66 
MERULIDiE. 
This very interesting little bird has long been 
a stumbling block to systematists. It has been 
handed about from one genus to another, and 
even when a name has been allotted to itself, and 
one or two others, it still gives uneasiness, and 
has scarcely yet received a family mansion, where 
it can dwell in order undisturbed ; and although 
our opinion of its proper station may be formed, 
we cannot expect, where there is a complication 
of characters, that all our ornithologists will 
coincide with it. We do think, however, that it 
will maintain its place among the Myotherinse, 
where nearly all our great advocates of a natural 
system of affinities have arranged it ; and by 
means of foreign genera the gradation of form 
can be beautifully traced. The genus consists of 
only three well authenticated species, and may 
be thus characterized, — 
Cikclus. — Generic Characters . — Bill slender 
obsoletely notched, nostrils naked, forehead 
small and narrow ; wings rather short and 
rounded, first quill nearly spurious, second, 
third, and fourth nearly equal ; tail rather 
short, even ; feet large and strong, lateral 
toes equal, tarsal scales entire. — C. aquaticus. 
