''Xenicus'' is a genus of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s in the family ''

Acanthisittidae The New Zealand wrens are a family (Acanthisittidae) of tiny passerines endemic to New Zealand. They were represented by seven Holocene species in four or five genera, although only two species in two genera survive today. They are understood to ...

''. It contains New Zealand wrens.

Species

New Zealand rock wren The New Zealand rock wren (''Xenicus gilviventris'') is a small New Zealand wren (family Acanthisittidae) endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. Its Māori names include ("little complaining bird"), , and ("twitch", after its bobbing moti ...

, ''Xenicus gilviventris'' *

Bushwren The bushwren (''Xenicus longipes''), also known as the mātuhituhi in Māori, was a very small and almost flightless bird that was endemic to New Zealand. It had three subspecies on each of the major islands of New Zealand, the North Island, S ...

, †''Xenicus longipes'' (extinct)

Lyall's wren Lyall's wren or the Stephens Island wren (''Traversia lyalli'') is a small, extinct, flightless passerine belonging to the family Acanthisittidae, the New Zealand wrens. It was once found throughout New Zealand, but when it came to the attention ...

was classified as ''Xenicus lyalli'' but is quite divergent, so it is placed in its own genus, ''Traversia''.

References

*''Catalogue of the genera and subgenera of birds contained in the British museum''. p. 31
North Island Rifleman (Titipounamu)(above two birds) / South Island Bush Wren (Matuhi) (left centre) / Rock Wren (centre right) / Stephens Island Wren
by

George Edward Lodge George Edward Lodge FZS, (3 December 1860 – 5 February 1954)Savory ''op. cit.'' was a British illustrator of birds and an authority on falconry. Early life George Edward Lodge was born at Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire. His father, Samuel Lodg ...

. Collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Taxa named by George Robert Gray Higher-level bird taxa restricted to New Zealand Bird genera Bird genera with one living species {{Passeri-stub