BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 375 



tarsi, with the posterior face smooth, and with indications of several 

 scutes more or less obsolete on the anterior face. The wing's are of 

 moderate length, without any indication of the tirst or external pri- 

 mary, and with the second, third, and fourth primaries usually nearly 

 equal and longest. The ))ill is small and slender and without any notch 

 at the extremity of the upper mandible, but varies in structun^ . . . 

 The tongue is penciled at the extremity." ^ 



It is at present not possible to give a satisfactory diagnosis of the 

 Family CcerebidtT? since the internal structure of more than half the 

 genera remains practically unknown. What little is known of the 

 anatomical characters of the group pertains to the genera Cyanerpes^ 

 Lkefchd^ and Glo.sxIptHa; and since these may l)e regarded as the cen- 

 tral or most typical forms of the group, any conclusions based on them 

 alone would be more or less open to doubt; at least until the internal 

 structure of such forms as Oonirostrum^ D/glof<><a, Oreomane-s^ and 

 Xenodacnis is known, the limits of the group can not l)e tixed with 

 precision, nor its relationships satisfactorily determined. 



The limits of the family, as detined by Dr. Sclater,' have already 

 been restricted by the elimination of the genus Certhidea, which Mr. 

 Lucas, by examination of its osteology and anatomy, has found to be 

 certainly not C(jerebine, but probably Mniotiltine; '' and it is by no 

 means improbable that further contraction may ultimately be required. 



So far as the typical genera, C<ereha^ GJoss/ptila, and Cyanerpes are 

 concerned, Mr. Lucas finds them to represent a well-circumscribed 

 group, of uncertain affinities, though apparently more nearl}' related 

 to the Australasian family Meliphagida? (Honey-eaters) than to the 

 American families Mniotiltidie and Tanagrida?, usually held to be 

 the nearest relatives of the Coerebida^ The gist of Mr. Lucas's con- 

 clusions* is as follows: 



(1) "As 'i-t'oups of birds are constituted the Coerebid^ are certainly 

 sufficiently distinct to stand apart, and the gap between them and the 

 Mniotiltidfe seems widest,"* although this may be due to a tendency on 

 my part to place considerable weight on the general pattern of the 

 palate." 



iSclater, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xi, 1886, 1. 



2 Cat. Birds, Brit. Mus., xi, 1886, xi. 



•Troc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xvii, 1894, 309, 310. 



* Notes on the Anatomy and Affinities of the Coerebidae and other American Birds, 

 by Frederic A. Lucas, Curator of the Department of Comparative Anatomy. Proc. 

 U. S. Nat. Mus., xvii, 1894, 299-312; illustrated by many figures. 



^ It would be interesting to know whether Mr. Lucas's conchisions on this point 

 would liave been modified by examination of ConlroKtrum and Ateleodaciiis, genera 

 which have hitherto been referred to the Coerebidse (the latter forming part of the 

 genus Dacnls) but which I have found it necessary to refer to the Mniotiltidie. Possi- 

 bly, as in the case of another supposedly Ccerebine, but in reality Mniotiltine, genus 

 {Certliidea), the gap between the two groups would have been emphasized. (See 

 Lucas: The Anatomy and Affinities of Certhidea, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xvii, 

 1894, 309, 310.) 



