156 
SYLVIIN^. ANORTHURA. 
GENUS L. ANOETHURA. WREN. 
If we shorten the tail of a Calamoherpe and turn it up a 
little, we shall have something like a Wren. In our species, 
the bill is also more slender than in Calamoherpe, and some- 
what arched, but in several American birds of this group, it 
is much stouter. Probably the Wrens ought to form a family 
apart ; but I prefer attaching our only species to the Sylvii- 
nae. They might perhaps with equal propriety be referred 
to the Creepers, Reptatrices. 
Bill of moderate length, slender, tapering, acute, slightly 
arched, subtrigonal at the base, compressed toward the end ; 
upper mandible with its dorsal line slightly arched, the ridge 
narrow, the notches wanting ; lower mandible with the edges 
inflected, the dorsal line straight ; gape-line very slightly 
arched. Tongue sagittate, very slender, tapering, concave 
above, slightly jagged toward the tip ; oesophagus of mode- 
rate width, uniform ; stomach roundish, very muscular, with 
dense, longitudinally rugous epithelium ; intestine short and 
rather wide ; coeca very small. Nostrils linear-oblong, oper- 
culate. Eyes of moderate size. Aperture of ear large, 
roundish. Head of moderate size, ovate ; neck short ; body 
ovate. Feet of ordinary length ; tarsus compressed, with 
seven anterior scutella, of which the upper are indistinct ; 
toes rather large, compressed ; first longer than the two late- 
ral, of which the inner is a little shorter, the third and fourth 
coherent at the base ; claws long, arched, extremely com- 
pressed, laterally grooved, acute. Plumage soft and blended ; 
no bristles ; wing shortish, broad, concave, much rounded ; 
the first quill short, the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth nearly 
equal and longest ; tail short or moderate, rounded, generally 
raised. 
The Wrens, of which only one species occurs in Britain, 
are remarkable for their abbreviated form, and the elevated 
direction of the tail. They construct a very bulky nest, of 
an oblong or spherical form, and lined with moss and fea- 
thers. The eggs are numerous, generally white, more or 
less dotted or spotted. 
92 . Anorthura Troglodytes. European W'ren. 
Upper parts reddish-brown, lower light greyish-brown j a 
