, on 

 this occasion, place the tribes of the Insessores in one 

 column, and the orders of birds in another ; when it 

 will be perceived that the analogical characters are mu- 

 tually descriptive of some of the leading distinctions of 

 each.t 



* Classification of Animals, pp. £26—229. 

 f Ibid. p. 231. 



