BIRDS OF WORTS AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 475 



Oisteolog ioal characters."" — Anteorbital region narrow; descending 

 process of nasal slender, the angle formed by this process and the 

 pars plana rather open; maxillo-palatines acuminate posteriorly; costal 

 process of sternum small, acuminate; coracoid with a small flange 

 On the epicoracoidal portion; pelvis narrow anteriorly, with the ilia 

 much inclined from the horizontal. 



Nidification. — Variable, but nest usually in cavities of trees or 

 rocks, or about buildings, .sometimes in trees, bushes, or among reeds 

 or rushes, and more or less domed. Eggs usually numerous (6-11), 

 variable as to color, usuallj^ ( ?) white or pinkish, Speckled with reddish 

 brown, or immaculate white; sometime nearly uniform brown or plain 

 greenish blue. 



Range. — Palsearctic, Nearctic, and Neotropical regions, but absent 

 from the Galapagos archipelago and Greater Antilles (including 

 Bahamas) ; most numerously represented in the Neotropical Region. 



The relationships of this group are somewhat doubtful, but appear 

 to be with the Mimidse on the one hand and Certhiidse on the other. 

 Dr. Sharpe, in volume vi of the Catalogue of the Birds in the British 

 Museum, page 180 (1881), ranks it as a subfamily (Troglody tinge) of 

 his so-called family Timeliidse, and makes it include the genus Cinclus. 

 But Dr. Sharpe's "Timeliidse" are generally acknowledged to be a 

 most artificial and heterogeneous assemblage, whatever may be the 

 character of the true Timeliidse if properly restricted. Among 

 American and Palsearctic forms the Troglodytidse appear to be most 

 nearly related, as stated above, to the Mimidse and Certhiidse, between 

 which thej' are intermediate in certain characters at least, but from 

 both of which they are, as a group, undoubtedly distinct. They are 

 also not very far removed from the Cinclidse. Superficially, at least, 

 the Troglodytidse most resemble the Mimidse; but members of the two 

 groups may always be readily distinguished from one another by the 

 very different degree of cohesion between the anterior toes, however 

 much alike they may be in other characters. In the structure of the 

 foot, at least so far as regards the degree of cohesion between the 

 anterior toes, the Mimidse agree with the Turdidse, while the Trog- 

 lodytidse are in respect to that character more like the Certhiidse and 

 Paridse. Professor Baird, in his Review of American Birds (p. 92), 

 has stated the case very clearly as follows: In the Mimidse* "the basal 

 joint of the outer lateral toe is united to the middle toe, sometimes only 

 a part of it; and the inner toe is cleft almost to its verj^ base, so as to 

 be opposable to the hind toe, separate from the others. In the Trog- 

 lodytidse, on the contrary, the inner toe is united by half its basal 

 joint to the middle toe, sometimes by the whole of this joint; and the 



a From Notes on the Osteology of the Thrushes, Miminse, and "Wrens, by Frederic 

 A. Lucas, in Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xi, 1888, 173-180, pi. 37. 

 6 Professor Baird includes the Mimidse with the Turdidse. 



