122 RHIPIDURA. 



are rather compressed ; thus indicating, on the one 

 hand, an affinity to Muscicapa, and, on the other, 

 to Monacha. The recent acquisition of some inte- 

 resting birds from India, which prove to belong to 

 this group, has thrown a new light upon others 

 which have long baffled our further analysis of this 

 group ; so that now possessing, as we consider, 

 four out of the five leading forms, we shall no longer 

 refrain from characterizing them as so many sub- 

 genera; submitting to the reader, as we go on, 

 those reasons which have influenced this determi- 

 nation. These types we shall distinguish by the 

 names of Rhipidura (proper), Leucocirca, Mya- 

 destes, and Seisura; the first and the last having 

 been already proposed by Messrs. Horsfield and 

 Vigors. Rhipidura^ in this restricted sense, con- 

 tains those species only which have the bill remark- 

 ably small, and compressed for half its length ; the 

 rictal bristles extend to its tip, and are very stiff; 

 the tail is particularly broad and fan-shaped, all 

 the feathers being slightly graduated ; but the feet 

 are not more developed than in the typical fly- 

 catchers. The great -headed titmouse of Latham, 

 not now existing in any of the London collections, 

 is, in all probability, the most typical species ; while 

 the fan-tailed flycatcher of the same author, and 

 several others, called by him " varieties," exhibit 

 the same characters. The geographic range of these 

 birds appear to be restricted to Australia and the 

 smaller islands of the Pacific Ocean. Forster, in 

 his voyage round the world, met with one species, 



