that connect the Orders and Families of Birds. 441 
a group nearly allied to them in its terrestrial habits and ge- 
neral conformation, the Saxicola, Bechst., but which, by its in- 
creasing bill, brings us round to the earlier groups of the present 
family, and thence to the Merulide, with the section Savicoles 
of which it is nearly connected*. The circular disposition by 
which the extremes of different families may be brought into 
contact with each other, explains the manner in which the genus 
Saxicola, the section of Merles Saxicoles, the genus Myiothera, 
and the more delicate forms of Thamnophilus,—all birds decidedly 
approaching each other, yet belonging to the different families 
of Sylviade, Merulide, and Laniade,—still preserve their union, 
and are brought together into what may be considered one con- 
terminous assemblage. 
properly places in the same genus with the Certhia familiaris. But in speaking of 
two of these birds, Certhia Caroliniana and C. palustris, he distinctly points out the 
generic difference between them and Troglodytes. ‘ The present species, however, and 
the preceding, though possessing great family likeness to those above-mentioned (the 
common Wren of Europe and the Winter Wren of the United States), are decisively 
Creepers, if the bill, the tongue, nostrils and claws are to be the criteria by which we 
are to class them.” vol. ii. p. 61. Again, in speaking of the Winter Wren of Ame- 
rica, which the same accurate observer expresses his “ strong suspicion” of being “ the 
same species as the common domestic Wren of Britain," he expressly states his opinion, 
that this species and the C. palustris are generically distinct. “They, however, not 
only breed in different regions, but belong to different genera; the Marsh W ren being 
decisively a species of Certhia, and the Winter Wren a true Motacilla.” vol.i. p.40. 
I wish for no further corroboration of my present views on the subject, than the above 
observations of that truly accurate naturalist. [have never had an opportunity of ex- 
amining a specimen of Certhia Caroliniana ; but in the plate in which it is figured in 
the “American Ornithology” (Pl. xii. fig. 5.) the hind toe appears strong and elongated, 
after the manner of the true scansorial Certhiade, while the hind toe of Troglodytes is 
not more developed than in the conterminous Warblers. We may observe these two 
groups to be placed in opposite stations in the general circle of affinity, and may add 
this instance to many others, where groups similarly circumstanced are found to meet. 
* « Ces merles saxicoles, et les traquets (gen. Saxicola) qui y tiennent de fort prés, 
sont placés sur la limite qui separe le grand genre Turdus du genre plus nombreux en- 
core de Sy/via."— Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. 172. ed. 2. 
The 
