Order CLAMATORES. 



Chae. Toes, three anterior and one posterior, not versatile. Tail feath- 

 ers usually twelve. Primaries always ten, the first nearly as long as the 

 second. Tarsal scales generally passing entirely around. 



But one family of this order is found within our limits, though there are 

 numerous others in tlie tropics, preseuting great variety of form. 



Family TYEANNID^, The Tykant Flycatchers. 



Char. Bill broader than high at the base, much depressed, more or less 

 triangular. Culmen nearly as long as the head or shorter ; straight to near 

 the tip, then suddenly bent down into a conspicuous hook, with a notch 

 behind it ; tip of lower jaw also notched. Commissure straight to near 

 the notch ; gonys sliglitly convex. Nostrils oval or rounded, in the an- 

 terior extremity of the nasal groove, and more or less concealed by long 

 bristles which extend from the posterior angle of the jaws along the base of 

 the bill, becoming smaller, but reaching nearly to the median line of tlie 

 forehead. Tliese bristles with lateral branches at the base. Similar bristles 

 mixed in the loral feathers and margining the chin. Tarsi short, generally 

 less than the middle toe, completely enveloped by a series of large scales, 

 which meet near the posterior edge of tlie inner side, and are separated 

 either by naked skin or by a row of small scales. Sometimes a second 

 series of rather large plates is seen on the posterior face of the tarsus, these, 

 however, usually on the upper extremity only. Basal joint of middle toe 

 united almost throughout to tliat of the outer toe, but more tlian lialf free 

 on the inner side ; outer lateral toe rather the longer. Wings and tail 

 variable ; first quill always more than three fourtlis the second. The outer 

 primaries sometimes attenuated near the tip. 



