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 Merulidce, with the section Saxicoles 

 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 oiTliamnophilus, — all birds decidedly 

 approaching each other, yet belonging to the different families 

 of Sylviada, Merulida, and Laniada, — 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 CaroUniana and C paliistris, 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 ^aws are to be the criteria by which we 

 are to class them." vol. ii. p. 6l. 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 Wren 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. I have never had an opportunity of ex- 

 amining a specimen of Certhia Caro/iniana ; but in the plate in which it is figured in 

 the "American Ornithology" (PI. xii. fig. .5.) the hind toe appears strong and elongated, 

 after the manner of the true scansorial Certhiada, 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 tlie 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 pres, 

 sont places sur la limite qui separe le grand genre Tardus du genre plus nombreux en- 

 core de Sylvia." — Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. ]72. ed. 2. 

 ■c:. The 



