PICUCULE 



719 



Dendrocolaptidae, which is so highly characteristic of the Neotropical 

 Kegion. Not one of them was known to Linnaeus, and for many 

 years very erroneous notions were entertained as to their systematic 

 position. They are mostly small birds of dull appearance, brown 

 being their prevalent hue, with stiff and often sharply-pointed 

 rectrices a character which led the earlier writers to associate 

 them with the Pici or the Certhiidse (TREE-CREEPER), and their 

 entire difference from both those groups was not admitted until 

 shewn by Johannes Miiller. 

 Mr. Sclater (Cat. B. Br. Mus. 

 xv. pp. 2-175) groups them 

 in 5 subfamilies, the first of 

 which, Furnariinse, has been 

 already mentioned in these 

 pages (OVEN-BIRD), while the 

 next three, Synallaxinss (with 8 genera, including Synallaxis and 

 the curious form Oxyurus), Philydorinx (with 17 genera, including 



Anabatoides and 

 Philydor) and Scle- 

 rurinse call for no 

 particular remark 

 here. The last 

 and most typical 



SYNALLAXIS. OXYTJRUS. 



(After Swainson.) 



ANABATOIDES. PHILYDOR. 



(After Swainson.) 



colaptinx has, according to the authority just named, 15 genera 

 (among which are Dendrocolaptes proper and its section Dendrocops, 



subfamily Dendro- 



a, DENDROCOLAPTES ; 5, XIPHORHYNCHTJS ; c, DENDROCOPS ; ct, SITTASOMUS ; e, DENDROPLEX. 



(After Swainson.) 



XipTiorliynchus, Sittasomus and Dendroplex) and some 80 species. 

 Indeed there is no need here to dwell upon them more than 

 to point out their importance in the Fauna of Southern tropical 

 America. Though now ranging all over the Neotropical Region, 



