FBINGILLlDiB. PBBLIMINABY BEMABKS. 107 
Lamprotomince 
SturniruB 
AgelaiTUS 
To Frin,gUlid(B/^ 
Garrulince 
CorvincB 
However this transportation may be hereafter ac- 
counted for, there can he no doubt that Fregilue is 
analogous to Agelaius, and that this latter genus evinces 
the closest approximation to the short-billed finches. 
With these facts before us, we must rest satisfied, and 
at once proceed to that family which is next in the 
conirostral circle. 
(123.) The FRiNGniLiD.a:, or finches, form the raso- 
rial family of the Conirostres. They are, indeed, the 
smallest in size of any in the whole circle ; and this cir- 
cumstance appears to militate against their being repre- 
sentatives of the large gallinaceous birds; and would 
ratlier intimate that they were analogous to the 
wstres among birds, and the Olirei among quadropeds. 
Nevertheless, although they do not possess tins mthca- 
tion of the rasorial type, they exhibit nearly all the others: 
they have, for instance, the hardest and most come hills , 
they are the most tame, and the most easily domesti- 
cated ; they feed almost entirely upon seeds ; and there 
are more crested birds among them than in any other 
famdy group of the Conirostres. There are also indirect 
evidences of tliis analogy, which can by no means be 
got over. We have already seen that a gradual short- 
ening of the bill takes place from the typical starlings 
{Sturninai) to the maize-birds (^Agelainw), and that some 
of these latter so closely resemble finches, that only an 
experienced naturalist can point out their distinction. 
Then, upon looking to the opposite group of the Coni- 
rostres, it is no less certain that the hornbills represent 
