162 DEXTIROSTEES. 



FAMILY III. 



MusciCAPiD.E.* Tlie FlycatcJiern. 



Gen, Chaeac. — Bill of various lengths, generally broad and depressed at the 

 base, with the culmeu more or less curved, and the sides compressed to the 

 tip, which is eraarginate ; the gape usually furnished with long and strong 

 bristles ; wings generally long ; tail more or less long, and the outer toe 

 generally united at the base. 



The Flycatchers, as their name imports, feed 

 exchisively upon insects, which are captured by 

 their bill during flight ; their organization is, there- 

 fore, in strict conformity with this habit. The 

 wings are not formed for such rapidity of movement 

 as those of the Swallows, since the Flycatchers do not 

 pursue their prey to any distance; but this deficiency 

 is compensated by a very unusual breadth of the 

 mouth, the sides of which are moreover furnished 

 with long rigid bristles pointing forwards. Thus pro- 

 vided, the Flycatcher darts upon an insect with 

 unerring certainty, since, if it fails to get a firm 

 hold of it with its beak, the bristles standing out 

 on each side restrain the struggles of its \4ctim, 

 and at the same time prevent either its eyes or face 

 from being injui^ed by the claws or wings of the 

 insect. This structure is slightly developed in 

 several groups of the Warblers, and, indeed, the 

 two families are so closely related, that Ornithologists 

 are perpetually confounding the one mth the other. 

 Both are fly-catching families, but with some re- 

 markable diff'erences. The Warblers pursue the 

 chase from tree to tree, — they are continually 

 wandering about and hunting up their game ; 

 whereas the true Flycatchers are sedentary ; they 

 choose some convenient station, generally near their 

 nest, from which they dart upon their prey, and 

 after every captm'e almost invariably return to the 

 same perch. The family of the Flycatchers in- 

 cludes the Mourners, the Alectrures, the Tyrants, the 

 Becards, the True Flycatchers, and the Greenlets. 



* Musca, a fy ; capio, to catch. 



