INSESSORES. TODIDM. 139 



but they are less perfectly constructed than the feet of the 

 Conirostres ; as may be seen in the frequent connection of 

 the middle and outer toes. The five natural families of this 

 tribe are arranged in the following tribes, viz. Todidoe (by 

 some named Muscicapidce), Laniadce, Merulidce, Sylviada, 

 and Ampel'tdce ; each of which is again divisible into inferior 

 circles or subfamilies, but all united together by one un- 

 broken chain of affinities.* The food of the present tribe of 

 birds is of various kinds ; that of the Todidse and Laniadae 

 consisting almost exclusively of insects and animal matter; 

 whilst in the Merulidae and Sylviadae, the smaller fruits fre- 

 quently form a considerable part of it ; and, in the Ampeli- 

 da>, it is still more confined to a vegetable nature. 



FAMILY I. TODIDSE. 



As being closely allied to the preceding or Fissirostral 

 tribe of the Insessores, the circle of the Dentirostres com- 

 mences with the aberrant family of the Todidce of SWAIN- 

 SON, which, from a strict analysis of the forms it contains, 

 embraces not only the genus Todus of the Authors, but also 

 the Fly-Catchers (Muscicapidce). Its members are distin- 

 guished by a bill, with the tip emarginated, broad, and de- 

 pressed at the base, and beset with projecting bristles ; legs 

 short and weak; feet calculated for perching, but not for 

 gressorial movements. Their food consists of insects, which 

 they generally capture by irregular flights or irruptions up- 

 on them when passing the stations, where the birds sit pa- 



As the nature of this work precludes the possibility of entering ful- 

 ly into the various affinities in the feathered race, or even to point out the 

 analogies running through all the major and minor divisions, I must refer 

 my readers to the works of those who have written more expressly upon 

 this point ; particularly to the 2d vol. of the " Northern Zoology," where 

 Mr SWAINSON has entered deeply into the subject, and traced it with the 

 hand of a master. 



