-SUBGENERA OF SYLVICOLA. A7 
unable to examine. There are, however, several un- 
described birds from Brazil now before us, which appear 
to belong to this group, all of which have the second 
quill very little longer than the first. This character of 
the wings seems to be the best we can at present depend 
upon. We have no doubt that when the small warblers 
and flycatchers of tropical America have been properly 
studied, this division will be augmented by many species, 
and the true type of the present subgenus clearly as- 
eertained. Certain it is, that among the little birds now 
beforeus, there is, in three or four species, strong indication 
of that white circular ring round the eye, which is the 
leading distinction of Zosterops, the very next genus which, 
according to our views, succeeds Dumecola in the circle 
We are now investigating. We can never hope to as- 
certain the natural station of any being, or group of 
beings, in the great system of nature, so long as other 
groups, to which it seems to have a strong resemblance, 
remain uninvestigated. Now this is the case with Du- 
mecola: many species seem to be as clearly, if not more, 
_ related to the genuine tyrants (Tyrannine) than to 
the Sylvicola ; and yet there are others which seem ab- 
solutely to annul the first of these relations. Hence it 
follows, that, before the true characters of these groups 
_are known, the Tyrannine must be analysed with 
the same degree of care as that which we have bestowed 
upon the Sylvicole. Until this is done, it may still re- 
main a question whether Setophaga does not actually fill 
the station we have here assigned to Dumecola; so that 
these two groups, in fact would become transposed. 
(51.) The subgenus Zosterops is the fourth type, 
and contains the white-eyed warblers. These little birds 
are chiefly confined to the Eastern hemisphere ; but we 
have the drawing of one species not yet described, 
which is asserted to inhabit Cayenne. In this group, 
formed but of eight or ten species, we have the depressed 
bill of Dumecola joined to the more pointed shape of 
Sylvicola: and although the wings are of the same 
pointed form as in the last-named group, the whole 
