78 ON THE CLASSIFICATION OP BIRDS. 
and the other Sylvia, would come into that group of 
die Ampelidce which forms a passage to the Sylviada. 
If this suspicion is w'ell founded, the grallatorial or 
tenuirostrid type is still undiscovered. Hitherto we 
are unaciiuainted with any bird of this family which 
feeds tipon the .ground, and which might therefore he 
supposed to supply this deficiency; but the crested 
thrush of Lewin * judging from the figure, appears be- 
tween a lark and a Fachycephala, and may, therefore, 
possibly be the type in question. It is described as 
inhabiting rocks and barren “scrubby” places, having a 
jerk in its walking motion, at the same time erecting its 
crest like the cockatoo: but as no specimen of this bird 
has yet passed under our ohservation, our suspicions are 
consequently founded on mere conjecture. 
CHAP. VII. 
THE DEXTIROSTRES CONCLUDED. — ON THE MUSCICAPID,®, OK 
FLT-CATCHERS. 
(89.) The most insectivorous family of the Denti- 
rostren is composed of the Muscicapida, or flycatchers; 
a group hardly less numerous than that of the warblers, 
and composed, like them, almost entirely of small birds : 
both families are insectivorous, that is, habitual devour- 
ers of insects ; but very many of the warblers (even in 
the more typical genera) feed also upon fruits, of which 
the robin, the blackcap, and the whitethroat are nota- 
ble examples. The flycatchers, however, properly so 
called, seem to he strictly and exclusively insectivorous, 
or, at least, it has not yet been ascertained that any of the 
species composing the typical group Muscicapinm ever 
partake of fruits. This peculiarity of diet, independent 
of many others, separates them from the warblers on 
* B. of N. H. pi. 9. 
