260 YELLOW-THROATED SHORT-FOOT. 



ture, that undefined names have no authority, we 

 of course retain Hcematornis to the group before us, 

 on the double ground of priority of definition and of 

 demonstration. 



The chief distinction between Brachypus and 

 Hcematornis^ is in the length of the tarsus ; in the 

 first, this part is just equal to the hind-toe and claw ; 

 whereas, in the latter, it is decidedly longer ; thus 

 evincing an evident tendency to unite with Crate- 

 ropus, on the opposite side of the circle of the Me- 

 rulidos. It is not surprising, therefore, that M. 

 Temminck, and other absolute dividers, who believe 

 that all natural genera are cut off from mutual con- 

 nexion, should have been sorely perplexed with 

 these aberrant thrushes ; and they have, conse- 

 quently, given such extension to their artificial 

 genera, Turdo'ides and Ixos, as to make them con- 

 tain almost any thing and every thing. It would 

 have been far better, even on their own views, to 

 have left the whole under the Linnaean genus Tur~ 

 dies. Besides, the barbarous construction of those 

 two names, renders them quite intolerable, even 

 in an artificial system. 



Our present species of Hcematornis is coloured 

 something like the bristle-necked thrushes of Africa 

 (Trlchophorus). It is nearly as large as the song- 

 thrush; but the wings are shorter and the tail 

 longer. The upper plumage is dark and uniform 

 olive brown ; the feathers of the crown, ears, and 

 sides of the neck having grey borders, and the outer 

 margins of the quills, as well as the inner wing- 



