EESrME OF THE HISTORY. 
1861. Mr. Sclater, in a paper on the American species in ' The Ibis,' gives a note on the 
classification ; he ranks them as a distinct family. 
1862 Dr Jerdon, in his valuable work on the 'Birds of India,' follows Bonaparte s 
classification of the Asiatic group, and places them next the Indicatonnm. 
1863. Goffin, in the catalogue of the Leyden Museum, gives a most carefully worked- 
out monograph of the Buccones. He, however, erroneously places the fissn'ostral Bucco 
in the same family with the CaiMonid<B of this work. He divides this latter mto three 
great genera, Pogonorhynchus, Megalahna, and Caj^ito, retaining, however, most of the 
other genera as subgenera. _ 
1868. Dr. G. E. Gray, in his Catalogue of the British Museum, gives them rank as a 
separate family, next to the P^c^^m>^mce. _ -0^70/ n Q^ 
1870. The genus Stactolmma is proposed, with type S. anc]mt(E, m the L. b. (p. 
From the above extracts it will be seen that for a long time the scansorial Barbets were 
coupled together with the fissirostral Puff-birds. Mr. A. R. Wallace was the first to point 
out the claims of the Scansores to rank as a separate order; and this arrangement, being 
supported by distinctive characters both in habit and structure, has been almost universally 
followed by the later authors. The general definition of the two orders thus limited may 
be taken as follows : — . r- r j j- 
Scansores.-T\.o.e arboreal birds which use the feet only in pursuit of food, and m which 
the outer toe is versatile or turned completely backwards. . , , ^ , , 
mssiTOstres.-T\.o,e arboreal birds which use the wings in pursuit of food, and have the 
feet adapted for perching only. . . , , . ^ 
As a natural accompaniment to these habits, the feet are found to be large and strong m 
the scansores, small and comparatively weak in the fissirostres; the wings are short and 
rounded in the former, long and well developed in the latter. The subjomed Tables will 
illustrate this point; the numbers in the second column (being the comparative length 
in terms of the ulna, which is considered as the unit) are calculated in order to facilitate 
comparison. It will be seen that among the fissirostres the ulna is invariably longer 
than the tibia, and, except in two instances, more than twice the length of the tarsus ; 
while among the scansores, on the other hand (with the exception of the true Picidw), 
the ulna is shorter than the tibia, and less than twice the length of the tarsus. 
Fissirostres. 
Podargus hiimcralis . . . . 
Caprimnlgus europEEUs 
' Harpactes Eeinwardtii 
Calurus fulgidus 
Monasa torqiiata 
Chelidoptera tenebrosa 
Trogou melanoceptial-us 
29 
14-5 
13-5 
16 
11 
12 
12 
•83 
•80 
•93 
•80 
•85 
•80 
•86 
35 
18 
14-5 
20 
13 
15 
14 
25 
12-5 
12 
14 
12 
10-5 
11 
•72 
•70 
•83 
•70 
•92 
•70 
•82 
11^5 
6^5 
6-5 
7 
9 
•33 
•36 
•45 
•35 
•70 
•33 
•57 
