DASYCEPHALA. — CINCLUS. Dy. 
Surinam, in like manner, furnish us with many species 
totally unknown in the forests of Brazil. 
(25.) The fourth genus of this division is one of 
peculiar interest ; we have named it Dasycephala, from 
the forehead and crown being defended by very stiff 
bristly feathers. Unfortunately we are totally ignorant 
for what purpose this singular defence is given ; but, if 
we may be allowed to conjecture, the habits of the bird 
probably may be terrestrial ; and, as its bill is sufficiently 
strong to penetrate beneath the surface of an ant’s nest, 
the bristles, in such a case, would be an admirable de- 
fence for the nostrils, mouth, and eyes, against the 
attacks of the puny inhabitants. However this may © 
be, Dasycephala is one of the most distinct types among 
the ant-thrushes, and is clearly connected to Myothera 
by the white-crested manakin of the old authors. 
(26.) The water-ousels, placed in the genus Cinclus, 
constitute the fifth and last genus. Did we not know the 
peculiar habits of these semi-aquatic birds, ornithologists 
would have felt no hesitation in classing them with 
the Myothere: in external appearance they are chiefly 
distinguished from the American ant-thrushes by a more 
compressed bill, the notch being nearly evanescent, and 
the frontal feathers very much advanced. It was long 
believed that the only species in existence was that 
common to Europe and Britain: more recently M. Tem- 
minck has described a second, from Asia; and latterly 
we have ascertained two others, one inhabiting America*, 
* the other, India.t 
- (27.) The five divisions, or genera, of the Myothe- 
rine having been, as we conceive, now discovered, let 
us pause a while to contemplate their analogies, and to 
see how far the principle we have promulgated — that 
nature typifies all her higher groups in a single family, 
and even in a single genus — is borne out in this in- 
stance. In the first place, let us compare the various 
groups of the ant-thrushes (Myotherine), as here dis- 
* Northern Zoology, vol. ii. p. 175. ¢ Id. ibid. p. 174. 
