3 6 
Sclater on the Systema Avium. 
New World. 
Oxyrhamphidae. 
Tyrannidse. 
Pipridae. 
Cotingidse. 
Phytotomidse. 
Of these the Eurylaemidae must be deemed, without doubt, the 
most aberrant, on account of the non-freedom of the flexor halu- 
cis, above alluded to, which is unique in the order of Passeres. 
The third suborder of Passeres, the Tracheophonae, distin- 
guished by the peculiar structure of the syrinx, first described by 
Johann Muller, is entirely confined to the New World. Accord- 
ing to my views, the 500 species which it comprehends should be 
divided into three families, the last of which is peculiar among 
all the Passeres in having a double notch at the posterior margin 
of the sternum. They are : — 
. . _ . 1. Dendrocolaptidce . 
Sterni postici nssura unica 
2. frormicarndce. 
Sterni postici fissuris duabus 3. Pteroptochidce. 
Old World. 
Pittidae. 
Philipittidae. 
Eurylaemidoe. 
The fourth and last section of the Passeres, which I have pro- 
posed to call Pseudoscines, contains only the anomalous Austra- 
lian forms Atrichia and Menura , which are each fully worthy 
of family rank. When some of the other obscure Australian 
forms (such as Orthonyx ) have been further examined, it is very 
possible that additions will have to be made to this series. 
2. Cypseli sive Macrochires. 
It is now universally admitted that the Cypseli, although not 
Passerine, come near to that great Order in many particulars. 
Nitzsch in 1829 A first constituted the group, to contain the Cyp- 
selidae and Trochilidae, and called them “Macrochires,” from the 
peculiar elongation of the bones of the manus. Sundevall, in 
1836, adopted the term, and used the same limits. In his 4 Ptery- 
lographie,’ Nitzsch reduced the rank of the Macrochires to a 
family of his Picariae — a group to which, however, he expressly 
states that he can assign no single peculiar pterylographic char- 
acter. If we allow due value to palatal structure, we must keep 
the Macrochires and Pici apart from the rest of the Picariae of 
* ‘Obs. de Avium arteria carotide communi.' Halae, 1829. 
