CRIMSON NUT-CRACKER. 
161 
is natural ; that is, whether it will bear the test of 
comparison with the orders of birds and the tribes 
of the Insessores. The usual mode we have always 
adopted for this purpose is to place the genera in a 
column which corresponds to those which contain 
the groups represented, thus : — 
SUB-FAMILY COCCOTHRAUSTIN-ffl. 
1. Typical. 
Pyremstes The most perfectly conic bills. . . Conirostres. 
2. Sue-typical. 
Coccolorus Bill notched at the tip Dentirostres. 
3. Aberrant. 
CoccothrausksJ Wm S a ^ taU ***** fee H Fissirostres. 
( very short J 
Spermophoga .. .Bill most lengthened TenUirostres. 
I Wings short, feet large, very I 
Pcrir aides < strong, upper mandible enrv- yScansores. 
( ed above J 
Each of these columns are circles; because Py- 
renestes passes into Dertroides, just as the tribe of 
Conirostres passes into that of Scansores. Thus we 
find that the chief distinctions of each of the tribes 
of the perchers turn out to be the same as those of 
the group of Finches before us ; that is, they pos- 
sess the same characters in addition to others which 
constitute them Finches. It is only upon these 
principles, in fact, that we can account for the 
glossy plumage, for instance, of the haw-finches; 
their very short feet, — their broad, although conic 
hills, — their pointed wings, — their forked tail, — and 
