110 MUSCICAPIN^. 



the remainder differing entirely from those of its 

 congener. Now this spurious quill is the great and 

 universal character of all the genuine flycatchers of 

 Europe, Asia, Africa, and New Holland, while 

 among those of, America not a single instance of 

 such a structure has yet fallen under our observa- 

 tion*. The student, therefore, if all other distinc- 

 tions fail, has but to examine the wing of a fly- 

 catching bird, to know at once whether it is a na- 

 tive of the New or the Old World ; whether in fact 

 it belongs to the genera hereafter-mentioned, Todus 

 or Muscicapa; the first, with one exception t, being 

 an American, while the latter is an Old World 

 group. But that the ornithologist may nr^r clearly 

 comprehend these distinctions, we shall tafce this 

 opportunity of explaining them more fully. 



The wings of the paradise fly-catcher, a most beau- 

 tiful though common bird, will give us a perfect idea 

 of that structure, which, with very slight variations, 

 runs through all the Old World Muscicapinoe. The 

 general form of this member, although by no means 

 short, is nevertheless rounded ; that is, the outer- 

 most feathers, instead of being the longest, as in the 

 swallows, are much shorter than those which are 

 nearest to the body, and, from being of different 

 ngths, they are termed graduated. The first quill 



* The sub-genus Ptiliogenys is more a Ceblepyris than a 

 tyrant Fly-catcher (Tyranmnts). 



f The sub-genus Platystera, ( J. and S.) peculiar to Western 

 Africa, being the nearest point of that continent to America. 



