418 



REVIEW OF AMERICAN BIRDS. 



[part I. 



Stout, moderately depressed, rectilinear viewed from above. Hind toe 

 and claw shorter than inner lateral. Tail slightly graduated on sides. 

 Throat plain. 

 Platycichla. Plumage and wing as in Cichlopsis. Commissure considerably 

 arched. Bill attenuated ; lateral outlines decidedly concave viewed from 

 above ; lower mandible much weaker than in Cichlopsis. Hind toe and 

 claw longer than inner lateral. Toes more deeply cleft. Tail slightly 

 rounded. Throat streaked. 



MYIADESTES, Swaixson. 

 Myiadestes, Swainsox, Jard. Nat. Library, XIII. Flycatchers, "1838," 

 132. (Type M. genibarhis, Sw.) 



Plumage soft, loose, and full, especially on the flanks and over thighs. 

 Body slender, depressed ; the wings much pointed, and reaching nearly to 



Myindestes solitarius, Caikp. (Jamaica.) 

 (Bill aud foot natural size ; wing and tail three-fourths.) 



middle of lengthened tail ; about equal to the tail. Bill weak, short and 

 broad, much depressed ; the gape very wide ; the commissure, which is almost 

 perfectly straight, more than half distance from nostril to tip of bill ; ridge 

 well marked ; keel less distinct. Culmen straight to near tip, then decurved, 

 hooked, with distinct notch in both tips. Nostrils oval, nearly lateral, witlx 

 overhanging membrane ; the frontal feathers coming to posterior edge, bend- 

 ing more and more forwards and mixed with bristles. 



Legs rather weak. Tarsus much compressed, without scutellfe, which are 

 fused into one plate, with perhaps a single division at lower end anteriorly, 

 aud one, sometimes two, on outer edge. Toes and claws slender and length- 

 ened ; hind claw about equal to middle. Outer lateral toe a little longer than 

 inner, and reaching a little beyond the base of middle. Inner toe cleft to base 

 of basal joint; basal joint of outer entirely adherent; basal joint of middle 

 toe half adherent externally, one-third internally. 



Feathers of occiput full and somewhat lengthened, forming a crest. Wing 

 pointed, although the outer quills are graduated. Primary quills ten : the 

 1st about one-third or less the longest ; the 2d equal to Sth or 9th ; the 5111 

 longest ; the 1st falcate and attenuated ; the 2d and 3d attenuated also. Tail 

 somewhat graduated, and also considerably emarginated or forked ; this foik 

 not so deep, however, as the graduation. 



