MERULID.E. 485 



The SetophagincB are a group of small Flycatchers peculiar to 

 America ; some are coloured like the Tyrant Flycatchers, others 

 are red and black, like our Pericrocoti. 



Fam. Merulid^, Thrushes. 



Bill typically moderate, compressed, nearly straight, with the 

 culmen gently curved, and slightly notched or entire ; in a few 

 larger and curved ; in some thick and deep ; tarsus moderate or 

 long ; feet strong, fit for progression on the ground. 



The Thrushes are mostly birds of moderate size, a few very small, 

 others nearly as large as a Jay. Their food is mixed, consisting 

 both of insects (especially of the softer kinds), grubs and snails, 

 and also of fruit, rarely of hard seeds. Their wings are long and 

 somewhat pointed in some, short and rounded in others. The tail 

 varies in each sub-family. They nestle generally in low trees or 

 shrubs, and the eggs of many are more or less blue, and spotted. 



I divide the Thrushes as here characterized into three sub- 

 families, Myiotherina, or Ground Thrushes ; Merulince, or True 

 Thrushes ; and Ivnalince, or Babbling Thrushes. 



At one time I was inclined to consider the Buibuls and Orioles 

 as part of this great family group ; but have thought it more ad- 

 viseable to separate tliem. 



Sub-fam. Myiotherin^, Swains, Ground-Thrushes. 



Formicarina, Gray ; PittidcB and Cinclidce, Bonap. — BrachyuridcB, 

 Blyth. 



Bill slender, straight, or slightly curved ; stout in a few ; wings 

 typically short ; feet and legs long and strong ; tail short in most. 



According to the views adopted in this work, I include in this 

 family, of Indian forms, the Wrens, and some allied birds ; the 

 Brachypteryx series ; the group of Pitta, or Ant-Thrushes, and 

 their allies, Myiophonus ; and the water Dippers. Although there 

 is apparently considerable diversity between some of the groups 

 arranged here, yet they form a series in which, though not un- 

 broken, a general similarity is apparent, and certain affinities may 

 be traced throughout. Plorsfield's arrangement is nearly the same, 

 but he removes Myiophonus to the true Thrushes, and Gray puts the 

 Wrens and their allicb in his MeaariiKB, a sub-family of the Crcc- 



