104 
ON THE CLASSIFICATION OP BIRDS. 
satisfactory anil perfect. We shall first show in what 
manner the Sturnuke represent the primary types of 
ornithology, and consequently the tribes of the Inses- 
sores, or perchers. 
Sturnid^, or Starlings. — Analogies. 
Subfamilies. Analogical Characters. 
Sturnii).®. Bill lengthened, more or less conic. 
LAMPROToiiNiNm compresscd } the culmen 
1.AMPROTORNIN®. j notched. 
ScAPHinuBiN.E. f Tail unusually developed; commis. 
( sure sinuated. 
i/''ri7Dtv<p CBill very slender towards the end: 
icTERiN®. j feed chiedy on soft substances. 
AriTT AIM 1? f i pohfted ; 
AGci.ai-V.E. ^ migratory. 
Tribes of the 
Insessores. 
ColsiaosTRES. 
j Dentirostres. 
J SCANSORES. 
Jteniurostres 
J Fissirostres. 
The analogies between the two typical groups are so 
perfect, that they hardly require any further notice. 
The starlings are the most typical of one group, just 
as the Conirostres are of the other ; and both have the 
most conic bills of that particular modification which 
is calculated for searching on the ground for insect 
food; in both also, die upper bill is very slightly 
notched, — a character which is not found in either of 
the three aberrant groups of the Sturnid/B, although 
their bills are more conic than even that of the 
starlings. The Lamprotornina are distinguished from 
the last by the great compression and curvature of the 
culmen or ridge of the biU, where we find die notch as 
deep as in the thmshes and other groups of dentirostral 
birds ; and it is just by these characters that the Dmti- 
rostres are distinguished from the other tribes of the 
Insessores. In the rasorial groups, the tail is always 
developed in an unusual manner : this is one of the 
distinctions of the Smnsores; and we find the same 
degree of singularity, under a different form, in the 
boat-shaped or concave tails of the Scaphidurinm. 
The most slender-billed birds are well known to be the 
tenuirostral families, and the grallatorial waders ; while 
the most slender-billed of die starlings are the Icte~ 
