781 



MEROPS. 



MERULIDJE. 



782 



Eurystomus Orientalit. 



The form is arranged by Lesson and others under the family Cuculida. 

 [LEPTOSOMCS.] 



Mr. Swainson makes the family of Meropidte the first of the 

 Fiairottru. It immediately succeeds the Paradiiiadce and precedes 

 the ffalcyonidce in his arrangement. 



M. Lesson, in his ' Table Me'thodique,' gives the following genera as 

 constituting the family of the Meropidte : Meropi, Alcedo, Dacelo, 

 Ceyx, Syma, Todtramphui, Momotus, and ucerot. [H.ALCYONID.S ; 

 BIRDS OF PARADISE ; HORNBILLS.] 



MEROPS. [BEE-EATER; MEROPID&] 



MERTENSIA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Sorayinacecf. It has a calyx in 5 deep segments ; corolla bell-shaped, 

 with a short thick cylindrical tube with 5 minute protuberances in its 

 throat ; stamens protruded beyond the throat ; filaments elongate ; 

 style simple; nuts smooth, inflated, rather drupaceous, attached 

 laterally near their base by a flat surface ; seeds free. 



if. maritima has a procumbent branched stem ; leaves ovate-acute, 

 rough, with callous dots, glabrous, fleshy, glaucous; nuts smooth; 

 flowers in racemes, purplish-blue; protuberances in throat of the 

 corolla yellow ; leaves with a flavour resembling that of oysters ; nuts 

 free, forming a pyramid longer than the calyx ; pericarp membranous; 

 need smaller than the cavity. It is found on the northern sea-shores 

 in Qreat Britain. 



(Babington, Manual of British Botany.) 



MERULA. [BLACK-BIRD.] 



MERU'LID^E, the Thrushes, a family of Dentirostral Birds, placed 

 by Mr. Vigors between the Laniadae, or Shrikes, and the Sylviudce, or 

 Warblers. In the former family, he is of opinion that Vanga, Cuv., 

 together with Prionops, Laniarius, and Thamnopltilus of Vieillot, 

 bring us in contact with the Thrushes, and that the extremes of the 

 family will be found in Graucalua and Ceblyperu of Cuvier, which 



last has been latterly arranged with the Thrushes, and both of which, 

 by their bills, in some degree depressed at the base, lead back to 

 Tyrannus, and the other broad-billed groups which commence the 

 family. Mr. Vigors feels inclined rather to leave Ceblyperis in its 

 original station among the Shrikes, from the peculiarity of its tail- 

 coverts, which form themselves into a kind of puffed-out cluster on 

 the back. 



" The family of Merulidie," continues Mr. Vigors, " connected as 

 above with the Laniadce, comprises a considerable number of species 

 and many natural genera ; but which, like most of the Insessorial 

 groups, have hitherto received but partial examination. The general 

 views by which they seem to be allied among themselves, as far at least 

 as can be judged from their present unorganised condition, may be 

 stated as follows; but with that expression of doubt which ever 

 attends inquiries like the present, where the absence of accurate in- 

 formation to the economy of the subjects before us, and of extensive 

 knowledge of the forms connected with them, leaves us no better 

 foundation for our inferences than partial conjecture. The genus 

 Myiothera, 111., seems to be the first group of the present family which 

 is connected with the Laniadce, where it is met by some of the smaller 

 species of Thamnophilus. This group seems to lead by Pitta, Vieill., 

 and perhaps Cinclus, Bechst, through some intervening forms, to the 

 true Thrushes, or the genera Turdus of authors and Merula of Ray, 

 which form the type of the family. To these we may add that portion 

 of the Lmnaean Orioles, which, possessing the curved and notched bill 

 of the Thrushes, constitutes the genus Oriolus, or true Oriole, of the 

 present day. Here we meet several groups, generally arranged without 

 order in the Linnaean genus Turdus, and hitherto entirely uncharac- 

 terised, which gradually lead from the typical groups to those which 

 possess a more generally delicate conformation ; until the compara- 

 tively strong form and robust bill of the Thrushes is lost in the weaker 

 body and more slender bill of the Warblers. Here again the group of 

 Rock Thrushes, of which the Turdus saxatilis is the type, appear to 

 bring us round, by their general habits and assimilating characters of 

 bill and tarsi, to Myiothera, where we entered the family. Those 

 birds which constitute the groups which we denominate Chatterers, 

 and which form the genus Ampclis of Linnaeus, are usually assigned a 

 place near this family; and I must confess that, from the general 

 affinity which they appear to bear to it, I have felt, and still feel, con- 

 siderable doubt whether this be not their natural station. A strong 

 affinity however on the other hand seems to unite them with the 

 wide-gaped Piprce, and some of those other groups which, by their bill, 

 broad and depressed at the base, appear to come in contact with the 

 earlier divisions of the present tribe, and the extreme of the Fissiros- 

 tres which precede it. . The general rule of placing groups in a conter- 

 minous situation, according to what appears to be the predominance 

 of their more important characters, has inclined me to arrange the 

 birds of which I speak provisionally among the Pipridce, at the extreme 

 termination of the tribe before us. In my present view of the caae, 

 the characters in which they accord with that family and approximate 

 the extreme groups of the preceding tribe appear to predominate. 

 More accurate knowledge on these subjects will clear away these and 

 similar difficulties. But I cannot too often insist upon the point, that 

 whatever alterations may take place hereafter in our ideas respecting 

 the disposition of these subordinate groups, they cannot interfere with 

 the general principles which it is the object of this inquiry to illus- 

 trate. Instead of impugning our general views, they will merely 

 remove those doubts on minor points in which our present limited 

 acquaintance with nature involves us." 



In Mr. Swainson's ' Classification of Birds,' the reader will find 

 elaborate details of his views respecting the affinities and analogies of 

 this extensive family, which our limits do not permit us to give. The 

 following arrangement is from the 'Synopsis,' where the family is 

 placed between the Laniada; and the SylmadtK : 



MEHULID.B. 

 Sub-Family jBrachypodincc. 



Feet very short ; hind toe almost as long as tarsus; claws short, 

 much curved ; bill distinctly notched ; wings short, rounded ; feathers 

 on the rump very long and thick-set. (Swainson.) 



Micropus (Sw.). Bill as long as the head, straight, somewhat conic, 

 but the culmen gradually arched ; tarsus remarkably short, feathered 

 beyond the knees ; lateral toes unequal ; hinder as long as the tarsus. 

 Wings moderate, the first quill almost spurious ; tail even. (Sw.) Ex., 

 M. chalcocephalus, 'PI. CoL,' 453. 



Sub-Genus, Hypsipetes (Vig.). Tail forked. Ex. H. psaroides 

 (Gould, 'Cent. Himala Birds '). 



Brachypus (Sw.). Bill shorter than the head ; the .base broad ; the 

 sides compressed ; culmen elevated and curved from the base ; rictus 

 generally furnished with bristles. Feet very short, strong ; tarsal scales 

 entire ; tarsus longer than the hind toe ; clawa curved, broad, acute, 

 wings and tail rounded. (Sw.) 



Sub-Genera. Brachypus (Sw.). Bill short ; rictus bristled. Feet 

 small, weak, lateral toes equal, hinder toe as long as the tarsus. Ex. 

 B. diipar, 'PI. Col.,' 137. CUoropsis (Jard. and Selb.). Bill more 

 lengthened ; the tip much hooked ; the notch of the upper mandible 

 forming a small distinct tooth; rictus of gape smooth. Feet small, 



