INSESSiOBIAL ORDER. CONIBOSTBES. 339 
the feet are generally adapted more for perching than 
for walking, and the notch of the upper mandihle is 
very rarely obsolete. At the head of this tribe stand 
the family of shrikes {Laniadte), which is followed by 
those of the thrushes {Merulidce), and the warblers 
(^Sylmado!) : these latter pass into the chatterers {Am- 
pelidcB), which, from their frugivorous diet and general 
structure, are the farthest removed from the type of 
their circle. In the last family, however, composed of 
the flycatchers {Mutscicapidte), the insectivorous habits 
and structure are again resumed ; and these birds finally 
blend into tlie shrikes, by means of the tyrant flycatchers 
of America. It need hardly be observed that this is the 
subtypical tribe of the order before us ; it is analogous 
to the true rapacious birds, and represents them in the 
circle of Ittseasorun. 
(276.) The CoNiBosTBEs are pre-eminently the typi- 
cal assemblage of the whole order ; their organisation is 
more perfect, or, rather, their faculties are more varied. 
They feed indiscriminately both upon insects and vege- 
tables, and are therefore termed omnivorous. Their 
feet are so constructed that they can walk upon the 
ground with nearly the same facility as they perch upon 
branches — a double faculty which is rarely found in 
the last tribe, where the outer and middle toes are often 
connected at their base. The bill is thicker, more conic, 
and the notch of the upper mandible very slight : the 
tip, also, is still more rarely hooked ; the mouth is not 
defended by rigid bristles, as none of these birds, like 
so many of the Dmtirostrvx, seize their food upon the 
wing. Finally, they include the largest and the most 
powerful birds of the whole order. The families in- 
cluded in this tribe are the crows (Corvidte), the star- 
lings (^Sturnidai), the finches (^FriugiUidce), the plan- 
tain-eaters {Musophagida:'), and the hornbills {Buce. 
vidai'). These, collectively, form a circular group, 
representing, by the great and varied powers of their 
foot, the order Quadrumana among quadrupeds, at the 
z 2 
