PASSERINA, Q47 
The species belonging to the new continent are much more nume- 
rous, their tints are of a deeper brown, and they vary as to strength, and 
the length of the bill. They obtain their living from the enormous ant- 
hills which abound in the woods and deserts of this part of the world; 
the females are larger than the males. These birds seldom fly, and have 
a sonorous cry, which, in some species, is even extraordinary. 
Among those with a thick and arcuated bill, we remark, 
M. rex; Turdus rex, Gm.; Corvus grallarius, Shaw, Enl. 702. 
(King of the Ant-catchers). The largest of all, and stands the 
highest: its tail, on the other hand, is the shortest, and at the first 
glance it might be taken for a wader; it is about the size of a quail, 
and its grey plumage is agreeably chequered. It is more solitary 
than the others*. 
The species with a straighter, but still tolerably strong bill, are allied 
to the Shrikes with a similar oney. 
Others have a slender, sharp bill, which, with their striated tail, ap- 
proximates them to the Wren{. 
The OrtHonyx, Tem., may be approximated to the Ant-catchers. 
They have the bill of a Thrush, but it is short and slender; their legs 
are long, the nails almost straight, and the quills of the tail terminate in 
a point like those of the creepers. 
We must also separate from the Thrushes: 
of their genus TurMattA, is but a little removed from the azurin, if we except its 
sombre hues and its bill, which latter diminishes more regularly in front, and thereby 
approaches the Tanagers. 
* M. Vieillot has taken his genus GRALLARIA, Galer. 154, from this bird. 
Add the Grand beffroi (Turdus tinniens), Enl. 706, 1, of which Vieill. makes his 
genus MyorHERa: its bill is smaller;—Myrmothera guttata, Vieill. Gal. 155. 
f Such are the Tetema (Turdus-colma, B.), Enl. 821;—the Palicour (7. formici- 
vorus), Enl. 700, 1;—the Petit beffroi (Turdus lineatus), Enl. 823, 1;—the Thamno- 
philus stellaris, Spix, 39;—Thamn. myotherinus, Id. 42. The M, leucophris, Tem. Col. 
448, although from Java, seems to approach this group. The Brachypteryx montana, 
Horsf. Jay. also approximates to it in the height of its legs, but its tail is longer in 
proportion, and the bill is somewhat allied to that of the Saxicole. 
{ Such are the Bambla (Turd. bambla), Enl. 703;—the Arada (T. cantans), Enl. 
706, 2. Here comes the genus RHAMPHOCENE, Vieill. 9, 128. 
We are compelled, however, to replace among the Thrushes, several species which 
Buffon arranged with the Ant-catchers, on account of some relative similarity of 
colour, viz. the Carillonneur (T. tintinnabulatus), Enl. 700, 2;—the Merle a cravate 
(2. cinnamoneus, Enl. 560, 2;—those of the pl. Enl. 644, 1 and 2, which, contrary 
to all appearances, he considers as varieties of the formicivorus. I place in the same 
class the Thamnophilus griseus, Spix, 41, 1, and 48, 2;—striatus, Id., 40, 2;—melano- 
gaster, 1d. 43,1. The Myothera capistrata melanothoraz, Tem. Col. 185, [and M. 
obsoleta, Bonap. I. p. 1, 2.] We must also send back to the Thrushes, notwith- 
standing their smallness, the long-tailed species, called by Buffon Fourmiilliers ros- 
signols (TI. coroya and T. alapi, Gm.), Enl. 701, as well as the Myiothera malura, 
Natterer, Col. 353, and the M. ferruginea and rufimarginata, Col. 132, which are 
even closely allied to the 7. punctatus and grammiceps ;—the M. gularis and pyrrho- 
genis, Tem. 442, 448. 
The Myiothera mentalis and strictothoraz, Natterer, Col. 179, as it appears to me, 
should be placed among the Shrikes. There is no group which has been more overload- 
ed with species foreign to it than that of the Ant-catchers. We must confess, how- 
ever, that it is not more rigorously limited than the other groups of the Dentirostres. 
