442 Mr. N. A. Vigors on the Natural Affinities 



The groups to which I have lately alluded, the true Wrens of 

 the Sylviadce, display in their general appearance and habits so 

 close a similarity to Parns, Linn., the Titmouse of our naturalists, 

 that we may at once acknowledge the affinity between the latter 

 family and that of Piprida, 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 '^ Roitelet 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 elegance +. 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-cbown'd Wren. — In agro Cardi- 

 ganensi Ca/n6ri<E frequens est, nomine Biitannico Syvigw i.e. Parus chrysacephalus 

 dicta D. Lhwyd." Rail Syn. Meth. Av. p. 79. 



t The contiguity of this small group to those of Cardmlis, Ploceus and Xanthomm 

 in the succeeding tribe of Conirostres, seems to point out the cause of the above singu- 

 lar affinity. 



as 



