981 MR. H. SEEBOHM ON HORORNIS FORTIPES, ETC. [Dec. 3, 



Brooks obtained this species in Cashmere ; Mandelli has sent skins 

 from Darjeeling ; Hodgson found it in Nepal, and Godwin- Austen 

 in Assam. Swinhoe's type from Formosa seems less remotely 

 situated when we remember that Pere David obtained the nearly allied 

 species (Horeites major and H. brunneifrons) in China, where the 

 species under consideration doubtless also occurs. 



I place this species in the genus Cettia, because it agrees with the 

 type of that genus in having only ten tail-feathers, somewhat simi- 

 larly graduated, and because both species have a somewhat similar bill, 

 and a rounded wing, not flat like that of a Thrush, but twisted like a 

 plough-plate to fit the body, evidently adapted less for extended 

 flight than to be out of the way when the bird is creeping through 

 dense foliage. Both species agree in having the feathers of the 

 rump considerably developed, and in laying eggs of a uniform dark- 

 red colour in a cup-shaped nest. 



The position of this genus is somewhat intermediate between the 

 Turdina and the Timeliince. So far as I can see at present, I feet 

 disposed to restrict the Turdince to birds with a comparatively flal 

 wing, in which the first primary is almost obsolete, whilst the second 

 is lengthened with the other primaries, forming a long pointed 

 wing, adapted for the extended flight of species whose winter-home 

 may be thousands of miles away from their breeding-stations. This 

 scheme would include the Chats, Thrushes, Redstarts, Warblers, 

 and Accentors in the Turdince, and leave the short-winged Warblers, 

 such as Prinia, Cisticola, &c., to take their place along with the 

 Babblers and Bulbuls in the Timeliince. This latter group of birds 

 is characterized by having strong legs and feet, adapted for creeping 

 through tangled foliage, whilst their wings, instead of being flat, are 

 moulded to fit the body of the bird and to occupy as little room as 

 possible. The conformation of the wing is ill-adapted to extended 

 flight. The first primary is large and takes its place naturally beside 

 the shortened second primary, so that it no longer deserves to be 

 called a bastard primary. The other primaries are also short and 

 graduated in length, making a short rounded wing, sufficient for birds 

 whose annual migrations are confined to such narrow limits that they 

 can often look down from the mountains where they breed onto the 

 plain or into the valleys, where they find an abundant supply of 

 winter food. 



It must be admitted, however, that in many genera of the Tur- 

 dince we find approaches to the Timeliince, so as to make the two 

 subfamilies not only to come into contact with each other but some- 

 times to overlap, so that we may have occasionally a turdine species 

 of the Timeliince more turdine than the most timeliine species of the 

 Turdince. These little difficulties are very puzzling to the systematic 

 ornithologist ; but possibly they may be evidence that his system is 

 a natural one rather than otherwise. 



The following list of skins examined will show how impossible it 

 is to draw any distinction in respect of size between the four reputed 

 species which I propose to unite : 



PROC. ZOOL. Soc. 1878, No. LXIV. 64 



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