ROCKY MOUNTAIN ANTCATCHER. 
267 
a Thamnophilus^ as we adopt tlie genus, agreeably to the charac- 
ters given by Temminck, who, not admitting the genus Trog- 
lodytes, would undoubtedly have arranged this bird with Myio- 
tliera, as Illiger would also have done. 
The only point, therefore, to be established by us is, whe- 
ther this bird is a Myiotliera or a Troglodytes, It is, in fact, a 
link intermediate to both. After a careful examination of its 
form, especially the unequal length of the mandibles, the notch 
of the superior mandible, and the length of the tarsus ; and 
after a due consideration of the little that is known relative to 
its habits, we unhesitatingly place it with Myiotliera, though, 
in consequence of its having the bill more slender, long, and 
arcuated, than that pf any other species I have seen, it must 
occupy the last station in the genus, being still more closely 
allied to Troglodytes, than those species whose great affinity to 
that genus has been pointed out by Cuvier. This may be 
easily ascertained, by comparing the annexed representation 
with the figures given by Buffon and Temminck. The figure 
which our rocky mountain antcatcher resembles most, is Buf- 
foffis PI, Pnl, 823, fig. 1, [Myiotliera lineata,) The colours of 
our bird are also similar to those of a wren ; but this similitude 
is likewise observed in other MyiothercB, 
The bird now before us was brought from the Arkansaw river, 
in the neighbourhood of the Rocky Mountains, by Major 
Long’s exploring party, and was described by Say under the 
name of Troglodytes ohsoleta, from its close resemblance to the 
Carolina wren [Troglodytes Ludovicianus), which Wilson con- 
sidered a Certliia, and Vieillot a Thryothorus, 
As the rocky mountain antcatcher is the first and only spe- 
cies hitherto discovered in North America, we shall make 
some general observations on the peculiarities of a genus thus 
introduced into the Fauna of the United States. 
Buffon first formed a distinct group of the antcatchers, under 
the name of Fourmiliers, and considered them as allied to his 
Breves, now forming the genus Pitta of Vieillot, they having 
been previously placed in that of Turdus. LacepMe adopted 
that group as a genus, and applied to it the name of Myrme^ 
