Australian Birds in the Collection of the Linnean Society. 243 
Society's collection accord very closely with the general charac- 
ters of that type. "The construction of the bill is nearly the 
same; in our birds that member being only in a slight degree 
longer and more gracile. The wing has the same formation : 
the first quill-feather being short, and the second and third 
gradually exceeding it; the only difference discernible in this 
. member is, that in the European bird the fourth feather is the 
longest, while in ours the fifth rather exceeds the fourth. The 
legs and feet afford no mark of distinction : unless, perhaps, we 
should say that in our birds the ¢arsi are somewhat longer. 
These slight differences do not exhibit sufficient ground for 
separation between the birds of these distant countries ; par- 
ticularly as there is a striking resemblance in the disposition of 
their colours. We may, for instance, trace the white front, 
and the white markings on the wings and tail of M. atricapilla 
in the Australian species. There are several species described 
by authors as belonging to New Holland, the description of 
whose colours approaches very nearly to that of the birds before 
us. We have not seen these birds, but consider it probable that 
they belong to the same group. | 
1. MurTICOLOm. Muse. nigra; fronte, maculá tectricum, fascid 
remigum, rectricum lateralium strigá, crissoque albis; pectore 
abdomineque coccineis. 
Muscicapa multicolor. Gmel. i. p. 944. no. 74. 
Muscicapa erythrogastra. Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 479. no. 50. 
Red-bellied Flycatcher. Id. Gen. Hist. vi. p.209. no. 88. pl. 100. 
We have referred this bird to the red-bellied Flycatcher of 
Dr. Latham, although that species does not possess the white 
markings on the wing-coverts or the tail which are seen in our 
bird, as far at least as we can judge both from the figure and de- 
scription given by that gentleman. Such differences in the white 
212 markings, 
