P. rubra. Plamy pannicles of the sides are of a fine red; shafts wider and concave on one side. Paradisea regia.

P. magnifica. Chesnut above, green beneath and upon the sides; the feathers of the wings yellow; a tuft of straw colored feathers upon each side of the neck; another of yellow ones opposite the fold of the wing. Some of the species have the feathers hackled, but short, upon the sides, and are destitute of the shafts upon the rump.

P. aurea. Black; a breastplate of gilded green upon the throat; three feathers of each ear prolonged into long shafts, which terminate in a small disk of gilded beard-feathers.

Others have neither shaft-feathers nor the feathers of the sides lengthened.

P. superba. The scapulars are nevertheless prolonged so as to form a sort of mantling over the wing when closed, the feathers of the breast hanging down in a kind of cotte d'armes, and forked. All the plumage is black, except this pectoral cotte, which is of a brilliant green with a brown edge.

P. aurea of Shaw; oriolus surreus of Gmelin. Without any development of the feathers, and chiefly recognised by the velvet nature of the nasal plumes. Male of the most lively orange

Family 6. ROSTRO TENUI.

Comprehends the residue of the birds which belong to the first division. Bill thin, lengthened, more or less arched throughout its length, and without a notch.

Gen. 7. Cinnyris.-Souï-mangas. Tail unused in climbing; bill long and very thin; ends of the mandibles finely denticulated like a saw; tongue capable of being elongated beyond the bill, and terminating in a fork.

Certhia splendida of Shaw.
C. afra of Edw.

C. amystina of Vieillot.
C. calybæa.

· Group 3. Trochili of Linné.

Bill long and thin, filled with a tongue which can be elongated like that of the woodpecker. When we examined the structure of this tongue, in some

individuals brought to us at Rio Janeiro, we remarked that the base of it was hollow, and sɔ allowed the upper part to be withdrawn within it during repose. Within the membranous stomach were found insects, which, coming to feed on the honey contained in the cups of flowers, especially of the banana, were swallowed down with it. The people of Mexico call them myrtle-suckers

Subdivision 1. Rostro arcuato.

Gen. 1. Trochilus.- Bill arched: some are distinguished by a prolongation of the intermediate feathers of the tail.

broad.

Gen. 5. Todus of Linné.-Bill flattened hori

connected by one knot with the ramphastos, as regards their bill; by another to the corvi, in their appearance and habits; and, by a third, to the meropes and alcedines, touching the shortness of their feet and legs. Their tongue is small at the fundus of their throat.

ORDER III.-SCANDENTES.

Aves ratione pedum habita scandentes. This order comprises birds which have the outward toe directed behind, like the great toe, whence there results a firmer means of support, by which they climb with peculiar facility the trunks of trees. In denominating these birds climbers, we ought to advertise the reader that we apply this term to such as are essentially so, from a consideration of the appropriate disposition of the toes; for any one that has paid any attention to the manners of birds will have observed that the common creeper runs up a tree or a wall with as much ease as a woodpecker, though in the arrangement of the toes they differ entirely from them. Bill more or less strong and powerful. The sternum of the greater part of these genera have two notches behind, but in the perroquets there is but one hole, and often it is quite plain.

Group 1. Galbula.

Connected very closely to the king-fishers by their lengthened sharp bill, of which the upper ridge is distinct, and by their short feet, but the established disposition of the toes dissevers them from an order to which their general figure has bound them so closely.

Gen. 1. Galbula.-American species, with the bill long and quite straight.

Alcedo paradisæa; galbula paradisea of Latham. A. galbula.

Galbula reficauda of Vieillot.

G. albirostris of Latham.

Gen. 2 Bill shorter and stouter and somewhat arched; anterior toes somewhat more separate. Indian Archipelago.

Alcedo grandis of Gmelin; galbula of Latham.
Gen. 3 Bill without ridge above.
Le grand jacamar of Vieill.

Group 2. Pici of Linné.

This group is well characterised by a long,

tail somewhat longer.

Todus viridis.

T. cinereus of Euler.

Group 3. Buceros of Linné.

Calaos. Bill enormous, surmounted by a protuberance as large as itself, always more or less embulked above. The form of these excrescences, which have their interior generally cellulous, varies with the age.

If, after the beautiful observation of Wildenow, we contemplate the paradigm of ornithology as a curious piece of network, and consider the groups as so many meshes respectively of that web, we

at its extremity; tongue thin, armed towards the end with recurved spines, which, when thrust forward by the elastic horns of the os hyoides, can spring very far beyond the bill. In a species which the writer dissected, at Conception in Chili, these horns were traced over the crown of the head, and were seen to terminate in the right nos tril among the integuments of the upper mandible. The tail is composed of ten feathers, with stiffened elastic shafts, which serve as an abutment whilst they climb the trees. Their tongue, besides its curvature, is forked, and bedewed with a viscous saliva, which is secreted by large glands; it is with

drawn by two muscles rolled like ribands about the windpipe; in its state of retraction the horns of the os hyoides ascend under the skin over the head towards the base of the bill, as Cuvier represents the matter; but it appeared to us that in a state of repose these cornets rested in an arc of a greater circle, as we think it will appear to any one who shall be at the trouble of examining the bird when the skin is dissected off the head. The tongue consists of a sheath at the base like that of the humming-bird, and is withdrawn within itself in the lower part of the throat. Their stomach is generally membraneous, as their food is chiefly insects; but they are destitute of cœcal appendages. Gen. 1. Picus.-Epeiches. Picus martins.

P. viridis. P. canus is also considered by some as a distinct species.

P.

major.

P. minor.

nest. The reader may take this as a sample of our argument in behalf of a certain modification of the old doctrine of signatures, with this special observance, that as in language the words are signs and not resemblances of ideas, so in nature peculiarities of form are not similitudes, but certain symbols of corresponding variations in the economy of the object, which must be understood and interpreted by a careful induction of repeated observations.

Cuculus cristatus.
C. cæruleus.
C. seniculus.
C. Cayanus.

Gen. 3. Centropus of Iliger.—Nail of the great toe long, straight, and pointed like the larks, whence the generic name κεντρον, a spur, πους. Nestle in hollow trees.

Cuculus, Egyptius.

C. Philippensis.

C. Nigrorufus.

Gen. 4. Les courols.-Bill short, pointed, straight, compressed, scarcely arched at the end of the upper

Picus auratus. P. cafer.

Gen. 4. Picus arator.-Runs upon the ground in search of its food. Some characteristic difference in the outward configuration must be sought by those who have an opportunity of examining this bird, since the decided distinction in its economy warrants an expectation of finding it.

Gen. 5. Yunr of Linné (Les Torcols).-Tongue susceptible of elongation like the woodpecker, and by the same mechanism, but without spines; bill straight and pointed, and very nearly round and without angles; tail-feathers of the usual form. Yunx torquilla.

Y. minutissima.

Group 3. Cuculi of Linné.

Bill of the middling size, very deeply divided, compressed, and slightly arched.

Gen. 1. Cuculus.—Bill of the ordinary stoutness; the tarsi short; the tail composed of ten feathers. Herissant attributed the neglect of incubation of the cuckoo to the position of the gizzard, which is placed further behind than in other birds, and of consequence less protected by the sternum. The cœcal appendages of these birds are very long, and their inferior larynx has only one appropriate muscle. Cuculus canorus of Linné, of which cuculus Capensis is considered by Cuvier as a mere variety. C. solitarius of Nob.

C. radiatus of Lonn.

Bill rather more depressed.

C. auratus, Vaill.

C. lucidus, Latham.

C. clasii.

Bill vertically higher.

C. punctatus, scolopaceus.
C. honoratus, Vaill.

C. mindanensis.

These differences being slight, it would appear over-exquisite to make distinct genera, except future observations should show that this circumstance of having the bill vertically higher is accompanied with another of easier discrimination.

Gen. 2. Les couas of Vaill.-They differ from the cuculus in having long tarsi. They nidificate in hollow trees, and do not borrow another bird's

of each side; tail with twelve feathers; nestle, like the foregoing, and confine themselves to woods. It is said that they feed principally upon fruit. Cuculus afer.

Gen. 5. Indicator.-Bill short, high, almost conical, like that of a sparrow; tail of a dozen feathers, somewhat graduated and forked; skin remarkably tough.

Cuculus indicator.

C. minor.

Gen. 6. Les barbacous of Vaill.-Bill conical, elongated, somewhat compressed, slightly arched at the tip; furnished at the base with hackled feathers or stiff hairs.

Cuculus tranquillus. C. tenebrosus.

Group 4. Les malchohas of Vaillot. Bill very thick, round at the base, arched towards the point; a large naked space round the eye. Gen. 1. Round nostrils near the base of the bill. Malcoha vourardin, Vaillot.

Gen. 2. Narrow nostrils near the end of the bill. Cuculus pyrocephalus, Forster. Natives of Ceylon; live, it is said, upon fruits.

Group 5. Scythropes.

Gen. Scythrops.--Bill longer and stronger than among the malcohas; hollow on each side, with two longitudinal furrows; a naked ring round the eyes; nostrils round; bill approaches that of the ramphastos; but the tongue is not ciliated, which circumstance separates them.

Scythrops, Nova-Hollandiæ, Lath. Scythrops Australasia of Shaw. Size of a crow, whitish, with a gray mantle.

Group 6. Bucco of Linné.

A thick bill, embulked on the sides of its base, furnished with five bundles of stiff hairs, directed forwards, one behind each nostril, one on each side of the base of the lower jaw, the fifth under the symphysis, or fork of the lower mandible; wings short.

Gen. 1. Pogonias.-Two well-marked notches on each side of the upper mandible, of which the ridge is flat and arched; lower mandible furrowed across; beards very strong.

Subdivision 3. Perroquets à trompe of Vaillot. Tail short and square; crest composed of long and straight feathers; cheeks naked; upper mandible enormously disproportioned; lower mandible very short. Psittacus aterrimus of Gmelin.

Subdivision 4. Pezoporus of Iliger.

Bill weaker, tarsi long, nails straighter, than the rest of the parrots. One species known at present, a native of New Holland.

Group 8. Corythaices.

membrane between the anterior toes; external toes Bill short; upper mandible inflated; a short often directed behind; nostrils simply pierced in the horny substance of the bill; edges of the mandibles denticulated. Though this group present an evident affinity with the gallinaceous fowls, their sternum is destitute of those large notches which are common in that order.

Gen. 1. Corythair of Iliger.-The bill does not remount the forehead; the head is furnished with a crest susceptible of elevation.

Cuculus persa of Linné.

forms a disk which covers a part of the front. Gen. 2. Musophaga of Isert.-Base of the bill Musophaga violacea of Latham, Promerops, &c.

ORDER IV. GALLINACEA

Thus denominated from their relationship with the cock, who for his courage and the favor of man is entitled to stand at the head of an order which exhibits so many natural affinities. Anterior toes united at the base, and denticulated along their edges; the upper mandible vaulted; the nostrils pierced in a large membranous space at the base of their bill, and covered by a cartilaginous scale; wings short; sternum bony, diminished by two

R. aracari.

R. piperivorus.

Group 7. Psittaci.

Bill thick, hard, solid, surrounded at the base with a membrane through which the nostrils are pierced; tongue thick; inferior larynx very complicated, and furnished on each side with a true appropriate peculiar muscle, which mechanism contributes to facilitate articulation; intestines very long, without cocal appendages. Perhaps it would not be straining a radical similarity of orthography too far if we were to derive irrakoç from w, to wet or bedew, since the drought of the parrot's mouth renders that office constantly necessary. Subdivision 1. Parrots.

Gen. 1. Aras.-Cheeks bare of feathers.
Gen. 2. Perruches of Vaill.-Tail long.

Gen. 3. Perruches Aras. Naked ring round the eye. Gen. 4. Perruches à queue en flèche of Vaillot. Two mean feathers of the tail surpassing the rest. Gen. 5. Perruches à queue élargie vers le bout Gen. 6. Perruches ordinaires.-Tail graduated.

Subdivision 2. Les Cucatoes.

Tail short and even. This subdivision stands in need of a nomenclature to find and ascertain the several distinctions which may be collected from a consideration of the presence or absence of a crest, and of the conformation of the feathers which compose it.

crest truncated obliquely, so that the forked bone does not reach it except by a ligament. Tail more frequently fourteen feathers, sometimes seventeen, with the exception of the alectors; inferior larynx very simple, whence they are not indulged with the gift of song; gizzard strong and muscular; food deposited first in the gullet, or membranous bag hanging before.