44 CANTATORES. SONGSTERS. 



admit of a brief characteristic description. Some nestle on the 

 ground, some in holes in the earth, in trees, in buildings, or 

 among stones, others on the branches of trees. The eggs vary 

 from four to ten, and the young, which are born blind, are at 

 first scantily covered with down. The males are larger than 

 the females, and often much superior in beauty, but in very 

 many instances the plumage of the sexes is so similar that they 

 cannot be distinguished without dissection. 



Authors differ exceedingly as to the families which may he, 

 considered as belonging to this order, which, viewed with re- 

 ference to our own country, is more numerous in species than 

 any other. Without entering here upon any observations re- 

 lative to the families as cosmopolitan, I shall merely state that 

 with us are found representatives of the Myrynotherinw, Tur- 

 dincB, Alaudinw, Motacillinw, Sylvianw, Saxicolin(x, and Pa- 

 ritiw. The Myrmotherinae, of which however we have only 

 one species, and it not one of the most characteristic, are in a 

 manner intermediate between the Corvinae, Thremmaphilinae, 

 and Turdinge. The latter are, in like manner, allied to the 

 Thremmaphilinse, Myrmotherinoe, Sylvianse, and Alaudince. 

 These again are intimately connected with the Emberizanae, 

 Turdinse, and Sylvianae ; which pass on the one hand into the 

 Turdinse, and on the other into the Alaudinse, while in another 

 direction they manifest an affinity to the Parinae and Repta- 

 tores. Lastly, the Parinae are manifestly connected with the 

 Sylvianae on the one hand, and with the Peptatores on the 

 other. Some of these various affinities will be pointed out in 

 speaking generally of the different families. 



The chief food of the species which occur in Britain is, in 

 winter and spring, worms, pupae, snails, and seeds ; in summer 

 and autumn, insects, larvae, and fruits. One species lives en- 

 tirely on aquatic insects and mollusca, in search of which it 

 goes into the water, diving to the bottom. Some are almost 

 equally insectivorous and granivorous, as the Larks ; others es- 

 sentially insectivorous, as the Wheatear and Whinchat. The 

 particular propensity of the species in this respect indicates in 

 some measure its affinity to other families ; but it is not peculiar 

 to the Cantatores to vary their food, for on none of the families 

 of land birds has nature imposed a strictly defined regimen. 



