686 The Sparrow-like Birds 



cichla), differing from them principally in having a more rounded wing. Like 

 the latter, they are all terrestrial birds, frequenting dense brushwood or the 

 primeval forests, where they are generally to be observed searching amongst 

 dead leaves for their food. They range in altitude from a little above sea-level 

 to over 10,000 feet in the mountains, and are usually rather tame birds, per- 

 mitting close observation. In coloration they are brownish or slate-gray above, 

 the head often black or gray and grayish white or occasionally spotted below, 

 one of the best-known being the common Central American Thrush-Robin 

 (C. melpomene). It nests frequently in gardens, making an open nest chiefly 

 of moss and laying white eggs which are thickly marked with reddish. 



THE WREN-THRUSHES 



(Family Zeledoniida) 



The present " family," recently established by Mr. Ridgway, comprises but 

 a single genus and species (Zeledonia coronata), which is confined so far as now 

 known to the summits of the high volcanoes of Costa Rica and Panama. It 

 is a small, somewhat Wren-like or Thrush-like bird, a little over four inches in 

 length, with relatively very long legs, short very concave rounded wings with 

 only nine obvious primaries, and an extremely short tail of only ten feathers, 

 these being pointed at the tip and having their webs lax or semi-decomposed, 

 while the basal segment of the middle toe is adherent for half its length to the 

 outer toe. With the exception of an orange-rufous crown patch, the coloration 

 is plain olive or olive-green above and plain slate-color or slate-gray below, 

 becoming olive on flanks and under tail-coverts. The Wren-Thrush, as it has 

 been called, has usually been placed, though somewhat doubtfully, with the 

 Thrushes (Turdidai) and next the so-called Forest Thrushes (Catharus), but 

 the recent studies of Mr. Pycraft appear to have demonstrated that it must be 

 removed from the Turdidtz, and while its affinities are still obscure it is perhaps 

 best located for the present between the Thrushes and Mockingbirds. Its 

 nidification is entirely unknown, and indeed little is recorded of its habits beyond 

 the fact that it is usually found on the ground in the dense jungles of the above- 

 mentioned volcanoes at an elevation of between 6000 and 7000 feet. 



THE MOCKINGBIRDS 



(Family Mimidce) 



Of a somewhat Thrush-like appearance, the members of the present group 

 have often been and by some are still placed among the Thrushes (Turdid&\ 

 but as a matter of fact they are a distant group though rather closely related 

 to the Wrens (Troglody tides], about the only external difference from the latter 

 being their generally larger size and strong rictal bristles. From the Thrushes 



