GREENLETS. 



613 



remarks, is ])robal)ly caused by the birds not having sufficiently jiowerful feet to grasp 

 their prey until torn in pieces by the sharply toothed bill. They therefore secure 

 their food on sharj) thorns, and are able then, if it be a bird, to pluck it, or if an 

 insect or lizard or a mouse, to tear it to pieces. In places frequented by this 

 bold little bird (E. collurio) it is no uncommon thing to see in the bushes the rem- 

 nants of its meal — of many meals ; for the bird will regularly retire to one place for 

 its jmrpose. 



It matters very little, under the present state of affairs, whether we style our 

 American gi-eenlets Vireoninas or Vireoxid^ ; for, in spite of their olive color and 

 small size, they are apparently nearly allied to the shrikes. But they are especially 



Fio. 252. — Sitta caiia, nutbatcb. 



interesting on account of being the only indigenous American forms of the whole 

 series, at least so far, and the only one of which no member ranges into any part of 

 the Old World. From a ta.vonomic point of view they are of considerable importance, 

 inasmuch as they prove the comparative insignificance of the presence or absence 

 of a first (tenth) ]irimary as a means of subdividing the Passeroidea; into groups of 

 higher value than the present so-called families, for of two species of grcenlets, 

 so nearly allied that nobody ever dared separate them, even geuerically, we may 

 have one with a distinct spurious primary, while it has become ([uite invisible in 

 the other. 



The greenlets reach their highest development in the genus Ci/clorhis, embracing 

 at least a dozen species from Central and South America, remarkable for their stout 

 build, and high, strong beaks. 



VOL. IV. —.{3 



