﻿.354 



ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 



true wren [Troglodytes Europceus) by all writers ; while 

 others consider they actually belong to the same genus ! 

 No analogy can be stronger; yet it has already been 

 demonstrated that this is no true affinity ; one being 

 a fly-catching warbler, the other a warbling creeper. 

 We ourselves have not been exempt from error in 

 this matter ; since, on denning the subgenus Oocy- 

 glossus*, some years ago (not being aware it had pre- 

 viously received the name of Mniotilta), we placed 

 it among the scansorial creepers, although its true 

 station is now proved to be with the warblers. t The 

 cuckows (Cuculidce), and the chatterers [Ampelidce), 

 which are the next parallel families, imitate each other 

 in the soft and juicy nature of their food, which they 

 are both enabled to swallow whole, by the great width 

 of their mouth. The enormous size of the bill in the 

 toucans (Ramphastidce) gives us another remarkable 

 analogy to the todies (Eurylaimus), whose bills are 

 equally disproportionate for the size of the head ; and 

 this is rendered even more striking by the bill of 

 Eurylaimus corydon Tern., having indications of that 

 toothed margin common to the toucans. 



(295.) Let us next bring this tribe into comparison 

 with that of the Suctorial birds {Tenuirostres Sw.), 

 for, dissimilar as they are, we shall yet find a distant, 

 although very definite, relation between them. 



Families of Families of 



Tenuirostres. Analogies. Dentirostres. 



?Gonys, or outer half of the under man-} 

 dible thick and ascending ; claws sharp £ Laniadj:. 

 and slender. , j 



CrwYRin v £ Gon y s not ascending; legs and claws 7 M 

 U:s^rid.e. £ stouter and more obtuse. j merulidjs. 



,, „ ("Bill slender, notched: feet of moderated c„ T 



Meliehagims. I lengthj ve ; y perfect ; toes disunited j Sylmad*. J 



fBill stout: feet short, strong ; hind toe ^ 

 Paradisic. < nearly as long as the tarsus ; toes dis- > Ampelid.e. 



C united. 3 

 PromeropiDjE. Feet short ; toes much united. Muscicapid^. 



Where two tribes, like these, are so very remote in 



affinity, it will always happen, as may naturally be 



* * We have since transferred this name to another genus. 

 + Northern Zoology, vol. ii. p. 205. — 



