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Show 272 . · AVES. Others have a slender, s h arp b e ak ' which, with their striated tail, . t them to the Wren.(l) approxtma es b a proximated to the Ant-catchers. The 0R1:'HONYX, Tern. ;:y ~ ~ut it is short and slender; their They have the beak 0 ~ a 1 ru: 't ig:ht and the quills of the tail le s are long, the natls a mos s ra ' tegrm .m ate m. a po.m t like those of the Creehpeesr.s . We must also separate from the Thrus . CINCLus, Bechst.(2) h' h have a 0 compressed, straight beak, Or the Water-Thrushes, w ~c h . ht nearly linear, nnd becoming with mandibles of an equa etg h dly arcuated. There is but sharp near the point; the upper one ar one in Europe. . . . 7"1 d 8 cinclus, Lath.; Enl. 940; Vieill. 8turnus c~nclus, L., ur u ) L ther long and a short (Th W ter Thrush. egs ra ' 'Gal. 152. e ~ t 't to the Ant-catchers. It is brown, 'I hich approxtma e I • f ta1 , w d has the singular hab1t o with a white throat and breast,. an 'n but walking about on descending into the water, nol~ s~lm~~!is which constitute its the bottom in search of the Itt e am food. . h I d' Ocean produce Africa, and the countries bordermg on t e n ~~\ I call' a genus of birds neighbours of the Thrushes, whlc . otherinU8, Id. 42. The M. leucophria, Tern. nophilusstellaris, Sp1x, 39;-Thamn. my h th' roup. The Brachypteryx Col. 448, although from Java, se~ms to ap?tr?acth ~:igght of its legs, but its tail is f J lso approx1mates to 1 m e . montana, Hors. av. a . h 11' d t that ofthe SaxJco 1;e . · d th beak 1s somew at :1 1e 0 nl longer in proportwn, an e d b bl ) Enl 703· the .llrada (T. cantans), E , (1) Such are the Bambla ( Tur . am a ' . . ·il 9 128 705, 2. Here comes the genus RHA:MPROCENE, Vlel th 'Thr~shes several species We are compelled, however, to replace among e t f so~e relative simi· which . Buff on arranged with the Ant-catc.he~·s, obn alatccounE:l 700 2 ·-the Merk larity of colour, V·lZ . the ca rt· rto nneu r ( T.. tmh tmnaf tuh u1s) ,E nl ·6 44 1' an' d 2, whi.c h' ac ravatte ( T. ct·n namomeU8 )' E n I. 560 ' 2,· -t ose .o . e P · 1 fi· 'ci' voru&· I p1 a ce h · d s as vartetles of t 1e ormz contrary to all appearances, e c?nst e~ . 41 1 and 48, 2 ;-striatus, Jd., . in the same class the Thamnophzlus gnseus, Sptx, '. t t melanothorax, Tern. 40, 2 ;-melanogaster, Id.' 43, 1. The Myothera capzs; ~ust also send back to col.185, [and M. obsoleta, Bonap. I, p.l, 2 . .11m. Edi te'l d species, called by the Thrushes, notwithstanding their smallness, the ?ng- a; e Enl. 701, as well as Buff on Fourmilliers rossignols ( T. coroya and T. a;_pz;,!m··:ea and rufimarginata, the Myiothera malura, Natterer, Col. 953 and the · .fl gt d grammicepa;-the Col. 132, which are even closely allied to the T. punctatU8 an M. gularis and pyrrlwgenis, Tern. 442, 448. to me should be The M.yiotheramentalis and strictotlwrax, Natterer, 179, appear overloaded placed among the Shrikes. There . h" h has been more lS no group w IC ust confess, hoW· with species foreign to it, than that of the Ant-catchers. We ~th Dentirostres. ever, that it is not more rigorously limited than the other groups 0 e (2) Vieillot has changed this name into that of HYDROD.&.TA. PASSERINJE • 273 PHILEDON.(l) Their beak is compressed, slightly arcuated throughout its length, and emarginate near the point; nostrils large, and covered by a cartilaginous scale; their tongue terminated by a pencil of hairs. The species, generally remarkable for some singularity of conformation, have been bandied about by authors in all kinds of genera. Some of them have fleshy bobs at the base of the beak.(2) In others, portions of the skin on the cheeks are divested of feathers.( 3) Even in those which are completely feathered, we still observe, at times, a singular disposition of the plumage.( 4) {1) Commerson had an idea of thus naming the Polochicm (Merops moluccen8ia, Gm. ), which is of this genus. See Buff. Hist. des Ois., VI,. 4to, p. 4 77. Vieillot places the greater number of these birds in his genus Polochion, and in Latin he pl·efers calling it Philemon rather than Philedon, Gal. 189. The genus MELrPUAGA of Lewin also is comprised in it. (2) Here comes the New Holland bird called by Daudin, Ornith. II, pl xvi, Pie dpendeloques, or Corvus paradoxus, Vieill. Gal. 24, the same as the Merops carunculatU8 of Phillip., of Latham and of Shaw, but which has not the feet of a Merops, and whose beak is notched, the tongue pencillated, and nostrils without feathers. The Sturnus carunculatU8, Lath. and Gm., or Gracttla carunculata, Daud. and Shaw (Lath. Syn., III, pl. xxxvi), and the Certhia caruncu/ata, Lath. and Gm. (Vieill. Ois, Dor., 11, pl. lxix), also appear to me to belong to it. The latter bird, it is said, sings delightfully, and belongs to the Friendly Islands. It is from this subdivision that Vieillot has taken his genus CnEADION, Gal. 94. (3) The Merops pltrygius of Shaw, Gen. Zool. VIII, pl. xx;-the Goruck, Vieill. Ois. Dor., IT, pl.lxxxviii (C. goruck, Sh.) ;-the Fuscalbin, Id. lb., pl. hi, (C. lunata);- the Gracule, I d. lb., pl. lxxxvii, (C. graculina ),·-the Polockifm of Buff. (Meropunoluccemis, Gm. );-the Ph. d oreillesjaunes~ Less. Voy. de Duperrey, pl. 21, his, and some new species belong to this division. (4) Particulal'ly in the Merops Novre Hollandire, Gm. and Brown, lll. ix, or Merle Jeravatte frisee, Vaill., Afr.~ or Merops circinnatus, Lath. and Shaw, Gen. Zool. VIII, pl. xxii. They are the feathers of the ears which become frizzled, as they descend to almost in front of the breast.-Melliph. auricornis, Swains., Zool. Ill. p. 43. Add Certh. auriculata, Vieill. Ois. Dor. 85;-C. Novre Hollandire, lb. 7. The species which have none of these singularities are the Certhia xanto!U8, Sh. Vieill. Ois. Dor., II, pl. 84 ;-C. australasiana, lb. 55;-C. mellivora, Jb. 86;-0. t.trulta, lb. 83 ;-C. seniculus, lb. 50. I am even of opinion that the Cap noir, Vieill. pl. 60, ( Certhia cucullata, Sh.) belongs to them, notwithstanding the length of its beak;-Merops niger, Gm. or fasciculatU8, Lath. or Gracu/a nobilis, Merrem. ~eytr. Fasc., r, pl. ii, is still more likely to be one of them-at all events it ~no M:erops. I also place in this genus the Verdin de la Cochinchine, Enl. 643, which is the second Turdus malabaricus, No. 125 of Gm.-for the first, No. 51 is •Gracula, Cuv.-and the Certlt. cocincinica, Sh. Vieill. 77 and 78.-Add the Philed. ~nlgre, Tern. Werthia atricapilla, Lath.), Col. 335, 1;-PhiUd. mOU8tac. (Melllph. mynacalia, Tem.) lb. 2;-the Pldled. grivele (Melliph. maculata, T.), Col. 29, l; Vat. I.-2 K |
