449 Mr. N. A. Vicons on the Natural Affinities 
The groups to which I have lately alluded, the true Wrens of 
the Sylviade, display in their general appearance and habits so 
close a similarity to Parus, Linn., the Titmouse of our naturalists, 
that we may at once acknowledge the affinity between the latter 
family and that of Pzpride, upon which we now enter by means 
of these Pari. And who is there that has not been attracted by the 
interesting manners of both these familiar visitors of our domes- 
tic haunts, and at the same time has not been struck by their 
resemblance? The penduline Titmouse, P. pendulinus, Linn., 
longer and more slender in its bill than the Pari in general, 
seems to be the connecting link between the families. That 
species is immediately met by the genus Tyrannulus of M. Vieil- 
lot, which, in the name of ** Roïtelet Mesange*," conferred by 
M. Buffon on the American species of which it is composed, 
happily illustrates the affinity which I have ventured to point 
out. It is pleasing to trace in groups which bear a general 
affinity to each other in their more essential characters, an affi- 
nity also in less consequential particulars. This is the case 
in the present conterminous groups of Wrens and Titmice with 
respect to their mode of nidification. The greater portion of 
both make their nests in holes of trees: but those groups which 
most nearly approach each other, Regulus, Tyrannulus, and 
Parus pendulinus, suspend theirs from the branches, leaving the 
orifice at the centre, and interlacing the materials of which it is 
composed with corresponding ingenuity and elegancet. "The 
affinity between these birds has been acknowledged by scientific 
* The same affinity is pointed out by the following provincial name of this bird. 
* REGULUS cristatus Aldrov.—The GOLDEN-CROWN'D WREN.—In agro Cardi- 
ganensi Cambrie frequens est, nomine Britannico Syvigw i.e. Parus chrysocephalus 
dicta D. Lhwyd.” Raii Syn. Meth. Av. p. 79. 
+ The contiguity of this small group to those of Carduelis, Ploceus and Xanthornus 
in the succeeding tribe of Conirostres, seems to point out the cause of the above singu- 
lar affinity. 
as 
