Family ACCENTORIDZ. 
Genus ACCENTOR. 
Curruca apud Brisson, Orn. iii. p. 394 (1760). 
Motacilla apud Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 829 (1766). 
Sturnus apud Scopoli, Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 131 (1769). 
Sylvia apud Latham, Ind. Orn. ii. 511 (1790). 
Accentor, Bechstein, Orn. Taschenb. i. p. 191 (1802). 
Prunella apud Vieillot, Nouv. Analyse, p. 43 (1816). 
Spermolegus apud Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 152 (1829). 
Tharrhaleus apud Kaup, op. cit. p. 137 (1829). 
Laiscopus apud Gloger, Naturg. p. 267 (1842). 
Nartvratists differ not a little in opinion as to the proper place for this genus, some having 
placed it amongst the Thrushes, and others amongst the Warblers. Sundevall goes so far as 
to place it very far distant from the Thrushes and Warblers, amongst the Conirostres, making a 
separate “ phalanx,” which he calls Decempennate, for the Accentors alone. This course appears 
to me to be inexpedient ; and I have deemed it more advisable to make a separate family for these 
birds, placing them between the Crateropodine and the Panuride. 
This genus is but a small one; it is confined to the Paleearctic and northern portions of 
the Oriental Regions, and has, though rarely, been met with in North Africa. In the Western 
Palearctic Region three species only have occurred, two of which are resident, and the third is 
only a straggler from the Kastern Palearctic Region. 
In habits the Accentors vary somewhat iter se; and the Hedge:Accentar differs not a little 
from its congener the Alpine Accentor, in general habits, mode of nidification, and choice of 
habitat; for whereas the latter affects lonely, rugged, mountainous places, and places its nest 
in a cleft of a rock or on the ground under a stone, the Hedge-Accentor affects gardens and 
cultivated places, and builds in a bush or hedge. All the Accentors deposit uniformly-coloured 
greenish-blue eggs, and build somewhat bulky nests of grass bents and fine roots &c. lined with 
wool or hair. ‘They are good songsters, and may be heard singing even during the winter in 
fine clear weather. They feed on seeds as well as insects, and have the stomach very muscular. 
They are resident, only changing their quarters in winter when driven away from their summer 
haunts by the severity of the season and consequent scarcity of food. 
Accentor collaris, the type of the genus, has the bill moderately long, straight, rather 
conical, broad at the base, compressed towards the tip, nostrils rather elongated in shape, placed 
in the anterior portion of the nasal depression; gape without any perceptible bristles; wings 
moderate, rather rounded, the first quill very small, the third and fourth the longest; tail 
tolerably long, nearly square; tarsus moderately strong, covered in front with four plates and 
three inferior scutellz, tarsus feathered at the upper end; feet tolerably strong, the outer and 
middle toe joined at the base, claws strong, curved, that on the hind toe much the strongest. 
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