106 SYLVIAD.E. 



months, the ornithological character of our groves 

 and forests, by their cheerful notes or more 

 soothing melody, while they, at the same time, 

 place an important check on the ravages of the 

 various insects which are then bursting forth in 

 great profusion. 



In Mr Swainson's arrangement of the Sylviadae, 

 the following table will exhibit our British genera, 

 and the numbers in each. 



SUB-FAMILIES. 



Saxicolirug. Philomeltnee. Sylviarwe. Pariance. MotacUlince. 



SaxicolaS. Phoenioura 3. Melizophilua 1. Panu 7. Budytes 2. 



Erithaca 1. Philomela 1. Sylvia 3. Accentor 2. Motacilla 2. 

 Curruca 4. Eegulus 3. Anthus 4. 



THE SAXICOLINJE, OR STONE CHATS. 



This sub-family in the British list contains, as 

 our table points out, only two genera, and four 

 species, the typical Stone Chats, and our well 

 known bird, the Robin Red-breast. The first 

 are all natives of the old world, frequenting the 

 wilder solitary moorlands, the wastes and exten- 

 sive downs and commons of Britain, the steppes 

 of Eastern Europe, or the deserts of Africa and 

 Asia, rendering them almost more desolate from 

 associations produced by their monotonous click 

 or note, or breaking the stillness by their fre- 

 quent short flight from stone to stone, or from 

 one tall plant to another. The colours of their 

 plumage are sombre and unobtrusive, but they 

 are blended in a pleasing arrangement of gray or 



