144 ORNITHOLPGfY OF NEPAL. 



with that of the true T'Wshes, is as distinctly marked by the stomach, the 

 bill, and the frop^-^i zone, as by the wings, tail, and feet. The stomach has 

 double the^us^^'^l^i' power of the same organ in Turdus, approaching to a 

 true ^'izzard : the straight compressed bill, inclining to a tetragonal form, 

 Jias the tomise nearly in contact with the palate in both mandibles ; and 

 the nares are partially or wholly concealed by a setaceous frontal zone, 

 analogous to that of the Corvidcs. 



The birds composing the group or genus are gregarious, noisy and 

 alert. They frequent the deep and dank forests and groves exclusively ; 

 procure the greater part of their food on the ground ; use the trees but for 

 security when disturbed, for nidification, and for occasionally eking out their 

 repasts with berries, pulpy fruits or caterpillars ; and are, for the most part, 

 incapable of a sustained flight. Their habitat is very extensive, since they 

 are almost equally common in the southern, central, and northern regions 

 of these hills ; and in the valleys alike, as on the tops of the mountains. 

 In all situations, however, wood-lands are indispensable to them, both for 

 food and shelter ; especially the latter, their retreat being a mere succes- 

 sion of hops from tree to tree, after the manner of the Magpies. Most of 

 them have a good deal of the mixt weariness and familiarity, as well as of 

 the noisiness and congregational habits, of the Corvidce ; and, though they 

 never quit the deep wood-lands, those persons who pass through such 

 places, perpetually encounter them on the roads and pathways, to 

 which these birds are attracted by the dung of cattle, for the grain, 

 larvas and insects it affords them. They are on the whole, rather 

 insectivorous than frugivorous, baccivorous, or graminivorous : but they 

 eat a deal of grain and hard seeds, with gravel to digest it ; and must, from 

 the universality of their regimen, be classed among the omnivores. They 

 are distinguished from the Thrushes by their avoidance of rills and swamps ; 



SwAiNSON, justly perhaps, classes the Cinclosomse with the Crateropodiuse. l>ut he 

 unjustly reduces them to a sub-genus. This paper was penned before I had seen Swainson's 

 casual allusion to the group in the birds of i^merica. That able writer is most correct in stating 

 that the characters of Cinclosoma and of Poniatorhinus stand in grievous want of revision. 



