18 ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 
point is, of course, much slighter than that of 
shrikes; yet it is sufficient to enable the thrushes to 
retain a firm hold of their food, while the superior 
length of this member enables the bird not only to 
capture food that is exposed, but also such as lies 
beneath the surface of the ground. Thus we see the 
fieldfares and crows mutually assemble during autumn — 
in large flocks, spread over new-ploughed fields, and 
traverse the ground in every direction in search of the 
same kind of food. The whole of the shrikes: are 
restricted to animal sustenance, but the thrushes devour 
fruits quite as much as they do insects. Above all, the 
sweetness, compass, and versatility of their song renders © 
them the most perfect of all the Dentirostres, or tooth- 
billed order. . 
(18.) The natural divisions of this family show in 
what manner the typical characters just intimated may 
be modified, according to the peculiar habits of each, 
and the analogies they bear to other tribes. These 
divisions, or subfamilies, are as follows: -—1. The short- 
legged thrushes (Brachypodine, Sw.); 2. the orioles 
(Orioling, Sw.) ; 3. the long-legged thrushes (Cra- 
terapodine, Sw.). These three form the aberrant cir- 
cle. The true thrushes (Meruline, Sw.) compose the 
typical group ; and the ant-thrushes (Myotherine, Sw.) 
constitute the sub-typical. Our present limits will not 
allow of so full an exposition of these groups as the 
scientific ornithologist might probably desire; but he 
will find their peculiarities and relations, both of ana-: 
logy and affinity, amply discussed in the ornithological 
volume of the Northern Zoology. We shall, however, 
introduce in the following pages some additional re- 
marks of a popular nature. — 
(19.) The short-legged thrushes (Brachypodine), 
as being that division which connects this family with 
the shrikes, naturally claims our first attention. This 
union appears effected by the genus T'richophorus, or 
bristle-necxed thrushes which pass almost immediately 
into the Drongo shrikes. These birds are peculiar to 
i 
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