502 PASSERIFORMES CHAP. 
cluded by Dr. Sharpe! many genera rather referable to the Turdidae, 
Pycnonotidae, Troglodytidae, and Paradiseidae; but the Famuty 
may be taken to contain most of that author’s Crateropodes and 
Timeline, the Tit-like Liotriches, and perhaps Clitonyx, Chaetobias, 
and Myiophoneus. The whole question, however, is very doubtful, 
and no decision can yet be arrived at. The supposed diagnostic 
points are the rounded wings curved to fit the body, the lax, soft 
plumage, the comparatively large outer primary, the similarity of 
the unspotted females and young, and the Thrush-like bill) This 
bill, however, may be very strong and hooked, as in Myiophoneus 
and Gampsorhynchus ; stout, deep, and wide, with festooned maxilla, 
as in Paradoxornis ; similar but smaller, as in Chlewasieus and 
Suthora ; short and blunt, as in several of the Liotriches; ex- 
tremely elongated, slender and decurved, as in Pomatorhinus ; or 
extraordinarily so, as in Aiphorhamphus. It is not infrequently 
notched. The metatarsi are typically strong or even clumsy, 
and vary considerably in length; in Liothriz, however, they are 
slender; while Cholornis has only two anterior toes (p. 10). The 
tail, often broad and much graduated, may be very long, as in Sibia, 
or no longer than the upper coverts, as in Oliqgura ; the rectrices 
being obliquely truncated in Siva, curved outwardly in Liothria, 
and frequently pointed or somewhat spiny. Elongated rictal 
bristles are not uncommon; several species have crests, that of 
Grammatoptila being exceptionally large ; rigid shafts occur in 
the head- and mantle-feathers of Acwnthoptila, on the forehead in 
Dumetia, Timelia, and Chaetops ; hair-lke plumes decorate the 
back of Macronus ; the imner secondaries are much produced in 
Cinclorhamphus ; the cheeks are bare in Aethociehla. 
The sexes are commonly alike, the plain rufous coloration 
being often relieved by black, white, and grey; Liothriz and 
Clitonyx, however, shew tints of red or yellow ; AZyiophoneus of 
purple, blue, and black, and in some cases maroon: brachypterya 
of indigo. Hyperergus is partly olive-green, while Trochalopterum 
chrysopterum and 7. phoeniceum exhibit respectively golden and 
crimson hues, not to mention other instances. 
Many of the forms are found from the Indian Region to New 
Guinea, New Caledonia, and New Britain, one reaching Fiji 
and two New Zealand; others occur in the Ethiopian countries, 
whence a species of Argya extends to Morocco and Tripoli, and 
1 Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. vi. 1881. 2 op. cit. vil. 1883, pp. Xxii-xvi. 
