20 ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 
when raised they resemble a round puff-ball. To these 
succeed the true genus Brachypus, which are also gaily 
coloured birds, thickly clothed with long soft feathers, 
and with a wide mouth. The bill is short, and being 
nearly smooth, would seem to indicate their food to be — 
chiefly vegetable ; but nothing is known of their economy. 
Nature, however, points out one of their analogies by 
clothing two species nearly in the plumage of orioles. 
But still more beautiful than these are the green and 
blue birds, forming the next genus, Chioropsis, which 
seem intended to represent the splendid-coloured ant- 
thrushes (Pitt@) ; both groups, in fact, are confined to 
the tropical regions of India. These pitta-coloured 
birds lead us to the crested group of Brachypus, now 
named Hematernis, while the fifth subgenus, Andro- 
padus, completes the series, by representing the bristle- 
necked thrushes. The whole of this group is confined 
to the tropical latitudes of the old world, nor is there 
any European bird wherewith to compare them. Our 
materials for understanding their economy are few and 
meagre. The information given by Dr. Horsfield re- 
specting the Zéra scapularis seems to apply in a great 
measure to others of this genus noticed by Le Vaillant. 
“It is a bird,” says the Doctor, ‘‘ of social habits, and 
resorts to the vicinity of human habitations ; indeed, it 
appears to have retired from the forests, and established 
itself in the trees and hedges which surround the vil- 
lages and plantations. Its wings do not enable it to fly 
very far, but it shows itself by short and frequent flights 
between the trees and branches.” * On referring to the 
collection of drawings formed by the late General Hard- 
wicke, we find most of the species of Hamatornis are 
known in India by the name of Boulbul, where they 
are kept in cages, thus disproving the assertion so fre- 
quently made, not only by poets, but naturalists, that 
this name is given in the East to the European night- 
ingale: a facility in domesticating any bird or animal 
is an indirect proof that there exists a certain degree of 
* Zoological Researches in Java. 
