LANIAD^E. 127 



well make out, as its author has not yet fully developed his views of natural 

 arrangement. 



The other forms which appear to enter among - the Thamnophilince are Colluri- 

 cincla (H. and V.), Tephrodornis (Sw.)? and Prionops (Vieil.) Of the first we can 

 say nothing, further than it appears to bear the same relation to Thamnophilus as 

 Laniellus, Sw., does to Lanius. It is in Tephrodornis that we first detect an evident 

 reduction in the length, size, and power of the tarsi. The wings, which have hitherto 

 been remarkably short and feeble, are now more lengthened and obtusely pointed; 

 while the tail, firm and strong, is either perfectly square, or slightly emarginate. 

 Besides these indications of a new set of characters, we perceive the frontal 

 feathers somewhat lengthened, and reflected over the nostrils, and the base of the 

 bill, which they protect and partially cover ; the rictus, also, is very strongly 

 bristled. All these characters deserve attention, not only as showing an affinity to 

 Prionops, but as being the first development of that structure so fully exemplified 

 in the Edoliance. 



Tephrodornis is still more interesting, as containing several small species, 

 found in the Indian islands ; one of which we strongly suspect is the Muscicapa 

 hirnndinacea of Reinwaldt, which, but for its size, would unquestionably have 

 been long ago referred to this family. The bill exhibits the same formation as 

 that of Lanius virgatus, Tem., but on a very small scale, and has not the least de- 

 pression, except at its base. This little bird is not much larger than the smallest 

 Formicivora yet discovered ; but we are unacquainted with any form by which the 

 two groups are connected. In Prionops, the feet are also weak, the tail nearly 

 square, and the wings still more lengthened, broad, and ample. This curious 

 bird is said to frequent the ground ; and should it eventually prove an annectant 

 form between this and the next sub-family, we have another proof of that remark- 

 able partiality which Nature appears to evince, of making her transitions from 

 one family to another by means of groups strictly terrestrial. 



The bill of Prionops is fully as slender as that of Colluricincla ; while the simi- 

 larity of this type to Platylophus in the structure of the feet, the rictus, the frontal 

 feathers, &c, sufficiently indicates in what manner the aberrant forms of the 

 Thamnophilince are united in a circle of their own. Whether we regard Tephro- 

 dornis as the last genus in this division, or as the first in the next, its affinity to 

 both is unquestionable, and we may therefore at once proceed to the sub-family, 



