MYOTHERINA — ANALOGIES. 29 
Tribes of : 
Wsexceres, Analogies. Genera. _ 
nena, et ; almost or perfectly we Capel: 
Fissrrostres. $B son a mull copeiierably 9¢- } Dasycephala. 
We here have an explanation why the tooth of the bill 
in Myothera is so like that of a falcon in miniature, 
since one group represents the other. The large conic- 
billed Pitte were thought by Linneus and his fol- 
lowers so much to resemble the corvine family, that 
they now actually stand in their systems as ‘‘ short- 
tailed crows.” The analogy between the Scansores and 
Myophonus is particularly beautiful. No two tribes, to 
all appearance, can be more unlike each other than the 
-gallinaceous and the climbing birds ; yet here we have a 
genus unconnected with either, yet presenting three of 
their most prominent distinctions, viz.: the strong en- 
tire bill and robust walking feet of the Rasoves, united 
to the aculeated tail of the Scansores ; this latter 
structure, moreover, is. found in no other known bird 
belonging to the family of Myotherine. The water- 
ousels (Cinclus) and the Tenuirostres have the most 
slender, defenceless bills in their respective groups: 
that of the British species inclines upwards; so does 
that of Tvrechilus recurvirostres, and several of the 
waders. Lastly, Dasycephala represents the flat-billed 
_ swallow, or fissirostral tribe, by being the only genus 
in its family where the base of the bill is ae, 
depressed. 
(30.) From the tribes of perchers we pass to the 
families of the Dentirostres, or tooth-billed birds, with 
which we will now compare the genera of ant-thrushes. 
Families of the 
eutrastres. Analogies. Genera. 
a vy eeelal aa hooked ; the tooth Bro: Myoth ene 
a as ee bent ; the tooth sia Pitta. 
es AD = pee eats te the Rennes and a Myophonus. 
ae ] gabon oe Ne feed only upon nd Cin chess: 
TopIDz. § spores Peeing i re Dasycephala. 
, 
XN 
