46 On a New Genus of Insessorial Birds, 



Plumage lax and soft. 

 Wings shorty bowed, round. 

 Tail short, feeble, imperfect even. 

 Tarse elevate, strong, and smooth. 



Toes and nails suited to walking and clinging, with large 

 thumb and nails. 



Type. — Merva Jerdonii mihi. Habitat — The Sub-Hima- 

 layas. 



Specific Character. — Merva : above olive-brown, streaked 

 down the shafts with fulvous. Below fulvous, shaded lateral- 

 ly with olive. Vent rusty. Bill and legs smoky-grey. Iris 

 brown. Length 5 \ inches, of bill to gape 1J, to brow ~. 

 Tail 1~. Wing 2 J. Tarse to sole 1. Central toe and nail 

 ~ . Hind toe and nail ~ . Weight f oz. 



Whatever Swainson's errors as a systematist, his arrange- 

 ment of the Insessores and particularly of the Dentirostres, 

 is, I think, on the whole, superior to any other, and therefore 

 I have followed it, as above, though I apprehend there is 

 a deal to be done in the determination of the entire organiza- 

 tion and habits of birds before their classification can be at 

 all satisfactorily accomplished. The singular type, with which 

 I now present the reader, in its general structure is closely 

 related to those remarkable birds first discovered by myself 

 and named Tesia, and subsequently Micrurus by Gould, and of 

 which I now possess seven species divided into two genera.* 

 These minute tailless thrushes, are characterised by strong 

 walking legs and feet, of which the thumb however is large 

 and the nails acute ; by short, bowed, feeble wings ; a still 

 shorter and imperfect tail, and a moderate meruline or sylvian 

 bill ; and they dwell silently and solitarily in moist woods and 

 copses, near to rills, feeding solely on the ground on small 



* See Proceed. Zool. Society for last year. 



