232 
CHAPTEK XI. 
Subulirostres ; awl-shaped Bills. — Manakins ; curious Nests of. — 
Tomtits. — Wagtails. — Redstarts. — Robins, &c. — Migration of 
this Tribe. — Nightingales. — Whether they return to same | 
Nests. — Ear for Music. — Night Singing-birds. — Planirostres ; | 
flatbilled. — Swallow Tribe. — Whether occasionally Dormant; 
instances of. — Migration of. — Insects, number devoured by j 
Swallows. — Spiders, high flights of. — Curious Nests of Swal- j 
lows. — Courage of. 
Table XI. Order 2. — Passerine. 
|F the four genera included in this tribe, three are common 
^ in England, but the fourth, that of the Pipras or Mana- 
kins, is entirely foreign, comprising a number of little birds 
of beautiful plumage. Some of these species are exceptions 
to the general rule of classification, as the upper mandible, on 
examination, will be found, as in the Manakins, notched ; in 
other respects, the beak has a tolerably marked character, 
being short and usually feeble and flexible ; and, as the word 
subulirostrum implies, awl-shaped, from a Latin word, subula , 
signifying an awl, and rostrum , a beak. 
Under the second genus, JParus , are comprehended the 
various species of Titmouse. Under the third, Motacilla , 
the Wagtails, Wrens, Robins, and a large family of singing- 
birds, usually separated from the rest, under the term Sylvias 
or Warblers ; at the head of which stands the Nightingale. 
Under the fourth, the Alaudce , or Larks. The Tomtits are 
familiar to everybody ; they might be called our minor J ack- 
daws, so pert and bustling, — never at rest, — always prying 
about, peering into every little chink and cranny, — and, even 
in the breeding season, when most birds retire to more un- 
frequented haunts, still lurking about our homesteads, and 
placing their nests in the oddest and sometimes most con- 
spicuous situations. Thus, a pair of Titmice ( Parus cceru- 
leus ), built their nest in the upper part of an old pump, 
