409 
Families constituting the Order Passeres. 
PASSERES. 
{ 1st primary well developed. (4) 
1st primary reduced. (1) 
1st primary rudimentary . (3) 
9 primaries .... 1st primary being absent. (2) 
We commence with the extensive series of families possess¬ 
ing 10 primaries the first of which is neither rudimentary 
nor fully developed, hut is almost always markedly small, 
weak, narrowed, or shortened, compared with those which im¬ 
mediately follow it. Our Thrushes, Warblers, and Crows are 
examples of this series, which consists of twenty-one families 
of preeminently Old-World birds. Only one of these families 
is peculiar to America; and that one (Vireonidse) shows a 
transition to the Mniotiltidse in the following series by having 
the first primary sometimes rudimentary, or even absent. 
Only a few other families of this series occur in South Ame¬ 
rica ; and only two of them, the Turdidse and Troglodytidse, 
are well represented there. The following is a list of these 
families :— 
Series A. Typical or Turdoid Passeres. 
Wing with 10 primaries, the first always more or less markedly reduced 
in size. 
'97f 
Zoo 
1. Turdidse. 
2. Sylviidse. 
3. Timaliidse. 
4. Cinclidse (inch Heni- 
curus and Eupetes). 
5. Troglodytidse. 
6. Certhiidse. 
7. Paridse. 
8. Leiotrichidse. 
9. Phyllornithidse. 
10. Pycnonotidse. 
11. Oriolidse. 
12. Campephagidse. 
13. Dicruridse. 
14. Muscicapidse. 
15. Yireonidse. 
16. Pachycephalidse. 
17. Laniidse. 
18. Corvidse. 
19. Paradiseidse. 
20. Meliphagidse. 
21. Nectariniidse. 
It will be observed that in this series of families every one 
has undoubted affinities with some others placed near it, ac¬ 
cording to the views of all those naturalists who have freed 
themselves from the trammels of the old rostral system. But 
