354 
ON THE CLASSIFICATION OP BIEDS. 
true wren ( Troglodytes Europceus) by all writers ; while 
others consider they actually belong to the same genus 1 
No analogy can be stronger; yet it has already been 
demonstrated that this is no true affinity; one being 
a fly-catching warbler, the other a warbling creeper. 
We ourselves have not been exempt from error in 
this matter ; since, on defining the subgenus Oxy- 
glossus *, some years ago (not being aware it had pre- 
viously received the name of Mniotilta), we placed 
it among the scansorial creepers, although its true 
station is now proved to be with the warblers.t The 
cuckowB (Cueulidee), and the chatterers {Ampelida), 
which are the next parallel families, imitate each other 
in the soft and juicy nature of their food, which they 
are both enabled to swallow whole, by the great width 
of their mouth. The enormous size of the bill in the 
toucans {Ramphastidce) gives us another remarkable 
analogy to the todies (Eurylaimus), whose bills are 
equally disproportionate for the size of the head ; and 
this is rendered even more striking by the bill of 
Eurylaimus corydon Tern., having indications of that 
toothed margin common to the toucans. 
(295.) Let us next bring this tribe into comparison 
with that of the Suctorial birds (^Tenuirostres Sw.), 
for, dissimilar as they are, we shall yet find a distant, 
although very definite, relation between them. 
Families of 
Tenuirostres, 
Families of 
Dentirostres. 
Analogies. 
rGonye, or outer half of the under man-'^ 
TROCHiUDiE. < dible thick and ascending} claws sharp ^Laniad.e. 
C and slender. 3 
and 
CiNNVBIDiE. 
MELlPUAGIDJli. 
PARADlSlDJi. 
Vromebopid.e. 
f Gonys not ascending j leg: 
I stouter and more obtuse. 
C Bill slender, notched ; feet of moderated v, 
{ length,very perfect; toes dUunited j ^YLMAOiL. 
rBUI stout: feet short,' strong ; hind toe) 
3 nearly as long as the tarsus; toes dis- v Ampelidji:. 
C united. } 
Feet short ; toes much united. Muscicapid^:. 
Where two tribes, like these, are so very remote in 
affinity, it will always happen, as may naturally be 
* We have since transferred this name to a genus of tree creepers. 
Northern Zoology, voL ii, p. 90o. 
