﻿358 



ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 



Families of Families of 



Fissirostres. Analogies. Scansores. 



WAr^/wTTr^ C Bill broad at the base : toes frequently 7 nt,™ r „ 



Halcyonid*;. I placed two before and two behind. y j Cuculid^e. 



Trogonid.e. Bill strong, thick, the margin serrated. Ramphastid-E. 



No one, it is true, would ever mistake a goatsucker for 

 a parrot^ yet how singularly do they resemble each other 

 in some of the most remarkable peculiarities of their 

 structure. The facility with which swallows perch and 

 retain their hold, in the most perpendicular situations, 

 is a power only possessed by climbing birds ; but the 

 analogy is carried much farther by a genus of swallows 

 (Chcstura), wdiose tails are more stiff and sharp than 

 those of the most typical woodpeckers. By comparing 

 the bills of any of the South American creepers (Den- 

 drocolaptes) , with those of the bee-eaters (Meropidce), 

 and we shall be at no loss to discover the analogy of the 

 two families ; and this resemblauce even extends to their 

 feet, the three anterior toes, in each group, being all united 

 together at their base. The analogy between the two 

 next families in the table is still more remarkable, for 

 not only are the toes of the puff birds (Tamatia) ar- 

 ranged like those of the cuckows, but the likeness is so 

 strong as to have deceived every naturalist into a belief 

 that they were actually united by affinity : we have 

 shown, however, that no two tribes can be more distinct 

 in manners and natural economy. They must be kept 

 separate in all systems professing to be natural. There 

 remains, therefore, but one more comparison, — that 

 between the trogons and the toucans : by these two 

 families, as we conceive, the Fissirostres and Scansores 

 are united. We accordingly find that this is effected 

 by the motmots (Priorities), which indisputably present 

 not the slightest affinity to the hornbills, and yet they 

 show the strongest inclination to unite with the Fissiros- 

 tres, by means of the Prionites platyrhynchus, and the 

 Galbula grandis in their own circle. 



(297-) That analogies change, and become inter- 

 mixed, in certain groups, according to the position 

 occupied by such groups, is a fact we have before 



