TANAGRIN^. — GENERAL CHARACTERS. 
113 
to Carduelis {C. Americana, 
fig. 162.), the passage is easy 
and natural to Linaria, in 
which there are certainly three 
or four subgenera : one of 
these is represented by our 
greenfinch ( Chlorisfi This 
genus, as already remarked, 
leads immediately to Coccothraustes, and thus closes the 
circle. , , ,, , 
(128.) The Tanagrin.®, or tanagers, is probably that 
group winch is the most numerous, as it certainly is the most 
diversified, of all tliose in this comprehensive family. As 
the dentirostral division of the Fringillida, it is typically 
distinguished from all the others by the hill having a 
distinct and well defined notch at the end of the upper 
mandible, the ridge or culmen of which is much more 
curved than is the gonys ; or, in other words, the culmen 
is more curved downwards than the gonys is ujjwards : 
this inequahty, as in the genus Ploceu.s, very much 
takes oft' from that regular conic form of bill so highly 
characteristic of the greater number of the finches ; so 
that the combination of these two characters is, perhaps, 
the best distinction of the whole group. Another pecu- 
liarity of these birds consists in their geographic range; 
for the whole, so far as has yet been ascertained, are 
natives of the warmer parts of America, abounding most 
in those regions which lie nearest die equinoctial line. 
They are in general small birds,— the largest being in- 
termediate between a sparrow and a thrush, while the 
majority do not exceed the size of a linnet; some few are 
even smaller. It is quite evident, from the great strength 
of bill possessed by some, and the notch, which is con- 
spicuous in aU, that these birds feed both upon seeds 
and creeping insects, picked from the branches of trees ; 
for very few of them are ever seen upon the ground. 
Their colours in general are bright ; and, in a large 
number, particularly rich and beautiful. The little birds 
forming the genus Agla'ia, in fact, are ornamented with 
VOL. II. I 
