MtJSCICAPIKE. Ill 



is small and spurious, being hardly half as long as 

 the next ; the second is half an inch shorter than 

 the third; and this latter, again, is about three-tenths 

 of an inch shorter than the fourth ; the fourth, fifth, 

 and sixth, being all of the same length, and longer 

 than any of the others. This sort of wing, without 

 any variation, is alike common to MiAscicapa, Rhi- 

 pidura, Seisura y Myagra^ Monacha, and Platys- 

 tera; in Hyliota there is a slight deviation; the 

 second quill is longer, and the third almost reaches 

 the end of the fourth ; this departure from the typi- 

 cal structure prepares us for a second modification, 

 as seen in the Muscicapa atricapilla of Europe and 

 its allies ; the first quill becomes smaller and is not 

 one-third the length of the second, while the third 

 is the longest of all. This structure of wing is much 

 more pointed than that of the first we described : it 

 has evidently greater power, and we consequently 

 find it has been given to a group of birds which are 

 known, like our grey flycatcher, to migrate. Were 

 it not for the bristled and depressed bill of some of 

 those latter, their feet are so unusually strong in 

 comparison to those of their congeners, and their 

 wings so very similar to those of the Stone -chats, 

 that we should be almost tempted to place them 

 with the Saxwolince ; and, indeed, in respect to 

 some, we are by no means satisfied to which group 

 hey naturally belong ; the characters by which we 

 >ropose to denominate them will be subsequently 

 itated. In the mean time, it deserves marked at- 

 ention, that this close approximation leaves us in 



