BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 475 



0.steol<>(/lcal e]i(ir<(ctei'.s." — Anteorl)ital region narrow; descend i no- 

 process of nasal slender, the angle formed hy this process and the 

 jKirs phoKi rather open; maxillo-palatines acuminate posteriori}'; costal 

 process of sternum small, acuminate; coracoid with a small flanj>'e 

 on the epicoracoidal portion; pelvis narrow anteriorly, with the ilia 

 much inclined from the horizontal. 



Xidliieatioti. — Varial>1e, l)ut nest usually in cavities of trees or 

 rocks, or about l)uildino-s, sometimes in ti'ees, bushes, or among reeds 

 or rushes, and more or less domed. Eggs usually numerous (6-11), 

 variable as to color, usually (?) white or pinkish, speckled with reddish 

 brown, or inmiaculate white; sometime nearly uniform brown or plain 

 greenish blue. 



Range. — ^Pahvarctic, Nearctic, and Neotropical regions, but al)sent 

 from the Galapagos archipelago 'and Greater Antilles (including 

 Bahamas); most numerously represented in the Neotropical Region. 



The relationships of this group are somewhat doubtful, hut appear 

 to be with the Mimidae on the one hand and Certhiida" on the other. 

 Dr. Sharpe, in volume vi of the Catalogue of the Birds in the British 

 jNIuseum. page 180 (1881), ranks it as a sul)family (Troglodytinae) of 

 his so-called family Timeliida?, and makes it include the genus Cinclvs. 

 But Dr. Sharpens " Timeliidse " are generally acknowledged to be a 

 most artificial and heterogeneous assemblage, w^hatever may l)e the 

 character of the true Timeliida? if properly restricted. Among 

 American and Palaearctic forms the Troglodytidas appear to be most 

 nearly related, as stated above, to the Mimidre and Certhiida\ between 

 which they are intermediate in certain characters at least, but from 

 both of which thej^ are, as a group, undoubtedly distinct. They are 

 also not very far removed from the Cinclidte. Superticially, at least, 

 the Troglodj'tida? most resemble the Mimida?; but mem))ers of the two 

 groups may always be readily distinguished from one another }\\ the 

 very different degree of cohesion between the anterior toes, however 

 much alike the}' may be in other characters. In the structure of the 

 foot, at least so far as regards the degree of cohesion between the 

 anterior toes, the ^Nlimida^ agree with the Turdida'. while the Trog- 

 lodytidie are in respect to that character more like the Gerthiid^ and 

 Parida. Professor Baird, in his Review of American Birds (p. 02), 

 has stated the case very clearly as follows: In the ]\Iimida''' ''the basal 

 joint of the outer lateral toe is united to the middle toe. sometimes only 

 a part of it: and the inner toe is cleft almost to its very base, so as to 

 l)e opp()sa])le to the hind toe, separate from the others. In the Trog- 

 lodytida', on the contrary, the inner toe is united by half its basal 

 joint to the middle toe, sometimes by the whole of this joint; and the 



« From Notes on the Osteology of the Thrushes, Miminae, and "Wrens, by Frederic 

 A. Lucas, in Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xi, 1888, 173-180, pi. .37. 

 '' Professor Baird includes the Miiuidjo with the Turdidie. 



