80 



PSARIS, 



A more decided group than the preceding, and 

 which makes a further step towards the typical cha- 

 racters of the genuine flycatchers. The general 

 size of these birds is between that of a small thrush 

 and a robin ; and all the typical species are inhabi- 

 tants of tropical America. They are conspicuous 

 to ordinary observers, by their great heads and their 

 thick depressed bill, the upper mandible of which 

 has the very unusual character of being quite con- 

 vex above, so that there is no culmen or ridge. 

 The feet still retain the structure of the Ampelidcp, 

 being weak, and protected on the sides of the tarsi 

 by minute lateral scales ; the wings also are long 

 and ample. Of their manners, in a state of nature, 

 very little is known. It would seem, however, from 

 the observations of Azara, that the typical species, 

 like many of the chatterers, are to be seen sitting on 

 the tops of lofty forest trees, and the structure of 

 their wings show that they are quick fliers. In 

 those larger species which form the genus Psaris, 

 the bill seems very powerful, and is so abruptly 

 hooked at the tip, that it is not surprising that the 

 Linnaean writers, and some of the moderns, placed 

 the only species then known, Psaris cayana^ with 



