VII TURDIDAE 509 
Smicrornis clings to the branches like a Tit; Mitava and other 
forms eat berries and the like in late summer; Hopsaltria and 
Gerygone are very fond of insect-larvae. The voice is usually 
faint, but is harsh in Terpsiphone, Smithornis, and Batis, croak- 
ing in Piezorhynchus and Lanioturdus ; Sisura whistles; Gery- 
gone, Malurus, and our Pied Flycatcher, have pleasing Redstart- 
like songs; while that of M/icroeca, which often soars aloft when 
singing, is said to resemble the strain of the Chaffinch. The neat 
nest, usually formed of grass, moss, leaves, bark, fibres, or hair, and 
not infrequently decorated with lichens or cobwebs, is placed in low 
forks or cavities of trees, if not among creepers or outgrowths on 
banks, 7erpsiphone preferring higher situations. Gerygone builds 
a covered pear-shaped structure, with or without a protecting 
porch, of like materials, lined with fur or feathers, and suspends it 
in shrubs; Malurus and Smicrornis make rounder fabrics ; while 
that of Ochromela is somewhat similar, but is composed of grass 
and ferns, and usually placed in low vegetation. The eggs, in 
number from two to six, are greenish- or butfish-white, with red, 
brown, or rarely grey, spots and blotches ; exceptionally they are 
uniform light blue, as in Muscicapa atricapilla ; white, as im 
Chelidorhynz ; apple-green, green-blue, or whitish, with reddish- 
brown, yellowish, or lilac markings, as in Kopsaltria ; or white, with 
red or purplish spots, as in Malurus, Chasiempis, and Gerygone. 
Fam. VII. Turdidae.—This group is here divided into five 
Sub-families, (1) 7wrdinae or Thrushes and their allies ; (2) JZyzo- 
dectinae ; (3) Sylviinae or Warblers ; (4) Polioptilinae ; and (5) 
Miminae or Mocking-birds. The first and third of these are 
often considered separate Families, but they are so closely con- 
nected by the Saxicoline and Ruticilline forms that they can 
hardly lay claim to such rank, while the Accentorinae and Regu- 
linae of certain authors seem unnecessary. The J/iminae shew 
some affinity to the Wrens (7'roglodytidae). 
Sub-fam. 1. Zurdinae.—In this section the bill is usually rather 
long and stout, being notched but hardly curved, with few, if any, 
basal bristles; it is somewhat hooked in the so-called genus Geocichla 
—where it is much lengthened in five species, and abbreviated in @. 
princit ; large, broad, and arched in T'urnagra (a doubtful member 
of the Family); comparatively short and slender in Sialia, Ruti- 
cilla, Erithacus, Saxicola, and so forth; more robust in Accentor. 
The metatarsus is long in Catharus, Calliope, and Notodela, but 
