Tyrant Shrikes of America, 281 



Linnaeus, in all probability misled by the brevity of Marcgrave, 

 has likewise referred to the Gray Pye of Edwards, pi. 318, as 

 belonging to the same species ; and adds, " cauda cuneiformi" 

 The figure of Edwards certainly represents a bird closely resem- 

 bling that indicated by Marcgrave ; but as the tail is neither even 

 nor forked, but much cuneated, it is scarcely possible to suppose 

 that all these variations in the form of such an important part, 

 would occur in different individuals of one species. 



The third species, which has been included among the syno- 

 nymes of Lanius Nengela, is the Colinga gris of the Planches En- 

 luminees, No. 699 ; but this bird (as M. Le Vaillant has already 

 observed) is the Ampelis pompadora of Linnaeus, in a young state 

 of plumage. 



I very much regret that the scarcity of T. nengeta, in those 

 parts of Brazil which I had an opportunity of visiting, prevented 

 me from noticing its natural habits. Dr. Latham observes, that 

 in Guiana it assembles in flocks near watery places, and utters a 

 loud cry. The unusual length of the legs, joined to the worn 

 appearance of the tail-feathers in two specimens before me, sug- 

 gest the idea, that this species, like T. ambulans, probably fre- 

 quents the ground, from which it darts upon such insects as 

 endeavour to effect their escape by flight. The length of the 

 wings and the emargination of the quills, certainly point it out as 

 an air-feeding bird; although its precise situation in this sub- 

 family appears to me uncertain. 



As we recede from the larger and more typical Tyranni, we 

 are insensibly led to a group of smaller birds, likewise peculiar 

 to the American continent, and of which the Cayenne Fly- catcher 

 is a familiar example. They retain some of the minor charac- 

 teristics of their more powerful allies, while in the general 

 weakness of their organization they seem equally related to the 

 Fly-catchers ; to which family they have been referred by most 

 ornithologists. I therefore refrain from offering any further re- 

 marks upon them in this place, but proceed to notice another 

 group, which belongs more decidedly to the Tyranni of M. Vieillot. 



