260 
YELLOW-THROATED SHORT-FOOT. 
ture, that undefined names have no anthority, we 
of course retain Hcnmatornis to the group before us, 
on the double ground of priority of definition and of 
demonstration. 
The chief distinction between Br achy pm and 
Hcematomis , is in the length of the tarsus ; in the 
first, this part is just equal to the hind-toe and claw ; 
whereas, in the latter, it is decidedly longer ; thus 
evincing an evident tendency to unite with Crate- 
ropus , on the opposite side of the circle of the Me- 
rulidcc. It is not surprising, therefore, that M. 
Temminck, and other absolute dividers, who believe 
that all natural genera are cut off from mutual con- 
nexion, should have been sorely perplexed with 
these aberrant thrushes ; and they have, conse- 
quently, given such extension to their artificial 
genera, Turdoides and I. cos, as to make them con- 
tain almost any thing and every thing. It would 
have been far better, even on their own views, to 
have left the whole under the Linnasan genus T Ur- 
dus. Besides, the barbarous construction of those 
two names, renders them quite intolerable, even 
in an artificial system. 
Our present species of Haimatornis is coloured 
something like the bristle-necked thrushes of Africa 
( Trichophorus ). It is nearly as large as the song- 
thrush ; but the wings are shorter and the tail 
longer. The upper plumage is dark and uniform 
olive brown ; the feathers of the crown, ears, and 
sides of the neck having grey borders, and the outer 
margins of the quills, as well as the inner wing- 
