The tits, chickadees, and titmice constitute the Paridae, a large family of small passerines a family of songbirds which includes the robin and blue tit. Passerines occur mainly in the Northern Hemisphere and Africa. Most were formerly classified in the genus Parus. See the Passerina (grape). A passerine is any bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or songbirds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by the arrangement of their toes, which facilitates perching, with three toes pointing forward and one back.