42 ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 
and runs upon the ground; while another {^S. auro- 
capillus Sw.) is confined to damp woods, and runs 
along the low branches of trees.* Here we have a 
change of economy, which plainly shows that nature 
nas assumed a new form ; and, as the habit of running 
along branches of trees is the chief faculty of the 
scansorial birds, or of their represeutativcs, so we may 
suppose the group next in succession to the Mota- 
cUlince would possess something of the same charac- 
ters. Now these are displayed in the genus Accentor. 
We recollect hearing read, at the Linnasan Society, a 
very interesting notice on the manners of a specimen of 
this rare British bird, which was killed near one of the 
pubhc buildings at Oxford ; and every ornithologist 
must regret that this paper is not to be found in the 
society's transactions, since it brought to light one of 
those important and long concealed facts, which fre- 
quently decide the true station in nature of an entire 
group. The bird in question was seen to climb so 
adroitly round the steep abutments of the buildings, as 
to baffle for a considerable time the aim of the person 
who eventually shot it. We can also state, from our 
own personal observation, that the common hedge spar- 
row frequently hops along the whole length of a strong 
oblique branch, pecking into the crevices of the bark, 
so that the observer is instantly reminded of a scansorial 
creeper, or of a woodpecker. 
(4.5.) The Fnrinnm, or titmice, may therefore be said 
commence with the genus Accentor, which stands at the 
confines of that group which contains the most scan- 
sorial warblers in this family. This group or sub- 
family is represented by the following genera: Accentor, 
Parus, Sylvicola, Setophagn, and Triehas. So many 
well-known examples of the titmice enrich our native 
fauna, that it would be superfluous to describe their 
habits ; known, as they must be, to every observer. 
The short, stout, and nearly conic bills of these active 
little climbers, are admirably adapted for pecking into 
* Northern Zoology, vol. ii. pi. 227. 
