MEBULID^ AND TENUIB.OSTBES. ANALOGIES. S7 
aquatic habits of the long-legged thrushes, a point which 
could not he elucidated by any of the tables we have 
already given. These two groups, in short, are the only 
ones, in their respective families, which habitually fre- 
quent such situations. 
( 39 .) The last set of comparisons we shall bring 
forward is between the family of thrushes 
and the order of Tenuirostres, or honey- suckers, groups 
so very remote, and so distinct from each other, that we 
may almost feel surprise that any resemblances can be 
traced between them. Yet it becomes important to 
ascertain this, since several authors, on the belief that the 
suhgenus Chloropsis has a brush-like tongue, have conse- 
quently considered it is a meliphagous group. The Para- 
dise oriole likewise has been thought to form one of the 
true Paradise birds by so many, that we may suspect 
there is some foundation for these relations in nature ; a 
glance at the following table will accordingly prove this 
to be the fact. 
Subfamilies of 
Thrushes. 
^yotherincB. 
^rachypodino'. 
OrioUrug, 
Analogies. 
Families of 
Tenuirostres. 
The most typical of their respective 
I circles : wings in one strong and 
I i>ointed, in the other feeble and 
rounded. 
Trociiiuoie. 
ClNNYUIJ).®. 
Feet short ; hind toe lengthened j 
wings and tail rounded. 
MELIPUAGin.®. 
Frontal feathers soft and vclvct-like; 
rictus smooth ; hind too and tar. 
8US of nearly equal length ; frugi- 
vorous. 
I 
P-itRADISlD-K. 
r Bill greatly compressed, curved, en- ) 
^oieropoditus. ■< tire; tail lengthened, broad, gra- ^P romeropid.®. 
L duated. 3 
(40.) The resemblance between the two first groups 
in each column cannot be supposed very strong, if we 
look to form or structure, since scarcely any two birds 
®an he more unhke than a thrush and a humming-bird. 
They agree, however, in feeding both upon vegetable 
snd animal food, and further correspond in being the 
roost typical of their several groups. Who that com- 
pares the beautifully-coloured Fittw of India, particu- 
larly the Fitta cyarmrn Vieil., with the Cinnyris Sene- 
I) 3 
