PASSERINiE. 259 



ft 

 MUSCIPETA, CuV. 



The beak long, much compressed, double its height in breadth, 

 even at its base? the ridge very obtuse, sometimes however very 

 acutej the edges slightly curvedj the point and emargination weak; 

 long setje or mustachios at its base. 



They are too powerless to capture any thing but Insects, and sev- 

 eral of them are ornamented with long tail feathers, beautiful crests 

 on the head, or at least with brilliant colours. The greater num- 

 ber inhabit Africa and the Indies.(l) 



Some species allied to the Muscipetse, (Platyrhynchus,) are dis- 

 tinguished by a still broader and more depressed beak.(2) 



(1 ) We should first of all distinguish the Roi des Gobe-mouches, Buff. ( Todus regius, 

 Gm.) Enl. 289. Then we have the crested species, and which have long- feathers 

 in the tail, such as the Moucherolle de paradis{Musc. paradisi und Todus paradisia- 

 cus, Gm.), Enl. 234. N.B. All these figures represent females; the tail of the 

 males is much longer. Le Feiit Moucherolle de Paradis or Scliet of Madagascar 

 {Muse, mutata). Two birds which Bufion describes elsewhere under the name 

 of Vardiok ov Pie de paradis. Then follow those species without crests, whose 

 tail feathers are somewhat elongated ; The Moucher, Yetapa [Muse, psalura, T.), 

 Col. 286 and 296, or Muse, risora, Vieill. 131 ; the Moucher d queue de coq; Gallita 

 of Azz.; Muse, aleetor, P. Max.; Col. 155, Vieill. 132- Plathyrh. Jilicaiida, 

 Spix, 14. 



Some species are distinguished by a membranous circle round the eye : Muse, 

 melanoptera, Gm.; Enl. 567, 3. M. telescophtalma., Less, and Garn., A''oy. de Du- 

 perr. , Zool., pi. xviii. 



Others are remarkable for a long, flat, and obtuse beak, similar to that of the 

 Todies, but it has a notch which is wanting in the true Todies, whose feet also are 

 differently formed. T. dnereus, Desmar. or T. melanocephalus, Spix, ix, 2. The 

 young is, T. cinercus, Spix, x, 1 and T. maculatus, Desm. P. griseus, Desm. 



Finally, a multitude of other species, as the mantele, Vaill. 151 or Muse, borbati- 

 ica, Enl. 573, l.M. cristaia, 573, 2, and Tchitrec, Vaill., Afr., Ill, 142, l.Musc. 

 caerulea, Enl. 666, 1. Todus leucocephalus, Pall., Sp., VI, pi. iii, f. 2, or Muse, dom- 

 inicana, Spix, 29, 2. M. albiventer. Id. 30, is its female. T. sylvia, Desm. Pla- 

 tyrhinchus chrysoceps, Spix, XI, 2. Plat, ruficauda, lb. 1. Plat, hirundinaceus, 

 Spix, 13, 1. Plat, dnereus, lb. 2. Muse, harbata, Enl. 830, 1, of which M. xan- 

 thopygus, Spix, IX, 1, appears to be the female. Muse, coronata, Enl. 675. The 

 molenar, Vaill. 160, 1, 2, or M. pistrinaria, Vieill. The G. m. a lunettes, lb. 152, 

 1. M. flammiceps, Tem. Col. 144, 3. M. mystax, Spix, 31. M. viurantia, 

 Enl. 331, 1. M. querula, Vieill. Am. 39, from which the Plat, cinereus, Spix, 

 XIII, scarcely differs. M. cucullaia, I^ath., &c. 



N.B. The Mus. harbata has become the genus Tyhannula, Swainson; and 

 the M. querula the Mtiagra of Vigors and Horsfield. 



(2) It is from this division that M. Vieillot has made his genus Plaiyrhynchos, 

 Gal. 126. Such are Muse, aurantia, Enl. 831, 1. Todus macrorhynchos. Lath. 

 Syn. I, pi. XXX, or Todus rostratus. Lath-, Desmar. and particularly Todus platyr- 

 hynclios. Pall., Spic, VI, pi. iii, c. We see that many of the Muscipetic have 



