344 DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSEUM. 



of Java and Sumatra, and the striped vanga of the 

 Brazils. The baritce, which come naturally after 

 the shrikes, are shrieking birds of New Holland 

 and New Guinea : one of them, the chalybean, 

 has such brilliant colours, that it was formerly 

 ranked amongst the birds of paradise (paradisea 

 viridis] ; another (the coracias streptera] has so 

 strong a voice, that it has been named the 

 wakener ; this is from New Holland, as well as 

 the musician (coracias tibicen), whose voice is 

 so agreeable. Below the shrikes are placed 

 the breves, from India, adorned with the 

 most beautiful colours. Buffon knew but two 

 species of them; there are now six in the 

 Museum. Two of the most beautiful, the 

 one with a red belly, and the other with 

 a black head, were presented by M. Dussu- 

 mier, who brought them from the Philippine 

 isles. 



After the breves come the ant-thrushes (myo- 

 thera) ; they live on the enormous ant-hills in the 

 forests and deserts of America ; their plumage is 

 brown and their voice very sonorous. We pos- 

 sess twenty-seven species of them ; the largest 

 is the king of the ant-thrushes, of the size of the 

 blackbird. It is solitary , and lives in the forests 

 of Cayenne. 



The eighteenth case contains the merlins (tur- 



