272 CLIMBING LEAFLOVE. 



although there are four divisions, the sutures are 

 quite smooth; the tail is semi-transparent and 

 rounded, and of that peculiar texture and form 

 which belongs to Anabates. 



The immediate passage from a terrestrial to a 

 climbing species of the very same sub-genus can 

 be proved natural, both from analogical reasoning 

 and from undeniable fact. The manners of Ph. 

 terrestris, as described by Le Yaillant, are those of 

 a rasorial bird ; a hen, for example, which scratches 

 and throws about leaves, straw, &c. " both with its 

 bill and feet," while searching for its food. This is 

 the peculiar habit of rasorial types, such as we see 

 in Phyllastrephus terrestris, and every one knows 

 that the scansorial and the rasorial forms are but 

 representations of each other. 



Nor are we unprepared with proofs of this theory 

 drawn from recorded facts. -The Accentor modularis, 

 or hedge-sparrow, is a counterpart of PL. terrestris; 

 both, live in the same way, and seek their food 

 on the ground under thickets and among fallen 

 leaves ; and both also are followed by species 

 which are absolutely scansorial. The A. alpina, as 

 Dr. Thackary observed*, can creep round the but- 

 tresses and projections of a building " very much 

 in the manner of a tree-creeper/' This scansorial 

 power, we have not the slightest doubt, belongs also 

 to our Ph. scandens. It is impossible that two cases 

 can be more analogous. 



* Communicated through my friend Professor Henslow of 

 Cambridge. 



