174 Div. 1. VERTEBRATE ANIMALS— AYES. Class 2. 



g-eneric features disappear. We have already seen them pass through Petrocincla, into the Chats and Wheatears, 

 to which should be added the Robins, Redstarts, Phsenicorns, &C. ; through T. varhis, into the lanihocinclie, 

 Gould, an eastern group, with large bill and feet, very soft plumage, and short wings, the species of which inhabit 

 shrubberies, and find their food chiefly on the ground, never flying to any distance ; tlirough certain North Ame- 

 rican species into the Nightingales ; and the passage into various other received genera is equally gradual : in a 

 ■word, these latter are merely ramifications of Tardus, different as some of them appear in extreme cases. Thus 

 Cinclosoma, Vigors, conducts from the Fieldfare to the subdivision Accentor ; the Dippers and Ant-catchers to the 

 Wrens and Tree-creepers, &c. &c.] 



Some of these birds appear to approximate the Shrikes in their habits, although there is nothing in 

 the form of the beak to distinguish them from other Thrushes. 



There are even no available characters by ■which to distinguish certain African species, which live in 

 numerous bustling troops, hke Starlings, pursue insects, and commit great havoc in gardens. 



Several of them are remarkable for the glossy tints of their plumage, which are of a browned steel-colour, (as 

 T. auratug and T. nitens. Tern.) ; and one of the former for its cuneated tail, which is a third longer than the 

 body (T. a-neus, Tem.) [The straightness of the wing indicates these birds to belong rather to the Starling group, 

 as does also their brown and spotless nestling plumage, the wing primaries of which are shed at the first moult, 

 which is not the case in any of the Thrush tribe. Their habits, as already mentioned, are strictly those of the 

 Starlings.] 



We conceive it proper to approximate also the New Guinea Thrush, with a tail three times longer than the 

 body, and a double crest on the head, which has been considered a Bird of Paradise (Paradis<ea gularis, Latliani, 

 and P. nigra, Gm.), but only on account of the incomparable magnificence of its plumage. W. Yieillot applies to 

 it the generic name Astrapia. 



Other Thrushes with brilliantly shining plumage, the occipital feathers of which are pointed as in the Starlings, 

 compose the Lamprotoniis of Temminck. [These also strictly pertain to the natural family of Starlings.] We 

 should distinguish the L. eri/lhrophri/s, on account of its bright red eyebrows, formed of cartilaginous feathers. 



Some Thrushes have the bill so slender, that it approximates that of the Wheatears (the Idox of Tennninck). 

 [These birds are mostly crested, and have bright red feathers under the tail, which generally intimates that that 

 appendage is carried erect. They rank among the very finest of singing birds, and the celebrated Buhl-huhl 

 of the Oriental poets is one of them ; all are peculiar to the eastern hemisphere, and they are closely related to the 

 Philedons, into which they pass by insensible gradations.] 



Others have a slender bill, but straight and strong, and in the greater number of them the tail is excessively 

 forked. They are the .^Enicures (^nicura, Tem.), [a group having much the appearance, at first sight, of the Pied 

 Wagtails, and resembling them in habit, but which are essentially modified Thrushes, and not distantly removed 

 from the Wheatears]. 



Others, again, [closely allied to the last,] are distinguished by having legs so long, that they have the general 

 appearance of Waders. They constitute the Grallina of Vieillot, or Tanypus of Oppel. 



The Crinons {Criniger,'Yem.) — 

 Are Thrushes with strong setas at the gape, and which have sometimes bristly feathers on the neck. 

 Such is Cr. barbatus, Tem. (Col. 88). 



The Antcatchers {Myothera, lUig.) — ■ 

 Are known by their lengthened limbs and short tail. They subsist on insects, and principally Ants : 

 inhabit both continents. 



Those of the eastern hemisphere, however, are remarkable for their brilliant colours. They are 



The Breves of BufFon {Pitta, Vieillot), — 

 [The plumage of which recals to mind that of the Halcyons and Kingfishers, the latter of which they 

 further resemble in their flight, as do also the Dippers and Wrens, and they similarly frequent streams 

 and brooks, like tiie Dipper of Europe.] 



Such are Corviis brachyurus, Gm., and several other beautiful species, to which we add the Tiirdiis ci/anurus, 

 Latham, or Cornus cyanurtis, Shaw, which only diflfers in the tail, which is rather more pointed. [There are indeed 

 two natural subdivi'^ions, distinguished apart by the form and structure of the tail]. 



The Pitta thoracina, Tem., of which MM. Vigors and Horsfield make their genus Thimalia, is but little removed 

 from P. cyanura, Vieillot, if we except its sombre hues and its beak, which latter diminishes more regularly in 

 front, and thereby approaches the Tanagers. 



Those of the New Continent, which are much more numerous, have brown tints, and vary in the 

 length and stoutness of the bill. They obtain their living from the enormous Ant-hills which abound 

 in the woods and deserts of South America ; and the females of them are larger than the males. These 

 birds fly but little, and have sonorous voices, even extraordinarily so in some instances. [They are 

 essentially gigantic Wrens.J 



