songbird family, order Passeriformes, sometimes collectively termed New World seedeaters. The group includes grosbeaks, cardinals, longspurs, Galápagos finches (see photograph-->), New World sparrows, and Old World buntings. The relationships of seed-eating birds are the subject of great disagreement, many authorities preferring to place certain of these groups in the family Emberizidae (q.v.), with a somewhat different family composition.