220 On the Natural History of 
Saurothera follows Sythrops, and at once brings us among the ge- 
n uineCuculidce. 
All our best writers, without a solitary exception, have placed the 
honey-guides (Indicator) among the cuckoos, but by a singular 
oversight, they have overlooked the equally strong affinity which 
these remarkable birds possess to the African genus Buphaga ; or 
at least having perceived some relation (as evinced by the name of 
Indicator Buphagoides) between the two, they have fancied it mere- 
ly analogical. The analysis, however, of this tribe, has convinced 
me that the two genera actually follow each other, and this will ap- 
pear more evident on a subsequent exposition of the family of Cer- 
thiadae, to which Buphaga directly introduces us. The short, ro- 
bust bill of this latter genus is nearly preserved in the Australian 
Orthonyx, which, by means of the Brazilian genus Sclerurus, brings 
us at once among the typical Certhiadce. Sitta, in this latter fami- 
ly, leads immediately to Oxyrhynchus in that of the Picidce, the 
group, in fact, from whence we first began to trace the circle of the 
Scansores. 
Having now sufficiently dwelt upon the station, in the circle of 
the scansorial birds, which the family under consideration appears 
to hold, we may at once proceed to the internal arrangement of the 
primary divisions of the family. Looking, therefore, to those ge- 
nera which show the most prominent differences, I conceive that 
the whole are naturally arranged in the following divisions : 
SUB-FAMILIES OF THE CUCULID^E. 
Sub-families. Essential Characters. Typical Genera. 
or lcss pointed ' 
c Wings short, more or less rounded j ^ 
CoccYZESLa:, < nostrils linear, base of the upper C COCCYZUS, Vieil. 
C mandible dilated. 3 
SAUBOTHEBDUE, Kw, ' SAUKOTHERA, Vieil. 
OpiSTHOCOMiN^:,...Legs very long, ........................... OPISTHOCOMUS? Hoff. 
INDIC ATORIN^:, ...... Bill short, thick ; tail somewhat rigid,. .. INDICATOR, Sparm. 
The aberrant genera, which represent the sub-families, are few ; 
but they are sufficiently marked, as will subsequently appear, to 
point out their true rank and station. The two typical sub-fami- 
lies, on the other hand, are so diversified in their subordinate divi- 
sions or genera, that they may each be considered as perfect circles, 
thus adding another proof of the position so often verified, that ty- 
pical groups are almost invariably more exuberant in species, and 
in modifications of form, than any others. 
My first object will be to show in what manner these sub-fami- 
