AVES. 341 
Sub-fam. 7. Motacilline, or Wagtails. Bill rather long, slender, and 
straight, sides much compressed ; nostrils lateral ; wings long, pointed ; tail 
generally long; tarsi long, slender; feet rather strong. Size small. 
About seventy-five birds are classed here. They inhabit all parts of the 
world, and habitually frequent the ground, and very often are partial to the 
vicinity of streams of water. 
One of the best known species is the grey wagtail of Europe, M. boarula 
(pl. 108, fig. 17). It inhabits all Europe and contiguous parts of Asia and 
Africa, but does not appear to be very common. It lives in the vicinity 
of streams, and frequently nestles in the immediate neighborhood of mills 
or other buildings. 
The birds of this sub-family all bear more or less resemblance to the 
waetails of Europe. 
Fam. 2. Turpip#, or Turusuzs. Bill various, but always more or less 
strong and curved, generally compressed; wings generally more or less 
long, frequently pointed, sometimes rounded ; tail generally moderate ; tarsi 
and feet generally strong. Size moderate, but larger than the last family. 
The thrushes constitute a very extensive and completely cosmopolitan 
family of birds, generally distinguished by considerable powers of song, and 
frequently familiar and sociable in their habits. 4 
There are not less than six hundred species of thrushes. 
Sub-fam. 1. Formicarine, or Ant-thrushes. Bill long, straight, curved 
at the tip, which is frequently hooked; wings generally short, rounded : 
tail short ; tarsi long; toes generally long and stout. Size moderate. 
A sub-family, nearly all the species of which subsist upon insects 
captured upon the ground. They are almost invariably long-legged and 
short-tailed birds, with long stout bills, and are frequently of gay plumage, 
though of odd, and, in fact, rather droll general appearance. 
The ant-thrushes are natives of all parts of the world, though most 
numerous in India and South America. The species which inhabit the 
former and some other countries and islands of Asia, form the genus Pitta 
of naturalists, and are for the most part very beautiful. They live almost 
entirely upon the ground, and, if disturbed, like almost all other birds of 
this group, seek safety in running rather than by flight. The short-tailed 
Indian ant-thrush (P. brachyura) and the blue-tailed ant-thrush (P. cyanura) 
are frequently met with, 
The American ant-thrushes are numerous, and, though inferior in size 
and beauty of plumage to their Indian relatives, are represented as precisely 
the same in general characters and habits. About seventy-five species 
inhabit tropical America, some of the best known of which are the Cay- 
enne ant-thrush (Mormicaria colma), the king ant-thrush (Grallaria rez), 
the rufous crowned (G. ruficapilla), and others. 
Sub-fam. 2. Turdine, or true Thrushes. Bill long, generally strong, and 
more or less curved and compressed ; wings moderate ; tail long, broad, 
and generally graduated ; tarsi and feet moderately long and strong. 
Contains all the birds commonly known in Europe and America as 
thrushes, of which there are about one hundred and fifty species. They 
ICONOGRAFHIC ENCYCLOPADIA.— VOL. II. 35 545 
